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Fundamentals of Business Writing

  • Course Code A-FBW
  • Duration 2 days

Public Classroom Price

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Course Delivery

This course is available in the following formats:

  • Company Event

    Event at company

  • Public Classroom

    Traditional Classroom Learning

  • Virtual Learning

    Learning that is virtual

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Course Overview

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In this two-day course, you will learn to recognize good writing and how it differs from writing that is difficult to understand. You will learn to produce reports, letters, memos, e-mail, faxes, and short articles that are effective and clearly organized. You'll also learn to eliminate embarrassing errors by developing editing checklists that you automatically apply to each piece you send out. Finally, you will be exposed to writing examples that demonstrate the points under discussion.

Course Schedule

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Target Audience

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  • 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

Course Objectives

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What You'll Learn
  • 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

Course Content

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Course Outline

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

Course Prerequisites

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There are no prerequisites for this course.

Follow on Courses

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There are no follow-ons for this course.