This detailed business writing course lasts two days. It covers writing, editing and proofreading, giving you all the skills to create successful documents. You will find it invaluable if you work in a role that demands that you write well.
Under the guidance of a professional writer you will learn key techniques, try them for yourself and receive feedback. You will discover how to plan and structure documents, how to choose an appropriate style and how to write clear, accurate English, even under pressure.
You will also gain valuable editing and proofreading skills, to help you improve your documents and ensure they are free from errors. In short, you will get everything you need to write well at work.
We will continue to help you after the course too, because we always provide our students with a year of extra support. So you will be able to ask your tutor further questions and get more advice, all without charge.
Learning objectives
By the end of this course you will be able to:
plan and structure reports, proposals, emails and other key documents
write in a clear, professional style
communicate in plain English
choose the best words and use them accurately
hold your reader’s interest
edit and improve your draft documents
use grammar and punctuation with confidence
proofread effectively.
Writing skills
Communication
How do we define it?
Barriers to effective written communication - what can stop it being clear, accurate and successful?
The key stages: planning, writing, editing and proofreading
Planning before you write
The importance of planning
Defining the scope and purpose of the document
Knowing your reader and understanding their needs
Being clear about how you want the reader to respond
Preparing an outline
Structuring your document
Why structure matters
Essential principles - don’t bury the message; create a logical sequence
Models for structuring: proposals, reports, emails, press releases and letters
Using a template
Finalising the outline
Writing powerful headlines
What makes a good headline?
Tips for creating headlines
Making a strong start
Writing opening sentences
Achieving plain English
What do we mean by plain English? Dispelling the myths
Key plain English techniques and how to apply them
Good business style
Adapting your style to the needs of the reader and the document
Choosing an appropriate tone and level of formality
Selecting the best words
Guidelines for three key documents
Writing effective emails
Preparing marketing messages
Responding to complaints
Coming to a good end
Techniques for strong endings
Presentation
Creating an attractive, reader-friendly document
Editing skills
The role of the editor
How editors improve documents
The difference between editing your own and someone else's text
Approaches to editing
Making sense
Removing ambiguity
Avoiding the inappropriate
Cliché
Jargon
Management-speak
Improving clarity
Headings and sub-headings
Bulleted lists
Tables and diagrams
The good grammar guide
Recognising and correcting errors, including:
Collective nouns
Subject/verb agreement
Pronoun problems
That v which
I v me
Misused capitals
Fixing the punctuation
A review of the rules, including:
Commas
Colons and semicolons
Question marks
Apostrophes
Hyphens and dashes
Punctuating bullet lists
Proofreading skills
The role of the proofreader
The importance of proofreading
The limitations of spell checkers
The art of proofreading
Learning a new way of reading
Developing an eye for detail
Knowing when to intervene
Consistency and corporate style
Why consistency matters
Alternative spellings
Numbers and dates
Capitals and abbreviations
Italics and bold
Quotation marks
Tips for effective proofreading
Improving your technique
Things to look for - common errors
Further development
Reference sources
Post-course support
More information
The Business Writing course is available both as an open course and as an in-house course, which we would run at your premises.
For further details about open Business Writing courses, including pricing and a list of venues and dates of upcoming courses,
click here.
For more information about the in-house Business Writing course,
click here.
Top of page...
“An excellent course. Both the professional manner in which it was run and the content were superb. I have been recommending it to everyone who passes my desk.”
Kate Watts Marketing Assistant Carewatch
“What a great day! A course that delivered the subtleties of producing quality written communication combined with the back-to-basics of plain English, grammar and punctuation. We all went away much the wiser, eager to use our newly acquired skills.”
Neil Thompson Senior Risk & Compliance Manager Swinton Insurance
“I received very good feedback from staff, with many people saying they would recommend Stephen Lloyd Training for any future writing or editing training.”
Denise Halton HR Manager Institute of Physics
Summary
2 days
9.30am to 4.30pm daily
Small groups
Certificates
A year of free support
£690.00 + VAT
20% discount for registered charities
Venues and dates
Please call for course dates
The Business Writing course calendar
To book a course on-line simply click the date that interests you.
January 2018
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Course will be held in London
Course will be held in Manchester
Course is fully booked
Course will be held in Bristol
Course will be held in Exeter
Running the Business Writing course in-house
The Business Writing course can be run as in-house training anywhere in the world. If you have a group of staff who need the same skills, this option is convenient and cost-effective. It is powerful too, because we can provide a course that is specifically designed to achieve your objectives.
Tailored to your needs
The standard two-day programme is available as in-house training, but you may prefer us to tailor it to match the needs of your staff and your organisation. Tailoring can include:
designing a shorter programme
adding or removing topics
using your documents as examples and exercises
incorporating your templates
taking account of your style guide and tone of voice.
Flexibility
An in-house course is fully flexible. Tell us what you want to achieve and we will work with you to design a course to match. Tell us when you would like to run the course and we will find a date that suits you.
Free support
Every course we run comes with a year of free support for each participant. We recognise that people do not think of every question on the day of the training. Our support service gives them the opportunity to ask their tutor an unlimited number of questions in the year following the course. In this way they continue to build their skills and confidence.
Ask us for a quotation
The cost of an in-house course depends on a number of things, including its length, its location and how much preparation we need to do. We can readily give you a quotation, so please contact us to discuss your needs.
This detailed business writing course lasts two days. It covers writing, editing and proofreading, giving you all the skills to create successful documents. You will find it invaluable if you work in a role that demands that you write well.
Communication
Running the Business Writing course in-house