Written Communications

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EPSO AST Pre-Selection – Secretarial Skills: Written Communications
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EPSO AST Pre-Selection – Secretarial Skills: Written Communications
This Online EU Training study material is intended as preparation help for the European
Personnel Selection Office’s (EPSO) Assistant competitions:

 AST1 (EPSO/AST/111/10) – these are secretarial positions where anyone with the
right qualification can apply from any of the EU's 27 Member States as long as their
main language is one of the following: Danish, German, English, Spanish , French,
Dutch, Portuguese, Swedish or Maltese;

 AST3 (EPSO/AST/112/10) – these are secretarial positions where anyone with some
relevant work experience can apply from any of the EU's 27 Member States regardless
of what is your main language! Positions will be available in the following fields:

o Statistics
o Finance / Accounting
o Human Resources
o Communication / Information Technology

In the pre-selection or admission phase of the these competitions, candidates are required
to take a Secretarial Skills test intended to measure the skills needed to perform the
following duties:

 organising and coordinating meetings, including compiling files and working documents,
 answering, filtering and transferring telephone calls, handling correspondence,
 managing email boxes and functional mailboxes,
 managing timetables, supervising the schedule and ensuring that deadlines are complied
with,
 providing general administrative support, in particular for document management,
 preparing and managing missions; managing absences,
 presenting and checking documents (page layout, formatting and tables),
 drafting (secretarial level) draft notes, letters and reports,
 in translation departments: receiving, managing and processing translation requests, in
particular preparing, processing and finalising documents, mainly using translation
software.

The exam also includes the following test types:

- Accuracy Test
- Organising and Prioritising Test
- Verbal Reasoning
- Numerical Reasoning
- Abstract Reasoning

Practice tests are available for all the test types featured in EPSO AST competitions on
Online EU Training – check our online test packages today:

http://www.eutraining.eu/eutest_packages
 Written Communications

Reports
• as an administrative assistant, you may be asked to create a variety of different reports for your supervisor
• some of the reports will be routine and will be created from various sources already available
• other more formal reports will require input from your supervisor in the form of dictation, supplied documents, and a
series of reviews and revisions
• there are 4 general types of reports:
1. Memorandum Report
2. Letter Report
3. Short Report
4. Formal Report

Memorandum Report
• a routine and informal report that might be prepared on a weekly basis to, for example, report the status of projects to
higher offices
• objective and impersonal in tone
• there may be some introductory comments, however, they are very brief
• headings and subheadings are used for quick reference and to highlight certain aspects of the report
• usually single-spaced and printed on plain paper

Letter Report
• normally a one-page letter that is printed on company letterhead
• letterhead second sheets are used for continuation pages
• most often sent outside the department or institution to
o consultants
o clients
o board of director-generals, ministers, etc.
• the report should have headings and subheadings to organise the content

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Short Report
• differs from the memorandum and letter reports because it has
o a title page
o a preliminary summary with conclusions and recommendations
o authorisation information
o a statement of the problem
o findings
o conclusions
o recommendations
• may contain tables and graphs and can be either single- or double-spaced
• headings and subheadings are used to organise the content and to emphasise certain aspects
• the title page has:
o the name, title, address of the person or the office to whom the report is being submitted
o includes the preparer’s name, title, and address

Formal Report
• more complex and has a greater length compared to the short report
• included in the formal report usually are the following:
• Report Cover
• Title fly
• Letter of authorisation
• Foreword or Preface
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• Report Body
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Flyleaf
• Title page
• Letter of transmittal
• Acknowledgements
• List of tables
• Synopsis
• Endnotes and footnotes
• Glossary
• Index

• when writing a the formal report, you have to observe a number of specific formal requirements

For more information, the following URL might be useful:

http://www.uoit.ca/assets/Section~specific/Departments~And~Staff~/Learner~Support~Centre/documents/Formal_Report_Writing.pdf

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Report Templates
• if you are using a word-processing programme such as Microsoft Word, you can create a report by using one of the
report templates that are available
• by clicking FILE, NEW, and then clicking the REPORTS tab, you will see three default reports that you can choose from:
o Contemporary Report
o Elegant Report
o Professional Report

