Writing Improvement 101

Unlock Your Creative Potential, One Word at a Time

Writing Improvement 101

Unlock Your Creative Potential, One Word at a Time

Unlock the true potential of your words with Writing Improvement 101. Imagine transforming your writing into a powerful tool that captivates and influences. This isn't just another course; it's your key to mastering expression, guiding you step-by-step to craft sentences that sing and paragraphs that persuade. Say goodbye to jargon and confusion, and hello to clarity and impact. Whether you're aiming for academic excellence or professional advancement, this course will arm you with the skills to stand out. With personalized guidance, you'll not only build confidence but also discover your unique voice. Don't just learn to write--learn to write brilliantly. Enroll now and watch your words work wonders in every area of your life.

Self Paced • Online Class • Accredited CEUs

$120

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OVERVIEW

CURRICULUM

Writing Improvement 101

Name: Writing Improvement 101
Price: 95.00 USD

CRN: 7550412

Lesson 1: Unlocking Your Creative Potential: Mastering Writing Skills for Impact

Sinclair Lewis urged aspiring writers to forgo lectures and practice writing, highlighting the futility of theory without application. Mastering sentence structure and avoiding common writing pitfalls leads to polished and impactful prose.

Lesson 2: Achieving Sentence Mastery

Effective writing uses varied sentence structures to smoothly express ideas, as relying too much on either short or long sentences can hinder comprehension. Combining sentences with techniques like compound and complex structures fosters better flow and connection.

Lesson 3: Building Clarity: Paragraph Basics

Organized into paragraphs, narratives benefit from clearly structured information where topic sentences introduce the main idea. A concluding sentence may follow to summarize or strengthen the paragraph's theme.

Lesson 4: Exploring Common Paragraph Structures: Narrative, Descriptive, and Expository

Narrative paragraphs craft a story with a beginning, middle, and end, using chronological order. In contrast, descriptive paragraphs focus on sensory details, and expository paragraphs provide explanations or factual information.

Lesson 5: Show, Don't Tell

A powerful story transcends mere description, captivating readers by painting vivid pictures in their imagination with the technique 'show, don't tell.' Writers can enhance their narrative by constructing dynamic scenes and employing dialogue, bringing the reader directly into the heart of the action.

Lesson 6: First-Person Writing: Blurring Lines Between Author and Character

Third person point of view offers a blend of perspective and intimacy, allowing a narrative to shift from character to character. This flexibility makes it the most popular point of view in modern fiction, providing enough intimacy to engage with one character at a time without the constraints of first person.

Lesson 7: Crafting Compelling Conversations: Mastering the Art of Dialogue

Proper dialogue writing enhances the flow of a story while showcasing the character's emotions and personalities. To maintain interest, diversify your attributions and avoid unnecessary adverbs, ensuring the dialogue remains powerful and realistic.

Lesson 8: Enhancing Narratives with Interior Thoughts

Interior monologue effectively reveals a character's internal struggles and dilemmas, fostering empathy and understanding in the reader. Though tempting, resisting constant use is vital to preserve the clarity and momentum of your storytelling.

Lesson 9: Proportion in Writing

Flashbacks, while sometimes necessary for character development, can disrupt the momentum and proportional flow of a story if overused or improperly integrated. Writers should ensure that flashbacks enhance the narrative rather than confuse the chronology or burden the plot with superfluous details.

Lesson 10: Mastering the Art of Advanced Writing

Improve your writing skills by mastering the basic mechanics and avoiding common amateur mistakes such as lazy sentence structures and cliches. Refine your style to achieve a sophisticated tone akin to professional writers by utilizing stronger verbs and maintaining consistent style throughout your work.

Lesson 11: Wordy Phrases Simplified

Writers often mistakenly believe that lengthier phrases add sophistication, yet this can lead to redundancy and confusion in their work. Emphasizing brevity and clarity, this lesson highlights effective substitutions to enhance writing.

Lesson 12: Quick Tips for Effective Proofreading

Proofreading involves not only correcting spelling mistakes but also refining the flow of ideas and ensuring consistency. Reading your work out loud or using a recording can help identify areas needing improvement.

