Maritimer01

First I better introduce myself. My name is Patrick, I'm currently attending St. Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I'm in my forth year of my Undergraduate degree with a major in English and minor in Anthropology.
I started my program with ambitions of becoming a High School English teacher, however due to some poor academic choices made in my first year, my GPA isn't quite going to be good enough to get me into a Bachelors of Education program. So recently I have been looking at getting into writing and editing. I'm not huge on creative writing, however I thrive on essay writing when it comes to a subject of interest. This leads to my first question: Upon searching for jobs in my area in the subject of writing and editing it seems that most require a background or education in Journalism. So my question is, will my education in English allow me to step into this field? I don't have a portfolio at all other than papers written for school. Can anyone give me advice, or convince me that my Bachelors Degree will not be a total waste of money?

wmd

did you talk to your advisor at college? He probably has some better advice than us since he knows you a little bit better.

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Maritimer01

I have spoken with our Career center here at the University, but I thought I would ask a place that may have experienced people involved in the industry.

StephenP2003

I'm 22 years old, still in school, and I'm the editor-in-chief of the largest magazine in my city, meanwhile holding a second job as the editor of a quarterly broadband report published under a technology market-research company.

I have never taken a journalism class.

Get the experience early, show the world you can do it, READ STYLE GUIDES LIKE THERE'S NOTHING ELSE IN YOUR LIFE, and seal the deal with that piece of paper you get at the end of your last semester.

When you're trying to break into a profession that requires talent and skill, experience is more important than the degree, but the degree is often necessary as a formality.

edit: I am an English major, too.

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http://www.tigerweekly.com/stephensays

Malone

If you like essay writing type work, you may want to look into a Writing degree with a focus on Technical Writing. I guess it just matters if you're school offers that or something similar.

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There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed

JohnN

Just go out there and start writing, set up a blog and build traffic. Write on ScribbleSheet or Newsvine or something, get heard. You don't need a journalism degree to get into this world. I would brush up on some online skills as this is what is really needed. I.e. using blogs, html, css etc.

Here is a how to become a journalist article i wrote on my blog. Its been quite popular on the web.

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ScribbleSheet
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Comfortably Contrarian - interesting articles for young adults
www.scribblesheet.co.uk
News, Tips and Advice on Writing and Journalism
www.scribblesheet.co.uk/blog

ashleyc8705

I agree with John. Write as much as possible and get your name out there. Use feedback to improve your writing and eventually you will have enough to include in a portfolio.

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