Writing Well for Business

This course can be taken as part of the UBC Micro-certificate in Writing and Communication Skills for the Workplace: Business Communication or as a standalone course.

Learn how to write informative and persuasive documents for the workplace that are clear, concise and professional.

Through a mix of individual assignments and group discussions, practise analyzing, planning, drafting and revising business and technical documents. Find out how to identify common pitfalls and weak points in business writing, and gain strategies to address and correct them.

By the end of the course, you’ll be able to:

• understand how to write for different audience groups, such as coworkers and clients
• learn practical business writing and communication strategies
• develop your style and professional writing skills
• write emails, memos, and letters
• learn to write for the web and other online sources
• understand the differences between effective and ineffective reports and proposals
• use persuasive appeals in business writing

You’ll also have a portfolio of your work that includes emails, memos and letters that showcases examples of effective writing.

You might also be interested in Writing Well for Business: Advanced Topics. Take on more complex documents and audience situations, and learn how to approach challenging communication tasks. (Please note Writing Well for Business is not a pre-requisite to this more advanced course).

Course outline

Week 1: Understanding Workplace Communications

Week 2: Writing Effective Paragraphs, Emails, Memos and Letters

Week 3: Developing Your Writing Style and Avoiding Errors

Week 4: Writing for the Web and Social Media; Writing Concisely

Week 5: Understanding and Writing Complex Documents

Week 6: Editing and Finalizing Your Documents

How am I assessed?

This course is marked complete/incomplete, and is based on your attendance and participation. Your instructor provides you personalized feedback on the assignments you hand in.

Record of completion

A record of completion will be emailed to students who participate and satisfy the course requirements within two weeks of the course end date. Course completion means 80% attendance and/or 80% completion of mandatory assignments.

Expected effort

Expect to spend 2-3 hours per week completing coursework, participating in the online forum, and attending the optional group video chat.

Technology requirements

To take this course, you’ll need access to:

• an email account
• a computer, laptop or tablet under five years old and using Windows or macOS
• the latest version of a web browser (or previous major version release)
• a reliable internet connection.

For virtual office hours, you’ll also need:

• a video camera and microphone.

One day before the start of your course, we'll email you step-by-step instructions for accessing your course.

Course format

This course is 100% online and instructor supported with weekly instructor office hours. Course work is done independently and at your own pace within deadlines set by your instructor. A new module is released each week. Log in anytime to your course to access the lessons as they become available.

Weekly office hours

Tuesdays, 6-6:40pm Pacific Time

This course offers optional weekly drop-in virtual office hours. Join your instructor and classmates by video conferencing to discuss course materials and assignments, receive feedback and ask questions.

Online materials will be available for three weeks after the course ends, after which time you will no longer be able to access the course.