Advanced Freelance Writing (Applied Writing)

STUDY AND WORK AS A FREELANCE WRITER "The Freelance Writing course has been one of my most favourite due to the ease & flexibility of correspondence. I have found the staff always helpful and friendly. I appreciated that there were no deadlines and I could complete the work involved when I had time."
- Janine

This course has recently been revised and is now available online! Expand your knowledge of freelance writing and sharpen your writing and inject commercial appeal... in the comfort of your own home!

• Gain independence as a freelance writer
• Write feature articles
  
• Get more confidence in your writing
• Get freelance jobs

This is a course for people who already have skills in freelance writing, who have perhaps had some minor work published, but need to improve their overall technique and develop a more "commercial" approach to their work.   If you already have skills in freelance writing and have perhaps had some minor work published, this course will help you take your writing to the next level. Improve your overall technique and develop a more "efficient" approach to your work. Learn about the key elements of different genres of writing, this course covers the main different areas of freelance writing.

Lesson Structure

There are 7 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction
   • Writing Themes
   • Sentence Structure
   • Summary Skills
   • Theme Development (eg. Deductive, Inductive, Classic, Chronological, Descriptive, Analogy, Cause & Effect, Classification, Definition Analysis, Comparison & Contrast, Flashback etc)
   • Writing a Regular Column
   • Newsletters
   • News Columns
   • Criticism Journalism (eg Theatre Critics, Book Reviews, Film Reviews, etc)
2. Educational Writing
   • Interviewing Skills
   • Illustrating an article
   • Putting it all together
3. Scientific Writing
   • Technical Writing
   • Statistics
4. Writing a Biographical Story
   • Developing a draft plan
   • Research
   • Writing the final manuscript
5. Writing a News Article
   • Analysing a news article
   • Writing and illustrating a sporting event
6. Fiction Writing
   • Category Writing
   • Mainstream Writing
   • Characteristics of good fiction (ie. A strong plot;. A hero or heroine; Obvious motivation; Plenty of action; A colourful background)
   • Forming and developing an idea.
7. Other Writing
   • TV & Radio Scripts
   • Science Fiction
   • Conducting a Survey
   • Developing a Story.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Review basic writing skills and discuss theme development
• Develop skills in writing a regular magazine or newspaper column.
• Describe the key elements of educational writing.
• Describe the key elements of technical writing.
• Develop skills in interviewing and preparing a biographical story.
• Develop skills in writing news articles.
• Develop skills in writing fiction.
• Describe other writing styles including script writing.

Extract from Course Notes:

WRITING COLUMNS

Whether you are writing a regular column for a community newsletter, a trade or professional magazine, or a local or national newspaper there are certain points you need to consider:

• Your writing must be succinct. Space is limited, and production costs are generally expensive so don’t waste valuable column space on wordy and irrelevant writing.
• Your column must be informative. Keep to the main points and make sure your writing is free of ambiguity. Check the facts are correct – this is especially important in ‘What’s on’ columns (always check addresses, dates, names etc are correct).
• Your writing should be in a style appropriate for the publication. A chatty and entertaining column will be appropriate in some cases, but not others.
• Always write to the highest standard possible, no matter who the target readers are. Sloppy spelling and poor grammar are always unacceptable.

WRITING CRITICAL REVIEWS

Newspapers and magazines employ journalists to write critical reviews of all sorts of things, from artistic subjects (e.g. reviewing film, theatre or exhibitions) to reviewing products or events.

Reviews can be approached in two different ways:

a) Looking outwards – telling readers what they might expect.

b) Looking inwards – judging the subject against the critic's own standards of excellence.

If the aim is to tell the readers what to expect, the journalist must have a very good understanding of who the readers are. It becomes important to study readership demographics and to be sympathetic towards comments from readers: i.e. in letters or reader surveys and towards those who deal with readers more closely: i.e. talk with newsagents who sell the publications.

If the aim is to produce a critical review, it is important that the standards which will be judged against are based on very sound reasoning. Failure to do this will leave the critic exposed to being criticised themselves.

• Consider whether the criticism is subjective or objective.
• Consider whether the criticism is based upon set guidelines or not.

It can be valuable to adopt a standard formula which can be applied when making a critical judgement. Perhaps you might break the judgement down into a series of characteristics, assigning different numbers of points for each characteristic: this is only one way of making the judgement (perhaps) fairer.

What qualification will I achieve for completing this course?

This is an individual module course.  The individual module courses are 100 hour long usually and can be taken on their own or as part of a larger program of study. 

If you wish to take an individual module course as a stand alone course, you can elect to sit an optional exam at the end of it. 

If you successfully pass the exam and all assignments, you will receive a Statement of Attainment. You can take examinations at a time and location to suit you.  If you enrol, you will be sent further information on how to arrange examinations at the end of the course. 

If you do not wish to take the exam, you will receive a Course Completion letter when you have passed all assignments. 

There is an assignment at the end of each lesson. So for example, if an individual module course contains ten lessons, you will need to complete ten assignments. Assignments can be sent to us via email, post or fax.

Other qualifications, such as certificates, diplomas etc may require examinations to be taken as part of the overall assessment process.

You can find further information on the examinations process by clicking on the “Enrolment” link above.

You can find further information on other courses by clicking on the “Courses” link above.

More Information on ACS Distance Education and our courses

Who are our tutors?

Our tutors are all highly experienced and professional, knowledgeable in their field of study.  We have staff from around the world, enabling us to gain a wide variety of perspectives.  We have a school in the UK and in Australia. If you would like to have a look at our tutors, then click on the “About Us” in the boxes above and choose “The Staff” option.

Sample Course Notes

Our courses are all written by highly qualified tutors and writers, who also teach on the courses, so know them well.  We strive to update our courses and improve them with new information, methods and knowledge on an ongoing basis.  If you would like to see examples of some of our courses, then choose the “Enrolment” option above, and then click on “Sample Course Notes”.

What learning method should I choose?

We offer three learning methods – e-learning, correspondence and online. If you are not sure which is the right choose for you, then click on the “Learning” box above, then “Learning Methods.”

How Long will it take to complete the course?

This obviously varies from student to student. Some students will have more time for study than others. Some students may work quicker than others, so it is an individual thing.  We estimate that most students will take, for example, 4 – 6 months to complete a 100 hour individual module, but we allow up to 12 months for you to complete it.

Longer courses will obviously take longer.  You can find more information on the length of time required and so on the “Enrolment” box, then selecting “Terms and Conditions of Enrolment.”

What Do Our Students think of us?

If you would like to read comments from our previous students, then choose the “About Us” option above, then “Student Testimonials”.

I don’t think this is the right course for me.

If you’re not sure about this course, then why not look at our wide range of other courses. Click on the “Courses” box above.

You may also wish to design your own course to fit in with exactly what YOU want. To do so, click on the “Enrolment” box, then “Design your Own Course”.

If you would like more advice on a course, then you can contact us and ask a tutor about the courses. You can contact us by calling 0800 328 4723 or +44(0) 384 442752 or emailing info@acsedu.co.uk

Recognition and Accreditation

For more information on our recognition and accreditation, click on “The School”, then “Recognition”.

Who is ACS Distance Education?

If you want to know more about ACS and our history, then please click on “The School”, then “About us.”