CONTINUING EDUCATION
PROFESSIONAL
WRITING
CERTIFICATE
Specializing in
— Marketing and
Public Relations
— Business and
Technical Writing
200 HOURS
ONLINE
good thinking.
CONTED.UCALGARY.CA/WRITING | 403.220.2952
PROFESSIONAL
WRITING
Are you a professional who writes in business, industry, education, engineering, science, medicine or elsewhere? Are
you looking to apply your clinical or research expertise to writing? Are you a technical writer, copywriter, corporate
writer, proposal writer, web writer, science writer or other writer? If you want to gain valuable skills in these areas, a
Professional Writing Certificate may be perfect for you.
Writing is a core job competency that falls under the broader category of communication and is required in most
careers world-wide. Due to the prevalence of new technologies, which often require an abundance of writing, solid
competencies are sought after more than ever before.
You will learn and improve numerous skills from basic to more advanced writing including composition, grammar,
copyediting, proofreading and specific techniques related to your field of work. This online, flexible and interactive
program will allow you to learn the theory behind your writing as well as allow ample time to write practice documents
and receive feedback from your instructors and peers.
It is strongly recommended that core courses be completed before taking additional courses.
REQUIRED
COURSES
CORE COURSES | 110 hours WRI 130 Professional Writing Basics | 40 hours
The Core Courses make up 110 hours of the 200 hours of
instruction required for this certificate.
Successful communicators know that effective writing is
essential in a variety of professions. In this course, develop
your writing skills through review of key components. Topics
include composition, writing clearly, grammar, and sentence
structure as well as ethical writing. Specific documents
include correspondence (letters, memo, email), research,
summaries, reports and more. There is ample opportunity for
writing through in-class exercises and assignments, as well as
feedback on your work.
BMC 352 Learning Online | 10 hours
Discover more about yourself as an online learner in a supportive environment and ultimately determine if online
learning is for you. Compare your current skills, habits and
technical knowledge against what’s typically required for
success in Continuing Education online courses. Whatever
your starting point, you will develop and improve your abilities to connect, communicate and collaborate with others
online. If you have previously taken an online course, you may
apply for Advanced Standing credit.
WRI 120 Copy Editing and Proofreading | 30 hours
In this practical, hands-on course, develop solid copy editing skills (clarity, correctness, conciseness, consistency) by
learning to identify and correct content errors, problems
in technical quality, style guide conformity and issues in
language and thought. Then focus on proofreading skills
including proofreader’s marks, grammar and spelling errors
and basic formatting. Topics may also include working with
style sheets, proofing on screen versus proofing hard copy,
and proofing electronically generated or scanned material
for a variety of English-language texts.
good thinking.
Note: If English is not your first language, please review the
English Language Proficiency requirements before registration at conted.ucalgary.ca/english
WRI 110 Writing Well | 30 hours
Writing is at the heart of professional and personal communication, and is, therefore, a critical skill in many realms.
To write well, you must be familiar with audience, purpose,
form and style as well as the mechanics of writing. Learn
the essential skills to be successful at getting your intended
message across to a variety of audiences through study
and practice.
CONTED.UCALGARY.CA/WRITING | 403.220.2952
SPECIALIZATION COURSES
Students must choose a specialization. These courses make
up 60 of the 200 hours required for this certificate.
Business and Technical Writing | 60 hours
WRI 220 Document Design | 30 hours
To ensure your writing has the strongest impact possible,
learn how to successfully present user-friendly documents.
Start with a brief overview of the four basic design principles
(contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity) that appear
in every well-designed document. Next learn about colour
and font, and how choosing the right one can have a positive
impact on your writing.
Prerequisites: BMC 352 Learning Online, and one other core
course.
PROFESSIONAL WRITING OPTIONAL
COURSES | 30 hours
To fulfil the 200-hour requirement, students choose 30 hours
from the following courses:
WRI 240 Copywriting — Words that Sell | 30 hours
WRI 220 Document Design | 30 hours
WRI 270 Grants, Sales and Funding Proposals | 30 hours
WRI 330 Publishing and Promoting Your Work | 30 hours
WRI 260 Science Writing | 30 hours
ADL 310 Social Media and More | 30 hours
WRI 230 Strategic Writing for Public Relations and
Marketing | 30 hours
WRI 215 Technical Writing and Documentation | 30 hours
WRI 320 Writing Tools | 30 hours
WRI 215 Technical Writing and Documentation
30 hours
Learn to communicate information to your audience effectively by developing concepts and tools to help you make
sense of various writing tasks. Develop your ability to analyze
written information and how to use structure to reinforce
its meaning and make the message clear. Produce writing
samples based on real-life documents including reports,
policies and procedures, proposals, summaries, product
specifications, manuals and user guides.
Prerequisites: BMC 352 Learning Online, and one other core
course.
