Skills for Success: Writing
The Government of Canada recognizes writing as the ability to share information using written words, symbols, and images. We use writing skills in our daily lives such as writing emails, making social media posts and filling out forms and applications. The Skills for Success consists of 9 skills. Writing skills such as knowing what to write, how much to write and what style of writing to use helps you communicate your ideas and information to your intended reader.
“Writing is more important than ever before. We use it every day at home and at work. We send text messages and emails instead of having conversations in person or on the phone. Good writing skills are useful in many different areas of life.” – UP Skills for Work: Writing
This video explains the importance of writing skills at work.
ABC LifeLiteracy Canada outlines the process of writing which is divided into 4 stages:
- Set your goals
- Know your purpose: What do you want to accomplish with your writing.
- Know your reader: Knowing who you’re writing to helps you decide how your writing will sound and look.
- Choose you tone: This describes your attitude and mood in your writing.
- Plan what to write
- Choose your form of writing: Choose your writing structure that goes well with your purpose to make it easier for the reader to understand your writing.
- Organize your writing: Plan out your main ideas and think how each idea goes together.
- Write a first draft
- Review your goals and plan: Do this before your first draft and keep asking yourself what is the purpose of my writing? Who is my intended reader? What tone am I aiming for?
- Think about word choices: As your writing, try reading it to yourself out loud and see if you need to make any word changes.
- Deal with writer’s block: This is when we feel we can’t think of what to write. Sometimes just writing things down or talking about it to a friend, teacher, coworker or family helps you get started.
- Review your work: Once you’ve written your draft, its time to edit your work.
“Editing is an important part of the writing process. No matter how good your writing skills are, editing can help make your writing better.” – ABC Life Literacy Canada
Editing Checklist
- Have I included all the important information? Do I need to add anything?
- Is there information that isn’t useful to my purpose that I should cut out?
- Does every sentence in a paragraph belong there? Is anything off topic?
- Does my tone sound the way I want it to?
- Does my word choice match my purpose, the tone I’ve chosen, and my readers?
- Are there any confusing phrases or sentences? Does anything sound wrong?
- Does the order of my information make sense?
- Did I check the spelling, grammar, and punctuation?
To learn more about workplace writing and how to teach this skill, check the resources below.
Resources
- CELPIP Focus: Reading and Writing
- Great Writing Series
- Journey to Success: Building Basic Skills in Reading and Writing Series
- UP Skills for Writing
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