SDHR20 - High Impact Writing in the University Context

Who should attend

All staff

Workshop overview

This writing workshop is aimed at mid-career or senior professionals who need to write balanced and thorough business cases – to persuade, inform and/or request an outcome.

The workshop assumes good skills in written English, with an understanding of linguistic terms and business processes. This workshop has a stronger emphasis on persuasion and evidence compared to the Effective Writing in the University Context, which focuses on everyday communications and correspondence.

Note: If you are a non-native English speaker, you may want to attend Effective Writing in the University Context workshop first.

Workshop topics

• The main planning tools (objectives, audience, context and constraints); establishing the focus of your business case.
• Brainstorming the support points; putting your ideas into order; creating content hierarchies that help readers navigate the document.
• Writing an executive summary with the key components; setting up the body of the document.
• Logical argumentation styles (inductive, deductive, proof); the three elements of persuasion (logic, emotion, credibility) and what to write at the end.
• Explore the grouping and summarising techniques needed to distil the key points from multiple sources, such as data sets, anecdotal evidence and technical literature.  
• The four stages of review: double-checking for content; keeping a clear, navigable structure; checking for plain English usage; proofreading for style, grammar and formatting.

Note: Participants are encouraged to bring business cases in progress as the basis for our writing exercises, and for discussion and feedback.

Learning outcomes

At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Organise thinking into a clear, logical structure before beginning to write.
• Write the business case body in line with their stated objectives.
• Review for logical style and flow, plain English usage and correct style.
• Demonstrate greater confidence and knowledge when it comes to writing business documents that have to persuade a demanding reader.
• Demonstrate an ability to critique texts and draw conclusions based on evidence.
• Propose and defend a persuasive argument in writing.
• Review written work following a four-step process.

Training facilitator

This workshop is delivered by Stephanie Oley who is an experienced business writer and writing coach. Stephanie’s writing career has spanned across government, private sector and higher education. In 2013, Stephanie became a partner at a Sydney creative agency, The Offices, where she oversees day-to-day proposal writing, content marketing and a range of corporate client writing projects.