A Novel Approach to Teaching Technical Writing
This paper describes how ENGI 2304: Technical Communications for Engineers uses bestselling novels to provide course content and to introduce students to the conventions of engineering genres by building on their familiarity with humanities readings. Students read the novels Pompeii by Robert Harris...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Society for Engineering Education
2023
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| Online Access: | https://dlic.huc.edu.vn/handle/HUC/5558 |
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Add Tag | Summary: | This paper describes how ENGI 2304: Technical Communications for Engineers uses bestselling novels to provide course content and to introduce students to the conventions of engineering genres by building on their familiarity with humanities readings. Students read the novels Pompeii by Robert Harris and Prey by Michael Crichton and complete projects based on or inspired by the novels. This paper explains some standard research projects used in technical writing classes and outlines several problems with these projects before introducing the concept of using literature in a technical writing class. While previous studies by Jo Allen and others have argued against the practice of mixing literature with technical writing, this paper explains a new rationale and procedure for using literature that answers those previous objections. Then it explains how using literature to help teach technical writing concepts provides interesting content for both the professor and the students. For Pompeii, groups studied, wrote about, and presented on Roman aqueducts, engineers in Roman society, Roman architecture, volcanic predictions, and the eruption of Vesuvius, while those for Prey studied emergent behavior, the feasibility of nanotechnology, the ecological dangers of nanotechnology, and distributed programming. Then the paper describes exactly how literature is used in the class and provides the results of the project using an anonymous student survey. Students enjoyed the projects, and they learned about the forms of engineering writing. |
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Technical writing and professional communication /