Course details

Summary

For students with an interest in professional, academic, creative and technical writing, this new coursework-based master’s degree allows students to specialize and deepen their expertise.

Students will apply skills of advanced textual analysis and written communication to a wide range of contexts, audiences, and styles, and also connect their studies to the community and the workplace. By bringing together a diverse range of writing modes, graduates of the new Master of Writing degree will be set up for diverse careers, from business to government.

Students of this new highly versatile degree will study, produce, and be assessed on their professional, technical, and fiction and non-fiction writing.

Qualification structure and duration

Students enrolled in the MWRIT will complete 180 points of coursework, including one 60-point project. This can be completed in 12-18 months of full-time study or 18-36 months part-time.

Subjects and courses

MWRIT requires 180 points of coursework, with two compulsory courses:

WRIT 401 Advanced Reading and Writing (30 points)

WRIT 680 Extended Writing Project (60 points)

The remainder of courses must include at least one other 30-point 400-level WRIT course and come from a set list of courses (including PACE 495, DIGI 404, and ENGL 400-level courses).

Further study

Students can go on to study a PhD in English.

Career opportunities

Graduates of this new applied master’s degree will be able to:

• apply advanced skills in writing to a range of professional, technical, organizational, community, and creative contexts;
• write effectively within a range of registers and genres, and for a range of purposes;
• respond to the requirements of different audiences and media;
• engage the creative dimensions of professional writing and the professional dimensions of creative writing;
• undertake research relevant to their writing tasks;
• analyse critically the writing of others and apply what they discover to their own writing;
• provide editorial advice for other writers;
• understand and articulate the implications of being a writer in Aotearoa New Zealand/Niu Sila, especially in regard to te ao me te reo 毛利 and the Pasifika philosophy of teu le va.

Entry criteria

Normally the minimum requirement is a three-year bachelor’s degree from a New Zealand university, or a qualification or combination of qualifications considered to be equivalent.

If you gained your qualifications overseas, these will need to be assessed to make sure they are of an equivalent standard.

Qualification specific requirements

Students should have achieved at least a B average in 300-level courses in their undergraduate degree, which should have had a strong written component.

Other English language requirements: TOEFL PBT with a minimum score of 575 and TWE with a minimum score of 4.5; CCEL EAP Level 2 with a minimum B+ grade; CAE or CPE score of 176 with a minimum of 169 in reading, writing, listening and speaking; Pearson Test of English (Academic) - PTE with an overall score of 64 and no PTE communicative skills score below 58.