Draft

Objective
To provide the knowledge and skills required to improve the quality and precision of your written communications by the application of rules and contemporary conventions of the French language.

Target audience
Any audience.

Prerequisites
None.

Topics covered

• Features of well-written texts
• Improving the conciseness and clarity of written text.
• Grammar issues: "participes", "verbes pronominaux" , "participes présents" vs. "adjectifs verbaux" and prepositions
• Spelling: plural of complex nouns and numbers, abbreviations, initialisms and particular cases
• Lexicon: choosing the right word, co-occurrents, wrong turns of phrase, anglicisms and improper connotations
• Typographic standards: punctuation and abbreviation
• Overview of the major linguistic and terminology tools

Objective
To provide the knowledge and skills required to enhance the quality and precision of your communications by improving the structure and refining the content of written texts.

Target audience
Any audience.

Prerequisites
None.

Topics covered

• Elements to consider when communicating: the audience, the purpose of the communication and the context
• Criteria that measure the acceptability and readability of business communications
• Organizing ideas with key words based on a specific situation
• Analyzing the content and developing a structure for the document
• Shaping text into paragraphs
• Tips to help clarify the message
• Clarifying information and improving readability: use of connecting words and typographic attributes
• Current practices for treating gender-specific language
• Adapting the message to the communications profile of the recipient
• Overview of some style and writing tools

Objective
To provide the knowledge and skills required to improve the quality and precision of written communications, by putting into practice the rules and conventions of contemporary English writing.

Target audience
Any French-speaking audience.

Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of the English language.

Topics covered

• Adjectives, adverbs and other parts of speech
• Choosing the right preposition (to, for)
• Infinitives vs. present participles
• Common errors of structure
• Special forms
• Word order within complex noun/adverb/qualifier groups
• Use of the definite and indefinite articles, and cases where the article is omitted
• Using apostrophes to denote possession
• Overview of the main linguistic tools

Note: This seminar is given in French. It does not include a review of verb tenses which is covered in Course CM115.

Objective
To provide the knowledge and skills required to enhance the quality and precision of your communications by improving the structure and refining the content of written texts.

Target audience
Any French-speaking audience.

Prerequisites
Good knowledge of the English language.

Topics covered

• Criteria that measure the acceptability and readability of written text
• English in the administrative environment: key phrases, jargon, vocabulary, common idiomatic expressions and rules of correspondence
• Overall approach to business writing in English: active vs. passive voice, how to get one's message across effectively
• Considerations that apply to particular types of communication
• The importance of proper sentence structure
• Adapting your writing style to the targeted audience
• Producing clear and concise documents
• Overview of some writing and editing tools

Note: This course is provided in French, and is oriented towards business communications such as e-mail. Drafting reports is not covered.

Objective
To provide the knowledge and skills required to use verb tenses correctly and without hesitation, apply correct grammatical structures and avoid making errors that could compromise the quality of one's writing.

Target audience
Any French-speaking audience.

Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of the English language.

Topics covered

• When and how to use different verb tenses in English
• Sentence structure: affirmative, negative and interrogative forms
• Key rules and exceptions
• Use of the past participle
• Common errors made by Francophones
• Conjugation problems
• Grammar in business writing
• Tools that can help with English grammar

Note: This seminar is provided in French.

Objective
To provide the knowledge and skills required to produce impeccable English documents that conform to the standard rules of English punctuation.

Target audience
Any francophone wishing to improve hist or her English writing skills.

Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of English

Topics covered

• The use of capital letters, the comma, the colon, the semi-colon and other forms of punctuation
• Dashes
• Using italics
• Common errors of punctuation
• Punctuation in PowerPoint documents
• Punctuation in business correspondence
• Punctuation and compositional style
• Overview of the most important tools and reference guides

Note: In spite of the fact that some concepts related to punctuation are covered in other courses, such as Perfect Your English Grammar (the use of the apostrophe), and Effective Writing in English (the use of the comma), this course covers the rules of punctuation in detail and discusses their application in various types of writing.

Objective
To provide the knowledge and skills required to easily compose written texts, while adapting one's style to the target audience and the type of communication required.

Target audience
Anyone.

Prerequisites
Good knowledge of the French language (spelling and syntax).

