Publishing & Writing Program Requirements
The MA in Publishing and Writing requires 40 credit hours, including:
- 24 credits of Publishing courses (includes the three required overviews and the option to do a 4-credit Master’s Project)
- 16 credits of department elective courses from Literature, Publishing, and Writing.
Beginning in Fall 2011, MA students are not required to take Literature courses.
Required Courses
| PB 680 | Magazine Publishing Overview |
| PB 683 | Book Publishing Overview |
| PB 692 | Electronic Publishing Overview |
MA Project or Course Option
Students in the MA in Publishing and Writing program may choose to produce, as a culmination of their graduate work, a project showing a professional level of accomplishment in publishing. The MA project can be a traditional thesis-type project that explores an editorial or publishing issue in depth by doing appropriate research and analysis. Alternately, it can be a project such as a magazine prototype, a book design project, a website, a book translation, or any other publishing project in which the student exhibits expertise in at least two areas within the publishing industry.
To register for a project, students must write a two-page prospectus in the semester before registering. The prospectus must be approved by the project committee chair. Students may complete a 4-credit Publishing (PB) course in place of the project.
Publishing & Writing (MA) At a glance
40-credit program
Full-time or part-time enrollment. Full-time enrollment is typically 8 or 12 credits per semester.
Fall admission
Full-time students complete the degree in two years; part-time students complete the degree in two and a half to three years.
Meet the Graduate Program Director
Associate Professor and MA Graduate Program Director Lisa Diercks is a publishing industry veteran who has taught book design and production, magazine design and production, and design software courses at Emerson since 1996. She began her career at Houghton Mifflin/Trade and later established her own design studio.
Graduate Studies
FOR CURRENT STUDENTS
To read the Graduate Handbook and learn about research and fellowship opportunities, visit the Graduate Studies website.
