A four days Workshop on Technical and Academic Writing under TEQIP II, was jointly organized by the Centre of Management and Humanities, PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh and Regional English Language Office, US Embassy, New Delhi from 6th March to 9th March 2017. Ms. Heather Mehrtens, English Language Fellow, Regional English Language Office (RELO), US Embassy, New Delhi, was the Resource Person.
The Registrar of the University, Mr. Manish Jindal, presided over the workshop's inauguration as its Chief Guest. He stressed upon enhancing the employability skills of engineering postgraduate students through courses in Communication Skills, thereby preparing them to become effective functionaries in their workplace.
Dr. Sharda Kaushik, Head, Centre of Management and Humanities, welcomed the gathering. She highlighted the importance of learning different forms of writing like the report and the statement of purpose, which form the core components of literacy in any language.
Ms. Heather Mehrtens, covered different areas of writing including essay, email, letter, statement of purpose and report through the error analysis approach. Working in teams and sharing their opinions, the students identified shortcomings in sample texts, rewriting them in their corrected version.
In the first session she focused on Report Writing, based on the IMRD (Introduction, Method, Research, Discussion) structure. The students of M.E. 1st year participated enthusiastically, learning to write an effective report. Deconstruction of reports and the relevance of each part of the report promoted self thinking among them, as they worked in groups.
On the day of the valedictory of the workshop, Prof. Manoj K Arora, Director, PEC University of Technology, appreciated the Centre in collaborating with RELO, specialists in the field of Teaching English to the Speakers of Other Languages and highlighted the importance of developing a global perspective to the art and skill of communication.
Prof. Sharda Kaushik, Head, CMH, remarked that the teaching of different forms of writing has to be addressed at different levels such as language, content, format, organization, structure and style. Once the students have understood and absorbed the correct and creative ways of using these elements of writing, they are not likely to falter in establishing the network of written communication.
Ms. Neha Chaudhary, Coordinator, emphasized the significance of technical writing which helps an individual to connect with others in large numbers through email and letters.
The workshop recorded a participation of over 180 students. At least 102 students of M.E 1st year belonging to Computer Science, Electronics, Information Security, Total Quality Management, VLSI Design, and Production and Industrial Engineering and 85 students from B.E 1st year belonging to select branches like Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering benefitted from the sessions.