Andrea and all --
Here are two other books to consider for your third-year
Engineering course:
-- Rebecca Burnett's Technical Communication (Wadsworth): an
expensive and heavy (700+ pages) book, but one that models
its own advice in being readable, notably clear, and
visually attractive. Its sections on both the abstract and
the progress report (to use Natasha's examples) are
excellent, suggesting the underlying questions about purpose
and reader and also supplying relevant examples. It has
material on oral and visual communication too, and the
"intertext" reprints of articles on issues like
gender-neutral writing are stimulating reading in themselves
(instead of a separate pack of readings?). Its material on
editing is scattered among various chapters, and it includes
a 52-page Appendix on usage that covers word choice,
sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and
numbers. This could serve as a textbook, handbook, and
reader combined.
-- Lilita Rodman's Technical Communication (Harcourt Brace)
has the considerable advantage of being Canadian and also
cheaper than the other books mentioned so far. The price for
the 2nd edition of 1996 was $43.95. Its explanations and
examples are less complex than Burnett's, but are always
practical. It includes a chapter on oral communications,
another on readability, and a fine 9-page appendix on the
"mechanics" of language correctness.
Hope that helps! Congratulations (and thanks!) for taking on
this course with the elite group of Engineering students.
We'll look forward to hearing about your experiences.
Margaret Procter
U of T Coordinator, Writing Support
[log in to unmask]
Andrea Williams wrote:
>
> I'm going to be teaching a course on written and oral communication to
> third year Engineering students and I'm trying to decide on a textbook
> and/or a handbook (in addition to a course pack of readings).
>
> Although I'm leaning towards a text aimed specifically at Engineers, I'd
> appreciate your suggestions.
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Andrea
>
> Andrea L. Williams Tel. 946-3694
> Language Across the Curriculum [log in to unmask]
> Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering
> University of Toronto
> Toronto Ontario Canada M5S 1A4
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