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Writers at Work Bundle

(Contact Hours: 64) $545.00

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV

Writers At Work: A Review for Professionals - Part I

Course Description

This is the first of four review courses that together provide an in-depth review of grammar. punctuation, mechanics, sentence structure and style. Students may take the courses in sequence or pick and choose the courses that suit them.

Part I of the review covers the most basic aspects of good writing on the job: understanding the writing process; understanding parts of sentences and speech; ensuring sentence completeness and conquering common problems with verbs, pronouns and modifers. Students will read, study, complete tutorials and take mastery quizzes that will ensure their understanding of the concepts and revision techniques. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to provide feedback for each unit.

Required Book:

The Classic Guide to Better Writing: Step-by-Step Techniques and Exercises to Write Simply, Clearly and Correctly by Rudolf Flesch & Abraham H. Lass.

0062730487:Product Link on Barnes & Noble.com

Outcomes

• The student demonstrates the ability identify and correctly use various parts of sentences and parts of speech by attaining at least 80 on the unit mastery quiz.
• The student demonstrates understanding of sentence completeness and an ability to recognize and revise fragments, run-ons and comma splicesby attaining at least 80 on the unit mastery quiz.
• The student demonstrates an ability to recognize and to correct common problems with verbs, pronouns, and modifiers by attaining at least 80 on the unit mastery quiz.
• The student demonstrates an understanding of the writing process and can identify his or her own style of writing.

Assessment

The class provides several levels of assessment:

• A diagnostic test, taken at the beginning of the course, which assesses the student`s strengths and weaknesses.
• Exercises that allow students to practice what they learn each week.
• Weekly quizzes that allow the student to prove his or her mastery of the concepts learned. Student must attain a mastery level of 80% in each unit.

Week 1   

The student will learn about the writing process and how to efficiently plan, draft, and revise their own work. Through reading, studying and completing exercises the student will determine his/her own writing personality and apply that to his/her personal writing process.

Week 2   

Through reading, studying and completing exercises, students will review the parts of sentences and parts of speech, including subjects, predicates and modifiers, and types of clauses. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions. A quiz at the end of the week will ensure mastery of the materials and may be retaken until the student earns a mastery level of at least 80%.

Week 3   

Through reading, studying and completing exercises, students will learn how to recognize and revise major sentence errors: fragments, run-ons, and comma splices. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions. A quiz at the end of the week will ensure mastery of the materials and may be retaken until the student earns a mastery level of at least 80%.

Week 4   

Through reading, studying and completing exercises, students will learn how to recognize and revise common problems with verbs, pronouns and modifiers. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions. A quiz at the end of the week will ensure mastery of the materials and may be retaken until the student earns a mastery level of at least 80%.

Writers At Work: A Review for Professionals - Part II: Punctuation

Course Description

This is the second of four review courses that together provide an in-depth review of grammar, punctuation, mechanics, sentence structure and style. While it is preferable that students take the courses in sequence, they may also pick and choose the individual courses that suit their needs.

Part II of the review covers punctuation, providing students with practical understanding of punctuation without forcing them to memorize countless rules. Weekly units teach the use of commas, semicolons, colons, hyphens, dashes, and parentheses. Exercises and tutoring help students ensure that they understand the concepts and can recognize and revise punctuation errors in their own writing.

Required Book:
Grammatically Correct: The Writer's Essential Guide to Punctuation, Spelling, Style, Usage and Grammar by Anne Stilman.

0898797764:Product Link on Barnes & Noble.com

Outcomes

• The student demonstrates the ability identify and correctly use various kinds of punctuation.
• The student demonstrates an ability to use commas correctly and to recognize and revise comma errors.
• The student demonstrates an ability to correctly use semicolons and colons.
• The student demonstrates an understanding of the hyphens in compound modifiers, compound nouns, and word breaks.
• The student demonstrates an understanding of how to correctly use dashes and parentheses, including when to use dashes or parentheses instead of commas, and how to use dashes and commas in combination with other punctuation.

Assessment

The class provides several levels of assessment:

• A short lecture reading and assigned textbook reading with each week's assignment refresh the student's knowledge of the material covered.
• Exercises that allow students to practice what they learn each week. Student must attain a mastery level of 80% in each unit.

Week 1   

The student will learn about the conventions of comma usage. Through reading, studying and completing exercises, the student will become proficient in using commas with introductory elements, compound clauses, parenthetical modifers and end of sentence modification; in series; and to avoid confusion. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions.

Week 2   

Through reading, studying and completing exercises, students learn correct use of semicolons and colons. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions.

Week 3   

Through reading, studying and completing exercises, students will learn how to use hyphens with compound modifiers, compound nouns, word breaks, and other hyphenated forms. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions.

Week 4   

Through reading, studying and completing exercises, students will learn to use dashes and parentheses correctly. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions.

Writers At Work: A Review for Professionals - Part III: Achieving Clear, Concise Writing

Course Description

This is the third of four review courses that together provide an in-depth review of grammar, punctuation, mechanics, sentence structure and style. While it is preferable that students take all four courses in sequence, they may also pick and choose the individual courses that suit their needs.

