Email and Report Writing

By the end

What you'll build

• Write a subject line, opening and request that make the required action unmistakable
• Produce a short report with an executive summary that stands alone
• Separate observation, analysis and recommendation, and state uncertainty honestly
• Edit your own draft in structured passes to cut length, jargon and ambiguity
• Format a document for skimming using headings, tables and white space
• Build a reusable report structure that a colleague can pick up and complete

Curriculum

What's inside

7 modules · 35 lessons

1. 01

   Email that gets read and acted on

   5 lessons
   • Subject lines and first lines that carry the request
   • To, cc and the real cost of copying people in
   • Reply, reply-all and when to start a new thread
   • Writing an email that survives being forwarded
   • Which field, which reply, which subjectmatch pairs
2. 02

   The short business report

   5 lessons
   • The one-page report: situation, findings, recommendation
   • Choosing between a memo, a report and a slide
   • Executive summaries that stand alone
   • Numbering, headings and navigation
   • Getting the container rightfill blank
3. 03

   Evidence, data and honest claims

   5 lessons
   • Separating what you observed from what you concluded
   • Presenting figures without overstating them
   • Referring to sources and internal documents
   • Writing about uncertainty and limitations
   • Checking a claim before it goes outsequence order
4. 04

   Plain English and editing

   5 lessons
   • Editing your own draft in three passes
   • Sentence length, strong verbs and the passive voice
   • Jargon, acronyms and the reader who joined last week
   • Formatting for skimming: tables, bullets and white space
   • Forty minutes with a draftscenario
5. 05

   Sensitive and high-stakes documents

   5 lessons
   • Writing something that may later be read by people you did not expect
   • Records that may be disclosed or audited
   • Minimising the personal data you include
   • Escalation notes and incident write-ups
   • Written for a strangermatch pairs
6. 06

   Templates, review and reuse

   5 lessons
   • Building a reusable report skeleton for your team
   • Standard sections and where they belong
   • Version control and document ownership
   • Reviewing and signing off someone else's document
   • Skeletons, sections and versionsfill blank
7. 07

   Practice and check

   5 lessons
   • Document symptoms and the discipline that prevents themmatch pairs
   • Producing a note that survives being read latersequence order
   • Claims, structure and the editing passesfill blank
   • The note that gets read twicescenario
   • Course quizquiz

The shape of it

How this course works