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Lecturer(s)
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Madleňáková Lucia, JUDr. Ph.D.
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Course content
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1. The first block of the theoretical part with practical examples What is effective and comprehensible writing and what is not How people read: literacy and cognitive knowledge Writing words, expressions and sentences in general Writing words, expressions and sentences in official text 2. Second block of the theoretical part with practical examples Fluency in text Logical continuity of the text Friendly text format 3. Third block of the theoretical part with practical examples Non-addressed official documents: public information in leaflets and on the web, normative texts, etc. Addressed official documents: administrative decisions, notices, communications, e-mail correspondence, etc. 4. Independent and group work Drafting and redrafting of official documents. Students will work independently, giving feedback to each other. 5. Presentation of student outputs Presentation of the processed texts, students' discussion of the solution. 6. Repeating key topics in relation to the experience of independent work. Repetition of some topics from theoretical blocks, which students will fully understand only during the preparation of independent work.
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming), Training in job and motor Skils, Activating (Simulations, Games, Dramatization)
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Learning outcomes
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The course is intended for all students who want to work in any office. The content of the course is the basic skill of every civil servant: how to communicate in writing with the public and with professional colleagues. The first part of the course will be devoted to clear communication. Students will learn how to write expressions, sentences or paragraphs so that the addressees can understand and act on the text. They will learn how to write a fluent and readable text that the addressees will understand after the first reading. The second part of the course will focus on text structure. Students will learn how to convey the essentials to the reader first, so that the reader is oriented to the text. How to structure the obligations imposed so that the addressee understands what the authority wants and why it wants it. How to convey the information so that it follows logically from one another. The third part of the course will deal with the formalities of an official text and the brevity of the text. Students will learn what is required in texts by the norms of administrative law (especially the Administrative Code) and what is not. They will learn how to effectively write administrative decisions, official requests, notices, letters. They will learn how to inform the public in leaflets and on the web. They will learn how to write concisely: how to give the reader the information they need but no extra information. The course will consistently alternate theory with practice from the beginning. A theoretical introduction to a phenomenon will always be followed by practical practice. This is because writing is not a discipline of knowledge; it is a skill that is only consolidated through practice. Students will therefore be assessed on their own production of texts, not on their knowledge of particular phenomena. The course will be taught by Jana Šamánková, who teaches official writing at the Office of the Public Defender of Rights and in the Ministry of the Interior's project The Understandable Office. Michaela Glozygová, who works in the Methodology and Analysis Department of the Ombudsman's Office and has experience in writing official texts at the Ministry of the Interior, will lead the writing of specific types of official texts. The linguistic part will be led by Silvie Cinková from the Institute of Formal and Applied Linguistics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University, who deals with the impact of professional texts in practice.
Students will understand the mechanism of constructing clear text in general and official documents in particular. They will improve their ability to write clearly and concisely and understand why this is useful. They will be ready to put their skills into practice immediately.
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Prerequisites
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The completion of this course is not conditioned upon completion of any other courses.
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Student performance
Students enrolled in the course are required to actively participate in seminars, cooperate with other classmates, engage in discussion and also independently prepare practical official texts.
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Recommended literature
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GARNER, Bryan A. (2013). Legal Writing in Plain English, Second Edition. Chicago-The University of Chicago Press.
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Kancelář veřejného ochránce práv. (2022). Manuál srozumitelného psaní pro úředníky. Brno: Kancelář veřejného ochránce práv.
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Šváb, J. (2021). Jak psát, aby se to dalo číst. Leges.
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