Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE ENR1112

 
TITLE Technical Report Writing

 
UM LEVEL 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
ECTS CREDITS 2

 
DEPARTMENT Metallurgy and Materials Engineering

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit is intended to develop the transferable communication skills of engineering students through suitable technical report writing.

Study-unit Aims:

- To familiarize students with academic (e.g. assignments), scientific (e,g. journal articles) and technical writing (procedures, specifications, analysis reports etc);
- To present key techniques necessary for the presentation of data and information.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- Recognise differences in report style and content;
- Identify the principal characteristics of good writing (clarity, completeness, order, accuracy etc).

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- Plan and present a report which effectively addresses its principal intent such as convey key scientific findings;
- Construct reports following a plan: Think, plan, write and revise in a clear, concise, consistent, and accurate manner;
- Characterize key aspects of presenting data, tables and images;
- Criticize their own work and that of others;
- Explore different sources of information (standards, books, open source databases etc) and cite accordingly.

Main Texts and Supplementary Readings:

Main Texts:

- Scientists Must Write: A Guide to Better Writing for Scientists, Engineers and Students; Robert Barrass, 2002; Routledge, ISBN: 0415269962, 2nd Edition.
- The Art of Scientific Writing: From Student Reports to Professional Publications in Chemistry and Related Fields; Hans Friedrich Ebel, 2004; Wiley VCH; ISBN: 3527298290, 2nd Edition.

Supplementary reading:

- Technical Writing A-Z: A Commonsense Guide to Engineering Reports and Theses; Trevor M. Young, 2005; ISBN: 079180237X.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Independent Study

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment SEM1 No 10%
Classwork SEM1 No 30%
Examination (1 Hour) SEM1 Yes 60%

 
LECTURER/S Ann Zammit

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit