Writing   

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Get your writing directly into the hands of an editor and on the shelves of your favorite stores. This course, taught by a successful journalist and author, will help you understand every step of the publishing process and how to give yourself the credibility publishers notice.

Becoming a Published Writer

As an unpublished writer, what you don't know could hold you back. What you learn here in this first lesson will help you understand what to look for and what to avoid in the publishing industry, as well as how to reach your publishing goals. By learning how to get published quickly and often, you should be well on your way to a lifetime of publishing success!

Breaking in and First Markets

In this lesson, you'll learn why it's difficult to break in to the world of publishing, why publishers prefer to work with published writers, and why editors can be as choosy as they want to be. It'll also teach you about five of the easiest publishing markets.

Writing Contests and Credibility

In this lesson, you'll learn how to use writing contests to gain publishing credibility. It'll provide you with examples to steer you away from contest scams, and show you how to find legitimate writing contests. Then it'll discuss how to retain some rights to your work and resell your contest submissions.

Manuscript Mechanics and Formats

In this lesson, you'll learn how to format a manuscript for submission to a publisher. You'll find out how to narrow down your chances of rejection by making sure you follow all the submission guidelines. You'll learn all the basic manuscript mechanics, from paper to font choices. Then you'll go over all the formatting rules, including the importance of saving your work.

Proofreading, Printing, and Submission Logs

In this lesson, you'll learn the final steps to prepare your manuscript for submission. If publishers perceive you as careless or sloppy in any way, they may reject your manuscript without ever reading it. Publishers don't need to waste their time with writers who submit unpolished material. You'll also learn how to create a submission log to track your manuscripts for future reference.

Copyright, Rights, and Pseudonyms

This is perhaps the most important lesson of all. Before submitting your work to a publisher, make sure you take the necessary steps to protect your work against copyright infringement. That means ensuring your work has copyright protection, as well as maintaining rights to sell the work again and again if desired. This lesson will tell you everything you need to know about that. You'll also learn about using pseudonyms.

Mainstream, Subsidy, and Self-Publishing

Once you've completed your manuscript—that is, finished writing, editing, proofreading, formatting, and printing it—you've reached the halfway point of your publishing process. Finding the right publisher and publishing method for your work can mean the difference between a novel on the best-seller list and a garage full of unsold books. This lesson will teach you how to do that and also go over the pros and cons of subsidy publishing and self-publishing.

All About Query Letters

A query letter is a very important part of the submission process. In this lesson, you'll learn what a query letter is and why it's important to your submission. You'll see how to format a query letter, including what information you should include and what you should leave out. You'll also learn when and how to submit your queries to a publisher.

Submissions, Offers, and Rejections

Your manuscript must be packaged and delivered to a publisher in a professional manner. In this lesson, you'll learn how to mail your manuscript, including how to submit photos and illustrations with your submission. You'll also learn what a simultaneous submission is and when you can use this method of submission. This lesson will also show you how to evaluate the offers and rejections you receive from publishers following your submissions.

All About Agents and Contracts

You'll learn all about literary agents in this lesson. An agent isn't a necessity for most submissions, but one is recommended for certain publisher contract negotiations. You'll learn when, where, and why to get an agent to represent you. You'll discover why finding a reputable agent is just as important as finding a reputable publisher. You'll also explore agent contracts, fees, and publisher contract terms.

Clubs, Conferences, and Writer's Block

In your writing and publishing efforts, it's important to remember that you aren't alone in this venture. There are millions of other writers out there who can offer you information, inspiration, and encouragement when you need it. In this lesson, you'll learn how to connect with other writers. You'll also learn what to do when you're face to face with that dreaded writer's block. If you can't think of anything to write, how will you ever get published?

The Future of Publishing

In the last lesson, you'll learn that there are certain publishing taboos that you should avoid. Neither talent nor determination will help you if you fail to follow simple publisher guidelines. You'll also learn how to format the items that publishers request following acceptance of your manuscript. In addition, you'll learn about the future of publishing.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Transform your resume into a powerful tool that will help you get interviews. This course is invaluable to anyone who wants to improve their resume as it will introduce you to different formats, help you make the most of your work experience, and discover how to use reference to your advantage.

Components of a Resume

The first lesson will discuss what a resume is and why you need one. Then, it will go over the six sections of a resume: Heading, objective, education, work experience, special skills, and references, and you'll learn how job seekers utilize each one to market themselves to prospective employers. The lesson will also discuss some other resources on the Internet where you can look over sample resume headings and objectives.

Self-Assessment

In this lesson, you'll outline the skills that you've developed in five areas of your life—work, education, internships, volunteering, and extracurricular activities. Then, you'll edit those skills down to the ones that are most relevant to employment, and choose an important skill for each area. Next, you'll come up with personality traits and narrow those down to the ones that are useful in a business setting. The lesson will ask you to list the three accomplishments that you're most proud of, and the skills that you used to make these goals come to fruition.

