Review and revise your work with confidence.
You have the first draft. Now what? If you struggle to edit and improve your writing, this course is for you. Learn effective strategies for ensuring you’ve captured the best practices of high-quality health writing. There’s SO much to remember when you’re writing health & medical content – and it’s easy to overlook some of the essentials during the drafting stage. That’s why you need a solid review process that captures all the fundamentals.
This course is:
- Available on demand – from February 2021
- Easy to follow – with lessons covering the most common health & medical writing dilemmas
- Delivered as a series of podcasts AND text modules – so you can learn in your preferred style.
Hi there – I’m Michelle Guillemard, your teacher.
With more than ten years of industry experience, I created the Amplify Your First Draft course to help you improve your first draft and learn the essential editing skills that all professional medical writers need. Since 2014, thousands of aspiring writers and health professionals have enhanced their health & medical writing skills with me.
Keen to join in? Read on to find out more about Amplify Your First Draft!
What’s included?
Industry-leading resources to help you improve your first draft and learn in-demand editing and proofreading techniques.
- 12 comprehensive lessons (audio lectures AND text modules) meeting the core learning objectives
- 24+ handouts, checklists and recommended reading links enhancing every lesson’s learning objectives
- 12 quizzes and assessments to help you reflect and put the learnings into practice
- 14+ free health writing webinars to enhance your learning objectives
- Personalised feedback and all your questions answered
- Certificate upon completion
- Lively student-only Facebook group of 760+ writers
- Lifetime access so you can dive back in whenever you need a refresher
- Loyalty discounts giving you 30% off every other course
- World-class eLearning platform for a seamless learning experience.
Course curriculum
12 lessons full of best-practice advice you can start using immediately.
Part 1: You’ve written the first draft. Now what?
Editing is a mindset – understanding the editing process.
Discover the fine art of improving your own work.
The differences between editing and proofreading.
Learn why understanding these differences matters.
How to critique your first draft.
Determine the big-picture changes needed to ensure your content achieves its goals.
Part 2: Addressing the most common health & medical writing dilemmas
The importance of structure.
Determine the most appropriate structure for your first draft.
Readability and relevance.
Learn how to edit your draft into easy-to-understand content for your target audience.
Writing about research and evidence correctly.
Ensure the first draft contains accurate health claims and quality, credible references.
Effective consumer health referencing techniques to know.
Discover how to correctly reference your consumer health content.
Part 3: Health & medical editing specifics
Health & medical writing best practices.
Get super-useful checklists covering the essential best practices of high-quality health & medical writing, including health literacy, engagement, persuasion and behaviour change.
How to conduct a compliance edit.
Determine whether your first draft is compliant with local guidelines, rules, regulations and legislation.
Grammar and punctuation rules, and editing tools.
Learn how to address common issues relating to grammar and punctuation, and discover which editing tools are most useful for your needs.
Part 4: Future strategies
Essential editing efficiency strategies.
Learn how to edit your own work efficiently and thoroughly – even when you have limited time.
How to write a better first draft next time, and a recap.
Consolidate all the techniques in this course and develop strategies to write a better first draft next time.
Extras: COVID-19 and healthcare communication (new)
With the pandemic showing no signs of slowing down, there’s never been a more significant time to learn about effective health communication. Communicating about COVID-19 is a topic that ALL health writers need to know about, as it will be a feature of health communication for years to come. To help you learn more about COVID-19 and responsible health communication, I’ve developed a dedicated resources page, updated regularly, which is included in your course.
BONUS CONTENT!
FREE access to the Health Writer Hub Alumni Webinar Library
- 14 webinars to enhance your learning objectives
- Watch on-demand with lifetime access
- 10+ hours of online learning included for free
- Learn about freelance writing, finding work and writing tips with webinar topics covering quoting for jobs, finding clients, CV writing, finding employed work, website essentials, subcontracting, marketing and more!
What are the opportunities after I complete the course?
After you complete Amplify Your First Draft, you will have:
- Editing skills to help you improve your first drafts right away
- Confidence to edit your own work effectively and efficiently
- Knowledge to ensure your work is best-practice and industry-standard.
How does this medical editing course work?
Here’s what you can expect.
As soon as you register for Amplify Your First Draft, you can log in and start working through the course. Amplify Your First Draft includes 12 comprehensive lessons. Each lesson contains easy-to-implement techniques, strategies and processes. You can also email your teacher, at any time, if you have questions.
Your industry expert
Who I am, and why I want to help you succeed.
Hi – I’m Michelle Guillemard, founder of Health Writer Hub (you can read more about me here).
When I launched Health Writer Hub in 2014, I aimed to create a best-practice resource to empower health writers to develop their skills, grow their careers and improve the quality of health content on the web.
Editing your own work is NOT easy – but, with the right techniques, a good edit will transform your first draft into an engaging, effective piece. In Amplify Your First Draft, I address the most common questions and dilemmas I’ve seen in the six years I’ve been teaching writing courses. I created this course to give aspiring health writers actionable tips and essential editing skills.
If you’re ready to learn effective techniques for editing your own work and improving your health & medical writing skills, Amplify Your First Draft is the course for you!
My teaching method
I teach this course, and all my courses, through a combination of audio lectures (podcast style) and text resources. I also offer a range of video content, including bonus webinars and regular student interviews.
After experimenting with different combinations over the years and listening to student feedback, I am confident that delivering lectures in both audio AND text format is the most effective way for you to learn health writing in an online class environment.
While it’s up to you how you consume the content, you are welcome to:
- listen and read the transcripts at the same time
- listen and take your own notes
- listen away from your computer
- read the transcripts only.
Many of you have told me that you like to listen to the lectures while driving, walking, hiking, running or cleaning the house – and, that’s fine as well!
Join a supportive group of like-minded health writers
When you join Amplify Your First Draft, you become a member of the Health Writer Hub Alumni – a smart, diverse and friendly community of 760+ health writers from around the world. Alumni benefits include:
- Loyalty discounts – 30% off any other Health Writer Hub course
- Weekly challenges – goals to keep you motivated and accountable
- Student interviews – learn the ropes from experienced students
- Extra group calls – monthly group chats with other Alumni
- Global networking – connect with health writers from around the world
- A supportive network of health writers – ask questions and share advice
- Immediate access – join the group as soon as you sign up.
Frequently asked questions
What you need to know.
Student feedback
Want to know what others say about their Health Writer Hub courses? Read 100+ student reviews here.