This session is being offered in collaboration with Mitacs Training. Mitacs Training provides professional development training to advanced degree graduates, supplementing their education and research experience with the tools necessary to succeed in today’s workforce.

Make an impact with your scientific and technical writing skills! This two day, hands-on course is aimed at those with scientific and technical backgrounds. From structure and grammar to impact – get on-site expert feedback, a chance to work on a current, future, or past piece of your writing, and get exposure to many samples of writing, from atrocious to outstanding.

COURSE OBJECTIVE

To increase participant awareness and application of tools and exercises available to them to better present their research and knowledge in written form.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Through participating and completing this course, participants will:

Broaden their perspective on the importance of the writing process

• Learn to analyze their audience and plan the writing process accordingly
• Be able to identify all aspects of technical reports
• Learn effective editing techniques
• Understand how to use graphics to make an impact and support an argument

KEY TOPIC AREAS

Overall writing process

• common pitfalls, dealing with procrastination, staying motivated
• the importance of the writing process (inventing, drafting, editing, and revising)
• audience analysis, understanding purpose, tone, and genres
• effectively organizing documents and using standard forms (i.e., theses, journal papers, poster presentation, other reports)
• persuasive and informative writing
• aspects of technical reports (i.e., abstracts, introductions, results, and conclusions)

Editing and visuals

• principles of punctuation
• revising sentences for order (sentence structure, ordering ideas)
• revising sentences for clarity (avoiding general language, vague this subjects, noun strings, and prepositional phrases)
• revising sentences for conciseness (importance of descriptive verbs, avoiding empty sentence openers)
• revising for connection (structuring paragraphs, transitions between sentences)
• effective use of graphics (appropriate types of graphs, proper use of colour and layout, incorporating graphics into text)

FACILITATOR

Michael Sjoerdsma

Michael Sjoerdsma has taught in the School of Engineering Science at Simon Fraser University since September 2003. He teaches a number of courses encompassing various aspects of technical communication: Form, Style and Professional Genres; Graphical Communication for Engineering; Spatial Thinking and Communicating; Project Documentation and Team Dynamics; and Social Responsibility and Professional Practice. Because of his technical training as an engineer, Michael has firsthand knowledge of the requirements needed for effectively communicating technical material.

In addition to his teaching duties at the university, Michael has taught technical writing for the Management Skills and Advanced Technology program. He also provides writing and editing services for graduate students, professors, and private companies. Michael is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (societies: Professional Communication, Technology and Society, and Engineering Management Society), a member of The Canadian Association for the Study of Discourse and Writing, a member in the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, and an EIT with the Association of Engineers and Geoscientists of BC.

REGISTRATION

Registration in this session is required, and is now open. There are limited seats available in this session, and those successfully registered will receive an email within one week of the session date.

DELIVERY FORMAT

Due to the ongoing situation surrounding COVID-19, this session will be delivered online via Zoom. The following suggestions may help to improve the online experience:

• Use headphones to reduce noise and avoid feedback between your mic and speaker.
• Ensure that you are in a quiet location so that the audio does not get polluted with unwanted noise.
• Keep your microphone on mute unless you are speaking during the session.
• In case of technical problems, time for plugin downloads, etc., please attempt to log into the Zoom meeting 10-15 minutes before the start. You will be placed in the waiting room until the official start time.