access
Lifetime
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4.5 Hours
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Description
Not all of us are natural writers, but with the right training, anyone can harness the power of written word to win over their audience. Led by a University of Cambridge writing tutor, this course guides you through the top principles that can be applied to most types of non-fiction writing, including emails, reports, advertising, blogs, and more. Whether you're looking to nail a cover letter or draft a better investment proposal, you'll power up your prose with real-life examples that illustrate writing theory as well as no-nonsense challenges to hone your skills.- Access 60 lectures & 4.5 hours of content 24/7
- Develop your voice & confidence as a writer
- Identify the techniques top writers use to persuade you w/ their words
- Learn how to persuade your employees, bosses, customers or investors
- Discover how to say more while writing less
- Leverage advanced rhetorical techniques to win your audience over
- Craft sentences that are clear, succinct & persuasive
Instructor
Dr. Clare Lynch has trained and coached people at a variety of organizations. She's helped executives break through the career roadblock created by poor, underconfident writing, and she also teaches academic writing and professional communication at the University of Cambridge. She is also a director at Cambridge Language Education and Research Associates (CLERA), which provides English language training and consultancy to governments, universities, the private sector and schools, both in the UK and overseas.After receiving her PhD in Old English from Cambridge, she founded Doris and Bertie Ltd. As the managing director of Doris and Bertie, she heads a team of business writing experts that work with anyone who needs to write as part of their job. She is also the author of the business-writing blog Good Copy, Bad Copy. It's named on Copyblogger's list of 15 copywriting and content marketing blogs that will make you more money.
Important Details
- Length of time users can access this course: lifetime
- Access options: desktop and mobile
- Certification of completion not included
- Redemption deadline: redeem your code within 30 days of purchase
- Experience level required: all levels
Requirements
- Internet required
Terms
- Unredeemed licenses can be returned for store credit within 30 days of purchase. Once your license is redeemed, all sales are final.
Course Outline
- Section one – getting started
- Introduction – is this course right for you? (2:44)
- Activity: introduce yourself!
- Three tips for overcoming writer's block (2:11)
- The #1 habit that sets great writers apart (2:23)
- Activity: four AMAZING tools to develop the #1 habit of great writers!
- Quiz: Introduction to writing
- Section one summary
- Section two – knowing your reader
- Introduction: Why knowing your reader is the starting point of all great writing (1:19)
- Don't write for readers! (2:46)
- Activity: who is your reader?
- How your reader really sees you (3:12)
- Activity: reflect on how your reader really sees you
- So what's your point, exactly? (3:16)
- The three questions you need to ask before you even start to write (4:34)
- Acitivity: use this guide for your next writing project!
- Does your writing pass the "so what?" test? (5:43)
- Activity: apply the "so what?" test
- How readers read... (3:56)
- ...and what to do about it (6:36)
- The reason you've probably been starting in the wrong place (5:28)
- Assignment: can you make this email more compelling for the reader?
- The one word no reader can resist (3:49)
- Assignment: how would you respond?
- Two real-life reader awareness FAILS - and how to fix them (7:42)
- A brilliant technique to get inside your reader's head (9:31)
- Activity: Build an in-depth profile of your reader
- Quiz: knowing your reader
- Section 2: summary
- Section three – write less, say more
- Three reasons to write less (2:17)
- The writing habit that makes you sound like a liar (4:38)
- Trimming the fat: where to start (2:48)
- Ditch these unnecessary words (4:40)
- Flabby phrases to avoid (5:04)
- The lazy descriptors that will weigh your writing down (9:10)
- A brilliant online tool for making your writing leaner (2:43)
- Assignment: Cut the lazy, unnecessary descriptors
- Mind maps are evil - here's what to do instead! (2:12)
- Activity: edit this text to make it shorter and more compelling!
- Quiz: write less, say more
- Section three summary
- Section four – how to get your message across to the widest possible audience
- Why there's really no need to worry about dumbing down (5:17)
- How to get your message across to the widest possible audience (4:10)
- How to avoid the curse of knowledge (4:27)
- Activity: Try out this online tool for banishing the curse of knowledge (3:28)
- Choosing the best words for the job (5:36)
- Tips for choosing the best words (3:08)
- Quiz: winning over a wider audience
- Section four summary
- Section five – how to craft sentences that sing
- The number one writing habit that's turning your readers off (4:09)
- Burn this figure into your brain! (2:11)
- Three quick ways to identify a sentence that will send your reader scuttling (3:11)
- How to tame a sentence that's out of control (7:25)
- How to structure your sentences to make them easy to read (9:28)
- Activity: turn these sentences into something beautiful!
- Quiz: how to craft sentences that sing
- Now we're ready to put a little music into your writing (10:41)
- Activity: use sentence length to tell a story with music and drama
- Section five summary
- Section six – incorporating stories into your business and technical writing
- New Lecture (1:20)
- Show, don't tell (4:39)
- Your endless source of stories (2:51)
- Why you need to use concrete language (2:41)
- An unforgettable story (4:28)
- A brilliant tool for making your writing more vivid (2:54)
- Nounitis – how to spot abstract nouns (3:56)
- Activity: Identify the nouns and verbs in this extract
- Nounitis - how nouns can make your writing lifeless (3:43)
- Assignment – cure these terrible cases of 'nounitis'
- The neuroscience of stories (5:48)
- Quiz: telling your story
- How to get to the "why" with a metaphor (11:23)
- How to hit on the perfect metaphor (7:31)
- Activity: metaphor challenge #1!
- How to use storytelling techniques to bring data to life (5:15)
- Activity: metaphor challenge #2!
- Active writing: a storytelling tip from Hemingway, Orwell...and Beyonce! (6:25)
- Building trust: another reason to make your story active (10:53)
- Assignment: tackle these passives!
- The secret to making your story go viral (6:12)
- Quiz: telling your story
- Section six summary
- Section seven – advanced persuasion techniques
- Introduction to rhetoric (1:03)
- Assignment: analyse this piece of business writing
- The rising tricolon (4:14)
- Activity: the rising tricolon
- Anaphora: the artful use of repetition to persuade (2:53)
- Activity: anaphora
- Epiphora: another type of artful repetition (1:27)
- Activity: epiphora
- Asyndeton: removing the 'ands' and the 'buts' (1:34)
- Activity: asyndeton
- Polysndeton: putting in extra 'ands' and 'buts' (1:30)
- Activity: polysyndeton
- Chiasmus: the persuasive power of a criss-cross pattern (2:25)
- Activity: chiasmus
- Antithesis: why opposites attract (3:40)
- Activity: antithesis
- Hypophora: posing a question to your reader (2:48)
- Activity: hypophora
- Alliteration: using repeated sounds to make your point (2:27)
- Activity: alliteration
- Assignment: revisit the employee manifesto
access
Lifetime
content
4.5 Hours
enrolled
2,140