The Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) Minor is designed to provide students with concentrated study of and practice in writing, language, and rhetoric related to technical and professional topics. The minor is most appropriate for students interested in careers in technical writing, technical editing, technical journalism, business and business writing, marketing, publishing, education, public relations, and scientific and technical fields where writing, analytic, and communication skills are valued.
Declaring a Minor in Technical and Professional Communication (TPC)
There are no admission requirements and no prerequisites for minors at the UW, including the TPC minor. Any undergraduate student with at least sophomore standing (45 credits completed) who has officially declared any major may declare a minor with their major advisor's permission. If you have not yet declared a major, you begin to take TPC classes now that will eventually apply toward the minor.
To declare a minor in TPC, meet with your major advisor. Only your major advisor may sign the form for you to declare a minor; this is to ensure that you meet satisfactory progress requirements. You can declare a minor until the third week of the quarter in which you intend to graduate.
English majors are not eligible to declare a Technical and Professional Communication Minor, per UW policy.
Technical and Professional Communication Minor Requirements
Note: Please refer to our earlier requirements if you declared the writing minor before Summer 2025.
The TPC Minor requires 30 credits in the below designations:
- Core Courses (10 credits)
- Elective Courses (20 credits)
- Technical and Professional Communication Electives (Minimum 10 credits)
- Additional Writing, Rhetoric, Communication, and Design Electives (Up to 10 credits)
Core Courses
- ENGL 206: Rhetoric in Everyday Life or ENGL 306: Introduction to Rhetoric
- ENGL 288: Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing
Elective Courses
Technical and Professional Communication
- ENGL 289: Business Writing
- ENGL 388: Professional and Technical Writing
- ENGL 390: Careers in Technical and Professional Communication
- ENGL 392: Technical and Professional Editing
- ENGL 394: Technical Communication: Big Data, Privacy, and Surveillance
- ENGL 396: Software Documentation
- ENGL 480: Workplace Research Methods
- ENGL 482: Advanced Topics in Technical and Professional Communication
- ENGL 487: Grant Writing
- ENGL 488: Writing in Health and Medicine
Additional Writing, Rhetoric, Communication, and Design
English courses
- ENGL 197: Writing in the Humanities
- ENGL 198: Writing in the Social Sciences
- ENGL 199: Writing in the Natural Sciences
- ENGL 208: Data and Narrative
- ENGL 270: Language and Society
- ENGL 281: Intermediate Expository Writing
- ENGL 282: Intermediate Multimodal Composition
- ENGL 296: Critical Literacy in the Natural Sciences
- ENGL 297: Intermediate Writing in the Humanities
- ENGL 298: Intermediate Writing in the Social Sciences
- ENGL 299: Intermediate Writing in the Natural Sciences
- ENGL 370: English Language Study
- ENGL 371: English Syntax
- ENGL 373: History of the English Language
- ENGL 375: Rhetorical Genre Theory and Practice
- ENGL 381: Advanced Expository Writing
- ENGL 382: Special Topics in Multimodal Composition
- ENGL 369: Research Methods in Language and Rhetoric
- ENGL 471: Theory and Practice of Teaching Writing
- ENGL 472: Language Learning
- ENGL 473: Current Developments in English Studies
- ENGL 478: Language and Social Policy
- ENGL 479: Language Variation and Language Policy in North America
- ENGL 481: Special Studies in Expository Writing
Communications courses
- COM 359: Writing for Mass Media
- COM 362: Community Journalism (News Lab)
- COM 459: Narrative Journalism
- COM 460: Special Reporting Topics
- COM 464: Writing with Voice
Design courses
- DESIGN 209: Fundamentals of Typography
- DESIGN 214: Marks and Symbols
- DESIGN 250: Visualizing Ideas
- DESIGN 369: Visual Systems
- DESIGN 371: Interface Design 1
HCDE courses
- HCDE 308: Visual Communication in Human Centered Design and Engineering
- HCDE 313: Introduction to User Research
- HCDE 318: Introduction to User-Centered Design
Informatics courses
- INFO 331: Introduction to Information Architecture
- INFO 362: Visual Information Design
Additional Requirements
- Minimum 15 credits of upper-division courses
- Minimum 2.00 cumulative GPA in courses applied toward the minor
- Minimum 20 credits taken in residence at UW Seattle
TPC minors, reach out to the Humanities Academic Services Center for help registering for TPC classes as early as the last week of any registration period 1.
Courses and Advising
Please visit the Humanities Academic Services Center or contact the TPC Faculty to discuss the TPC minor, your options for courses, TPC-related internships, potential careers or other post-graduation plans, or areas of focus within your minor, such as technical editing, software documentation, grant writing, medical writing, business writing, and rhetoric.
You can find detailed course descriptions for each quarter posted to our quarterly course offerings.
Staying Connected
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