 
Course Enrollment
Information
  
Instructor-Led Online Business Writing Courses
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You May Enroll as an Individual with No Company or Agency Sponsorship
You may enroll yourself without being part of a company or agency training program. You will receive the same individual coaching from our trainers, thorough evaluations of your writing, and graduation certificate. Enroll . . .
Federal GSA contract GS-02F-0129T
The Business Writing Center has a federal General Services Administration contract. A special GSA course catalog includes book costs with tuition and GSA discounts. You may also download the GSA Pricing List containing all of the Business Writing Center services with GSA discounts.
Nonprofit and Government Discounts
Nonprofit organizations and government agencies are given discounts on courses. Other special arrangements are made for government agencies. More . . .
End-of-Fiscal-Year Purchases
The Business Writing Center arranges deferred enrollments so blocks of enrollments can be purchased at the end of the fiscal year, then used for any employees at any time during the next year. More . . .
Testimonials and Ratings of Courses
The Business Writing Center's courses and training were evaluated by Dun & Bradstreet for the U.S. Federal General Services Administration. Six companies for whom the Center had performed training were contacted for ratings of performance and quality. All ratings averaged 90 to 98 on the 100-point scale for course delivery, including areas such as reliability, quality, personnel, support, responsiveness, and timeliness.
Graduates of the courses usually send an unsolicited note of appreciation and recommendation at the end of the course. You can read a selection of the hundreds of such comments. Read some testimonials . . .
Evaluations and reports about Business Writing Center courses have been developed by a number of agencies, news media, and professional publications. Read some . . .
National Association of Legal Assistants Credits Legal Proofreading Course
The Legal Proofreading course is approved for 10 hours of non-substantive credit by the National Association of Legal Assistants. More . . .
Coaching and Tutoring in Writing
The highly trained faculty of the Business Writing Center coach business people through writing actual documents by editing the documents and providing pointers. Participants learn how to create high quality documents they use in their work. More . . .
Customizing the Best Practices Book for Associations and Organizations
The Business Writing Center customizes Explicit Business Writing: Best Practices for the Twenty-First Century to give a company, association, or agency a tailored training manual, at no cost when an order of books is placed. The first customized book was for crime laboratory directors. More . . .
Certification for Explicit
Business Writing Trainers
The Center trains and certifies corporate trainers, college faculty, and anyone interested in teaching the explicit business writing skills. The course materials and book can then be used in the training. More . . .
How Do I Decide the Type of Writing Training I Need or My Staff Needs?
The Business Writing Center has prepared a guide to help you understand the areas of business writing and how to decide which course will provide the training that will benefit you or your organization. More . . .
Interactive Training Materials for Professors and Corporate Trainers
A full-semester interactive training course is available for universities, colleges of business, and corporate trainers. It contains activities and case-study competency exams. It can be customized by the faculty member or trainer. More . . .
Competency-Based, Onsite
Business Writing Workshops
Dr. Hogan presents workshops at company sites to train participants in the skills they need to write explicit business documents. The workshops teach the best practices explained in Dr. Hogan's book, Explicit Business Writing: Best Practices for the Twenty-First Century.
The workshops are competency-based. Dr. Hogan evaluates participants' writing and certifies their writing competence or coaches them through revising.
More . . .
Taming the E-mail Problem
This PowerPoint presentation explains how business people can manage e-mails and keep e-mail viable as an efficient medium for business communication available today. You may use and copy it freely in your company.
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Eight-Hour Online Workshop Series (For enrollments of five or more trainees)
The Business Writing Center offers a unique series of business writing and grammar courses for groups of trainees in businesses or government agencies. They require no more time than the business person would spend sitting in a workshop: around six to eight hours. These are the courses available now:
• Eight-Hour Online Grammar
Workshop
• Eight-Hour Online Business Writing
Workshop
• Eight-Hour Online E-mail Workshop
Enrollment requires a minimum of five trainees. The training is self-pacing, with the trainer available for coaching. Trainees begin by sending a writing sample to the trainer, who writes comments to guide the trainee. Trainees complete the online training materials as they have time, individually or as a group over two or three afternoons.
The training for each course ends with a post-course writing sample the trainer evaluates and comments on.
Instructor-Led Courses or Self-instructional Training
The Business Writing Center offers both instructor-led courses and self-instructional courses.
Instructor-led courses. In the instructor-led courses, the Business Writing Center's highly qualified trainers write extensive comments on assignments and coach students in learning skills. Students go through the courses at their own paces, without having to be online at specific times with other students or follow a schedule. They read materials online as they have time and submit assignments when they are ready. The instructor responds when the student submits an assignment. The Center offers 41 instructor-led courses (Catalog).
