UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM
COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES
CENTRE FOR COMMUNICATION STUDIES
COURSE OUTLINE
Subject title: CL111: Communication Skills for Engineering
Subject status: Core
Credit rating: 12 Credits
Total hours: 45 hours
Subject aim
This course is designed to familiarise students with both knowledge and study skills
necessary for effective communication in engineering studies. It covers areas like: note-
taking/making, listening skills, presentation skills, writing skills, technical report writing. The
course is designed to enable students to understand lectures and reading materials, to
meaningfully participate in seminars/tutorials and academic discussions and to produce
meaningful written work in the form of essays, long reports or dissertations.
Course expected learning outcomes
By the end of the course students should be able to:
Communicate effectively in technical setting
Listen effectively and take notes from different sources
Write effective technical reports and professional correspondences
Conduct effective technical presentations
Extract meaning from written texts
Course content:
Topic 1: Technical Communication
1.1 The communication process
1.2 The nature of technical communication
1.3 Types of communication
1.4 Levels of communication
1.5 Barriers to communication
1.6 Communication in the workplace
Topic 2: Public Speaking and Presentation Skills
5.1 Effective public speaking and the use of emotional intelligence
5.2 Presentation types and methods of delivery
5.3 Actual presentation and using feedback techniques
5.4 Presenting arguments and practising public speaking
5.5 Interview skills: types and techniques
Topic 3: Effective Listening and Note-taking/making Skills
2.1 The listening process
2.2 Types of listening
2.3 Purpose for writing notes
2.4 Note taking methods and techniques
2.5 Taking notes from different sources
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Topic 4: Reading Skills
3.1 Preparation for reading
3.2 Reading types
3.3 Intensive reading technique (SQ3R)
3.4 Reference, inference and managing difficult words
3.5 Using discourse markers
Topic 5: Academic and Technical Writing
4.1 The writing process and stages
4.2 Paragraph and essay structure
4.3 Technical report writing and presentation
4.4 Functional writing – letters, memos, CVs
4.5 Documentation – citation, referencing styles
4.6 Plagiarism and ways to avoid it
Delivery: 30 lecture hours and 15 seminar hours
Assessment: Coursework assessment carries 40%
University Examination carries 60%
Basic Readings
Adair, J. (2003). Effective Communication. London: Pan Macmillan Ltd.
Application (4th Ed). New York: Routledge.
Arredondo, L. (2000). Communicating Effectively. McGraw-Hill. New York.
Bailey, S. (2003). Academic Writing: Practical Guide for Students. New York: Routledge.
Collins, P. (2009). Speak with Power and Confidence. New York: Sterling.
Company Ltd.
Davies, J. (2011). Communication Skills: A Guide for Engineering and Applied Science Students. Old Tappan:
Pearson Education UK.
Ebest, B et al. (2000). Writing from A-Z. Carifornia: Mayfield Publishing Co Ltd.
Green J. O. and Burleson, B. R. (2003). Handbook of Communication and Social Interaction Skills. Routledge.
Gurak, L and Lannon, J. (2018) Strategies for Technical Communication in the Workplace (4th Ed.). United
Kingdom: Pearson.
Hargie, O. (2006). The Handbook of Communication Skills. New York: Routledge
Jeffries, L. and Mikulecky B. S. (2007). Advanced reading power: Extensive Reading, Vocabulary Building,
Comprehension Skills, Reading Faster. New York: Longman
Kadeghe, M. (2017) A Complete Course in Communication Skills with DAY TO DAY Grammar. Dar es Salaam.
Afroplus Industries Ltd.
Kroehnert, G. (2010). Basic Presentation Skills. Sidney: McGraw Hill.
Langan, J. (2005). College Writing Skills. ( 6th edition). New York: McGraw Hill.
Langan, J. (2008). College Writing Skills. ( 7th edition). New York: McGraw Hill.
Eaves, M. And Leathers, D.G., (2017). Successful Non Verbal Communication: Principles and Applications.(5th
Ed.). New York: Routledge.
Markel, M. H., & Selber, S. A. (2018). Technical communication. Boston: Bedford/St Martin.
Mishra, S., & Muralikrishna, C. (2011). Communication Skills for Engineers. New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley
(India.
Moore, Ninja-Jo, et al. (2010) Nonverbal Communication: Studies and Applications. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Pecorari, Diane. (2008). Academic Writing and Plagiarism: A Linguistic Analysis. Continuum International
Publishing Group. (Soft copy available)
Raman, M. and Singh, P. (2006). Business Communication. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Routledge.
Rodman, L. (2005). Technical communication. Toronto: Nelson.
Savage, A & Shafiei, M. (2007). Effective Academic Writing 1: The Paragraph. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
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Steinberg S. (2007). An introduction to Communication Studies. Cape Town. Juta and
Van, E. J., & Becker, L. M. (2018). Writing for engineers. London : Palgrave.
Venables, J. (2007). Communication Skills for Engineers and Scientists. Rugby: Institution of Chemical
Engineers.
