2012 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America

Using Real World Experience to Develop Public
Relations Student's Writing Skills
Rochelle R. Daniel
Bowie State University
rdaniel@bowiestate.edu
Abstract
The poster presentation would focus on a practice that this instructor has implemented
into a public relations program to improve the writing skills of public relations undergraduate
students at Bowie State University (BSU), in Bowie, Md. The practice includes initiatives that
are similar to how public relations practitioners actually improve their writing skills in the
workplace but that have been tweaked for the classroom. An explanation of the similarities in the
workplace and how this instructor's initiatives are helping BSU public relations students to
improve their writing skills will be included in the presentation. The initiatives are as follows:
1) increasing the number of writing assignments in classes;
2) incorporating a variety of writing assignments (at least one-page long) that focus on topics
related to class material;
3) developing and using writing rubrics that help students improve their weak areas; and
4) editing with comments that tell students their problem areas and solutions (which include
rewrites) to correct their mistakes
Based on this instructor's 20 years of experience in the public relations field, from entry
level to managerial, she knows that public relations practitioners need to have excellent writing
skills to be successful in the workplace; and that they hone their writing skills by writing a
variety of materials from press releases to speeches to web content, and by revising and rewriting
based on the feedback from their supervisors and others they work for. By using real world
experience to develop the writing skills of public relations students, the instructor's ultimate goal
is to increase the marketability of BSU's public relations students.
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