This article contains information on 27 Free Online Courses to Improve Your Writing Skills.
What if I told you that there are free online courses that can help you improve your writing skills.
Effective writing skills are not just for English or arts majors as many presume. Whether you are preparing your cover letters, application letters, sales emails or preparing for university admission and in fact, some of your thoughts and memories would need to be preserved through writing. To help individuals achieve this, there are countless free online writing courses that can serve as guides for writing effectively.
There are also courses that will teach you [1] to write better business emails, compelling blog posts, fiction, drama, social media updates, and prepare technical reports. The online platform is a rendezvous for English language learners, teachers, and grammar nerds because there are courses for everyone at any level. While some of the Massive Open Online courses come with fees, some are also free and are available for audit in full or in part. Note that some of the courses have financial aid programmes where interested students can seek funding in order to take the course. Coursera especially have this scheme.
Let’s share some of these courses, their providers and how you can access them.
FREE ONLINE COURSES TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING SKILLS
1. Basic Writing & Composition
Arizona State University via edX
The course would improve your writing skills from the basics of writing and compositions
2. Perfect Tenses and Modals
University of California, Irvine via Coursera
In this course, you will learn about important intermediate verb tenses, including present perfect, present perfect progressive, past perfect, and past perfect progressive.
3. Grammar and Punctuation
University of California, Irvine via Coursera
This course would help you identify the correct verb tenses to use – use commas effectively – utilize several different sentence types – write more effectively in English
4. English Grammar and Style
University of Queensland via edX
You would learn the key concepts and strategies in grammar and style to help enhance your writing and confidently respond to the demand of high levels of literacy in the 21st century.
5. Tricky English Grammar
University of California, Irvine via Coursera
This course would be relevant for non-native English speakers as it would provide tips that will help you understand the rules more easily and give you lots of practice with the tricky grammar of everyday English.
6. Effective Writing
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee via Swayam
The present course on writing aims at familiarizing learners with the nuances of effective writing, the art of writing, enabling them to write with clarity, precision and at the same time with the subtlety to express their ideas on different occasions with the notions of appropriateness and accuracy.
7. Just Reading and Writing in English
Tsinghua University via edX
Learn how to read and write in English in the context of lectures and academic texts.
8. Conjunctions, Connectives, and Adverb Clauses
University of California, Irvine via Coursera
In this course, you will learn about a lot of different ways to join ideas to make more complex and interesting sentences. As a writer, this is highly recommended.
9. Noun Clauses and Conditionals
University of California, Irvine via Coursera
In this class, you will learn about the advanced grammar concepts of noun clauses and conditionals.
10. Verb Tenses and Passives
University of California, Irvine via Coursera
In this course, you will review the verb tenses that you learned in beginning English classes and learn about a few tenses you may not know very well.
11. English Composition: Research and Writing
Arizona State University via edX
Learn how to design, develop, research, and execute a writing project from inception to completion in this credit-eligible course.
12. Journalism for Social Change
University of California, Berkeley via edX
Learn how to use solution-based journalism to spur positive social change.
13. Media Writing and Editing
Ohio State University via Canvas Network
In this virtual newsroom, you will learn reporting, writing, researching and multimedia techniques for all news media platforms, and then dig deeper into how social media, community-centred journalism, and multimedia elements can enhance coverage.
14. English for Journalism
University of Pennsylvania via Coursera
This course is designed for non-native English speakers who are interested in developing the skills needed for a career in modern journalism.
15. Digital Culture and Writing
University of Burgundy via EMMA
It provides an overview of the potentialities of digital writing and culture, for publishing, sharing and communication.
16. Writing for Social Justice
University of California, Berkeley via edX
Learn to harness the power of writing to bring about personal, social, and political changes that matter.
17. English for Journalists, Part 1
University of California, Berkeley via edX
Improve your English grammar, vocabulary and writing skills through exciting topics in journalism and world news.
18. English for Journalists, Part 2
University of California, Berkeley via edX
Improve your English grammar, vocabulary and writing skills through topics in journalism including free speech, sports, humour and broadcast writing.
19. Start Writing Fiction
The Open University via FutureLearn
Get started with your own fiction writing, focusing on the central skill of creating characters, with this hands-on course.
20. Writing for Young Readers: Opening the Treasure Chest
Commonwealth Education Trust via Coursera
This course is for curious students and aspiring authors with a passion for writing to young readers as a target audience.
21. Creative Writing: The Craft of Style
Wesleyan University via Coursera
In this course, we will introduce aspiring writers to the art of putting pressure on written language. We will study the use of metaphor and imagery, and demonstrate how clarity, grace, and inventiveness in word choice are imperative to a story’s success. Writers will emerge with the revision skills essential to all writers of good stories and good prose.
22. Creative Writing: The Craft of Setting and Description
Wesleyan University via Coursera
In this course, aspiring writers will be introduced to the techniques that fiction experts employ to ground a story in a concrete world. From the most realistic settings to the most fantastical, writers will learn how to describe the physical world in sharp, sensory detail.
23. Writing Stories About Ourselves
Wesleyan University via Coursera
In this course, creative nonfiction writers will explore traditional storytelling methods, especially those which overlap between fiction and memoir. By looking at examples from a wide range of genres, including film, song, painting—even the theme music for Jaws!—we’ll practice exercising the creative muscle that sees ourselves as characters and the experiences we’ve had as tales
24. Writing in First Person Point of View
Wesleyan University via Coursera
If you have always wanted to tell your own story—in a memoir, first-person essay, or any other form of autobiographical nonfiction—but felt you lacked the tools or the framework, this is the class for you. We will learn how successful first-person writing is structured to offer the reader a sense of propulsive motion and is guided by a narrator who is deliberately crafted.
25. Writing a Personal Essay
Wesleyan University via Coursera
This class is the chance to create your personal essay or extend into a full memoir — from planning and structure to bold narrative brushstrokes to the layering of significant detail. You will develop the opportunity to find your voice and see it come alive, amplified and improved, on the page.
26. How To Make A Poem
Manchester University via FutureLearn
Learn how to ‘make’ your own poetry by exploring different poetic techniques and styles.
27. Writing Case Studies: Science of Delivery
Princeton University via edX
This course would expose learners on how to collect research, organize writing, and abide by legal and ethical standards, and compile a case study.
These and many more are a plethora of online materials you can bank on if you want to improve your language skills. Remember it is free!
Reference
[1] Shah, D. (2023, January 24). [2023] 170 free online writing courses to improve your skills — class central. The Report by Class Central. https://www.classcentral.com/report/writing-free-online-courses/
