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Degree Requirements

Graduate Programs

Professional Writing

Degree: Master of Science

The program provides advanced study in the theory of writing, writing techniques and style, principles/techniques of editing, and the functions of written communication within the professional/occupational setting. The program centers on (1) developing the communication skills of people seeking to enter or to advance in occupations requiring extensive written analysis and reporting of data and on (2) improving written communication and its management in professional organizations.

The program features two broad concentrations. Writing for the Public and Private Sectors concentrates on acquiring specialized skills such as technical writing, journal editing, communications management, business communication, or consulting. Writing in the Professions uses the University's interdisciplinary resources to offer focused study of writing (18 semester hours) in one of five specializations:

• Journalistic Writing

• Medical Writing

• Technical and Scientific Writing

• Creative Writing

• Teaching Writing

Both concentrations enroll part-time students and are available through evening and summer schedules. Either can be completed with or without a thesis and offers flexibility in the selection of elective courses. Students work closely with their advisors in designing their programs and in assessing the development of their writing skills. All courses require extensive writing.

Admission Requirements

• Apply to Towson University's Graduate School

• A 3.0 is required for full admission; 2.5 for conditional admission.

• Two letters of recommendation, preferably letters that speak to writing experience and capability.  Please also submit the Recommendation Form

• Writing sample on a designated topic: Please tell us in 2-3 pages why you wish to pursue this degree and why at Towson. Do not simply write a summary of material from the graduate catalogue — we want to find out about you. Also, you are encouraged to submit a brief (10-pages or less) example of writing you’ve done of any kind.

Return material to the Director PRWR, c/o Towson University Graduate School, 8000 York Rd., Towson, MD 21252.

• Based upon the applicant's undergraduate transcript and upon the writing sample, the department reserves the right to require two specified preparatory undergraduate writing courses, passed with the grade of "B" or higher in each course, for admission.

• Application deadlines are March 1 for fall semester admission and November 1 for spring semester admission.

• NOTE: Upon admission to the program, the student must meet with the assigned advisor to plan a program of study.

General Degree Requirements

The 36-credit program can be completed with or without a thesis. All students complete an 18-hour core of foundation courses. Within both concentrations students have considerable flexibility in choosing electives. Students work closely with their advisers in designing their programs and in assessing the development of their writing skills.

      1.   Required Core (18 semester hours):

• PRWR 611 - Rhetoric: The Pursuit of Eloquence (3)

• PRWR 612 - Rhetorical Grammar (3)

• PRWR 613 - Theory of Exposition (3) This course must be taken within the first twelve hours of degree work.

• PRWR 615 - History and Development of Prose Style (3)

• PRWR 617 - Editing (3) This course must be taken within the first twelve hours of degree work.

• PRWR 797 - Internship in Professional Writing (3)

      2.       Elective Core (18 semester hours)

• In addition to the required core each student completes an eighteen-hour elective program from Writing for the Public and Private Sectors or Writing in the Professions. Each concentration has a thesis and non-thesis option.

Guidelines for the Portfolio/Qualifying Exam

All students in the Professional Writing program are required to take the qualifying exam between completion of 12-18 hours of degree work. The format for the "exam" will be an evaluation of a portfolio of work completed by the student in the Professional Writing program.

The portfolios must be turned in to Geoffrey Becker by October 31 during the fall semester and April 1 during the spring semester. Drop the portfolios off in Geoffrey Becker's mailbox located in the English Department Mailroom, LI 218D. Please submit two copies in flat folders or report covers.

What You Need to Submit

The portfolio should contain three written texts that show the range of your writing skills. These should have been done for classes in the Professional Writing program. They may be prose, fiction, or poetry, technical, informative, or creative. Please include the assignment sheet or a description of what prompted you to write each text. The portfolio should be at least 15 pages and not more than 50. If you include poetry, include at least seven pages of poetry. The portfolio should contain at least one example of expository prose. Samples should be clean copies and may be revised.

How Portfolios will be Evaluated

Portfolios will be read by two Professional Writing professors. Portfolios will receive either a passing or a failing grade. Portfolios that receive a failing grade must be resubmitted after a conference with the program director and the student's advisor.

Evaluation criteria of the portfolio will generally be as follows.

Your portfolio should

• represent a range of application and show flexibility and variety in addressing various writing situations.

