The Business Report Writing course teaches the skills required to write clear, explicit business reports. It focuses on the structure critical to all reports, providing the basic knowledge any report writer can use for all types of business reports.
The course teaches all the best practices that result in clear, professional business reports, from deciding what should go into the report to preparing the final draft. The course includes five writing samples your instructor will evaluate, comment on, and use to coach you through skills you need to learn.
The online lessons contain clear explanations and many examples. You go at your own pace and submit assignments when you are ready. The instructor evaluates the activities and examinations, comments on skills learned and skills that still need polish, coaches you through learning the skills, and certifies your competence. You receive a graduation certificate for framing at the end of the course.
Course Time
You will go through the course at your own pace, so you could complete it within a few weeks. However, you have up to four months to complete the course so you can fit the study time into your schedule. All lessons must be finished within the four-month period.
Course Content
2. Know your readers.
3. Choose strategies based on the goals and readers.
Prepare Your Notes
5. Prepare notes for your report.
7. Use special organizational patterns for some messages.
9. State the contents of the report.
10. State conclusions and recommendations in the introduction.
12. Keep explanations of a subject together in one block.
13. Check each block for focus.
14. Check each block for completeness.
15. Open each block with a statement of the contents.
16. Use headings to open blocks.
17. Bold field or data names to identify them as blocks.
Present Lists Clearly
19. Open list blocks.
20. Mark the list items clearly.
21. Keep list items in a single list.
22. Keep list items in the same format.
23. Present information in tables when possible.
24. Consider information blueprinting to be explicit.
Write Clear, Complete Explanations
26. For reports, write clear, complete, relevant explanations.
27. Use key words consistently.
28. Fully explain each new concept word or phrase.
29. Use full phrases to define words clearly.
Write Clear, Effective Paragraphs, Sentences, and Words
32. Write concisely.
33. Combine sentences to show relationships.
Separate sentences to make them clearer.
34. Write clear, simple, straightforward sentences.
35. Write strong, direct sentences.
36. Write clearly and simply for non-technical readers.
37. Use words the reader will understand.
39. Proofread.