Technical Writing Course Design
Commissioned by the College of Quality at Shenzhen Technology University, this project draws on the technical writing curriculum at Peking University as well as training systems from peer institutions both domestically and internationally, to create a dedicated “Technical Writing” course for science and engineering students at Shenzhen Technology University, thereby enhancing their writing skills.
Tasks:
- Student background interviews
- Similar courses at German universities of applied sciences
- Course syllabus design
- Faculty consulting
- Implementation of the China Association for Standardization technical writing competency certificate
Course Background
Engineers frequently need to write a large volume of technical documents in their daily work, such as technical reports, technical proposals, product descriptions, user tutorials, release notes, and technical papers. This type of information is usually quite complex. How to write about complex information so that the audience can accurately understand it is often overlooked by engineers, who assume that as long as their work is solid and they write in their preferred style, readers will understand. However, this is not the case in reality. Good research and good work also require appropriate and suitable methods of reporting to achieve effective communication and fulfill the writing purpose.
The discipline that studies this field is “technical writing,” whose core principle is to be reader-centered, simplifying complex technical information to make it easier for readers to understand and use. In recent years, science and engineering universities such as Tsinghua University have been offering writing courses to improve students’ writing skills.
International interactions in the field of science and technology are becoming increasingly frequent. Today’s engineers typically need strong bilingual writing skills to effectively communicate and collaborate with international peers. However, technical English differs significantly from general English writing and also requires specialized training to produce precise, concise, and comprehensible English.
Course Objectives
- Teach science and engineering students the fundamental principles and methods of technical writing, enabling them to create clear and understandable technical content;
- Familiarize students with common technical document types and create high-quality documents based on templates;
- Master the conventions of technical English writing;
- Develop cross-cultural communication awareness and the ability to conduct technical communication bilingually