Program Requirements
The Department of English offers an interdisciplinary Master of Arts degree in Writing, Rhetoric and Media, which combines work in theory and research with a comprehensive emphasis on written, oral and visual rhetoric. It prepares graduate students to be professional and technical communicators in industry and government and to be teachers of writing and rhetoric in two-year colleges. In addition, the program provides the background necessary for students who plan to pursue a PhD in rhetoric or technical communication.
This degree is designed for students with strong writing skills from all academic disciplines. The program accommodates students with undergraduate majors in technical and scientific fields, as well as those with humanities and business degrees.
The Multimedia Authoring Teaching and Research Facility and the Class of 1941 Studio for Student Communication give MAWRM students access to corporate-style presentation and collaboration space as well as the newest computing hardware and software, enabling multimedia and Web design and production, digital video and audio editing, desktop publishing, and graphic design. Clemson’s award-winning undergraduate writing programs and faculty with expertise in the teaching of writing allow MAWRM students to work at the forefront of innovative writing pedagogy. The Campbell Chair in Technical Communication, the Pearce Center for Professional Communication, and the Effective Technical Communication Program in Engineering constitute a network of professors enabling students to work in a variety of academic disciplines. The Usability Testing Facility allows students to conduct state-of-the-art usability research on interface designs, on-line documentation and other publications. MAWRM students wishing to pursue careers in the growing field of health communication also have the option of combining the Master’s degree with the Health Communication Certificate program described below.
Additional information about the MAWRM program is available at https://www.clemson.edu/graduate/academics/program-details.html?m_id=wrm.
Admission Requirements
Applicants must hold a degree in any field from an accredited college or university, with a 3.0 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale; submit a satisfactory score on the GRE general test; submit at least two letters of recommendation from individuals familiar with the candidate’s academic work and/or work experience; and submit a brief résumé, a one-page statement of purpose discussing why the candidate wishes to pursue the MAWRM degree and ten pages of workplace or academic writing.
Requirements for Awarding of a Degree
The MA in Writing, Rhetoric and Media requires 30 credit hours beyond the BA or BS degree, distributed as follows:
Five electives in a specialty area
Five electives in a specialty area chosen to meet professional goals. Possible electives include professional communication courses in writing, teaching, digital publishing and corporate communication, as well as courses in related disciplines.
Master’s Project
In this three-credit course, students complete a portfolio, the main component of which is a semester-long, potentially publishable paper; or a client project accepted by the client and approved by the student’s Portfolio Committee, which is comprised of three MAWRM faculty. This requirement includes (a) the article or client project; (b) a multimodal introduction offering a defense of the paper or project; and (c) a formal presentation to the Portfolio Committee.
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