Business Writing

Introduction

• What is effective business writing?
• Current trends in business writing
• Is writing appropriate?

Analysing and planning

• Planning
• Identifying your purpose and intended outcomes
• Analysing your readers

Structured writing – design guidelines

• What is structured writing?
• Structured writing in action
• Key guidelines of structured writing

Structured writing – units of information

• Units of information
• Bites and bite headings
• Topics and topic headings

Creating an outline

• Identifying your content
• Reader focused dialogue approach
• Templates – instant outlines
• Examples of outlines for standard documents
• Apply structured writing to emails

Writing guidelines

• Plain language
• Choosing the right words
• Using the right tone
• Sentence construction

Layout

• Presenting text
• Presenting tables, graphics and charts

Writing tips

• The need for speed
• Tips for being efficient

Editing your document

• The editing stage
• Editing against your plan
• Proofreading

Where to from here?

• Actions for further development of your writing skills

Before the course

Do you want to get the most out of this experience? To prepare for your Business Writing course, please:

• Bring along 1 or 2 examples of an email or short document you have written.

If you need help or advice, email us at info@mci.edu.au or call 1300 768 550.

2 weeks after the course

Take time to revisit your action plan, written during the course, and your course workbook.

You might want to review some key concepts from the course, including:

• Thinking clearly about your document’s purpose, outcomes and readers before starting to write.
• Using Plain English to keep your writing concise and easy to understand.
• Using a personal and positive tone.
• Using headings, white space and bullet points to guide readers through a document.

What will you commit to improving in the next 2 weeks?

If you need help or advice, email us at info@mci.edu.au or call 1300 768 500.

4 weeks after the course

These  activities can assist you in enhancing business writing skills:

• Asking for feedback from 2 colleagues on how your writing has changed since attending the course.
• Reflecting on which of the key concepts from the course have you found most useful, and why.
• Committing to an action plan to continue to develop your writing skills.

We would love to hear about your results! Please get in touch by sending an email to info@mci.edu.au