Writing Skills for Intelligence Analysts

Length:

2.5 days

Who should take this course?

Intelligence Community analysts seeking to improve the quality and impact of their written products.

Description:

This workshop presents basic concepts in writing for the Intelligence Community and then reinforces the concepts by requiring students to participate in multiple writing exercises that focus on different aspects of intelligence product writing style. In this workshop, the instructors provide personalized, individual feedback to the students on five writing assignments. This direct feedback is the most effective teaching method for helping analysts improve their writing ability.

Concepts introduced in this workshop are:
• What is analytic writing and why does writing for the Intelligence Community different from other styles of writing?
• Why is the process of writing so closely linked to being an analyst who is able to think critically (“good writing is good thinking”)?
• How do you write a basic intelligence article?
• How do you self-edit and review your own paper?
• How do you write a summary for an intelligence product that provides the reader with the most significant information?
• What are key judgments? Why are they so important and how do you write them?
• What essential elements belong in the title of an intelligence product and why?
• How do you condense an article to just half the space and what does that teach you?

Agenda:

Day 1
Introduction
Principles of Effective Analytic Writing
Basic Writing Exercise
Common Writing Problems in Intelligence Products
Cyber Crime Writing Exercise (CRIMEthINC)
Sharpening Grammar and Punctuation Skills: Editing Exercise

Day 2
Review of Day One Writing Exercise (Basic Exercise and CRIMEthINC)
Crafting an Intelligence Article
Key Judgments and Summaries in Intelligence Products
Writing a Summary

Writing Key Judgments

Writing for Brevity Exercise

Day 3
Review of Three Articles Written on Day Two
Wrap Up

If you're interested in future runnings of a course,
please send an email to registrar@pherson.org
to request information or call 703-390-9947.