ARE YOU READY TO STUDY PROFESSIONAL WRITING WITH US?

These questions are designed to encourage you to think about our course on a practical level and help you decide if it is the right course for you. You also need to look at our brochure and read the Frequently Asked Questions page (which provides all the basic information about our course).

What do you read? Do you read widely? Do you read on a regular basis?
Our experience shows that students who are already keen readers make better writers and better students. Creative writing guides say the same thing – the more you read, the better (including novels, nonfiction, newspapers, and magazines).
We expect you to do a large amount of reading as part of your studies, and we teach you to read more critically, but we have found that students who are not already reading widely and regularly find it difficult to establish the good reading habits expected in the course.

What do you write? Have you written anything apart from what is required for work or school? Do you write regularly? Have you ever sent anything out to a magazine or publisher?
We don’t expect applicants to have publication credits, but you should be writing on a regular basis. This includes, but is not limited to, a diary, journal or letters. This will, at the very least, provide you with a variety of work to choose from for your folio. As a student, you will be expected to write in class, do writing exercises as part of your homework and complete writing assignments for most subjects. If you establish a writing habit now (at least an hour or so 2-3 times a week) this will stand you in good stead for the course requirements.

Do you read books about writing or visit websites about writing?
This will give you an idea of the kinds of material covered in our classes – the craft of writing, technical aspects, how to redraft your writing and how to research publication opportunities.

What is your current level of language skills (grammar, punctuation, spelling)?
It’s not true that these days the computer “fixes” all these things for writers. A professional writer (and even more so, a professional editor) must have high levels of skills in this area. Editors and publishers will no longer read manuscripts or accept work that contains a lot of errors. While we teach these skills in Editing 1A & 1B, we have discovered that students who do not already have a reasonable level of proficiency are unable to successfully complete the course. This is why we ask you to sit a grammar test at the selection interview. If this is a problem area for you, you may like to undertake a short course now to increase your chances of selection.

As a full-time student you are expected to attend 20 hours of classes each week and spend a further 20 hours at home on homework, reading and assignments. Are you able to commit to this amount of time?
Students sometime enter our course expecting that it will be “easy” or less work than, for example, a marketing or business course. This is an unwise assumption. With a full-time study load, you are expected to attend all classes unless ill, complete all homework and submit assignments on time (meeting deadlines is an important aspect of our course). This means you will have between 15 and 20 assignments due per semester, plus homework and required reading.
While we understand that some students need to work part-time, this is not a reason to miss class or fail to submit work. You need to think about whether you are committed enough to the Professional Writing & Editing course to devote a large portion of your life to it.

Are you able to attend all of your classes, every week (unless genuinely ill)?
Whether you are a part-time or full-time student, you must attend all of your classes for subjects you are enrolled for. We complete an enormous amount of work in the classroom each week – lecturing, writing, workshopping and extra information – and most of this is not available in convenient handouts. You need to be there to listen, experience, practise and ask questions about things you don’t understand. The study of writing is a two-way street and you will only get back as much as you put in.

As a part-time student, are you able to commit to a four hour class every week plus four hours of work at home for every subject you enrol in?
See the two previous questions – but also be aware that sometimes it can be more difficult for part-time students to fit school into their life than for full-timers. You need to be able to give your classes and study time a high priority.

Are you good at time management, organising yourself and being punctual? Are you good at meeting deadlines?
Are you able to work on several projects at once? (You may, for example, be required to work on a novel, a short story and an article – all at the same time – and hand them in on the same deadline date.)

For each subject you study, you need to allocate four hours of class time and four hours at home on homework, reading and assignments. Sometimes you may have three or four assignments due in one week. Managing your study load is an important aspect of completing the course successfully.
Punctuality and class attendance is also very important, so you don’t miss crucial information and work. In the writing/editing/publishing world, being able to meet deadlines is vital in order to be published or get work, and it is an important element of our course. It is one of the ways we prepare you for “the real world”.

How much do you know about the Certificate IV/Diploma of Professional Writing & Editing course? Have you researched the structure of the course, the subjects offered and the study requirements? Do you know what subjects you would be interested in studying?
We expect that if you are interested in studying our course you will have researched what it is about and what the requirements are. Visiting this website is an excellent start.

Do you have writing goals or ambitions you would like to achieve? How do you think this course will help you achieve them?
Entering our course with the idea that you would like to “do a little bit of writing” is not a good beginning. While we don’t expect you to have your whole career planned out, you need to put some thought into exactly what the course will offer you and how it will assist you in taking the next step in your writing/editing career.
Many mature age students enter the course in order to fulfil a dream of writing a novel or perhaps being published. This is a great positive to begin with. Younger students may have particular jobs or careers in mind. You will gain more from the course if you have a sense of where you want to go with it. This helps you to choose the subjects most suited to you, among other things. It also adds to your commitment to completing the course.
Part of the course is about helping you towards your goals – we also recognise that you may discover a whole new career path while completing your studies!

Professional Writing and Editing
Victoria University