The course develops the skills of the engineer in writing work-related texts in English for different purposes (e.g. to inform, instruct or request information) via for example email. Based on the participants' own texts and professional experiences, and through written exercises and discussions, the course focuses on receiver adaptation, the readability and professional style of texts . The course also emphasises the importance of linguistic correctness in professional texts.

The aim of the course is to develop the skills of the engineer in communicating professionally in English with a focus on efficient texts in work-related situations.

After passing the course, the student shall be able to

-         demonstrate an understanding of, and identify, differences in linguistic style between informal and formal work-related communication in English

-         write clear, efficient and linguistically correct texts in English for different professional purposes, adapted to context, target group and aim

-         reflect on the quality and nature of his/her own texts and those of others, including giving and receiving constructive criticism

- discussions of various text types, based on the participants' own work life,  and how the writing can be adapted to suit different purposes and audiences

- three written assignments, peer reviewed by other participants. One of these assignments is a text of the student's own choice. 

- discussion of teacher feedback.

- tasks related to grammatical and stylistic correctness, to a great extent based on participants' submitted texts and their individual needs 

This course relies to a great extent on the kind of writing that you produce, or encounter, in your profession or in your studies. Therefore, before the first session, we ask you to select and bring to class 2-3 examples of typical texts from your work or area of study.

You should also start thinking about which text you would like to work on for Assignment 3 - a text of your choice. This can be a text you have written previously (with or without having had feedback on it), or something you are working on right now.

Course literature

Kmiec and Longo (2017). The IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields. E-book, KTH Library (login required)

Additional material will be made available on Canvas, KTH:s course platform, before the course starts.

Useful resources

We encourage you to familiarise yourselves with these resources:

Cambridge online dictionary

Oxford learners' dictionaries

APA style guide, including their Inclusive language guidelines

The Chicago Manual of Style, available as an e-resource at KTH Library (you need to be logged in to access this resource).

The KTH Guide to scientific writing in English

Students at KTH with a permanent disability can get support during studies from Funka:

Funka - compensatory support for students with disabilities

P, F

• LEXA - Ongoing examination, 3.0 credits, Grading scale: P, F

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

Ongoing examination ( LEXA )

For a PASS grade, the following is required

- a PASS grade in all three assignments

- 75% attendance (active participation in at least 4 out of 6 sessions)

75% attendance

The teacher has the right to assign compensatory tasks for missed sessions.

• All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
• In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
• In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.

For HT2024, the course has been moved fully online. The main reason for this is that we think that many participants are not able to come to Campus during the days, which makes a digital course a more accessible option. Peer review and teacher feedback are also very easily conducted online

Another change is that the course is now back to six sessions instead of five, spread out over a longer time period (weeks 36-45). This gives participants more time to work on their own texts while they are still working on their ordinary tasks.