Plain English and report writing in-house course
Since the 1970s we have run our Plain English course for all kinds of organisations, training their staff in the techniques and benefits of plain English.
We have worked with a wide range of government departments, high street banks, building societies, manufacturing companies and local authorities. Plain English has helped these organisations to save money. Their customers benefit too.
No one wants to waste time trying to understand wordy, bureaucratic or jargon-ridden literature. And no one thinks kindly of the people who write it! 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?’
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 reader's time;
- identify the most appropriate report writing style for the intended audience; and
- be able to write and set out a model report.
The course will cover the following:
- Introduction to the course
- Is the information as clear as possible?
- Report 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 report objectives: the key 'sentence'
- Summarising a report
- Bringing it together: writing a short report
This course is available as an open course, an inhouse course or an online course.
The course timings for in-house courses are:
Start 9.30am
Coffee 11am
Lunch 12.30pm to 1.30pm
Coffee 3pm
Finish 5pm
Ordering the Plain English reports course as an in-house course:
We run the 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 techniques of plain English, 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.
If you have any questions about this course, or if you want to make a booking, please phone Terri on 01663 744409 or email inhousetraining@plainenglish.co.uk.
