Technical Reports for Industry, Government, and Business (A Career Builder Course)

Course Name

Technical Reports for Industry, Government, and Business (A Career Builder Course)

Contact Hours: 50 (an estimated time frame devoted to a course of study from start to finish that can vary from student to student)

Course Description

In this course, the student begins by learning strategies for finding information sources for writing projects and methods for documenting those sources. From here, you will continue by practicing using character and paragraph styles to increase efficiency and consistency, reviewing how to create traditional outlines and tables of contents, and using templates for format reports. There will be readings along the way and quizzes on the Chicago Manual of Style. Following this fundamental preparation, students practice writing brief technical documents on science or technology topics. To conclude this course, you will apply all that you have learned by writing a formal technical report on a new technology, environmental issue, or scientific discovery.

(This course builds on Technical Communication: The Profession, Writing Style, and Format and is the companion course for User Documentation for Technology Products.)


Bundle Pricing

We recommend registering for the full three-course Comprehensive Career Builder Certificate in Technical Writing to receive the best price possible. Each course is priced individually, but when you enroll in the certificate program and prepay, you'll receive a discount that is included in the total cost of the package.
 
Who Should Enroll:

• Communication Professionals
• Technical Writers/Communicators
• Information Specialists
• Business Analysts
• Research Report Writers
• Engineers

Outcome

By the end of the course - Technical Reports for Industry, Government, and Business, you will be able to:

• Conduct effective research for technical reports.
• Properly document the sources of information you borrowed to write reports.
• Use and create character and paragraph styles to increase consistency and efficiency.
• Write concise, well-organized descriptions, processes, extended definitions, and causal analyses.
• Conduct field research and write a brief field-investigative report.
• Write helpful, useful introductions for whole reports or sections of reports.
• Write concise, properly detailed abstracts and executive summaries.
• Create logical, detailed outlines and well-formatted automated tables of contents.
• Know your way around the Chicago Manual of Style.
• Write a well-researched, detailed, concise formal technical report on a new technology, environmental issue, or scientific discovery or conduct laboratory research and write a standard primary-research report.
• Create an online portfolio, and add items you've created in this course.

Assessment

This course contains numerous reading quizzes to help students measure their progress and mastery of the materials. A score of 85 or higher is required to complete the course successfully. Quizzes may be taken up to 3 times.

Outline

Week 1:  Research and Documentation.
Week 2:  Description, Process, Illustration, Abbreviations.
Week 3:  Cause Analysis, Extended Definition, Numbers.
Week 4:  Brief Field-Investigative Report, Tables.
Week 5:  Introductions, Abstracts, Executive Summaries, Parts of a Published Work.
Week 6:  Outlines, Tables of Contents, Grammar, Usage, Punctuation.
Week 7:  Report Components and Templates, Spelling, Distinctive Treatment of Words.
Week 8:  Final Project: New Technology, Environmental Issue, or Scientific Discovery.

Books

Included, a free online textbook by the Instructor of this Course.