ProfessionalSkills

Business Writing Essentials

Do you want to write professional business documents? This course provides you with a thorough
understanding of the fundamentals of modern business writing. You will develop six main skills which will
help you to write all kinds of documents more effectively and professionally.

Your experienced trainer will guide you through the discovery and development of these skills, through
hands-on activities, case studies, discussions and learning games. Throughout the course, you will
practise these skills using a live case study from your current work situation.

Who should attend?

Anyone with at least upper-intermediate English proficiency who would like to develop a strong
foundation in business writing.

Objectives
After this course, you should be better able to:

• plan, write and edit documents, following the conventions of modern business writing
• produce complete, clear, concise and coherent documents that avoid miscommunication
• write using reader-friendly language and appropriate levels of formality to build good relationships
with your audience

Benefits
After this course:

• participants will be more productive and better able to build relationships in writing
• clients and colleagues will be better able to understand messages, take action and save time
• the organisation will be able to project a more professional image both internally and externally

www.britishcouncil.org
Course Outline

Business writing fundamentals

• The features of effective business writing
• The POWER writing process
• Assessing business writing samples

Ensuring your document is complete

• Selecting content to match your purpose and audience
• Structuring your documents
• Getting the action you want

Communicating clearly in business writing

• Clear openings and headings
• Making your messages specific
• Selecting reader appropriate words

Coherent business writing

• Sequencing information in paragraphs
• Linking techniques for sentences and paragraphs
• Avoiding repetition

Writing in a courteous, reader-friendly tone

• What makes tone more or less formal?
• Choosing a tone that connects to your reader/s
• Using the passive and active

Communicating concisely in business writing

• Too little or too much?
• Sentence and paragraph length
• Strategies for reducing sentence and paragraph length

Correct business writing conventions and language

• Following layout and formatting conventions
• Using correct punctuation
• Using digital tools to check grammar

Business writing mini-clinic

• The editing and reviewing process
• Editing and reviewing documents
• Evaluating performance and setting goals
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