Technical Writing and Communication

At the end of the course, the student should be able to: 1. demonstrate the concept of clear writing, common pitfalls and unambiguous language in engineering communication, including technical reporting for different applications and emotional comportment; 2. demonstrate the skills of language flexibility, formatting, logic, data presentation styles, referencing, use of available aids, intellectual property rights, their protection, and problems in engineering communication and presentation; and 3. demonstrate good interpersonal communication skills through hands-on and constant practice on real-life communication issues for engineers in different sociocultural milieu for engineering designs, structural failure scenarios and presentation of reports.

A brief review of common pitfalls in writing. Principles of clear writing (punctuations and capitalization). Figures of speech. Units of grammar. Tenses and verb agreement. Active and passive sentences Lexis and structure Fog Index concept. Skills for communication and communication algorithm. Types and goals of communication; Interpersonal communication; features and the Finger Model or A,B,C,D,E of good interpersonal communication (accuracy of technical terms, brevity of expression, clarity of purpose, directness of focus and effectiveness of the report). Language and organisation of reports. Technical report writing skills(steps, problems in writing, distinguishing technical and other reports, significance, format and styles of writing technical reports). Different formats for communication; styles of correspondences – business report and proposal, business letter, memorandum, e-mails, etc. Proposals for projects and research; format, major steps and tips of grant-oriented proposals. Research reports(competency, major steps, components and formats of research reports and publishable communication). Sources and handling of data, tables, figures, equations and references in a report. Presentation skills; overview, tips, organisation, use of visual aids and practising of presentation. Intellectual property rights in research reports. Case studies of major engineering designs, proposals and industrial failures with professional presentation of reports.