Introduction
Welcome to the course!
As an expert in your field, you write reports to help decision makers take appropriate action. The Bank’s success depends on how well you communicate your ideas and recommendations to others. Ultimately, the success of your writing supports the Bank’s mission of eradicating poverty.
In this course, you will explore techniques that can help to improve your writing. The course has been developed with a simple underlying idea. Good writing is not a gift that belongs to only a chosen few. Anyone can become a competent writer. You will have to work at it. But writing effectively is a skill that you can develop, improve, and practice with success.
In this course, you will learn about the implications of ineffective writing, and you will learn some new strategies to help you avoid poor practices. Ineffective writing carries two major risks: your readers may not read your reports, or they may get confused and not be able to take appropriate action. In either case, you will lose them, and your success as an effective writer will be impeded.
Throughout the course, you will see quotes about good writing. The quotes were gathered during interviews with Bank managers—sector managers, country program coordinators, and others. These quotes show how the principles taught in this course reflect what Bank managers say is important in Bank writing.
“If a document is not written well—regardless of the
quality of the analysis—no one will read it.”
―Sector Manager