Administrative Writing
Intermediate

Basic Information

Topics

Text Types

Text Book

Assessment

Basic Information

This is an intermediate course in modern business communication for the public sector, aimed at the professional whose job requires intermediate written communication skills. Participants will learn to improve ways in which they plan, compose, write, and revise written work. The course will focus on concepts and text types of special relevance in academic administrative settings.

Topics

We will work on some questions affecting administrative practice and writing. These include the following:
1. Fundamentals of English Administrative Writing. Plain English Campaign. A general approach to writing and drafting.
2. Electronic administrative writing. Netiquette, content, structure, style.
3. Planning and document design. Generating information, structuring ideas, creating patterns. Layout, type, visuals.
4. Layout and presentation. Paragraphs, tabulation, numbering.
5. Giving information.
6. Editing and proofreading. Editing your writing. Editing on the computer. Proofreading.
7. Punctuation. Commas. Semicolons and Colons. Apostrophes. Quotation Marks. Periods, Question Marks, Exclamation Points. Special Punctuation Marks. Capitalization. Italics and bold type. Hyphens, word division.
8. Writing in a university context. Vocabulary skills. Commerce, banking, countries, university services.

Text Types

Text types will vary according to the preferences and needs of participants. We will focus on reading, writing, and pragmatic skills. Recognizing text types and their adequacy to communicative purposes will also be essential.
1. Faxes, email
2. Application forms
3. Letters, requesting information, ordering, replying, quotations, payments, complaining, congratulating, thanking, acknowledging receipt
4. Certificates, academic reports
5. Agendas, minutes
6. Reports, report abstracts
7. Purchase orders, delivery notes, goods received notes, invoices
8. Accounts, balance sheets, trading and profit and loss accounts

Text Book

No text book is needed. You will get the materials from your teacher (free of charge!). With each new topic and text type you will get a little dossier which you should keep for future use at your workplace. Folders are provided for your convenience.

Assessment

The final qualification will reflect the degree of participation in class, the results of the activities to be carried out at your workplace (10%), the work done in the Self-Access Language Centre (10%), and also the completion of a final exam, which will amount for 80% of the final grade. This exam will consist in composition (40%) and reading (40%) tasks, (the adequacy to the pragmatic and text-type conventions will be of great importance). General language will not be a part of the course, but grammar errors will be taken into account.

Participation and homework	10%
Self-Access Language Centre activities	10%
Final exam (from which)	80%
Reading	40%
Composition	40%
Total	100%

(For general information on SLT assessment criteria see sic.uji.es/serveis/slt/cursos/angles/programa.html)

Welcome to the course!