• show focus on a topic and deliver sound, reasonable evidence to support or develop the topic.

• be clearly and logically organized and show evidence of organizational craft, i.e., that it's a carefully designed piece.

• have paragraphs that are unified, well-developed, and internally cohesive.

• have sentences that are clear, concise, artful, and masterfully wrought.

• display diction that is consistently precise and accurate, showing command of a broad vocabulary.

Overall, the writing should be powerful, emotional, clever, creative, intelligent, thought-provoking--in short, graceful and interesting whatever the content.

Why You Need to Do This

The graduate school requires that all programs give a test midway through a student's program. The test requires students to display a level of subject mastery demonstrating that they are learning the appropriate skills needed in the curriculum to complete the degree successfully.

This "exam" is an opportunity to create a professional portfolio that students might present at the end of the program to show what they've mastered.

Whom You Need to Consult

It would be a good idea, though it's not required, to meet with your advisor to make sure you're submitting appropriate materials. If you have general questions about submitting work, please send Geoffrey Becker an e-mail with your questions (gbecker@towson.edu).

Master of Arts in Humanities

H. George Hahn, Ph.D., Director

ghahn@towson.edu, 410 / 704-519

For people wanting to venture beyond the fences of single disciplinary fields, Towson’s College of Liberal Arts offers seminars leading to the M.A. degree in Humanities.  This cross-disciplinary program comprises seminars from the departments of English, Foreign Languages, History, Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Fine Arts.

Bridging four key periods of Western Civilization, the program is wide in its disciplinary and historical span and deep in its inquiry of essential books.   It’s stimulating because it engages provocative and eloquent authors whose books have shaped Western culture.  It’s varied because it welcomes graduates from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, each offering a different perspective.  It’s intimate because seminars are limited to twelve members.  And it’s useful in many ways:  for teachers who want a subject-matter degree rather than a methods degree, for people to continue to a Ph.D. program, and for others to strengthen an application for law, journalism, or business school.  All candidates use the program to strengthen their ethos, to raise their educational caliber in public life, and to further academic power that can lead to higher wages, respect, and a richer intellectual life.

Requirements: 36 Credits

1.  Core seminars: 18 credits.  Great books and topics studied in sequential time: the Classical,   Medieval, Renaissance, and Modern Eras.

The Humanities and Comparative Literary Inquiry (at least one required)

HUMA 601:  War in Literature

HUMA 602:  Literature of Empire

HUMA 603:  Disease and Health in Literature

HUMA 604:  Love in Literature

HUMA 606:  The Symposium: Literature of Civil Conversation

The Humanities and Historical Inquiry (at least one required)

HUMA 631:  The History of Historical Thought

HUMA 632: Visions of History and Human Nature

HUMA 633: Comparative Biography

HUMA 634: The Traveler in History

The Humanities and Philosophical Inquiry (at least one required)

HUMA 616: The Human (Offered under different topics, e.g., Reason and Religion or the Question of Evil)

The Humanities and Rhetoric (one required)

HUMA / PRWR 611:  Rhetoric: The Pursuit of Eloquence

2.  Elective seminars: 18 credits.  While electives may be fulfilled from the above requirements, the following seminars also are offered that explore great books in contextual time, that is, in single periods of civilization.

HUMA 701:  Religious Currents in American Literature

HUMA 702:  The Golden Age of English Satire

HUMA 750:  Master Authors Seminar (a single author, e.g., Dante or Nietzsche)

HUMA 751:  Masterworks Seminar (a single work, e.g., Don Quixote or The Peloponnesian War)

HUMA 752:  Master Themes Seminar (e.g., Utopias / Dystopias or the French Revolution)

Fine Arts:     Students may also take one approved course in art history, music history, or theatre history.

3.  Thesis or Course Options:  6 credits

     A thesis and defense OR two approved courses from the home departments of the program and presentation of an anthology of five or six papers written in the program.

For Admission

• A bachelor’s degree
• A G.P.A. of 3.0 or better (last 60 undergraduate credits)
• A 500-word essay, “Why I Want to Study the Humanities”
• A research paper written in any discipline

To shorten time and to bank credits toward the M.A., students may register for up to three approved 500- or 600-level courses while their application is in process or while they consider applying.  Such students may also use a seminar paper to submit for an admission requirement.

In preparation is a combined B.A. or B.S. in English and the M.A. in Humanities.