Press Releases
• when writing a press release, start with the main idea first
• followed by major details related to the idea
• finally supplemental information
• the major elements to include are the 5 Ws:
o who
o what
o when
o where
o why
• also, do not forget to explain, how
• a press release should be:
o factual
o interesting
o informative
• all details should be carefully verified and proofread
• they should be printed on normal size office paper and double-spaced
• the top of the press release should include contact information with
o name
o address
o phone number
o e-mail
• the words: Press Release For Immediate Release For Release (and then the date) should also be included
• if a press release is longer than one page, MORE is typed at the bottom of the first page in all capital letters, centred on
the right side
• subsequent pages are numbered and should include a short title caption, left justified
• at the conclusion, type five number signs ##### or – end – or (END)

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Editing and Proofreading
• editing a document requires checking for the following:
o Grammar
o Punctuation
o Style
o Spelling
o Accuracy
• the traditional lines between copyediting and proofreading have blurred with the use of computers in business
• many administrative assistants must proofread and edit their own documents before they are distributed
• in some large offices, a technical writer or documentation specialist may edit reports that will be distributed to wide
audiences
• sometimes your supervisor proofreads and copyedits documents and sends them back with corrections
• depending on who is performing these tasks, an administrative assistant may need to make corrections to documents
that contain proofreading symbols and abbreviations

Common Proofreading Symbols

Symbol Meaning

insert a comma

insert an apostrophe

insert something

use double quotation marks

use a period here

delete

transpose elements

close up this space

a space is needed here

begin new paragraph

no paragraph

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 Common Proofreading Abbreviations

Abbreviation Meaning

Ab a faulty abbreviation

Agr S/V or P/A agreement problem: subject/verb or pronoun/antecedent

Awk awkward expression or construction

Cap faulty capitalisation

CS comma splice

Dgl dangling construction

DICT faulty diction

-ed problem with final –ed

Frag fragment

|| problem in parallel form

P/A problem with pronoun/antecedent agreement

Pron problem with pronoun

Rep unnecessary repetition

R-O run-on sentence

Sp spelling error

-s problem with final –s

STET let it stand

S/V problem with subject/verb agreement

T verb tense problem

Wdy wordy

WW wrong word

Copyediting
• use the following checklist when copyediting a document or manuscript:
o Are the headings and subheadings consistently used?
o Is the spelling correct?
o Are all proper names accurate?
o Are all lists parallel in structure?
o Do all nouns and verbs agree?
o Are numbered lists correctly numbered?
o Are all dates correct?
o Are all alphabetical lists in alphabetical order?
o Is all punctuation correct and consistent?
o Is all capitalisation correct and consistent?
o Are all bibliographical references accurate and consistent?

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Proofreading
• use the following checklist when proofreading a document or manuscript:
o Are all headings and other text elements consistent in style and layout?
o For letters, is the dateline, reference line, initials, enclosure, and carbon-copy notation accurate?
o Are all cross-references accurate?
o Are all margins consistent and proper?
o Are all tables aligned correctly and consistently?
o Have any footnotes been omitted?
o Are all end-of-line word divisions accurate?
o Are there any accidentally repeated words in the document?
o Are the page numbers correct?
o Are headings and captions separate?
Electronic Revisions
• rather than make edits on paper, you can make edits electronically on a word-processing document
• by using the Track-Changes feature, you can allow multiple people to add revisions and comments
• revisions show up in a different colour font
• after you have reviewed the revisions, you can accept them one at a time or reject them

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 Services
Arboreus is an innovative e-learning company offering professional online training on European
Union policies and EU Careers. Our clients include European graduates, officials, managers, job
seekers, Brussels professionals and others.

Given the high interest in EU careers, institutional affairs, competition law, trade policy, consumer
protection, environmental issues and other regulatory matters, we offer our online training and
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We do this by creating a community of professionals, academics, diplomats and job seekers

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Click on the links to learn more about our services:

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 The Motivation Challenge: What to Write in your EPSO Application?

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