Lesson 13: Unlocking the Secrets of Writing Excellence

Lynne Truss's 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves' humorously criticizes the modern state of punctuation and provides readers with enjoyable yet informative insights. Her inventive approach, including a 'Punctuation Repair Kit,' makes learning about punctuation both entertaining and educational.

In This Course

14 Hours average completion time
1.4 CEUs
13 Lessons
32 Exams & Assignments
576 Discussions
13 Videos
13 Reference Files
Mobile Friendly
Last Updated June 2021

Description

We know that effective writing will help students in their coursework but it's equally important to write well in the workplace. If a job interviewer is considering two qualified candidates, the candidate who can write well will have the edge. If you're interested in improving your basic writing beyond correct grammar and punctuation, this course will help you. The more you write, the more confidence you will have in your abilities as a writer.

The best grammar and punctuation in the world can still produce average or even poor writing if you don't know how to use the sentences properly or which type of sentence works best to get your point across. By the same token, if you can write lyrical sentences but you string them together into paragraphs that are a tangled mess, the sense and impact of each sentence is lost.

This course is designed to give students the most flexibility and independence. You set your own schedule and learn at your convenience. Just because this course is online doesn't mean you're left on your own. The instructor will be reviewing and grading assignments and is always available to answer questions through email.

This course assumes you have a high school reading and writing level in English, and that you understand sentence structure, grammar and punctuation.

Skills You'll Develop

Improving sentence variety and strength
Efficient proofreading for coherence
Utilizing interior monologue effectively
Creating compelling narrative techniques
Enhancing paragraph clarity and structure
Simplifying complex ideas for clarity
Mastering effective dialogue writing
Refining advanced writing mechanics
Maintaining narrative flow and proportion

Skills You'll Develop

Improving sentence variety and strength
Efficient proofreading for coherence
Utilizing interior monologue effectively
Creating compelling narrative techniques
Enhancing paragraph clarity and structure
Simplifying complex ideas for clarity
Mastering effective dialogue writing
Refining advanced writing mechanics
Maintaining narrative flow and proportion

More About This Course

Write With Proportion: Balance flashbacks and narrative flow
Show, Don't Tell: Paint vivid pictures in readers' minds
Refine Writing Style: Avoid cliches and lazy structures
Master Dialogue: Craft realistic and engaging conversations
Achieve Sentence Mastery: Improve structure and comprehension
Enhance Narratives: Use interior thoughts effectively
Enhance Creative Potential: Master skills for impactful writing
Build Clarity: Organize narratives with structured paragraphs
Explore Diverse Structures: Narrative, descriptive, and expository techniques
Proofread Effectively: Refine flow and consistency of ideas
Simplify Wordy Phrases: Emphasize brevity and clarity

What You'll Achieve

Identify and utilize effective writing structures to create coherent sentences and paragraphs.
Demonstrate the ability to proofread and edit writing to enhance clarity and engagement.
Demonstrate the ability to combine short sentences into compound or complex structures to enhance readability and flow.
Identify common writing mistakes that lead to awkward sentence structures and apply strategies to refine and polish sentences for professional writing.
Identify and organize sentences into coherent paragraphs by recognizing the topic sentence and supporting details in each example.
Demonstrate the ability to evaluate paragraph structures by locating topic sentences and concluding statements within various texts.
Define a narrative paragraph by composing a paragraph that includes a clear sequence of events and vivid descriptive details.
Demonstrate understanding of a descriptive paragraph by writing a paragraph that utilizes sensory language to evoke a detailed scene or feeling.
Define the concept of 'show, don't tell' in writing and explain its effectiveness in creating engaging narratives.
Demonstrate the ability to revise a narrative passage by incorporating dialogue and scenes to engage readers and eliminate unnecessary narrative summaries.
Recognize the advantages and limitations of using the first person point of view in storytelling, such as intimacy and perspective constraints.
Demonstrate the ability to identify and correct unintentional point of view shifts in a first person narrative to maintain consistency.
Demonstrate the ability to write dialogue using varied speaker attributions to create engaging and realistic conversations.