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Lacking confidence about your business report writing skills because you've never had any formal training in writing reports?
Panicking because you're supposed to be writing a business report and you've no idea where to start?
Sick of wasting hours worrying about how to knock all that research into a logical shape?
Or maybe you write business reports regularly but you're just not getting the results or feedback you'd like from your reports?
Lacking confidence about your business report writing skills because you've never had any formal training in writing reports?
Panicking because you're supposed to be writing a business report and you've no idea where to start?
Sick of wasting hours worrying about how to knock all that research into a logical shape?
Or maybe you write business reports regularly but you're just not getting the results or feedback you'd like from your reports?
If any of these sound like you, stop worrying now. Because this course will take you through the process of business report writing - step by step and with downloadable cheat sheets.
What's more, your guide is a Cambridge graduate and teacher with years of experience helping people write business reports that have impact.
Report writing: take the pain out of planning and the sweat out of structuring.
For most people, the hardest part of report writing is getting started. In this course, you're going to learn how to shave hours, days or even weeks off the report writing process through intelligent planning. You'll learn what questions to ask so you're not reinventing the wheel when you sit down to write your report.
But best of all, you'll discover a miraculous technique that will completely revolutionise how you go about structuring your reports. I developed this technique while working with a client who had been tearing his hair out at that early shaping stage. With my help, in under five minutes he went from having no clue about how to order his report to imposing a clear, coherent, logical structure on his ideas.
I've since gone on to share this technique with other report writers and trust me they're always blown away by its power and simplicity. I can't wait to share this technique with you - and you'll be glad I did.
Report writing with impact to win readers over
But this course won't just save you time as a writer. It will also help you save your readers time - and they will love you for it.
The American novelist Elmore Leonard famously advised writers to leave out the parts that readers skip. And I'm going to be showing you how to leave out the parts of a report all, yes ALL, readers skip. The pointless parts every report writer thinks are helping readers, but are really hindering them.
And I'll be busting some myths about that all important executive summary. It's the only part of your report you can guarantee everyone will read, so you'll want to make sure it's as powerfully persuasive as it can be. I'll show you how.
Stand out from the crowd with a report that looks as good as it reads
Finally, I'll be showing you how to take your almost-finished report up a notch with simple design and layout tips from a seasoned design professional. You'll even discover one little design trick that's been scientifically - yes, scientifically - proven to boost your credibility and persuasiveness with readers.
So what are you waiting for? Let's get that report written today.
Meet your instructor, Dr Clare Lynch. Learn what to expect from this course on report writing.
Use this workbook as you progress through the course. It's full of cheat sheets to help you write your report.
Report writing preparation: what this section covers.
How to research your report efficiently. How to avoid descending into the rabbit hole of digital data - and stay in the flow of writing your report without getting distracted.
There are many different reasons for writing a report. But, as we see in this lecture, one purpose underlines them all.
Three things to get straight in your head before you sit down to write your report.
An opportunity to practice the report-writing technique taught in the previous lecture.
A quick reminder of what we've covered in this section on preparing to write your report.
What you'll learn in this section on picking a winning format for your report.
Why a good brief is essential - and will stop you going off track when writing a report.
Terms of reference? Appendices? Learn what these and other report elements are for - and whether you need to include them.
Now's the time to firm up your brief so you can deliver a report that meets expectations.
It's just a summary of the whole report, right? Wrong! Here's why.
Use this template to craft the most important part of your report: your executive summary.
A quick reminder of what we've covered in this section on picking a winning format for your report.
What you'll learn in this section on planning and presenting your ideas powerfully in your report.
Ditch mind mapping and everything you learned about writing at college. Here's how to get your ideas down on paper - quickly and painlessly.
An opportunity to put into practice the report writing technique I showed you in the previous lecture.
How to organise your thoughts into logical paragraphs.
A handy tip for checking if your paragraphs are in the right order.
How easy do you find it to return these sentences to their original order?
How to keep your reader with you by crafting sentences that follow on naturally from each other.
It's time to write your report!
Dos and don'ts for using signposts to guide your reader through your report.
Make your report easy for your reader to navigate by including helpful signposts.
Buzzword bingo, acronym soup - and other no-nos that will turn your report's readers off.
Increase the readability of your report by editing out tech talk and biz babble.
A quick reminder of what we've covered in this section on presenting your ideas powerfully when writing a report.
What you'll learn in this section on polishing and proofing your report.
Expert insights on how to make your report look as good as it reads.
How to maximise your chances of catching the errors that will diminish your credibility.
Use the attached checklist to polish your report to perfection.
A quick reminder of what we've covered in this section on proofing and polishing your report.
How to get hold of your course certificate.
Got the writing bug and want to dig deeper into the topic? Check out our other courses.
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