THE IMPORTANCE OF TECHNICAL WRITING SKILLS FOR ENGINEERING STUDENTS

Technology has permeated every aspect of our life. It is felt more so in the field of education. In an engineering college the students are involved in learning every face of technology. But their learning must be expressed both verbally and in writing for them to succeed academically and professionally. Writings that deal with science or technology subjects are scientific or technical writings. Practice for such kind of writings is to be given to the technical students who study engineering and technology. But unfortunately this has become a challenge for the English teacher with the limited confines of a curriculum. Engineering education can be defined as training for the practical applications of science in industry and commerce. Technical communication is very important for practical applications of science and for learning the mechanics in technology. The students are expected to be familiar with various modes of technical communication like business correspondence, technical report writing, proposal writing, thesis writing, scientific article writing etc. But how equipped are the engineering students in technical writing? Do they have the ability to express their findings through scientific writing? My paper deals with the importance of technical writing, features of technical writing and the challenges the students face in written communication.