COURSE SUMMARY:

This course teaches the basics or foundations of technical writing, and focuses on identifying types of technical writing, how to write reader-centred documents, the role of language and ethics in technical communication, and how graphics and visuals can enhance technical documents.

Upon successful completion of this course, learners should be able to:  

• Define technical writing.  
• Identify the audience for technical documents.  
• Differentiate between technical writing and other types of writing (academic and business)  
• Define the role of ethics in technical writing  
• Create and identify various types of technical documents found in a technical workplace (descriptions, definitions, processes, instructions)  
• Create grammatically correct “reader-centred” documents  
• Identify linguistic terms such as jargon, and which is most suitable for technical documents to address audience needs.  

This course consists of 5 segments and takes approximately one week to complete each module.  Modules include:  

 Week 1: What is Technical Writing  

Week 2:  The Reader-Centred Approach  

Week 3:  Technical Definitions and Descriptions  

Week 4:  Process Descriptions and Written Instructions  

Week 5:  Graphics and Visuals  

The course is designed for anyone that wants to learn the process of technical writing in the office/workplace.  

WHY THIS COURSE? 

Technical writing in English serves as an essential tool in communicating or conveying one’s ideas, views, observations, instructions, and suggestions in a more logical and technical manner. Technical writing in English, in the field of engineering, requires specific registers, structure, and definite sets of vocabulary. Technocrats and professionals need to have good technical writing skills in the preparation of reports, presentations, documentations, etc. Technical writing in English is used for a specific purpose, and hence it needs to be precise, relevant, and without redundancy. Skills such as writing instructions and inferring data from graphs and charts require the above. This paper highlights the above ideas with exact examples, besides explaining the various writing skills required in the field of engineering.