Writing & Publishing Major

Talent is an amazing ingredient, but it’s not the whole recipe. Working writers need a solid foundation in the mechanics of writing, a storyteller's gift for narrative, a poet's eye for detail, and drive to keep adapting and improving improving in a fast-changing industry. Champlain College can give you all that and more.

Four students look at an illustration book in the library

Write Your Own Future

Become a dynamic thinker and develop irreplaceable writing skills that employers need.

Program Type: Major

School/Division: Division of Communication & Creative Media

Required Experiences: On-Campus Employment Opportunities; Study Abroad; Internships

Let us help you find...: Internships; Study Abroad; Current Students College Catalog; Admissions

Put your words to work.

A working writer needs more than just creative writing fundamentals. In this program, you’ll combine that artistry and craft with developing marketable skills ready for the workplace. Customize your degree with classes in marketing and publicity, filmmaking, journalism, professional pathways in publishing, digital storytelling, and genre-specific writing.

What Is Writing & Publishing?

Writing and publishing studies encompass a focus on creative writing craft and technique, as well as professional practices that explore how to submit, market, and showcase your work. You’ll also have the opportunity to study professional fields in publishing, including editorial, marketing, journalism, layout & design, and content creation for emerging media. These are the skills that will best prepare you to become a working writer. If you’re excited to start telling your stories, we invite you to get creative with us at Champlain.

Why Study it at Champlain?

Like all of Champlain’s academic programs, Writing & Publishing is grounded in hands-on learning that puts you at the center of your studies. You’ll have the support of faculty and career counselors to explore the field and uncover your calling. While you’ll certainly explore literature and learn to critique writing, you’ll do so much more than this by exploring beyond the boundaries of a traditional English program.

Our classes are taught by creative faculty actively publishing their own work and maintaining their own professional careers, bringing that experience directly to you. They also bring their professional contacts into the classroom so you can benefit from interacting with visiting authors, editors, agents, and other publishing professionals, and can practice building your own connections for the future. In addition, you’ll gain valuable experience in various fields through project-based and professional practices courses, internships, and through contributing to our student-run publications.

professor helps a student with an assignment

Different by Design

Learn From Practitioners

Classes are led by creative faculty who are actively publishing their own work.

Create With Like Minds

You’ll make valuable connections right in the classroom with visiting authors, editors, agents, and other publishing professionals.

Make It Real, Right Away

You can join student-run publications like Willard & Maple, The Crossover, The Well, and Chivomengro.

Learn More About Student Publications

Facts & Stats

100%

of Writing & Publishing majors in the Class of 2023 were employed within six months after graduation. That’s success you can see.

$88,000

Median annual salary for technical writers, according to Glassdoor.com.

Projected job growth for writers & authors between 2023–2033, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

View Our Student Work

a book cover design from a writing and publishing student's poetry project

GIRL – Poetic Story

a book cover design from a group project by writing and publishing students

SENSE – Creative Collection

a book cover design from a writing and publishing student's writing project

Wylderwood – Interactive Story

View More Student Work

Sample Courses in the Writing & Publishing Major

Our Writing & Publishing curriculum is designed for students who are passionate about writing and are looking for a degree that offers in-depth and versatile experiences to apply to a career of their choice. You’ll be able to tailor your academic experience to your personal interests and the type of writing you want to pursue professionally through selecting elective courses or and optional Editing & Publishing concentration. Check out some of the engaging and hands-on courses in our program.

First Year

WRT 100 Introduction to Writing & Publishing

WRT 200 Fundamentals of Journalism

Second Year

WRT 201 Professional Practices 1

WRT 231 Writing for the Workplace

Third Year

WRT 350 Reading & Writing: Special Topics

WRT 327 Seminar in Playwriting

Fourth Year

WRT 346 Professional Pathways in Publishing

CCC 410 College Capstone

See the Learning Outcomes for the Writing & Publishing major

View Full Curriculum

Introduces students to different aspects of writing and publishing. Students learn about the different career paths available to writers through meeting, interviewing, and writing about a range of working writers. They are introduced to, and practice, multiple forms of writing, and begin to develop a sense of their own interests and preferences. They learn to collaborate with each other, and to practice workshop and revision skills.

Prerequisites	Course is open to Writing & Publishing majors or Undeclared CCM majors.
Credits	3

This course introduces students to the basic skills of reporting with hands-on experience in gathering news,interviewing, researching, and investigating. Students draft, edit and finalize news stories, profiles, features,news-features, reviews, and commentaries. Peer reviews and writing workshops will improve students’ abilities to self-edit. Analytical discussion of current news is a central element of the course. Students also examine the contemporary news/media environment, corporate ownership of news organizations, and the central function that a free press plays in American democracy.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This one-credit course helps students develop and manage an online presence and understand the basics of marketing, publishing, and promoting their own work on current social media platforms. Students will address how social media can help foster and influence a writing career. The course will look at private vs. public web presence and examine the editing, revising, and marketing steps that create an author’s brand. Students will also explore the skills and materials needed to begin searching for internships.