Rules of Resumes

This lesson will cover the rules of resumes. For instance, a resume should be only one page, and it should be laser-printed or typeset by a professional printer, and it should be printed on bond paper. You'll also learn what not to include on your resume, and why it's perfectly acceptable to use the word "I" on your resume if you so desire. The lesson will conclude with a discussion about Truth in Resume Writing. Through example, it will demonstrate how to portray job duties in the best possible light without getting yourself into trouble.

Chronological Resumes

In this lesson, you'll learn about the most popular style of resume—the chronological resume. In this type of resume, you'll list work experience in reverse chronological order. Your current or last position is listed first in the work experience section of your resume. The lesson will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this type of resume and show you how to minimize a gap in work history. Although many people will have a few small gaps in work history, having too many gaps or gaps that are too large will put prospective employers on alert.

Functional Resumes

This lesson will go over the other two resume formats—the functional resume and the hybrid—the combined resume. Although not as popular as the chronological resume, these resume formats do fulfill a need for some job seekers. Employees who are following a new direction in their career, or who don't have much experience for a particular position, may choose a functional format. You'll learn the differences between functional resumes and chronological ones, and as part of the lesson, you'll look at four people's chronological resumes and practice converting them into functional and combined resumes.

A Look at Your Resume

In this lesson, you'll concentrate on your resume. The lesson will discuss how to set up the heading of your resume and the options you have available to you when you're doing so. Then, you'll look at some sample resume headings. You'll learn how to write a persuasive objective for your personal resume and then learn about career profiles and summaries of qualifications. The lesson will also go over examples of objectives, career profiles, and summaries. Finally, you'll look at the education section of your resume and learn what's included in an honors section.

References

In this lesson, you'll learn about references. You'll begin by looking at examples of two reference letters written by two different individuals. Then, the lesson will discuss how to request a reference letter and show you some samples of them. You'll learn about the different people you can request a letter from and take a look at the difference between a regular reference and a sealed reference. After that, you'll look at a sample reference sheet that you can use as a model to construct your own. The lesson will finish up with some examples of how you can refer to your references on your resume.

Work Experience

In this lesson, you'll learn how to turn job descriptions into advertising copy. Your resume is an advertisement for a product, and you are the product, and your potential employer is the customer. You need to express the features (actual description of your product) and the benefits (how it will help or aid the customer) of the product. You must be as persuasive and specific as possible when describing your features and benefits. Finally, the lesson will discuss company job descriptions and why they're important to you.

Technical Resumes

In this lesson, you'll learn all about technical resumes (resumes for engineering, data processing, and other technical and management careers). The lesson will discuss how these resumes differ from traditional resumes. You'll learn about buzzwords and find out how to use them effectively on a technical resume. Then, you'll learn some writing tips for technical resumes and go over a recommended technical resume format. You'll finish up the lesson by looking over some examples of technical resumes—one chronological and one functional.

Online Resumes

In this lesson, you'll learn the three methods that employers use to locate a job candidate on the Internet. The lesson will discuss resume banks, search engines, and newsgroups. It will explain what you need in order to get Internet access, and the three versions you'll need in order to post your resume on the Web. The lesson will also go over keywords and other online resume tips and explain why you need to protect yourself on the Internet, as well as ways to accomplish this. Finally, there will be a discussion about how to post your resume.

Cover Letters

In this lesson, you're going to learn how to write an effective cover letter. The lesson will explain what a cover letter is and when you'll need one. Then, you'll go over the different parts of a cover letter and look at several examples of them. Finally, the lesson will discuss the follow-up sentence that you might include in the closing of your cover letter and why it's important in your job search.

Formatting Resumes

This lesson is all about the new resume that you've been working on throughout this course. You'll take one final critical look at it: Is your name centered at the top of the page? Is it highlighted by a larger font, bolding, or underlining? Is your objective highlighted, along with your education, college, and work experience? Were you consistent with font sizes, capitalization, spacing, and punctuation? Is everything lined up vertically? The left-hand side of your resume should be lined up vertically, but the right-hand side should be ragged. Is your resume perfect with no typos or spelling errors? By the time you finish this lesson, your resume will be ready to present to prospective employers!

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Learn to write in English more effectively so you can achieve your goals and dreams. This course will teach you how to write clearly, logically, and cohesively in any academic or work setting.

1. An Overview of Writing
2. The Creative Process
3. Effective Essays
4. Three Types of Essays
5. Compare and Contrast Essays
6. Cause and Effect Essays
7. Argumentation Essays
8. Correcting Your Wording
9. Take Care With Verbs
10. Other Parts of Speech
11. Common Writing Problems
12. Punctuation and Wrap-Up