Advanced Writing Skills

This is a course for those who already are good writers. Our time will be devoted to writing letters of recommendation, of persuasion, of refusal, or of action, that reflect current word usage and up-to-date formats. You can also learn some basics about writing business cases, proposals, and reports.

After you complete this course, you will be able to:

• Make your writing clear, complete, concise, and correct.
• Improve sentence construction and paragraph development.
• Deal with specific business requests.
• Create effective business cases, proposals, and reports.
• Thoroughly document sources that you use in your writing.

Course Topics:

Session One: Course Overview

• Learning Objectives 

Session Two: The Cs of Writing

• Writing Clearly
• Familiar Words
• Precise Words
• Concrete Nouns
• Jargon, Part One
• Jargon, Part Two
• Writing Concisely
• Making Connections
• Writing Correctly
• Style
• Facts, Part One
• Facts, Part Two
• Facts, Part Three
• Choosing Your Sources 

Session Three: Writing Mechanics

• Building Paragraphs: Emphasis, Part One
• Building Paragraphs: Emphasis, Part Two
• Building Paragraphs: Sentence Unity
• Building Paragraphs: Sentence Structure, Part One
• Building Paragraphs: Sentence Structure, Part Two
• Building Paragraphs: Paragraph Size
• Proper Paragraphs
• More on Paragraphs
• Making Connections 

Session Four: Dealing with Specific Requests

• Types of Letters
• Keeping it Real 

Session Five: Online Business Communications

• Blogging for Business, Part One
• Blogging for Business, Part Two
• Guidelines
• Making Connections
• Connecting Through Social Media, Part One
• Connecting Through Social Media, Part Two
• Documentation, Part One
• Documentation, Part Two