FAQ

Write for Business Courses teach the skills that businesses seek in workers: writing, communication, critical thinking, and problem solving. Clear instruction, helpful examples, engaging videos, and varied activities help you learn new strategies and apply them in your own writing and thinking. Participants earn certificates and CEUs upon completion. We offer the following types of course licenses:

  • Single licenses to enrich yourself and advance your career.
  • Facilitator licenses to conduct trainings with other participants.

Grammar for Professionals

Grammar for Professionals

This course targets the most common and serious errors in workplace writing. Instead of learning rules in isolation, you will use them right away in your own writing. Grammar for Professionals will help you write complete, correct, and clear sentences; use parallel structure; write in the active voice; and avoid sentence errors. You’ll also review punctuation, capitalization, commonly confused words, and much more. (15 hours/1.5 CEUs)

Watch a video about this course.

Fundamentals of Writing

Fundamentals of Writing

Discover what's working and what could be improved in any piece of writing—from generating and organizing ideas to writing clear and correct sentences. If writing is a challenge for you, Fundamentals of Writing will help you improve your abilities and confidence. If you feel comfortable writing, this course will hone your skills even further! You'll learn specific strategies to improve the ideas, organization, voice, words, sentences, and correctness in your writing. (15 hours/1.5 CEUs)

Watch a video about this course.

Writing for Results

Writing for Results

In this course, you’ll learn proven strategies for explaining even complex topics and persuading the most resistant readers—getting them to take positive action. Writing for Results also helps you avoid embarrassing errors. Helpful explanations, examples, and videos teach key concepts, and digital activities for writing and editing help you practice what you learn. (10 hours/1 CEU)

Watch a video about this course.

Clear Writing Through Critical Thinking

Clear Writing Through Critical Thinking

This course will help you think critically at each stage of the writing process. You’ll learn to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information. You’ll build logical and convincing arguments and avoid faulty logic. You’ll also gain problem-solving strategies that you can use back on the job. (15 hours/1.5 CEUs)

Watch a video about this course.

Executive Writing

Executive Writing

Use the seven traits of effective writing to help you improve your own work and the writing of those you manage. You'll learn to analyze each writing situation, craft a clear main point, support it with key details, and communicate using plain language. You'll also write important management forms such as policies, procedures, responses to official inquiries, and executive summaries. (10 hours/1 CEU)

Watch a video about this course.

Effective Emails and Messages

Effective Emails and Messages

This free online mini-course will help you best use emails and messages to communicate in your workplace. You'll clearly express your main point, answer readers' questions, and organize your email for success. You'll even learn to avoid the 10 most common errors in workplace writing. Upon successful completion, you will receive certification for 0.5 Continuing Education Units (CEUs). Just log in and go to My Library for your free access. If you don't yet have an account, sign up for free! (5 hours/.5 CEUs)

Sign in to take Effective Emails and Messages. Go to your Library to take Effective Emails and Messages.

Watch a video about this course.

Business Grammar Refresher

Business Grammar Refresher

This mini-course reviews the 10 grammar rules that cause 90 percent of problems in business writing. You'll fix incomplete and incorrect sentences, ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement, and use parallel structure and active voice. You'll fix misplaced modifiers, commonly misused words, and nonstandard language. Upon successful completion, you will receive certification for 0.5 Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

Watch a video about this course.

Writing Bad News Messages

Writing Bad News Messages

This mini-course helps you write bad news messages. You'll learn how to analyze the situation—understanding the bad news, how your reader will react, and what you want out of the situation. You'll discover a formula for crafting effective bad news messages. You'll also learn how to refine tone and verb voice for clear, compassionate communication. Upon successful completion, you will receive certification for 0.5 Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

Watch a video about this course.

Writing to Persuade

Writing to Persuade

This mini-course teaches you the art and science of writing persuasively in business. You'll learn how to appeal to readers and understand their needs using a problem-solving approach. You'll craft a clear main point and use the AIDA formula to build your persuasive message. You'll also revise and edit your work to make it convincing and correct, and learn to use persuasive templates. Upon successful completion, you will receive certification for 0.5 Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

Watch a video about this course.

Writing Business Reports

Writing Business Reports

In this mini-course, you'll work step-by-step through the process of writing an effective business report. You'll research the issue, gathering and organizing information. Then you'll focus and plan your report, creating an executive summary. You'll learn to draft the body and closing of the report, and you'll discover strategies for effective revising and editing. Clear explanations, examples, and videos teach key concepts, and digital activities for writing and editing help you practice what you learn. You'll even get templates to help you write reports on the job. (5 hours/.5 CEUs)

Watch a video about this course.

Writing Business Proposals

Writing Business Proposals

This mini-course teaches the skills you need to write an effective proposal. You'll analyze problems and explore possibilities, and then research and plan solutions. Afterward, you'll connect your solutions to stakeholder needs. You'll practice drafting, revising, and editing your proposal, and you'll get templates to help you write proposals on the job. Clear explanations, examples, and videos teach key concepts, and a quiz at the end measures your overall learning. (5 hours/.5 CEUs)

Watch a video about this course.

