Wordsmithing the Marine Survey Report

Instructor: Pat Kearns

You may "work at your own pace" in this four-lesson course. Once you register, you will have 6 months in which to complete all assignments.  Your instructor will be available via teleconferences, discussion boards, messaging, and email, all of which will enhance your e-learning experience by providing information beyond what is covered in the written materials and references.

Goal of this course: To help both aspiring and veteran marine surveyors identify and master skills to polish their report writing and organizational skills to produce reports that reflect their expertise and experience and set them apart as truly professional practitioners.

A survey is only as good as the report that communicates the work of the surveyor, and a good surveyor’s findings (and reputation) can be lost in a poorly written report. A lousy report can ruin the client’s experience and is a liability to a surveyor’s career potential. Writing competence is the key to producing accurate and functional survey reports. Good writing requires a grasp of fundamental language and grammar skills and the technical terminology particular to survey practice. These complement a thorough comprehension of the marine industry and the boating public’s needs for the information conveyed in a survey report. 

In this course, you will learn to say what you mean to develop user-friendly reports with less jargon and more precise language. Writing the report begins the minute you accept an assignment and this class will show you ways to organize your findings and write your observations with improved literacy and reader utility.

Your instructor, an experienced surveyor, will share special insights from her own survey practice. On completing the course, you will have a new set of tools for writing reports that are professional, organized, readable, and functional, reflecting your personal expertise in your work product.

Each part of this course must be taken in sequence. The practical exercises given throughout the course will provide students with opportunities to objectively evaluate own writing strengths and vulnerabilities and seek solutions from the instructor and student colleagues. 

Class outline

• 1. Week One:Then, now and the future.

  1.1. Looking at reports: experts, amateurs and yours.

• 2. Week Two:Spelling and grammar DO count.

  2.1. There are no born writers: Mastering the basics.

• 3. Week Three: Language, organization, and format

  3.1. Report literacy: Accuracy and fluency, editing and proofing.

• 4. Week Four:Surveying the survey report.

  4.1. Learning from works in progress.

Fees: $200

 
Continuing Education Credits (CEUs): Two

 
Learning Contact Hours: Four