Marketing and Public Relations
| 60 hours
WRI 240 Copywriting — Words that Sell | 30 hours
Using words as tools, make the reader sit up and take notice
so you can first communicate with, and then persuade and
motivate, them. Then, acquire a foundation in the copywriting process, marketing strategies, and the principles of
persuasion. Learn to write dynamic advertisements and sales
and marketing brochures for products and services. Get
feedback as you learn to write influential sales and marketing
brochures, letters and other documents.
Prerequisite: BMC 352 Learning Online.
WRI 230 Strategic Writing for Public Relations
and Marketing | 30 hours
Learn the information necessary to achieve public relations
writing success, including how to write and format documents
such as news releases, advisories, media kits, backgrounders,
fact sheets and more. Continue with practice in marketing
and advertising writing which may include: advertisements
for print, radio, or television, proposals; sales; direct mail;
fund raising and more. Touch briefly on engaging audiences
through the web, social media, and blogs.
DELIVERY
All courses are offered online. Some courses may also be
offered in classroom format at the University of Calgary main
or downtown campus.
In this online program, you will work within scheduled startand end-dates, and assignment timelines. In most cases,
the times you choose to work will be entirely up to you. It
is strongly recommended that you log into the University’s
online learning software three to four times per week to
keep pace with the class. Readings, assignments and
contributions will be required on a weekly basis. Graded
assignments, participation marks, and sometimes exams, are
also given for a final letter grade mark. You should plan on
studying and working a minimum of six hours per week per
course.
Online Learning Prerequisite Course
In this certificate, BMC 352 Learning Online is a required
course that must be taken before any other courses. If you
have recently completed a fully interactive online course,
you may be eligible for advanced standing. You must apply
by completing the online application form and pay a nonrefundable fee for the prior learning assessment.
TIMELINE
This is a self-paced program, which many students complete
in 12 to 18 months. To learn if fast tracking this program is
an option, please call 403.220.2952 to speak to a student
advisor.
Prerequisites: BMC 352 Learning Online, and WRI 130
Professional Writing Basics.
good thinking.
CONTED.UCALGARY.CA/WRITING | 403.220.2952
ADMISSION
TRANSFERABILITY
Important: Students are expected to have university-level
English writing skills including grammar, vocabulary and
basic writing experience. For those needing these skills,
WRI 110 Writing Well can be taken at the beginning of the
program.
On completion of a Professional Writing Certificate, you may
be able to transfer up to 100 hours towards a second Professional Writing stream or the Creative Writing Certificate.
If English is not your first language, please review the English
language proficiency requirements at conted.ucalgary.ca/
english
Awards are given to deserving students not only for their
academic achievement, but also for community involvement.
Award sponsors include both corporate and private donors.
Students in this program may be eligible for:
You can take courses first and enrol in the certificate later;
however, as programs are subject to change, we recommend
you apply for admission to the certificate program as early
as possible. Once you are admitted, you can be confident
that you have locked in the requirements leading to your
graduation.
SCHOLARSHIPS
•The Continuing Education Endowment Award
•Mary Cone Barrie Scholarship
You must be a minimum of 18 years of age to be admitted to
the program. Successful completion of a Grade 12 diploma
and relevant work experience are recommended.
A degree or diploma is not required to enrol in this program.
PRIOR LEARNING ASSESSMENT
Prior learning from other post-secondary institutions
Advanced Standing* may be granted for equivalent, graded
courses completed at other post-secondary institutions.
Credit may be granted for up to a maximum of 60 hours
towards this certificate. To apply for standing visit https://
www.ucalgary.ca/cted/forms/caltsl_advcredit.html
Transferring credit from other Continuing
Education certificates
If you have completed requirements for another University of
Calgary Continuing Education certificate, you may be able to
transfer* some credits between programs. For details, please
review the Transferability information in the certificate programs that you have completed. To transfer credits, please
contact a student advisor.
* Note: The combined total of transfer and Advanced
Standing credits cannot exceed 100 hours for this certificate.
OTHER CONTINUING EDUCATION WRITING CERTIFICATES INCLUDE:
• Creative Writing
COURSE REGISTRATION
CERTIFICATE ADMISSION
CONTACT INFORMATION
To view courses and enrol online, visit conted.ucalgary.ca and go to Interest Areas.
Choose Writing, then click on Courses. You
may enrol online for most courses using a
Visa, MasterCard or American Express.
You do not need to be enrolled in the
certificate to take a course. If you wish to
enrol in the Professional Writing Certificate,
please go to conted.ucalgary.ca/apply
Professional Writing Certificate
University of Calgary Continuing Education
Education Tower 1120
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, AB T2N 1N4
To enrol by phone, please call 403.220.2952
or 1.866.220.4992 (toll free) between
8:30 am and 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday.
You will need a Visa, MasterCard, American
Express or a purchase order number
from your employer.
good thinking.
Important: Students are expected to
have university-level English writing skills
including grammar, vocabulary and basic
writing experience. For those needing these
skills, WRI 110 Writing Well should be taken
at the beginning of the program.
403.220.2952
1.866.220.4992 (toll-free)
conted.ucalgary.ca/writing
[email protected]
PUBLISHED MARCH 2015
CONTED.UCALGARY.CA/WRITING | 403.220.2952