Writing Letters and Memos

Writing Letters and Memos

In this mini-course, you'll learn to correctly format business letters and memos. More importantly, you'll connect to your readers, focusing on their questions and concerns so that you can get your point across. You'll draft letters and memos, and you'll discover strategies for effective revising and editing. Clear explanations, examples, and videos teach key concepts, and digital activities for writing and editing help you practice what you learn. (5 hours/.5 CEUs)

Watch a video about this course.

Writing Résumés and Cover Letters

Writing Résumés and Cover Letters

In this mini-course, you'll discover which type of résumé would work best for you—chronological or functional—and you'll practice creating both forms. You'll then revise your résumé to target a specific job opportunity. You'll also write a cover letter and other correspondence to get the jobs you want and gently declining those you don't. Clear explanations, examples, and videos teach key concepts, and digital activities for writing and editing help you practice what you learn. (5 hours/.5 CEUs)

Watch a video about this course.

Innovation Track

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking

This course will help you think critically about any issue you encounter in the workplace. You’ll gain practical tools for analyzing, evaluating, and improving products, services, and processes. You’ll sharpen your logical abilities and avoid faulty logic. You’ll also learn strategies for improving the thinking that happens in meetings and work groups. (10 hours/1 CEU)

Watch a video about this course.

Problem Solving

Problem Solving

This course will help you solve problems in your workplace. You’ll gain practical tools for defining problems and innovating solutions. You’ll also learn problem-solving strategies used by managers, analysts, engineers, facilitators, designers, and scientists. This course helps you understand how to solve problems by yourself and in workgroups. (10 hours/1 CEU)

Watch a video about this course.

Practical Problem Solving

Practical Problem Solving

In this mini-course, you'll learn how to analyze the causes and effects of problems and then devise ways to remove them. You'll discover how to plan and propose your solution, and how to put it into practice. You'll also learn how to evaluate and improve your solution. Clear explanations, examples, and videos teach key concepts, and digital activities help you practice problem-solving strategies. (5 hours/.5 CEUs)

Watch a video about this course.

Printed Courses

The print versions of our Business Writing Track Courses let you teach writing, communication, and critical thinking onsite. These courses have trained thousands of workers in business, government, and higher education. Instruction is easy. Left-hand pages provide 10-minutes of instruction and examples, and right-hand pages provide a 10-minute activity applying the learning. You then spend 10 minutes discussing the concepts before moving on. A PowerPoint for each course lets you present right from the screen. Pre- and post-assessments measure learning. Want to know more? Browse the course listings below, or check out other resources:

Grammar for Professionals

This course targets the most common and serious errors in workplace writing. Instead of learning rules in isolation, you will use them right away in your own writing. Grammar for Professionals will help you write complete, correct, and clear sentences; use parallel structure; write in the active voice; and avoid sentence errors. You’ll also review punctuation, capitalization, commonly confused words, and much more.

Fundamentals of Writing

This course helps you discover what's working and what could be improved in any piece of writing—from generating and organizing ideas to writing clear and correct sentences. If writing is a challenge for you, Fundamentals of Writing will help you improve your abilities and confidence. If you feel comfortable writing, this course will hone your skills even further! You'll learn specific strategies to improve the ideas, organization, voice, words, sentences, and correctness in your writing.

Writing for Results

This course teaches proven strategies for explaining even complex topics and persuading the most resistant readers, getting them to take positive action. Writing for Results also helps you avoid embarrassing errors. Clear explanations, examples, and videos teach key concepts, and digital activities for writing and editing help you practice what you learn.

Clear Writing Through Critical Thinking

This course will help you think critically at each stage of the writing process. You’ll learn to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information. You’ll build logical and convincing arguments and avoid faulty logic. You’ll also gain problem-solving strategies that you can use back on the job.

Executive Writing

This course uses the seven traits of effective writing to help you improve your own work and the writing of those you manage. You'll learn to analyze each writing situation, craft a clear main point, support it with key details, and communicate using plain language. You'll also write important management forms such as policies, procedures, responses to official inquiries, and executive summaries.

Printed Guides

The 20th Anniversary Edition of the Write for Business Handbook has become the go-to reference for businesses like Amgen and Blue Cross Blue Shield, colleges like University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Graduate School, and government agencies from the Department of Defense to Homeland Security. For 10 years, Write for Work has provided a practical work-text for institutions such as Gateway Technical College and Blackhawk Technical College, teaching communication and grammar to the up-and-coming workforce.

Write for Business

Your online workplace writing Guide is also available in print! Write for Business is a concise writing handbook that teaches the communication skills needed for success on the job. You'll discover strategies for writing effective emails, memos, résumés, letters, reports, proposals, instructions, policies, procedures, and much more. You'll find guidelines for writing each form, exemplary models, and checklists for revising and refining.

Write for Work

Write for Work is a practical guide to workplace writing and grammar, designed specifically for students in one- or two-year programs. This work-text uses the “Company” approach. At the beginning of the book, students profile a company they would like to work for. Then, as they work through the book, students write as employees of the companies they profiled. That way, nursing students write about nursing and welding students about welding.

Schools such as Gateway Technical College and Blackhawk Technical College use Write for Work to prepare the next generation to succeed in the workplace.