Self-instructional training. The Center also offers self-instructional training that doesn't require an instructor. They require less time to complete and volume discounts are available for companies and agencies. Arrangements can be made for Center faculty to evaluate a post-course writing sample and certify the student's competence in the skills (Courses available).
The sample self-instructional lesson for the Basic Business Grammar course contains the training on commas, including the pre-test, lesson, and post-test.
Recommended Core Business Writing Skills Courses
The Business Writing Center offers 41 courses in business writing, from basic grammar to writing audit reports and software documentation. Most business writers benefit from one of the two core courses that teach the critical skills of writing clear e-mail, memos, letters, and reports. BWC210 Business Writing Skills has all of the course materials online. BWC220 Explicit Business Writing teaches the same skills, but the reading assignments are from the book Explicit Business Writing: Best Practices for the Twenty-First Century, taught by the author, Dr. Robert Craig Hogan. Enroll . . .
Business Writing for Speakers of English as a Second Language
The Center offers three courses to help speakers of English as a second language to polish their business writing language skills. They are for speakers of English as a second language who have mastered English but need to polish their use of phrases, articles, modal auxiliaries, tenses, and the other areas that commonly cause problems for nonnative speakers of English. More . . .
Editing, Proofreading, and Writing
Business Writing Center staff edit, proofread, and write documents for companies. Documents include letters, reports, newsletter articles, public-relations pieces, user manuals, and any other document an agency or company needs to have written clearly to have impact.
For more information, contact center@writingtrainers.com.
ATTN: Check to See If Your Company Has a Training Arrangement with Us
Many businesses have arranged with the Business Writing Center to train employees. Check the list of companies and agencies to see if your company or agency has an arrangement with us. If so, you may proceed directly to
the registration form. Your course materials will be online within a few hours. More . . .
Individualized Tutoring by Dr. Hogan
Dr. Hogan, director of the Business Writing Center, has been a manager of communications for a company, consultant in writing to agencies and businesses, professor of writing at two universities and a community college, and author of Explicit Business Writing: Best Practices for the Twenty-First Century. Dr. Hogan coaches business writers through writing actual work documents. Training in writing becomes part of the normal work routine without adding a burden of work.
For more information, contact center@writingtrainers.com.
Best Practices for Writing that Communicates Clearly
 Robert Craig Hogan, Ph.D., director of The Business Writing Center, with 38 years' experience in teaching writing, has written a valuable writing guide for business people titled Explicit Business Writing: Best Practices for the Twenty-First Century.
It contains the best practices business people are using today to make their writing clear and effective. More . . .
Dr. Hogan Speaks to Groups about Explicit Business Writing
Robert Craig Hogan, Ph.D., director of The Business Writing Center, author of Explicit Business Writing: Best Practices for the Twenty-First Century, speaks to groups about how to help employees write clearly and effectively. More . . .
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Free Online Tests for You or Company Staff
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Test Your Knowledge of the
26 Most Common Business
Writing Problems
This sentence is incorrect: "The jury was at odds over the verdict." Do you know why?
You may take the free quiz of the writing problems business people commonly display by clicking here. The quiz is a teaching tool you may use freely. If you are a manager, you may use it with your employees.
For each item, you or your employees choose the sentence you believe is written correctly. After you select sentences for all of the items, your score will appear, along with an explanation of the rule for each item. Some of them will surprise you.
Test Your Knowledge of the
Most Commonly Misspelled Words
Do you write "accomodate" or "accommodate"? "Deductable" or "deductible"? "Occurrance" or "occurrence"? Sometimes "acknowledgment" is correct and sometimes "acknowledgement" is correct. Do you know when each is correct?
You may take the free quiz of the 25 most commonly misspelled words by clicking here. Use the quiz freely.
After you select spellings for all of the words, your score will appear, along with the correct choices.
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Test Your Knowledge of Comma Usage and Learn the Basic Rules
A sample lesson the Center uses in our grammar courses is available for you or your employees to use. It includes a pre-test on commas to let you know your current level of knowledge and an interactive lesson on commas. After you read the lesson, you may take the post-test to see how much you've improved your skills.
Click on this link to go to the test and training: Commas . . ..
Test Your Knowledge of the Most Commonly Confused Word Pairs
When do you use "affect" and when "effect"? When "between" and when "among"? How about "comprised" and "composed"? Why is this sign you commonly see at checkouts wrong: "20 items or less."
You may take the free quiz of the most commonly confused word pairs by clicking here. Use the quiz freely.
For each item, choose the word you believe is correct for the sentence. After you select words for all of the sentences, your score will appear, along with the correct choices.
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Online Business Writing Courses
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41 Online Business Writing Courses
The Business Writing Center offers 41 online business writing courses, ranging from basic grammar to advanced courses such as Proofreading Skills and Writing Clear, Objective Audit Reports. The courses are listed in the left column of this page. Anyone may enroll for a course by filling out the registration form.
