Admission Requirements

A student must meet Missouri S&T's regular undergraduate admission requirements.

Certificate Requirements

To receive the certificate in technical writing, a student:

• Must have completed at least 60 undergraduate college-level transferable credit hours, 42 of which must meet Missouri S&T's general education credit policy (see https://registrar.mst.edu/transfercredit/core42/).
• Must have completed the following courses totaling 12 credit hours:
  • ENGL/TCH COM 1600 Introduction to Technical Communication*
  • ENGL 3560 Technical Writing
  • ENGL/TCH COM 2560 Technical Marketing Communication
  • One 4000- or 5000-level course with the TCH COM designation
• Must have achieved at least a 2.5 average in the course work taken for the certificate. 
• Must request a certificate from the Registrar's Office within two calendar years of completing the required certificate course work.

Note:

* This course should be taken first if possible.

Other Stipulations:

• A student pursuing the technical communication minor may count the same courses for the minor and the technical writing certificate.
• A student who already has a bachelor's degree from UMR/Missouri S&T may count relevant courses from that degree (e.g., ENGL/TCH COM 1600) toward the technical writing certificate.
• The 12 credit hours of technical communication course work may not be counted toward the 60 credit hours of undergraduate college-level transferable course work.

Gainful Employment Disclosure

Admissions requirements

The graduate certificate program in technical communication is open to anyone who (1) has a bachelor's or master's degree or a Ph.D. in a relevant humanities, social science, science, or engineering field and (2) wishes to take the four courses required for the certificate.

Certificate requirements

Once admitted to the program, the student must maintain an average cumulative grade of 3.0 or better in the certificate courses in order to receive the graduate certificate. They will have three years to complete the program. The certificate courses may later be used to fulfill requirements for the Master of Science in Technical Communication at the university.

Curriculum

Four three-credit courses:

TCH COM 5510 Technical Editing
TCH COM 5530 Usability Studies
TCH COM 5550 Advanced Proposal Writing
TCH COM 5560 Web-Based Communication

One transfer course may be accepted toward the certificate if reviewed and approved by the department. Substitutions of other upper-level TCH COM courses may be allowed, exclusive of TCH COM 3000, TCH COM 4000, TCH COM 4085, TCH COM 4410, TCH COM 5000, TCH COM 5099, and TCH COM 5040.

Contributing Faculty

Dr. Ed Malone (malonee@mst.edu), professor
Dr. Kathryn Northcut, professor
Dr. David Wright, professor
Dr. Carleigh Davis, assistant professor
Dr. Ryan Cheek, assistant professor