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Subject:Business Writing Course - Any advice? From:"Mike McGuire" <mmcguire -at- mitconsulting -dot- net> To:<techwr- -dot- l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 24 Feb 2000 09:28:29 -0600
Hello all,
I have been lurking on this list for some time and was wondering if I could
tap some of you for assistance regarding a business writing course I need to
develop. I work for an IT consulting firm and have recently been charged
with
the responsibility of developing a "crash" course in business writing.
Let me give you some background. My company employs many computer
programmers who are Indian and whose first language is not English.
Recently, we have had some problems resulting from misunderstood written
communication coming from these employees. My company is very concerned with
how this "less-than-understandable" writing might be perceived by our
clients. That's where I come in. They want me to design and teach a business
writing course to help improve the clarity and presentation of written
communication coming from these employees.
It would have to be somewhat of a "crash course" if that is even possible.
We could run it once or twice a week for a few weeks, but these people don't
have a lot of time. We need to be conscious of that. The class would be very
functional in nature, addressing the specifics of writing business letters,
e-mail, resumes, technical documents, etc. One goal is to clean up the more
stigmatizing errors of grammar, punctuation, and capitalization (which is a
problem). Another is to help them write more clearly and concisely. The
company is concerned with appearances here. They don't want to be
embarrassed by the way their employees present themselves on paper.
I have some ideas, but would be very interested in any advice or resources
you might have to offer. Thanks in advance for any help. I greatly
appreciate it.
Mike McGuire
MIT Consultants, Ltd.
mmcguire -at- mitconsulting -dot- net
