Re: teaching technical writing to engineers

["Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com>]

Evelyn G Barker wrote:

> I'm going to be teaching a technical writing class to junior-level
> university engineering students and wondered what the group thought
> it was important for them to learn.
>
> The students are all types of engineers--computer science,
> mechanical, etc. This tech writing class is required for their
> degree, but I'm not trying to prepare them for a career as a tech
> writer.
>

1. Principles of *news* writing as well as principles of technical
writing (covering all technical disciplines).
2. Style - Toward Clarity and Grace, Joseph M. Williams, Chicago
(paperback) and Strunk and White
3. Examples of technical writing that failed and analysis of why they
failed- one such example is the Three Mile Island memo, which is
available on the Web. Ask them to rewrite it so that it achieves its
goal, for example.

There's a similar course at Northeastern University you might want to
check out. I don't know how much similarity it bears to my
suggestions, but I know it exists.
---
Bonnie Granat
www.granatedit.com
Technical Editing and Writing





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