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Report writing
Nobody wants to waste time trying to understand wordy, bureaucratic or jargon-filled documents, and nobody thinks kindly of the people who write them.
Since the 1970s we have run our plain-English courses for all kinds of organisations, training their staff in the techniques and benefits of plain English. We train writers to put themselves in their customers’ shoes, and to ask ‘How would I feel if I received this and what would I think of the organisation sending it?’
We run this course at your offices, over one day. The programme is flexible and can be adapted to your own specific needs. Some of the sessions cover plain-English principles and techniques, and others concentrate on either practical case studies we provide or your own documents. If possible, we like to use your own material so that we are using familiar and meaningful documents to reinforce the techniques.
Training objectives
The course is designed to give delegates the skills and awareness they need to:
- recognise some of the traps a writer can fall into
- understand the features of a plain-English style
- use a clear and concise style to avoid wasting their readers' time
- identify the most appropriate writing style for the intended audience, and
- be able to write and set out a model report
The course covers the following.
- Introduction to the course
- Is the information as clear as possible?
- Writing styles - is the style appropriate for the audience?
- Shortening sentences
- Suggestions for clear writing
- Using verbs powerfully in reports - being active about passives
- Cutting the waffle out of reports
- Setting objectives - the key message
- Summarising a report
- Writing a short report
If you have any questions about this course, or you want to make a booking, please email info@plainenglish.co.uk.