Business Writing is a six-week course combining instructional lectures with practical exercises and assignments, designed for participants new to business communication or seeking professional skill enhancement and refinement. A detailed course outline is available below for your review.
For organizations interested in customized business writing instruction for their teams, please review our specialized corporate training brochure or explore our Corporate Classes offerings and pricing information.
In contemporary business environments, your writing quality directly reflects your professionalism and competence, functioning as a representation of yourself and your organization comparable to your appearance or conduct in professional meetings. Developing strong writing skills enhances your professional image, strengthens confidence, increases work efficiency and productivity, and enables you to accomplish your daily objectives with greater effectiveness and success.
This course covers fundamental principles of effective business communication that you can immediately apply to everything from routine emails to substantial reports and proposals. You may be surprised by the engaging, accessible nature of the instruction and how personality and distinctive voice can significantly elevate business writing quality and effectiveness.
Whether you're building foundational communication skills or refining and polishing existing abilities, you'll develop the capacity to write with increased clarity, confidence, and professional success in your workplace.
Important Notes:
- While this course addresses grammar and stylistic considerations, more comprehensive and in-depth coverage of these topics appears in our Grammar 1 and Grammar 2 courses
- This course is designed for native or fluent English speakers; while non-native speakers are welcome to participate, fluency in both spoken and written English is required
This course delivers comprehensive training in business writing fundamentals and provides opportunities to practice diverse communication methods. Program components include:
- In-depth lectures on business communication principles
- Hands-on writing exercises and real-world assignments
Online Course Structure
- Week 1: Understanding Your Audience and Purpose. Exploring the importance and value of skilled business communication; developing strong professional self-presentation; understanding audience perspective and needs; connecting with your reader effectively; maintaining professional integrity; grammar fundamentals, including sentence construction
- Week 2: Developing Appropriate Tone. Adjusting tone through vocabulary selection and context sensitivity; recognizing tone inhibitors and enhancers; managing underlying messages; opening and closing strategies; emotional tone development; paragraph structure and function
- Week 3: Document Structure and Writing Process. Architectural approaches to writing, including direct, gradual, or patterned structures; visual organization and presentation; planning, drafting, and revision processes; professionalism and attention to detail; gender-neutral pronouns and conventions
- Week 4: Creating Clarity and Concision. Achieving clarity through systematic evaluation; eliminating corporate jargon and artificial language; achieving appropriate length and precision; eliminating unnecessary content; leadership and assertiveness in writing; active and passive voice techniques
- Week 5: Engaging and Compelling Writing. Conversational style and authenticity; incorporating vivid language; employing conversational devices, powerful verbs, intentional modification, avoiding clichés, figurative language, sound patterns, storytelling, and strategic humor; professional courtesy and etiquette; parallel structure
- Week 6: Email, Letters, and Professional Correspondence. Email communication standards, best practices, and professional etiquette guidelines; comprehensive overview of business writing formats, including formal letters, memoranda, reports, proposals, white papers, press releases, marketing materials, websites, blogs, newsletters, and social media communication; maximizing communication opportunities; punctuation conventions
Course Note: Content may vary across different course sections and academic terms.
About This Online Program:
- Classes bring together participants from throughout the world to study with faculty from Gotham, recognized as New York City's most prominent and established writing school
- Classes are conducted asynchronously, not in real time; you may participate at any hour, but courses progress weekly with specific expectations for each week's work
- Online classes are accessible from any geographic location with an internet connection; most students are based in the United States, though we enroll participants from nearly every country globally
- Technical support is available throughout the course duration
- In addition to scheduling flexibility and geographic accessibility, you'll have access to complete course materials that you can print and retain for ongoing professional reference (materials are text-based and image-based, not video content)
