I. General Information
1. Course Title:
Technical Writing Fundamentals
2. Course Prefix & Number:
ENGL 1521
3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:
Credits: 1
Lecture Hours: 1
Lab Hours: 0
Internship Hours: 0
4. Course Description:
This course offers students the opportunity to study the technical writing process and practice in preparation for reading, understanding, communicating, and generating the most common technical writing in the workplace. The course will utilize the writing process focusing on audience, purpose, and method in order to generate documents such as instructions, reports, inventories, flow charts, and intra- and inter-office communications that are technical in nature. The course will also include acquiring from and adding to workplace-specific texts such as blueprints, technical diagrams, wiring diagrams, technical bulletins depending on the student population.
5. Placement Tests Required:
6. Prerequisite Courses:
ENGL 1521 - Technical Writing Fundamentals
There are no prerequisites for this course.
9. Co-requisite Courses:
ENGL 1521 - Technical Writing Fundamentals
There are no corequisites for this course.
II. Transfer and Articulation
1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:
2. Transfer - regional institutions with which this course has a written articulation agreement:
III. Course Purpose
Program-Applicable Courses – This course is required for the following program(s):
Other - If this course is not required in a program or is not part of the MN Transfer Curriculum, it may be used for the purpose(s) listed below:
- Liberal Arts Elective
- Non-Transferrable General Education Course
- Technical Elective
IV. Learning Outcomes
1. College-Wide Outcomes
| College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies |
Students will be able to: |
| Demonstrate oral communication skills |
Communicate effectively with a defined audience and explain complex ideas and tasks. |
| Demonstrate reading and listening skills |
Read and comprehend various technical writing documents required for the workplace. |
| Demonstrate interpersonal communication skills |
Function as part of a team and adjust communication strategies so the message is available to a wide range of professionals. |
2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of
the course:
- Accurately acquire information from various technical writing sources and explain overall concept, purpose, and relevant information third parties both familiar and unfamiliar with the topic
- Utilize comprehensive writing process to identify an audience, purpose, and best practices for technical writing tasks
- Generate, edit, and present (in written or oral format) texts that are clear, precise, free of errors
- Explain benefits of various forms of technical writing and match them to appropriate circumstances for communicating ideas
- Incorporate various technical writing sources to develop original idea and/or solve a problem and apply solution to real-world setting or use it to address actual workplace challenges
- Collaborate in small teams to generate documents for a larger audience
V. Topical Outline
Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.
1. Lecture Sessions
- Introduction to Technical Writing
- Definition, concept, design
- Distinctions from other forms of writing
- Best practices
- Exemplars from real-world
- Writing Process
- Audience
- Purpose
- General parameters
- Writing action plan
- Best practices for determining appropriate writing method
- Editing, proofing, and publishing
- Assessment of final product
- Technical Writing Forms
- Instructions to complex tasks
- Step-by-step procedures
- Reports (such as incident reports, meeting reports, action plans)
- Inventories
- Graphic organizers
- Inter- and intra-office communications
- Blueprints, drawings, wiring diagrams
- Technical bulletins
- Career-specific exemplars
- Repair orders
- Technical Writing Practicum
- Benefits and challenges of collaborative writing
- Best practices for peer review
- Locating, evaluating, incorporating, and utilizing outside sources, including customers and subject matter experts
- Publishing methods (electronic, etc.) for sharing resolution
- Final project and presentation
2. Laboratory/Studio Sessions
I. General Information
1. Course Title:
Technical Writing Fundamentals
2. Course Prefix & Number:
ENGL 1521
3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:
Credits: 1
Lecture Hours: 1
Lab Hours: 0
Internship Hours: 0
4. Course Description:
This course offers students the opportunity to study the technical writing process and practice in preparation for reading, understanding, communicating, and generating the most common technical writing in the workplace. The course will utilize the writing process focusing on audience, purpose, and method in order to generate documents such as instructions, reports, inventories, flow charts, and intra- and inter-office communications that are technical in nature. The course will also include acquiring from and adding to workplace-specific texts such as blueprints, technical diagrams, wiring diagrams, technical bulletins depending on the student population.
5. Placement Tests Required:
6. Prerequisite Courses:
ENGL 1521 - Technical Writing Fundamentals
There are no prerequisites for this course.
9. Co-requisite Courses:
ENGL 1521 - Technical Writing Fundamentals
There are no corequisites for this course.
II. Transfer and Articulation
1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:
2. Transfer - regional institutions with which this course has a written articulation agreement:
III. Course Purpose
1. Program-Applicable Courses – This course is required for the following program(s):
3. Other - If this course does NOT meet criteria for #1 or #2 above, it may be used for the purpose(s) selected below:
- Liberal Arts Elective
- Non-Transferrable General Education Course
- Technical Elective
IV. Learning Outcomes
1. College-Wide Outcomes
| College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies |
Students will be able to: |
| Demonstrate oral communication skills |
Communicate effectively with a defined audience and explain complex ideas and tasks. |
| Demonstrate reading and listening skills |
Read and comprehend various technical writing documents required for the workplace. |
| Demonstrate interpersonal communication skills |
Function as part of a team and adjust communication strategies so the message is available to a wide range of professionals. |
2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of
the course:
- Accurately acquire information from various technical writing sources and explain overall concept, purpose, and relevant information third parties both familiar and unfamiliar with the topic
- Utilize comprehensive writing process to identify an audience, purpose, and best practices for technical writing tasks
- Generate, edit, and present (in written or oral format) texts that are clear, precise, free of errors
- Explain benefits of various forms of technical writing and match them to appropriate circumstances for communicating ideas
- Incorporate various technical writing sources to develop original idea and/or solve a problem and apply solution to real-world setting or use it to address actual workplace challenges
- Collaborate in small teams to generate documents for a larger audience
V. Topical Outline
Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.
1. Lecture Sessions
- Introduction to Technical Writing
- Definition, concept, design
- Distinctions from other forms of writing
- Best practices
- Exemplars from real-world
- Writing Process
- Audience
- Purpose
- General parameters
- Writing action plan
- Best practices for determining appropriate writing method
- Editing, proofing, and publishing
- Assessment of final product
- Technical Writing Forms
- Instructions to complex tasks
- Step-by-step procedures
- Reports (such as incident reports, meeting reports, action plans)
- Inventories
- Graphic organizers
- Inter- and intra-office communications
- Blueprints, drawings, wiring diagrams
- Technical bulletins
- Career-specific exemplars
- Repair orders
- Technical Writing Practicum
- Benefits and challenges of collaborative writing
- Best practices for peer review
- Locating, evaluating, incorporating, and utilizing outside sources, including customers and subject matter experts
- Publishing methods (electronic, etc.) for sharing resolution
- Final project and presentation
2. Laboratory/Studio Sessions