Plain language training courses
to transform writing skills

Training for writers of functional documents

Think-write’s plain language training courses are for people who write ‘functional documents’ – purposeful documents that impact readers’ thinking, attitudes and behaviour.

Plain language writer training is for people who write:

• correspondence, memos and support materials
• business cases or proposals
• ministerial briefs, policy & procedure
• general advice
• web text
• reviews and assessments
• technical reports.

Think-write’s plain language training courses cover both the thinking required to write well in plain language, and plain English techniques. You’ll craft documents that are easy to read, get to the point fast and achieve purpose.

Full day course – Writing well at work

Overview

Covers the principles and practice of plain language. Participants will learn to write text that is easy to read, gets to the point fast and achieves purpose.

Who the course is for

Writing well at work is suitable for competent writers at all levels. The course is designed to enhance existing writing skills; basic competence in sentence construction and grammar is a pre-requisite.

Content

The course explains the principles and techniques of plain language writing with a focus on the document user (audience). They walk participants through the document creation process and help them apply the ideas to a real work document that participants bring to work on. The content is generic – the ideas can be applied to all documents. Brief commentary about various document genres (briefing notes, reports, letters, policy, etc) is included.
(For NSW Government agencies, a short deep dive into writing briefing notes is available as an option.)

Outcomes

Participants will be able to:

• plan and structure content
• write clearly and concisely
• identify and articulate key messages
• provide focused content
• improve clarity and readability.

Half day course – Plain language fundamentals

Overview

Plain language fundamentals is a short, sharp course covering the same material as Writing well at work, but in a condensed form. It is suitable for competent writers needing a refresher in plain language principles.

Who the course is for

Plain language fundamentals can also be taken by senior managers who need to understand what their staff have been told in Writing well at work. Understanding the benefits and objectives of plain language is important. Introducing plain language to an organisation can be a form of culture change – all parts of the organisation need to be aligned.

Teaches proven techniques for clear and effective writing

Principle driven training

Five basic plain language principles underpin our training courses. And we provide an easy to follow scaffold to guide writers through the document creation process – from first idea through to user testing.

Content drawn from real world experience

Think-write’s plain language courses draw on the deep knowledge acquired over decades of writing and editing government and private sector documents. See Think-write’s experience.

Preferred training provider

Think-write Consulting (Greg Pendlebury) is a supplier on the Australian Government’s Plain English Training Panel. (SON4042884 1-Apr-2024 to 31-Mar-2027)

Consistent with the International Plain Language Standard