The skills taught in this course have been selected based on research, feedback from students and advice from subject specialists. They were also chosen to be relevant to a range of students from different disciplines. Presentations and technical writing have been reported as being among the most important communication skills required by professional scientists and engineers (Middendorf, 1980; Keane and Gibson, 1999; Sageev and Romanowski, 2001). They are also common forms of assessment at university.
In this book, presentation and writing skills are taught in tandem to highlight the differences and similarities between formal written and oral communication. Each skill is taught though sequences of discrete but interconnected tasks. These include:
· presenting introductions
· writing abstracts
· describing processes and methods
· describing trends and data
· signposting in presentations
· referencing and paraphrasing
· presenting conclusions
· giving feedback
Its focus on core common skills makes this course suitable for scientists and engineers working across disciplines. At the same time, the tasks can be selected, adapted and extended depending on the needs and interests of particular groups of students working in specific subject areas.
All instructions and answers are given in English to make the course accessible to groups including international students with different first languages.
