About Our Writing Training Courses

Business Training Works offers several writing courses designed for people who work in a variety of professions and industries. In an effort to best meet the needs of all participants, we customize our programs by using writing samples provided by the participants themselves with the understanding that their identities are not revealed. Our goal is not to embarrass or humiliate anyone. By using texts that come from the people who will be trained, we have found that time is spent covering only those issues that are posing difficulties for participants.

While we cannot promise that all writing errors will disappear immediately after a single training session, we can guarantee that participants will have a heightened awareness of what their most frequent mistakes are and how to spot and correct them in their own writing. Improvement, however, will depend on two specific factors over which we have little or no control: 1) practice, and 2) a personal commitment from each participant to try and produce error-free writing.

Regardless of the professional field, people's most frequent workplace writing errors involve the following:

Content (the substance of what they want to say in writing)

• Not knowing what they want or need to say
• Not articulating ideas clearly
• Not having awareness of or consideration for their reading audience
• Not understanding what their audience is to "do" with the information

Style (the manner in which they express their ideas)

• Not stating ideas clearly
• Relying heavily on jargon and/or obfuscating language
• Not using the active voice
• Not being concise or convincing
• Not writing in grammatically complete sentences

Organization (how ideas, words, sentences, and paragraphs should be logically linked within a text)

• Not recognizing where one idea ends and another begins
• Not knowing how to use transitional words and phrases to move ideas forward
• Not being able to see "the big picture" because of their intimacy with a text

Mechanics (the "road signs" of writing that let readers know how something should be read)

• Not understanding basic rules for capitalization
• Not knowing how to use punctuation correctly
• Not knowing how to spell words correctly
• Not knowing how to use resources that address mechanical issues

The four components given above are featured in any piece of writing. Failure on the writer's part to give equal attention and weight to each will result in flawed writing. By the conclusion of the training session, participants will understand the importance of these four components and should come to appreciate and maximize the revision phase of the writing process to eliminate errors from their own texts.

Process

Our writing courses vary in length. Below are the suggested timeframes for each. 

After you schedule the course, we will send you pre-work via email for the participants to complete. The pre-work takes about 15 minutes and includes a request for several writing samples. This step allows us to get a clear idea of your group's skill level and specific needs. Although not mandatory, pre-work will contribute to your course being robust and relevant for the people attending.

• The facilitator will need two flip charts and markers.
• We prefer a u-shaped setup or tables for four to six people.
• Upon completion of the course, the client may request a comprehension test if desired.