Journalism Careers: How to Pursue Your Dreams of Writing
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If you love writing, journalism could be a fantastic career to pursue. This process often starts while working for the high school newspaper, but not every district has one.
The best journalism schools often want to see some practical experience in your application. If you don’t have a school paper, you might consider working as an intern for your local publication.
Most newspapers offer student learning opportunities for reporting, editing, printing, and more.
Although an undergraduate degree in journalism makes the most sense to start this career, your writing journey can take other paths to get you to where you want to be. You might consider looking at schools with top-rated programs in these areas.
What Are the Best Majors for Writers?
Many schools have a generalized major called “writing.” This journey includes several different genre studies, preparing you with broad knowledge to find success in whatever career venture you prefer one day.
That process includes journalism studies.
If you don’t want to pursue a journalism degree to avoid getting locked into one writing style, here are some additional options to consider.
Professional Writing
This writing degree focuses on the technical aspects of composition without including creative elements. If you want to work freelance after graduating, this major might be the best one to pursue. It often breaks into specialties that include nonprofit writing, digital work, and editing. James Patterson Teaches Writing
Technical Writing
If you pursue this degree, you’ll turn technical or scientific writing into something that the average person can read and understand. Your education helps you take complex information to something usable for anyone. It covers instruction manuals, white papers, tech support, and similar categories.
Creative Writing
Although journalists don’t use creative writing often, this degree can help you break into the business as a columnist, advice provider, or feature writer. You’ll discover what it takes to build authentic characters within this degree, along with story structures and dialogue assistance. It is one of the few majors that you can find at most colleges and universities in this category. Alicia Keys Teaches Songwriting and Producing
English Literature
When a specialized program isn’t available for your journalistic studies, this degree program becomes the default. You’ll study many of the great books of our time during your classes while getting asked to write, rewrite, and rewrite again to hone your skills. The goal of this course is to find your writing weaknesses to improve them. It teaches you how to research thoroughly and read information critically.
Business Writing
This undergraduate degree isn’t always offered as a stand-alone program, but the coursework is worth considering as a writer. It’ll teach you how to many corporate communications from all viewpoints. That means you can eventually break into sales, marketing, human resources, administrative support, information technology, accounting, or whatever other department inspires your passion.
Medical Writing
When this degree first arrived on the scene, it opened the door to plenty of transcription work. This field continues to grow, offering opportunities to explore STEM careers, science journalism, and medical communications. Most institutions affiliate their medical writing to graduate programs, so you may need to pursue a science-based option first.
Linguistics
If you love writing, this degree will push you into a unique place where your skills can expand. It teaches how to manipulate syntax and use words to be as specific and thorough as possible with each sentence. You’ll study each consonant and vowel structure, how they relate, and sentence formats that offer significant influence.
Publishing
Although this major isn’t a stand-alone undergraduate degree at many institutions, it does provide insight into the writing industry. Although most course materials aren’t aimed at writers to develop their skills, the classes offer several tips and practice sessions on editing. If you like proofreading or aspire to be a journalistic editor one day, you might consider pursuing this degree option.
Specialty Journalism
Instead of a generic journalism degree, you could pursue something more specific to open new doors for your career. Some schools provide opportunities in art, sports, economics, politics, and other specific fields to offer a specialty major. You can still get into top magazines and newspapers with these studies, although the subjects you cover won’t be as broad as they would be with the traditional path. Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writing
If you love to write, journalism could be in your future. These majors and undergraduate degrees can help you achieve the success you want while staying true to who you are.
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References/Resources:
https://www.learnhowtobecome.org/arts-humanities-careers/journalism/
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/journalism-major-overview
https://www.greatvaluecolleges.net/rankings/online-journalism-degree/
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