In professional writing, whether it’s business, academic or journalism, the goal is to convince. And in order to convince, it’s important that your readers actually understand what you are saying in the way in which you intended it. Yet, people find it notoriously difficult to evaluate their own writing in terms of readability, clarity, purpose and structure. We just don’t know, as a rule, how what we write comes across. Yet, it is enough to place yourself in the shoes of your reader in order to let your writing style evolve naturallly into the powerful and unique voice that is yours. This is true irrespective of the field in which you write, or your level of command of English.

In this course, we look at some of the basic expectations that readers of an English text have, and how these expectations shape understanding. We consider how such expectations work in your own writing, and we develop a personal style sheet that will make you aware both of the strengths of your writing style, and of the areas in which you might wish to create some change. The course is intense, collaborative, interactive and individual. Mostly though, it’s a lot of fun!

This course is aimed at students with a level of B2 according to the Common European Framework of Languages.