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Basic Staff and Report Writing for Beginners

Every writer's nightmare - writing the first report. Every writer's dream - a short cut to ensuring it's a success. Let DR SUNNY GOH handhold you through this two-day programme in understanding the format of a good report and how to put the best materials in it.

Objective

At the end of the one-day programme, participants will be able to:

• Identify different types of staff papers;
• Contextualise issues in a staff paper;
• Apply persuasive writing skills and demonstrate clarity in writing; and
• Evaluate arguments in a staff paper, in terms of strength and cogency.

Outline

DIFFERENTIATION OF TYPES OF STAFF PAPERS
- Information Action
- Discussion Action
- Approval Action

CONTEXUALISING ISSUES
Type 1: Clerical Staffing, Secondary Information and non-Decision
Type 2: Secretarial Staffing and Other Information and semi-Decision
Type 3: Executive Staffing and Essential Information and full Decision

THE WRITING FORMAT
- Paragraphs
- Headings
- Sections
- Format
- Template

THE WRITING STRUCTURE
- Primary Objective?
- What?
- Why?
- How?
- What's Next?
- Action?

WRITING A REPORT
- Title
- Aim
- Background
- Main Argument
- Sub=argument
- Conclusion
- Attachments

Who should attend

Staff Officers who have to write a simple but complete staff report - either for information or for approval. The course will help them to avoid the pitfalls in a staff document and deal with inconsistencies.

Testimonials

"We got Sunny to teach our new staff, including mid-career officers, on Staff Writing and they were not only enlightened in terms of a systematic and effective way of staffing reports, they were also empowered to think boldly about addressing their demanding target audiences. This approach required rich experience and passion which not many writing coaches possess. He's well respected and good with getting new staff enthused." - Mr Lawrence Tan, Adviser, Careers Transition, Public Service Division

- I was unsure my level of competency, after learning in this course I am confident in writing reports
- The correction of report is an eye opener, learnt a lot from the trainer
- Knowledgeable, experienced and can relate course to real life example
Home Team Science and Technology Agency

Profile of Dr. Sunny Goh

An anchor writing coach at the Civil Service College (CSC), is a well-known name in Singapore writing circle and an award-winning journalist and columnist for TODAY newspaper, a correspondent for a global wire agency and a commentator for a regional journal. He was a former (acting) Director in the Defence Policy Office and a senior officer in the Military Security Department. He was also a desk editor of The Straits Times.

He has represented the Singapore Government at international and regional conferences and written Cabinet Memos, cross-Ministerial papers and Ministerial reports. He is also a guest lecturer on National Education with Nexus and a trainer on Public Policy at the Civil Service College, and upon invitation.

Specifically, on writing, he has designed writing programmes for the CSC and conducted Training of Trainers (TOT) sessions for writing coaches and copywriters. Thus far, he has trained an estimated 17,280 government servants in over 10 years, covering minutes and memos, log and contact notes, report writing, policy writing, concept writing and technical writing. Together with Ms Teo Hee Lian, they have collaborated on expert advice on writing standards to all government agencies and ministries. He has a PhD in Education, which adds to his strong classroom pedagogy.