Definition, nature and scope of technical communication
Professional ethics in communication (ethical issues, plagiarism and copyright concerns, honesty, transparency and clarity)
Writing Skills (8 hours)
Principles of effective technical writing (clarity, conciseness and coherence)
Grammar (pronoun and its antecedent, subject-verb agreement, non-finite verbs), sentence construction (simple, compound, complex, and mixed sentences), error analysis and punctuation
Bias-free language guideline, reducing bias
Technical Writing (15 hours)
Technical proposals (purpose, types, structure, key considerations and examples)
Research proposals and reports (title page, table of contents, summary and abstract)
Technical reports (progress, feasibility and case study)
Manuscript for journal (structure, key considerations and examples)
Citation and referencing (in-text citation, direct quote citations, indent citation, indirect citation, citing from books and journals, citing multiple authors, using numerical pagination, preparing a reference page)
Business Correspondence (10 hours)
Writing formal letters (applications, inquiries, complaints and orders)
E-mails (structure, etiquette, and tone)
Notice, minutes and memos
Resume and cover letter
Press release/communique
Calling tender and responding to it
Listening and Oral Communication (4 hours)
Active listening (barriers and strategies)
Effective speaking skills (clarity, tone and pace)
Oral presentation skills (structuring a presentation and handling questions)
Group discussions (strategies and active participation)
Public speaking and speech delivery techniques
Use of Visual Aids in Communication (6 hours)
Tables
Graphs
Charts
Diagrams
Practicals
Listening skill test
Visual skill test
Reading skill test
Oral communication test
Presentation skill test
Research proposals and project proposals
Team-based technical writing and presentations
Presentation on the prescribed texts (selected essays and short stories including works by Bertrand Russell, Rachel Carson, Albert Einstein, Paolo Bacigalupi, Richard W. Hamming, Don Norman, Ken Liu, Alice Walker and others)
