A practical, 8-hour seminar that will help you identify and correct common problems in the organization, content and language of professional and business documents in English.

We start with how the overall structure of a document and the flow within and between paragraphs influence the effectiveness of a text. We move down to problems in grammar and syntax at the sentence level, and then to decisions about phrasing and word choice. By the end of the seminar you will have a better sense of what to focus on when you revise documents, and a toolbox of tips, guidelines and resources to help you edit.

Content
Writing to Communicate
•    Defining good writing: what is good writing and how do we know it when we see it?
•    Connecting ideas to create a coherent text with unified paragraphs and clear meaning.
•    Linking ideas and supporting arguments for narrative flow. Bridging ideas within and between paragraphs. Using cohesive devices such as reference, ellipsis, and substitution.
Copy Editing
•    Identifying problems at the sentence level: long sentences, empty filler, broken parallelism, overuse of passive voice, dangling participles, sentence fragments, run-on sentences.
•    Identifying problems at the word and phrase level: technical jargon, noun strings, expletives, redundancies, wordy phrases, circumlocution, useless words, hidden verbs, noun phrases, overworked metaphors.
•    Correcting errors in grammar and syntax: tense, agreement, parallel structure, conditionals, pronouns, common mistakes Greek native speakers make when writing in English.
•    Avoiding sexist language.
•    Understanding the mechanics of the comma, semicolon, colon and em-dash: when to use them (and when not). Rules for quotation marks.
•    Proofreading the final text.
Tools for Editing
•    Using proofing tools, Google search, concordances, readability checkers and other resources.

Who should attend
This seminar is for professionals who are proficient but not native speakers of English and who need to edit professional documents in the language-either their own or those their colleagues write. But since all writers need to edit what they have written before they publish or present their work, anyone who needs to write in their professional life could benefit from this seminar.

Εισηγητής: Stephen Bacigal