Certificate in Freelance Writing
Our new Certificate in Freelance Writing will help you get off on the right foot in your freelance writing career. Explore new areas to supplement your writing income from our extensive array of courses.
Certificate Prerequisites
A university-level English language facility in both written and spoken English is expected. By that, we mean there should be fluency in spoken English, confidence in the use of grammar, a relatively rich vocabulary, and experience in developing text beyond 1,500 to 2,000 words. Instructors will assess student work in The Freelance Writing Business and may require that students take The Writer’s Handbook. In that case, The Writer’s Handbook would count as one of the student’s electives.
Certificate Requirements
The certificate requires 80 hours of class time, plus the submission of a final project. Most of the courses run for 20 hours. To prepare their final project for submission, students must enroll in the Freelance Writing Final Project Tutorial (see below).
Please note:
- After registering in their first course, students should inform us in writing of their intent to pursue the certificate: scs.writing@utoronto.ca
- Certificate students must inform each of their instructors that they require a grade.
- We cannot guarantee the availability of particular courses.
- Course offerings may change from year to year.
- Ungraded courses taken in past years at the School will not be evaluated retroactively.
Final Project
Within three years of taking their first course, candidates must complete the Final Project Tutorial. To enroll in the Final Project Tutorial, candidates must choose a supervisor (an instructor from the program who agrees to work with them) who will act as an editor for a series of writing assignments specific to their interests. They will have fourteen weeks to complete this process. For specific guidelines please contact the Program Office: scs.writing@utoronto.ca.
Freelance Certificate Required Courses
SCS 1711 The Freelance Writing Business
SCS 2112 Freelance Writing: Corporate Communications OR SCS 2130 Breaking Into the Periodical Market
SCS 2390 Freelance Final Project Tutorial (not included in the 80 hours)
2 electives from the list below:
Freelance Certificate Elective Courses
SCS 2114 The Art and Business of Blogging
SCS 2097 Creative Journalism
SCS 2535 Creative Journalism II
SCS 1691 Creative Non-Fiction: Introduction
SCS 1692 Creative Non-Fiction II
SCS 1722 Freelancing the Feature
SCS 2416 Freelance Science Writing
SCS 1864 How to Write a Column
SCS 1707 Travel Writing I
SCS 2400 Food Writing
SCS 2410 Stories that Sell
SCS 2708 Freelancing Fashion, Beauty, Health and Lifestyle
SCS 2704 The Art of the Interview
SCS 2702 Writing and the Law
SCS 2654 Digital Content Strategy Demystified
Online Courses
SCS 1711 The Freelance Writing Business
