THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING UNIT
| GEE120B (Section D) |
Autumn 1995 |
Technical Communications |
Instructor
- George C.K. Jor
- 111, Li Dak Sum Bldg.
- Tel: 2609 7456
- E-mail:
george-jor@cuhk.edu.hk
- Class Newsgroup: cuhk.eltu.3113bh
(check twice a week)
- Class time: T7-8 (14:30-16:15), H5 (13:30-14:15)
- Consultation: M2, T2, H7, H8 or by appointment.
| Course Description |
3U; 3 classwork |
This course is designed for students who want to improve their abilities
in writing and speaking about technical information to a variety of audiences.
Specifically, it will focus on student' summarizing and presenting technical
information in their specialized area in a clear and organized way. Course
work will include formal and informal reports, proposals,
instructional/procedural writing, graphics, and group oral presentations.
Some work will be done with computers. This course is particularly suitable
for students working on final year research projects.
Course Objectives
This course aims at helping students communicate effectively in technical
and professional situations. It is hoped that after completing this course,
students will be able to:
- understand the importance and characteristics of effective
professional communication;
- communicate effectively with technically uninformed audiences;
- co-operate with others to generate and evaluate ideas in group
projects;
- recognize and construct persuasive arguments and proposals;
- improve the readability of their writing by control of language and
organization;
- communicate effectively by means of E-mail, Usenet News and the World
Wide Web;
- master basic HTML writing skills and publish their own home pages on
the WWW;
- write effective memos and reports with appropriate formats and design
principles;
- use graphics effectively for report writing; and
- give effective oral presentations.
Course Book (available at the campus bookstore)
Markel, Michael H. (1988). Technical Writing Essentials..
New York: St. Martin.
Selected References
- Lundelius, J. O.
Technical Communication Handbook
(Unpublished handbook prepared for Technical Communication
students of CUHK, 1995 and it will be used with the kind permission
of the writer.)
- Hucking, Thomas N. & Olsen, Leslie A. (1991)
Technical Writing and Professional Communication
(for non-native speakers of English.)
New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Andrew, D.C. and Blickle, M.D. (1982)
Technical Writing: Principles and Forms. 2nd ed.
New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.
- Kehoe, Brendon (1993)
Zen and the Art of the Internet: A Beginner's Guide
New York: Prentice Hall (Series in Innovative Technology).
- Rheingold, Howard. (1993)
The Virtual Communities: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier.
Reading, MA.: Addison-Wesley.
(The book has been put on reserve for you at UL. TK5105.5R48)
- Sproul, L and Kiesler, S. (1993)
Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization
Cambridge, M.A.: MIT Press.
- Parker, Roger. (1990)
Looking Good in Print: A Guide to Basic Design
for Desktop Publishing. 2nd ed.
Chapel Hill, NC: Ventana.
Assessment
Three short assignments on any three of the workshops provided:
E-mail, Newsgroup, CALLware, Mosaic/Netscape, HTML.
Better works will be selected and published on a Web newsletter
| 30%
|
| Group Project (Technical Report including abstract and graphics)
| 30%
|
| Oral Presentations (individual 15% + group 15%)
| 30%
|
| Class participation, attendance and contribution to newsgroup discussion
| 10%
|
Throughout the course, students will be evaluated by their groupmates, the
teacher and themselves. There will be peer evaluation, self-evaluation and
teacher evaluation on both process and product. Each of the three sources of
evaluation will be given equal weight.
- Reserved for the highest standard of excellence
- For above average
- For average
- For poor
- For fail
