UVW 312 English for Technical Communication Week 1

UVW 312: English for Technical Communication Week 1 (Chapter 1 & 2) Centre for International Languages Semester 1(2015/2016)

Course Overview: This course is designed to raise students’ communication proficiency. i. Primary focus: To improve students’ writing by familiarising them with technical writing process (written technical communication). ii. Scope: major grammatical structures in writing skills.

Assessments 1) Coursework: i. Evaluation Report 15% ii. Questionnaire Design 5% iii. Presentation (Report) 10% 2) Test: i. Midterm test 20% ii. Final Examination

Evaluation Report

What do you need to do? • A SERVICE provided in Uni. MAP OR • A PROGRAM organized by Uni. MAP. • Topic will be assigned to each group.

Evaluation Report Your report must have…. i. Executive summary ii. Introduction iii. Methodology iv. Result and Discussion v. Conclusion vi. References vii. Appendix (Refer to Chapter 11, for a sample of Evaluation Report)

Technical Communication

First, what is communication? • “The interchange of thoughts or information to bring about mutual understanding, confidence and effective human relationships” (Biesler et al. 1990: 1 -2) • Good communication is believed to result in sharing the meaning of a message • Verbal and Non Verbal (? )

Types of Communication

What do we need to communicate?

Flow of Communication Sender (Encoding the Message) Channel (means) Barriers Memo Phone call Sms Fax E-mail To communication Receiver (Decoding The message)

What is Technical Communication? Technical communication is communication done at the workplace. It includes both written and oral communication. i. Usually has specific purposes and audiences. ii. An important element in any workplace and organisation. iii. Communicate with colleagues and superior. iv. Representing company at a conference/ presentation at meetings.

Types of Technical Communication WRITTEN ORAL – Letters, memos – Reports – Advertising and promotional materials – Guides, manuals, instructions – Newsletters, magazines – Etc. – Formal and informal presentations – Group discussion – Etc.

CMAPP Model AUDIENCE PURPOSE CONTEXT MESSAGE PRODUCT

CMAPP Model 1. CONTEXT : surrounding situation, time place, social distance, etc. 2. MESSAGE: content of the communication. 3. AUDIENCE: WHO do you want to reach? 4. PRODUCT: physical form of communication. 5. PURPOSE: Objective/ Reason for communication.

WHY is it important for us to communicate?

Importance of Communication ORGANIZATION SELF All organization require up-to-date information to operate efficiently. Your knowledge and ideas will be useless unless you communicate them to others. Communication expertise will be critical to your career success.

Features of Technical Communication 1. Purpose - To get something done (to complete a task, persuade customers, as reminder, to inform others)

2. Audience - Specific readers - the writer expects not only understanding from readers, but also specific actions after reading.

3. Organisation - Use of headings / Subtopics

4. Style of writing - simple, concise and straightforward. - use of short sentences.

5. Tone - objective and businesslike.

6. Graphics elements - pictures, graphs, tables, etc. - frequently used to help readers to find important as quickly as possible.

Exercise 1. What do you understand about Technical Communication? 2. At workplace, how can you communicate with your boss or colleagues? 3. CMAPP Model is developed to describe about the nature of technical communication. Define CMAPP. 4. Why communication is regarded as important at any workplace? 5. What makes Technical Communication differ from other types of writing such as academic writing or personal essays?

The Technical Writing Process

What is the writing process?

Why do we use writing process?

Steps to the Writing Process?

1. Planning • WHAT TO WRITE? • Writing down all information that you have on your writing topic. • RESEARCH about the topic. • Techniques in Generating Ideas: - Outlining - Listing - Mind Mapping/ Clustering

Outlining

Listing

Mind Mapping/ Clustering

Presenting Information Deciding on the sequences of your content paragraphs.

1. Chronological organisation • Information is organised according to TIME or WHEN the event takes place. e. g: Development of Proton cars. • Events can be described from the earliest to the latest (ascending) or from the latest to the earliest (descending).

2. Spatial Organisation • Information are arranged according to PLACEMENT/POSITION or GEOGRAPHY. • E. g. : Remove any jammed pieces of paper from the copier. Firstly, turn the unit off and press the top cover release button and open the cover. Check for any jammed pieces of paper and remove. Open the cover on the machine’s left side and check in there as well. Turn on the copier and check to see if it functions normally.

3. Comparing and Contrasting • Information is arranged according to SIMILARITIES and DIFFERENCES. • E. g. : – Advantages and disadvantages of _______.

4. Most important to the least important. e. g. : A study conducted on customer satisfaction index regarding this digital camera indicated that the main complaint by many of the consumers is that the battery life is too short. This is followed by the second highest complaint, which is that the functions available are too limited and lastly, the third highest complaint is that the body of the camera is too fragile.

5. Cause and Effect order. - REASONS for an event - CONSEQUENCES of an action. e. g. : As the phenomenon of global warming worsens, it is expected that energy expenditures for countries around the world will show a marked increase as hotter temperatures will mean more air conditioning for consumers, and more difficult and expensive operating conditions for electric power plants.

2. Drafting • FIRST VERSION of the writing • The focus is to DEVELOP the ideas you have brainstormed, not to find errors in the writing yet. • Subject to change.

3. Revising • Reading through and making changes to the first draft. – E. g. : Rearrange the sentences / make improvements in word choice. • Make sure the message says exactly what it is supposed to. • Things to be considered: – Have you put all the important information? – Do the paragraph flow well? – Did you wander from your points?

*The ABCs of Revising

A : Accuracy • Have you chosen the right information for the situation? • Are all your facts relevant to the topic? • Have you make sure that all the facts are correct? • Is the information supported by any evidence?

B: Brevity • ‘ say what you need to say and stop’ • SIMPLE, CONCISE and STRAIGHT TO THE POINT. • NO wordy sentences OR irrelevant visuals.

C: Clarity • Ability to be easily understood. • Is the message CLEAR and UNDERSTANDABLE to the audience? • Words and grammatical structure. • Organization of information. • Way you present your message to your audience.

4. Editing and Proofreading • Modify / refine a written message to improve it. • Editing : ü check the LENGTH and TYPES of sentences. ü use LANGUAGE that is APPROPRIATE for your audience. ü avoid OVERUSED words. ü check for CLARITY, COMPLETENESS and TONE.

4. Editing and Proofreading : ü Look for general content errors üMisspelled words, incorrect spacing, punctuation and so on.

5. Publishing • The final document (error-free) is ready for publication. • Deliver your document to the receiver OR make it available to public. • Consider the visual viewpoint of the writing.

Exercise 1. Writing is a process that involves several steps. How many stages do we have in the technical writing process? 2. How many methods do we have in planning a piece of writing? 3. When we are deciding the sequence/order of the information in our writing, there are FIVE common organizational patterns that can be used. Define each of them. 4. What is the ABC of Revising? 5. What is the difference between Editing and Proofreading?

TASK!! • Make a research about the following topics. • Next week’s discussion.

Topics Topic 1: Discuss about things that you should do BEFORE, DURING And AFTER attending a job interview. Topic 2: Men’s and Women’s physical appearance (attire, personal hygiene, colour) for attending job interview. Topic 3: Things that you must avoid BEFORE, DURING and AFTER job interview. Topic 4: Frequently asked questions for job interview + Tips to answer them Dealing with sensitive questions asked

Thank you