Pokhara University

Faculty of Science and Technology

Course No.: Full Marks: 100

Course Title: Communication Techniques (2-2-0) Pass Marks: 45
Nature of the Course: Theory Time per Period: 1 hour
Year: First Total Periods: 30
Level: Undergraduate
Credits: 2 Program: BE

1. Course Description
This course is designed to offer a comprehensive introduction to first-year engineering students
to strategies that will help them create effective technical documents and presentations.

It covers the entire gamut of technical communication in thirteen major parts, namely, thinking
about the audience, purpose, and genre; ethical issues; researching; technical writing; designing
documents; visual communication; communication in the workplace; writing proposals;
reporting information; writing how-to documents; reporting document usability; taking
communication online; and presenting communication orally.

This course takes a rhetorical approach to technical communication. This means that instead of
setting up a list of rules that students should apply uniformly to all writing situations, this course
introduces them to the bigger picture of how the words they write can affect the people intended
to use them. By understanding who the readers or users are and what they need in a technical
document, students can adapt their knowledge to their situations to provide them with what they
need and this will facilitate how to educate themselves as well as facilitate the learning of others.
There are also several different kinds of exercises and assignments. in-class exercises are short
assignments intended to be done by students in class in 15 or 20 minutes. They ask students to
use the main ideas discussed in the previous section and to think critically about those ideas.
There are also assignments and major projects, and these group activities further learning
through opportunities to work with others, to discuss the course content, and to hear others’
bright ideas that might spark greater creativity overall.

2. General Objectives
The objectives of the course are to enable students to
• practice technical writing strategies
• apply the concepts that they need to make good decisions about how to write a document
• guide them in developing a good working draft
• test their document with members of the target user group and receive constructive
feedback
• present usable information on a specialized (and usually technical) subject
• write technical proposals, reports, and documents
 • make oral technical presentations
• communicate in the workplace.

3. Methods of Instruction
In this course the idea is that students should read the chapter prior to class and, when they get to
class, the teacher can quickly summarize for them the main points to which they should pay
attention. Then the teacher can assign an exercise that will reinforce the theoretical concept and
get students started working with it. There are also several different kinds of exercises and
assignments: in-class exercises are short assignments intended to be done by students in class in
15 or 20 minutes, and here students use the main ideas discussed in the previous section and
think critically about those ideas; lab assignments are slightly longer than in-class exercises, but
they are still intended to be completed (or at least worked on) during a class meeting; the third
type of assignment is the major project, which is a longer, more formal assignment that has
students consider the main concepts from the chapter (or chapters) to produce an effective
example of one of the main genres of technical communication. The teacher can assign the major
project at the beginning of a particular unit of study and have it due the following week or at the
end of the term, depending on the teacher’s course plan and schedule. It is also important to have
the students work collaboratively on the in-class and lab assignments. Depending upon the
teacher’s course goals, they may decide to cover the chapters in the order in which they are
presented in the syllabus but they can use the chapters in the order that suits their students’ needs
and the assignment schedule.

4. Contents in Detail
The course is divided into eight units of two weeks each.

Weeks Specific Objectives Course Contents

1-2 Introducing the basic concepts of Thinking about audience, purpose, and genre;
audience, purpose, and genre; Leading and misleading the reader:
Introducing ethical issues and - ethics at work
conducting research - ethics for students
- how is ethics related to technical
communication?
- researching technical subjects
3-4 Writing for the workplace; Writing email and letters for the workplace;
Style in technical prose - writing messages: email, memos,
letters
- writing messages: informative,
positive, negative, persuasive
- how is ethics related to technical
communication
Writing technical prose:
- clarity, cohesion, conciseness,
parallelism
5-6 Designing technical documents; Designing documents and page layout;
Incorporating visuals into technical Communicating through visuals
documents
7-8 Writing effective proposals; Writing winning proposals;
Writing instructional documents Writing how-to documents:
- instructions, procedures, and manuals

9-10 Testing instructional documents; Testing and reporting document usability;

Reporting technical information, Reporting technical information:
part 1 - recommendation reports

11-12 Reporting technical information, Reporting technical information:

part 2; - white papers or information reports;
reporting technical information, part Taking technical communication online:
3 and accessing technical documents - sharing documents electronically
online
13-14 Writing documents to be used Taking technical communication online:
online; - writing online documents;
Status or progress reports Reporting technical information:
- status or progress reports

15-16 Presenting technical information Oral presentation of technical reports;

orally; Student presentations of major project
Students present some aspect of
their major projects

5. Evaluation System and Students’ Responsibilities

Evaluation System
In addition to the formal exam(s), the internal evaluation of a student may consist of quizzes,
assignments, project work, class participation, etc. The tabular presentation of the internal
evaluation is as follows.
 External Evaluation Marks Internal Evaluation Weight Marks
Semester-End Examination 50 Attendance & Class Participation 10%
Assignments 20%
Presentations/Quizzes 10%
Term exam 60%
Total Internal 50
Full Marks: 50 + 50 = 100

6. Student Responsibilities
Each student must secure at least 45% marks in internal evaluation with 80% attendance in the
class in order to appear in the Semester End Examination. Failing to get such score will be given
NOT QUALIFIED (NQ) and the student will not be eligible to appear the Semester-End
Examinations. Students are advised to attend all the classes, formal exam, test, etc. and complete
all the assignments within the specified time period. Students are required to complete all the
requirements defined for the completion of the course.

7. Prescribed Books and References

Text Book
Graves, H., & Roger, G. A Strategic Guide to Technical Communication. 2nd ed., London:
Eurospan Group, 2012.

References
Greenlaw, R. Technical Writing, Presentation Skills, and Online Communication: Professional
Tools and Insights. IGI Global, 2012.
Gurak, L. J. & John, M. L. Strategies for Technical Communication in the Workplace. 2nd ed.,
Pearson, 2013.
Kmiec, D. & Bernadette, L. The IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields.
Wiley, 2017.
Markel, M. Technical Communication. 11th ed., Bedford/St. Martins, 2015.
Mirel, B. & Rachel, S. eds. Reshaping Technical Communication: New Directions and
Challenges for the 21st Century. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2002.