Part III of the review will help the student develop a clear, concise, and dynamic writing style. Tutoring, readings, textbook and exercises help students ensure that they understand the concepts and can revise their own writing to be more clear, concise, and dynamic. Topics include clear reference; using synonyms and transitions; avoiding redundancy and achieving concise, strong sentences; appropriate use of jargon; effective use of invented words; choosing strong verbs, etc.

Required Book:
"Grammatically Correct: The Writer`s Guide to Punctuation, Spelling, Style, Usage and Grammar" by Anne Stilman.

0898797764:Product Link on Barnes & Noble.com

Outcomes

• The student demonstrates the ability identify and revise ineffective writing and to generate clear, concise and dynamic writing.
• The student demonstrates an ability edit for redundancy, wordiness, weak constructions and passive verbs.
• The student demonstrates an ability to correctly use active and passive voice appropriately.
• The student is asked to compose several essays to demonstrate his or her ability to write clearly and concisely within a word limit.

Assessment

The class provides several levels of assessment:

• A diagnostic test, taken at the beginning of the course, which assesses the student`s strengths and weaknesses.
• Exercises that allow students to practice what they learn each week and prove his or her mastery of the concepts learned. Student must attain a mastery level of 80% in each unit.

Week 1   

The student will learn about clear reference. Through reading, studying and completing exercises, the student will become proficient in recognizing and revising unclear or ambiguous references, using synonyms appropriately, and using transition words and phrases to improve coherence in sentences and paragraphs. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions. An exercise each week will ensure mastery of the materials and may be retaken until the student shows a mastery level of at least 80%.

Week 2   

The student will learn to recognize and correct wordiness and redundancy, including circumlocution, expletive constructions, overuse of intensifiers, overreliance on prepositional phrases, negative constructions, and complex verb constructions. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions. An exercise each week will ensure mastery of the materials and may be retaken until the student shows a mastery level of at least 80%.

Week 3   

Through reading, studying and completing exercises, students will learn how to recognize and correct inappropriate use of technical jargon, how to use invented words effectively, and how to avoid a telegraphic style. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions. An exercise each week will ensure mastery of the materials and may be retaken until the student shows a mastery level of at least 80%.

Week 4   

Through reading, studying and completing exercises, students will develop a more dynamic style by recognizing and revising nominalizations, weak verbs, overpacked noun compounds. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions. An exercise each week will ensure mastery of the materials and may be retaken until the student shows a mastery level of at least 80%.

Writers At Work: A Review for Professionals - Part IV: Achieving A Professional Style

Course Description

This is the last of four review courses that together provide an in-depth review of grammar, punctuation, mechanics, sentence structure and style. While it is preferable that students take all four courses in sequence, they may also pick and choose the individual courses that suit their needs.

Part IV of the review will help the student develop an emphatic and readable style and to design visually appealing documents. Exercises, tutoring and mastery quizzes help students ensure that they understand the concepts and can revise their own writing to emphasize important points, flow logically, and appeal to the eye. Topics include managing sentence emphasis, creating parallel structures in sentences and paragraphs, maintaining flow and focus in sentences and paragraphs, and designing documents.

Required book:
The Classic Guide to Better Writing: Step-by-Step Techniques and Exercises to Write Simply, Clearly and Correctly by Rudolf Flesch & Abraham H. Lass

0062730487:Product Link on Barnes & Noble.com

Outcomes

• The student demonstrates the ability to identify and revise unfocused and awkward writing and to create emphatic, logical, and visually appealing prose.
• The student demonstrates the ability to use parallelism and sentence structure to emphasize information.
• The student demonstrates an ability to design documents that are visually appealing and that improve reader retention of information.
• The student demonstrates an ability to use white space, headings and appropriate type styles for particular types of documents.

Assessment

The class provides several levels of assessment:

• A diagnostic test, taken at the beginning of the course, which assesses the student's strengths and weaknesses.
• Exercises that allow students to practice what they learn each week.
• Weekly quizzes that allow the student to prove his or her mastery of the concepts learned. Student must attain a mastery level of 80% in each unit.

Week 1   

The student will learn about how to emphasize certain information through the grammatical structure of sentences and through organization of paragraphs. Through reading, studying and completing exercises, the student will become proficient in constructing sentences that use appropriate emphasis. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions. A quiz at the end of the week will ensure mastery of the materials and may be retaken until the student shows a mastery level of at least 80%.

Week 2   

The student will learn to use parallelism to emphasize information. . Through reading, studying and completing exercises, the student will become proficient in using parallelism in coordinate and subordinate clauses, phrases, in lists and sentences, and within paragraphs. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions. A quiz at the end of the week will ensure mastery of the materials and may be retaken until the student shows a mastery level of at least 80%.

Week 3   

Through reading, studying and completing exercises, students will learn how to create a logical flow of information from sentence to sentence. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions. A quiz at the end of the week will ensure mastery of the materials and may be retaken until the student shows a mastery level of at least 80%.

Week 4   

Through reading, studying and completing exercises, students will their ability to create attractive, professional documents by using active white space, appropriate use of type, headings, and divisions. The instructor will be available for tutoring and to answer questions. A quiz at the end of the week will ensure mastery of the materials and may be retaken until the student shows a mastery level of at least 80%.

To register or for more information

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