Fundamentals of Business Writing

• Managers, supervisors, and administrative officers
• Technical personnel, program officers, and information officers
• Professionals who are expected to produce clearly written text, including e-mails
• Anyone wanting to learn how professional writers approach business writing, or seeking to refresh their writing skills

• Increase your productivity by eliminating "writer's block" and other time-wasting barriers.
• Improve readability: in your own writing and other people's, through editing techniques that most professional writers use
• Update your grammar, punctuation and usage: many rules have changed, but this workshop will show you what's acceptable now, and why

1. The Elements of "good writing"

• Four characteristics of good business writing
• Analyzing your writing samples to see if they meet these characteristics

  2. Getting Started

  • "Quick-fix" Techniques to Use Every Day on all your Writing
  • Breaking Out of Writer's Block
  • Four Editing Techniques that are Easy to Learn and Will Improve Anybody's Writing 3.Now the Basics
    • Two Questions that every Writer Must Answer before Beginning to write:
      • What's my purpose?
      • Who is the target audience?

        4. Mastering the greatest enemy of clear writing: inappropriate use of the passive voice

        • What Is the Passive Voice and What's wrong with it?
        • Why do Writers Use it so frequently?
        • Using Passive Voice Appropriately

          5. Keeping to the point: harder than you think

          • Eliminating Unnecessary words and Phrases
          • Gobbledygook and Jargon
          • Artful Punctuation Techniques

            6. The Final Touches

            • Using Formatting to Catch Reader Interest:
            • Using Subheads to Guide your Reader
            • Using "Pull-quotes" to Emphasize Points
            • Dealing with Background
            • Developing Templates

              7. Develop and Apply Checklists

              • Eliminating Embarrassing Errors by Developing Editing Checklists that You Automatically Apply to Each Piece You Send Out

There are no prerequisites for this course.

There are no follow-ons for this course.