Topics covered

• The characteristics of different types of written communication: function, essential elements, stylistic and typographic particularities, visual presentation
• Stylistic exercises: writing a memorandum, a press release, a newsletter, and an advertising brochure
• The elements of communication: ensuring the cohesion of the objectives, the target audience (internal as well as external) and the type of communication
• The elements of composition: punctuation, articulating ideas, vocabulary, style, phrasing, quality of language
• How to revise and rework one's writing
• Reviewing texts written during the workshop, active participation

Note: The areas of writing for the Web, writing e-mails, report writing and technical writing are covered in Courses WE123, CM112, CM113 and CM117 respectively.

Objective
To provide the knowledge and skills required to improve your e-mail efficiency by means of a better structured writing style and with the help of simple practices suited to this form of communication.

Target audience
Any audience.

Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of an e-mail software program.

Topics covered

• Adapt your style to the recipient: directors, colleagues, employees, suppliers and clients
• Write in line with the type of message and nuance
• Maximize the potential of receptivity: clear layout, wording, spelling, choosing the most appropriate moment to send an e-mail and the potential impact of an e-mail
• Structure of contents: keeping in line with objectives, writing logically, organizing ideas and understanding the importance of conciseness
• Customized introduction and greetings
• Proven techniques: key words and short colloquialisms, statement of an attachment and efficient transfer to a third party
• Writing and proofreading time management
• Pitfalls and tricks of the trade
• Tools and useful Websites

Objective
To provide the knowledge and skills required to improve your writing skills and to maximize your efficiency when developing reports that need to be clear and precise in order to support decision making processes.

Target audience
Any audience.

Prerequisites
None.

Topics covered

• The elements of a report in document order
• The expectations of a recipient based on his/her communications profile and position in the hierarchy
• Steps in the report-writing process
• Analyzing content and structuring information into sections
• Descriptive, analytic and diagnostic development
• Choosing the right communication strategy
• Strategies to improve the effectiveness of a report
• Layout and formatting standards
• Choosing the right language and tone: words to avoid
• The abstract: a useful tool for busy decision makers
• Overview of some report-writing tools

Objective
To provide the knowledge and skills required to write accurate and clear technical documents, whether simple or complex, that meet standards for good technical writing.

Target audience
Anyone writing or updating technical documents or manuals.

Prerequisites
None.

Topics covered

• The role of the technical writer
• Static technical documents: user guides, specialized documentation, training manuals, procedures and guidelines
• Appropriate technical writing styles
• Using plain and simple language
• Techniques for simplifying complex topics
• The process of developing a document: assessing requirements, defining the phases, development of a structure, preparing a draft and quality control
• Preparing a table of contents or an index
• Positioning graphic elements
• Choosing between a paper copy, an online document or hypertext
• Selecting tools that meet the needs of the writer

Accredited course.
12 PDU

Objective
To provide the knowledge and skills required to detect and correct errors and typos that might compromise the quality of your written communications.

Target audience
Any audience.

Prerequisites
Good knowledge of the French language: grammar and spelling (Course CM105).

Topics covered

• What approach should a proofreader take?
• The role of the proofreader in the process of producing a written document
• Content vs. appearance: the differences between a typo, an error and an incongruity
• Factors to take into consideration for enhancing the quality of your communications from a linguistic point of view
• Style and typographic concepts: spaces, quotations and parenthesis, bullet and numbered lists, and hyphenation
• Common grammar mistakes
• Layout techniques
• Symbols used in editing
• The linguistic quality assurance check list
• Overview of tools used by professional proofreaders

Objective
To provide the knowledge and skills required to efficiently use the technology-based writing and translation tools popular with professionals to improve the quality of one's writing.

Target audience
Any audience.

Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of the Internet and word processing.

Topics covered

• The evolution of the roles of writers, editors and translators
• Comparing spell and grammar checkers
• Setup and efficient use of Antidote to improve the quality of documents
• Correcting typos, grammatical errors, and anglicisms, verb forms and style with spell and grammar checkers
• Comparing terminology databases used by translators
• Finding French or English translations in the terminology databases
• Online glossaries, dictionaries, thesauri, specialized vocabularies and style manuals
• Websites specialized in language issues
• Online resources that can be used to improve your writing skills

Accredited course.
6 PDU