TOMSK POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION

Handwritten, electronically mediated or face-to-face, workplace communication is a complex social transaction. Each situation has its own specific interpersonal, ethical, legal, and cultural demands. Today’s professional is not only a fluent communicator, but also a discriminating consumer of information, skilled in the methods of inquiry, retrieval, evaluation and interpretation essential to informed decision making.

All writing exists within specific contexts. Whether you are working in private industry or in government, your organization has its own way of communicating information.

It has become clear in recent years that technical writing and professional communication among Russian engineers is critical for their success and revealed a need for Russian engineers to refocus their expertise and skills to enter the global marketplace successfully and competitively. To adapt to the international requirements in engineering education and to meet the challenges of the international academic and professional workplaces, it is necessary to introduce new courses in technical writing and professional communication. « Guide to Technical Writing & Professional Communication « is the first attempt. This Guide is for 4-year-5-year students of the Geology & Petroleum Engineering Institute, Tomsk Polytechnic University. The main reason for this is the following: at their future working place (different domestic and foreign oil and gas companies) the students will certainly need to write and communicate orally and professionally. Their current level of L-2 ranges from Pre-Intermediate to Intermediate (after the third course). The student’s ESP level will be beyond their general L-2 level, i.e. Upper Intermediate – Advanced.

The objective of this Guide is to introduce students to the main issues in technical writing with a special emphasis on practical application; to help students grow as competent professional through practicing the kinds of writing they will be doing in the work world.The Guide includes two parts: Part I Technical Writing and Part II Professional Communication. Each part includes those aspects which characterize the immediate needs and specific material that the students study. As such a course has never been developed in Russia; most of the theoretical material has been taken from different American and Internet resources. All examples are taken from our reality with the permission of the authors.

This Guide is tailored to the current special needs of the students of the Geology & Petroleum Engineering Institute, TPU in their technically oriented majors. It will aid those who plan to continue technical careers that require sufficient knowledge of technical writing and professional communication.

PART I

UNIT 1

PORTFOLIO

COMMNICATION DISPLAY PORTFOLIO (CDP) is a communicative self-assessment includes such documents which represent the student’s best communication products

PURPOSE: evaluate personal or individual communication practices. When completing this course you will create a portfolio to represent your work throughout this course.

OBJECTIVE: students use portfolio to demonstrate their learning, to assess their own work, to document their work for job searches and to provide a reference in future courses, internship or on the job.

Lead-in

A. What is a portfolio? port·fo·li·o (port-fōlē-ō′, pōrt-) n. pl. port·fo·li·os

Which definition corresponds?

1. A portable case for holding material, such as loose papers, photographs, or drawings.

2. The materials collected in such a case, especially when representative of a person's work: a photographer's portfolio; an artist's portfolio of drawings.

3. The office or post of a cabinet member or minister of state.

4. A group of investments held by an investor, investment company, or financial institution.

B. What does a portfolio include?

Let’s draw a mind map and see what is what.

C. Do you know the meaning of the words: personal documentation, corporate documentation and external documentation and internal communication? What documents do you think you need for your future job?

Personal documentation - application form, business card, letters of employment correspondence \ enquiry letter, resume / CV (Curriculum Vitae), application, electronic job hunting, cover letter (Support for Application).

Corporate documentation – e-mail, different business letters, memo, proposals, instructions

External documentation – reports (formal \ informal), articles (abstracts \ annotation)

Internal communication – poster presentation, presentations (conferences).

D. Do you think a person needs a portfolio?

E. What is the aim of a portfolio?

F. Do you think the content corresponds to what a portfolio should be? If not, what would you exclude or include?

G. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a portfolio?

H. Do you need a portfolio?

2. Portfolio Development – each student works on his\her own portfolio, on the basis of the content (including title page, contents page). Title page sample – pg. 11.

3. Portfolio Evaluation- arrange focus groups (small group, role-play to evaluate and comment other group member CDPs.

TOMSK POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY

GEOLOGY AND PETROLEUM ENGINEERING INSTITUTE

DEPARTMENT ________________________________

COMMUNICATION DISPLAY PORTFOLIO (CDP)

NAME: ________________________________________

SPECIALIZATION: __________________________________

UNIT 2

E-MAIL

E-MAIL isa medium which has revolutionized the way in which we communicate with each other. E-mail has become a large part of modern communication, particularly in business. The world has become much smaller now that we have the ability to send and receive email messages over great distances at an incredible speed. Survey show that Email “is by far the most frequently used and highly prized feature of the Internet”(Specter, Michael, “Your Mail Has Vanished”. New Yorker 16 Dec. 1999: 95-104.)

Lead-in

Open INTERNET E-mail (Computer class). Name all the operating windows. Match the windows with their functions.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 759