Practical Writing for NEMs (Non-English Majors)
The reading for a given week should be read before you come to class that week (except for the first week of the course). I suggest that you print handouts that include formatting examples and bring to class to use to help you do practice assignments. Double-click on the name of the reading to download.
Assignment instructions will be posted for download after the class when it is assigned. Double-click on the name of the assignment to download.
Learn to change the Justification of your documents in Word – Or Getting a Ragged Right Edge. A step-by-step guide for Chinese versions of MS Word 97-2003, with screen shots.
Use Assignment Formatting, unless the assignment instructions tell you to do something else.
Week |
Reading |
Assignment Instructions |
Links |
4 |
Assignment 1: Introduction |
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5 |
Assignment 2: Letter Writing |
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6 |
Bring a draft copy of your resume to class in Week 7 |
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7 |
We will continue with Resumes |
Assignment 3: Resume |
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8 |
Cover Letter Handout |
Assignment 4: Cover Letter & Revised Resume |
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9 |
Assignment 5: Email |
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10 |
Assignment 6: Notice |
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11 |
Assignment 7: Minutes |
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12 |
Assignment 8: Memo |
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13 |
Assignment 9: Report |
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14 |
This is to give you some practice; it is not an assignment |
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15 |
You MUST come to this class as the first part of your final assignment needs to be done in class |
Final Assignment |
Links to material related to the course:
General Business Writing Tips:
Writing Tips – general writing techniques for cover letters, adverts, brochures, sales literature, reports
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Formal Letter Writing
Letter Writing Guide – includes many different types of letters with example letters
Guide to Basic Business Letters
Better Writing – Letter Writing – AskOxford.com- top of page –
Your Guide to Resume Writing
Machine Readable Resume
12 Common Mistakes in Resume Writing
Top Ten Tips From a Recruiter's Perspective
What Do Employers Really Want? – Top Skills and Values Employers Seek from Job-Seekers
Sample Resumes – for many difference jobs, Accountants, Engineers, International Business, etc.
Creative Professionals: Does Your Resume Reflect Your Design Skills? – Advice for creative professionals regarding resume and design
How to Write an International CV- top of page –
Achievements: How do Employers look at them?
How to Write a Cover Letter – cvTips.com
How to Write Cover Letters – eHow.com
Sample Cover Letter – Entry Level Position
Sample Cover Letter – Email Cover Letter
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Emails (parts of each of these sites were used in the Email lecture)
20 Rules of Writing Effective Business E-Mails
How to Write a Business Email
Business Email Writing – short
Email Etiquette – includes 32 most important email etiquette tips
10 Tips for writing business emails that say the right thing about you
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Constructing a Brochure or Pamphlet – How to construct the leaflet style of notice
Notice – Introduction and Guidelines
Notice – Tips on Notice Writing
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How to Write Meeting Minutes – Brief introduction to writing meeting minutes.
How to Write Useful, Accurate Minutes – Why, what, and specific language conventions
Taking Minutes – Before you write the minutes up you’ve got to take the minutes during the meeting
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Memo Writing – on OWL at Purdue website
How to Write a Memo – Standard conventions for inter-office business correspondence
How to Write Memos – on Gallaudet University website
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Writing Reports – Using the Business report format
How to Write a Business Report – Includes an example report
How to Write a Business Report – Focus on simplifying
How to Organize and Write a Business Report
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Capitalizing Letters – Some capitalization rules for writing English
Capitalization – 17 rules
A Little Help with Capitals – from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab
Clarity in Writing – 14 tips
Improving Sentence Clarity – from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab
Clarity in Business Writing: Tools and Strategies – Using tools in MSWord to help
200 Common Redundancies – Eliminate needless repetition from your Writing
Cut the Clutter – 10 good small words that can replace many longer words in your writing
5 More Ways to Cut the Clutter – Suggestions to help you write more concisely
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How to do Write a Good Survey
Writing Effective Survey Questions
Qualities of a Good Question
How to do Research on the Internet – from Monash University, Library Tutorial Online
List of All Recommended Subject Gateways – from Staffordshire University- top of page –