HSx12: Technical Reports Writing
| Semester: first | Year: second | Duration of Final Exam: 2 hours |
| Lecture Hours/Wk: 2 | Tutorial Hours/Wk: 0 | Lab Hours/Wk: 0 |
Marks:
| Semester work: 15 | Final: 35 | Total: 50 |
Instructor:
Dr Ahmed El-Mahdy
Computer Dep. 2nd floor Admin. Bldg
Course Scope
The aim of this course is to teach students how to write good technical reports. The course assumes that students have studied HS011 English Language course (A brief English refresher is given). The course also aims to teach presentation skills. However, the main emphasis of the course is on writing.
Objectives
After finishing this course, a student should be able to:
- Write good CVs and internships application
- Write various engineering documents: document programs, write lab and computer manuals, project proposals
- Understand and be able to trace reference citations
- Present and communicate ideas effectively
Course Outline
- Introduction and English refresher (3 weeks)
- The writing Process, word processing and editing (2 weeks)
- Laboratory reports, computer manuals, and code documentation (1 week)
- Project Proposal Documents (1 week)
- CVs and internships application, presentations (1 week)
- Final year project report (1 week)
- Research articles and citation (1 week)
- Group presentations (4 weeks)
Examinations
Students should be grouped into small groups (~5 students). Each group chooses one of the document types taught, choose a topic and write and present a document about it. All other groups will be involved on criticising their work.
Final exam: final exam weeks 14/1 to 26/1/2006. Exam Date not specified as yet.
Lectures Plan
Course Work
Students should be grouped into small groups (~5 students). Each group chooses one of the document types taught, choose a topic and write and present a document about it. All other groups will be involved on criticising their work
Grading Policy
| Presentation: | 15% |
| Criticism and evaluation: | 15% |
| Final exam: | 70% |
| Total: | 100% |
Textbooks
- Pam Petters, The Cambridge Guide to English Usage, Cambridge University Press, 2004. (An invaluabe reference)
- John W Davies, Communication for Engineering Students. Longman Group Limited 1996. (Available at the British council library. Provides a nice review of grammatical/spelling rules with exercises. Also covers engineering orientated document structures)
- Justin Zobel. Writing for Computer Science. Singapore: Springer, 1997. (Research oriented. Lots of examples describing article structures)
- Michael H. Markel, Technical writing: Situations and Strategies. St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1992. (Reference material about reports structures)
Internet Resources