The Business Writing Center provides a free evaluation of a writing sample with suggestions for the courses that would be best for the writer.
More . . .
Online Writing Courses for
Busy Business People
BWC95 Business Writing Essentials
BWC85 Basic Grammar Essentials
In response to requests for versions of our online courses that require less trainee and faculty time, the Business Writing Center has developed online courses in business writing and usage (grammar, punctuation, and syntax) that have the same content as the longer online courses, but require one-third of the faculty time and student time.
More . . .
Individualized Writing Courses
The real strength of training using the Internet and e-mail as the media is that it allows more individualized teaching than any other medium, including having a personal tutor. The trainee can learn and write at his or her own pace, taking all the time necessary. The instructor is available to provide guidance and coaching at any point. A classroom environment or tutoring appointments don't allow that flexibility.
To make the individualized teaching and coaching available to trainees, the Business Writing Center offers six individualized courses. More . . .
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Courses for Certification in
Explicit Business Writing
The Center certifies business writers in the 39 best practices that result in explicit business writing. A graduate certified as competent in the skills will be able to write e-mails, memos, letters, and reports that communicate explicitly to readers. The Center also certifies students in colleges of business.
Two courses teach the best practices: BWC220 Explicit Business Writing, which has five competency exams, and BWC225 Explicit Business Writing with Additional Training, which has 39 activities and 17 competency exams. Graduates of BWC225 are able to edit others' writing and teach the skills, so the course is ideal for training trainers. The materials are available for use by professors and corporate trainers.
More . . .
Learning Correct Grammar
Businesses would like their employees to write without grammar errors, so they arrange to have them attend workshops on grammar. Unfortunately, a workshop simply will not teach business people how to overcome problems in their language usage. However, there is training that will help employees use correct grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and spelling.
More . . .
Customized Training for Corporations and Agencies
The Business Writing Center customizes training to fit a company's or agency's requirements. Center faculty will evaluate a company's or agency's writing, provide suggestions for training, and design a program to develop a workforce that writes explicitly. More . . .
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Department of Defense Review of Business Writing Center Courses
Unknown to the Business Writing Center, a Department of Defense team of training specialists enrolled as a single trainee in a Business Writing Center course. After the team finished the course, they informed us that they had given the training very positive evaluations and recommended that the Center be used for Department of Defense training.
Florida Department of Health Selects the Center for Online Writing Training
The Florida Department of Health is using the Business Writing Center for online business writing training for its employees. Employees may register and start immediately. Catalog of courses
Interview with the Director
by The New York Times
The New York Times published an article on page A-1 about writing training featuring an interview with The Business Writing Center's director, Robert Craig Hogan, PH.D. You can read the article at this link.
Article about the Center
in The Daily Pantagraph
The Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, Illinois, where The Business Writing Center's main site is located) interviewed the Center's director, Robert Craig Hogan, PH.D. at his office. You can read the article at this link.
Cincinnati Enquirer article
The Cincinnati Enquirer weekly magazine published an article about the unique services the Business Writing Center offers.
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Review of the Proofreading Skills course by Investor's Business Daily
Investor's Business Daily interviewed a graduate of the Proofreading Skills course and wrote a review of the course and taking online training. Click here to see the review.
Article about the Center
in TechRepublic
TechRepublic published an article describing Center resources available for IT professionals. Click here to see the review.
Article about the Center in hr-esources and HRWire
HR-esources and HRWire published an article about the Center and our suggestions to help corporations improve the quality and clarity of their writing, especially e-mail. To read the article, click here.
Responding To Customers in E-mails: Let Customers' Words Guide You
The Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) asked the Business Writing Center to write Responding To Customers in E-mails: Let the Customers' Words Guide You, based on the Business Writing Center's Writing Skills for Technical Support Representatives online training course. You may review the introduction and contents of the course.
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Online Business Writing Training Materials for Trainers and Professors
The following online, interactive course materials are available for corporate trainers and college faculty. The Business Writing Center has a train-the-trainers course training corporate trainers to use any of the materials.
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Basic Grammar for Business
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Business Writing Skills
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Editing Skills
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Effective Business Letters
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Effective Workplace E-mail
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Explicit Business Writing
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Legal Proofreading Skills
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Legal Writing Skills
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Plain English Writing Skills
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Proofreading Skills
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Recording and Writing Meeting Minutes
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SEC Plain English Writing
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Writing Clear, Objective Audit Reports
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Writing Skills for Contact
Center Representatives
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For more information, send an e-mail to the Business Writing Center.
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E-mail the Center at
center@writingtrainers.com
Copyright © Business Writing Center - All Rights Reserved
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center@writingtrainers.com