Class Topics

Effective Writing Issues

• Writing from your reader’s perspective—and why it’s vitally important
• Beginning the writing process: planning and outlining
• Heading hierarchies and their importance
• Flow and coherence
• Characteristics of a good paragraph
• Strategies to improve sentence clarity and variety
• Conciseness: methods to eliminate wordiness and choose the best words and phrases
• Consistency: parallel structure and other devices
• Reviewing and revising your document
• Editing and proofreading tips to produce cleaner documents
• Where to get help when you need it: reference materials and internet links

General Business Writing Issues

• The basic business letter, memo, and report
• Email etiquette
• Tone in business writing
• Subordinating negatives in good news and neutral messages

Grammar, Punctuation, and Mechanics Issues

• Basic punctuation rules: what to use when
• Grammar and mechanics issues:
  • Basic parts of speech
  • Making subjects and verbs agree
  • Tense consistency
  • Capitalization
  • Singular vs. plural agreement
  • Active vs. passive voice
  • Sentence fragments
  • Using pronouns clearly