NewReport Writing

A report is an exercise in persuasion.

This course gives you the skills to write persuasive and coherent reports.  It will help you organise information and – more importantly – communicate powerful ideas to support decision-making.  We shall work on how to make language work for us, and how to make reports look as good as they read.

Key Training Features

Who Can Attend

Learning Outcomes

 Key Training Features:

The course is intensely practical. We shall be working on real reports throughout, combining this work with some practical exercises to highlight key tools and techniques. Participants are invited to bring to the course ideas for reports they are currently working on or have produced recently. Alternatively, they have the opportunity to work on an invented topic, as closely related to their work as possible.

The training focuses on two key areas: planning and editing.

Planning is the process of working out what we want to say in the report, and how we organise that material. The output of the planning phase is an outline, and we shall produce report outlines during the first half of the course. We also look at how to present graphic information.

Editing is the process of improving the style of our report. We develop a strategic approach to editing, working on paragraphs, sentences, and words, in that order. We explore methods of evaluating and measuring readability, as well as online tools for improving grammar, punctuation, and style.

 Who Can Attend:

This course is suitable for anyone who produces reports or similar reporting documents: briefings, business cases, and so on. It will be especially relevant for people who produce reports as part of strategic decision-making.

 Learning Outcomes:

As a result of attending this course, participants will be able to:

• Take a constructive and creative approach to report writing;
• Create persuasive arguments;
• Use data and information to support arguments;
• Use plain English;
• Use language that is appropriate to the readership;
• Format to attract attention (headlines, summaries, layout, graphics etc);
• Edit for accuracy, brevity and clarity; and
• Understand key issues of grammar and punctuation.

The above training can be completely customised fit your exact organisational requirements.  This means you can add your own specific work examples and case studies which makes the learning even more relevant and effective.