Module Title: ENGL
305 Professional Writing
Credit Value: 12
General Objectives
The aim of this course is to advance a
student’s skills in written English to the level at which he or she is able to
perform effectively in a professional setting. The civil service, university,
companies that do business internationally, and mass media all require
employees with the capacity to write accurately and creatively in English.
Students will practice common forms of professional writing such as job
applications, resumes, business letters, internal memorandums, official
reports, notices, and briefing notes. Brochures, speech writing, and press
releases for media will also be considered. Close attention will be paid to
format and the use of formal language, as well as to the mechanics of technical
writing: grammar, punctuation, word choice, and clear, logical sentences.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will
have gained experience in writing English for a variety of professional
purposes, essential for any career where written English is a mode of
communication. They will have become aware not only of the vocabulary,
phrasing and expressions relevant to and expected of business letters, reports,
press releases, and so forth, but also the format appropriate to each.
Students will also have sharpened and extended their knowledge and handling of
business lexicon, grammatical structures and formal idiom.
Teaching and learning approach
15 weeks: 3hrs/wk lecture; 2 hrs/wk
tutorials; 3hrs/wk group exercises, discussion, presentation etc.
Assessment
Business letters (3): 5%
each
Official reports (2): 5%
each
Resume: 10%
Speech: 15%
Press release: 15%
Project: design a brochure: 20%
Class Participation: 15%
Reading List
Alred, Gerald J. et al. The Handbook of
Technical Writing.
Reep, Diana, C. Technical Writing:
Principles, Strategies, and Readings.
Course books should be supplemented with
authentic materials (e.g. staff resumes, ministerial speeches, intranet memos,
etc).
Module
updated: 7th March, 2007