Professional Communication for Engineering Students

Curriculum guideline

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Course
CMNS 1135
Discontinued
No
Course code
CMNS 1135
Descriptive
Professional Communication for Engineering Students
Department
Communications
Faculty
Language, Literature & Performing Arts
Credits
3.00
Start date
End term
Not Specified
PLAR
No
Semester length
15 weeks
Max class size
30
Contact hours

Lecture: 2 hours/week

Seminar: 2 hours/week

OR

Hybrid: 2 hours/week in class; 2 hours/week online

OR

Fully online

Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Online
Hybrid
Learning activities

Some or all of the following methods will be used:

  1. lecture/discussion
  2. group work
  3. peer review
  4. projects
  5. instructor feedback on students' work
  6. individual consultation
  7. presentation (individual or group)
Course description
In this introductory course, students will learn the fundamentals of the communication and teamwork skills required in an engineering career. Students will learn how to use the writing process to produce informative and persuasive research papers, emails, résumés, cover letters, and presentations. Students will also learn strategies for communicating effectively and persuasively with different audiences, addressing political, ethical, and social issues facing engineers.
Course content

Course Content:

  1. The Writing Process

1.1   Planning

1.1.1  Purpose and scope
1.1.2  Audience analysis
1.1.3  Form and format conventions
1.1.4  Organizing and outlines

                1.2   Drafting

1.2.1  Clarity, coherence, and conciseness
1.2.2  Tone
1.2.3  Effective sentences and paragraphs

        1.3    Revising

1.3.1  Drafts
1.3.2  Peer review
1.3.3  Final submission

2.  Rhetorical principles and strategies

2.1   Audience analysis
2.2   Persuasive correspondence, proposals, and reports

3.  Critical thinking

3.1   Identifying technical, ethical, and social issues in engineering
3.2   Analyzing technical, ethical, and social issues in engineering

4.  Research strategies

4.1   Library resources
4.2   Online resources

5.  Graphics

5.1   Documents
5.2   Oral presentations

6.  Oral presentations

6.1   Informative presentations
6.2   Persuasive presentations
6.3   Presentation aids and graphics

7.  Job search tools

7.1   Résumés and cover letters
7.2   Online job application tools

8.  Academic integrity

8.1   Citing sources
8.2   Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and American Psychological Association reference citation styles

9.  Teamwork, project management, and professionalism

 

 

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

  • Use the multi-step writing process to plan, draft, and revise reports, correspondence, and presentations.
  • Use rhetorical and audience analysis strategies to produce persuasive research reports and presentations.
  • Use research strategies to produce informative and persuasive research reports.
  • Produce and deliver oral presentations on engineering issues.
  • Produce effective graphics for documents and presentations.
  • Use engineering conventions in form, format, and reference citation.
  • Produce cover letters and résumés and use job application strategies.
  • Demonstrate effective use of teamwork skills to complete communication tasks.
  • Demonstrate academic integrity.
  • Use critical thinking to identify and analyze contemporary political, ethical, and social issues in engineering.
Means of assessment

Assessment will be in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. Students will be assessed using a variety of evaluations, both written and oral, such as the following:

Cover letter and résumé  10%
Oral presentations 10%
A combination of written documents and tests totalling 70% with no component exceeding 25% and including 70%
1. Persuasive letter (e.g. to a government body)  
2. Progress report on an engineering project  
3. Persuasive or informative report (1,500-2,500 words)  
4. Special topics assignments (e.g., summary of an engineering article or an annotated bibliography)  
5. Editing tasks and tests (e.g. citation practice)  
Participation and professionalism 10%
Total 100%
Textbook materials

A coursepack or a current edition of a relevant engineering communication textbook such as one of the following may be used:

Beer, D., and McMurrey, D. A Guide to Writing as an Engineer. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Irish, R., and Weiss, P. Engineering Communication from Principles to Practice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Stevenson, S., and Whitmore, S. Strategies for Engineering Communication. Toronto, ON: John Wiley & Sons.

Prerequisites

Any College entrance Language Proficiency Requirement with the exceptions of the Douglas College Course Options in ELLA or ENGU and the assessments listed below. These require the specified higher standard for entry into CMNS, CRWR and ENGL courses.
• a minimum grade of C- in ELLA 0460, or a minimum grade of C- in both ELLA 0465 and 0475, OR
• a minimum grade of C- in ENGU 0450 or ENGU 0455 or ENGU 0490, OR
• Mastery in ELLA 0330 and any two of ELLA 0310, 0320, or 0340, OR
• TOEFL overall score of 83 with a minimum of 21 in Writing, OR
• IELTS overall score of 6.5 with no band below 6.0; for individual bands below 6.0:
       • if in Speaking, ELLA 0210 required
       • if in Reading or Listening, ELLA 0220 required
       • if in Writing, ELLA 0230 and ELLA 0240 required
OR
• CLB score of 8, OR
• CEFR level B2+, OR
• CAEL minimum overall and essay score of 70 (computer or paper based), OR
• recognized equivalent or exemption.

Which prerequisite

None