Prerequisites	Complete 15 credits.
Credits	1

This course introduces students to the fundamental elements of professional writing (clear, concise, and targeted) that are common among seven forms of workplace?communication: email correspondence, cover letters, resumes, proposals, long formal reports, oral communication, and team projects. Through peer reviews and writing workshops, students develop the ability to write and edit text that precisely targets its audience. This course emphasizes deepening and broadening students’ writing, speaking, and thinking abilities in a non-lecture-based, hands-on discussion-centered classroom.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Reading & Writing: Special Topics is a rotating subject course that offers students the opportunity to read and write deeply across a broad spectrum of artistic, cultural and historic literature in specific genres to be as representative as possible of the world literature canon. Genres covered in each course will vary based on the changing market and student interests.

Prerequisites	WRT-120 AND either WRT 220 OR WRT 226 OR WRT 237. Course may be taken up to 3 times for credit.
Credits	3

This course explores the fundamentals of playwriting. Students will read and discuss a variety of modem plays and performance texts, respond orally and in writing to what they1ve seen and read, and write dramatic pieces: exercises, scenes, short plays. The class will focus on creating believable and natural dialogue, developing characters, and communicating dramatic tension. By the end of the class, students will have a polished, working draft of a one-act play suitable to be submitted for production.

Prerequisites	WRT-120; Must complete 60 credits before taking this course OR have permission of Program Director.
Credits	3

This course, open to students from any major, will give students exposure to, and interaction with, a wide variety of potential career pathways in publishing, including writing, editing, screenwriting, copyediting, agenting, digital media, illustration, layout/design, publicity, and marketing. Contemporary developments in publishing are studied and discussed. A publishing professional visits the classroom each week. Students form collaborative working teams to embark on a 10-week publishing project they create and implement together.

Prerequisites	Look for 45 completed credits
Credits	3

The college capstone is an opportunity for students to pursue a self-directed experience in their professional program that intentionally integrates their liberal learning in the Core curriculum with their program learning. In addition to the substantive professional-based hands-on project in this class, the capstone will include a professional ethics component and a self-evaluation/self-reflection component.

Prerequisites	Must complete COR-310, COR-320, and two sections of COR-330 All Game majors (EGPR.BS, GDES.BS, GART.BS must also complete EGD-320 with a minimum grade of C.
Credits	5

You might also be interested in these…

Based on your interest in the Writing & Publishing major, we thought you also might like to check out these other academic programs and opportunities.

Majors
- Digital Humanities Major
  
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- Criminology & Criminal Justice Major
  
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- Education Major
  
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- Social Work Major
  
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- Integrative Professional Studies Major
  
  Design your own major through Champlain’s Degree Design Lab. You’ll combine courses and real-world learning experiences to personalize your own education.
Minors
- Conflict Management Minor
  
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- Family Studies Minor
  
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- Gerontology Minor
  
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- LGBTQ Studies Minor
  
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Areas of Study
- Creative Arts & Communication
  
  With many majors to choose from, you decide how to bring your ideas to life and communicate them to the world.
- Individualized Studies & Undeclared
  
  Learn what you love, and love what you learn with one of these professional pathways.
- Education, Humanities & the Sciences
  
  The born educator, the team player, the change maker, the advocate. Which of these human-centered majors fits you career goals?
- Law & Society
  
  Want to uphold a system of justice through meaningful public service? Check out these majors that revolve around “doing good.”

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Career Success

Our students enter the industry with professional experience and a portfolio of work. 100% of Writing & Publishing majors in the Class of 2023 were employed within six months of graduation.

Your Career Outlook

Learn more about our career-focused education

By the time you graduate, you will …

Have spent time in classes and workshops preparing for life after college;
Taken professional practice courses that will enhance your digital presence on numerous social media platforms;
Prepared your cover letter, résumé, and portfolio for the job market;
Strategized your career plans and developed professional contacts;
Taken courses in marketing and public relations so you can promote yourself; and
Navigated ethical and legal issues in the profession.

You’ll Find a Career In…

Copywriting
Reporting
Grant Writing
Communications
Advertising
Public Relations
Column Writing

Pre-College Summer Program: Filmmaking & Media Production Exploration Academy

The Filmmaking & Media Production Exploration Academy offers students the opportunity to learn about many of the different jobs available in creating content for film, television, and streaming – including movies, web series, documentaries, commercials, social media, drama, comedy and more. Students work together in a hands-on, supportive environment under the guidance of industry experts with extensive experience working at major film studios and networks.

This program is for students entering grades 10–12 and recent high school graduates.
Learn More on the Pre-College Summer Program Website

More Inside Writing & Publishing Major

Overview

Talent is an amazing ingredient, but it’s not the whole recipe. Working writers need a solid foundation in the mechanics of writing, a storyteller's gift for narrative, a poet's eye for detail, and drive to keep adapting and improving improving in a fast-changing industry. Champlain College can give you all that and more.
Curriculum

Your career in writing and publishing begins now with Champlain’s Upside-Down Curriculum. Discover the difference that doing on day one has on your success.
Faculty

Learn more about the experienced professionals leading Champlain College's Writing & Publishing program who are dedicated to teaching and mentoring you.

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