There is far more to technical communication than simply writing text. Technical writers need research skills to understand technology and investigate its use in work environments. They need finely tuned communication skills to understand clients and readers alike, and creative skills to interpret requirements and produce effective documents. Increasingly, they need to develop their visual appreciation and to take advantage of the variety of computerised tools now available to create and display information.
Technical communicators are also increasingly interested in achieving professional status.
They need to understand the theoretical foundations of their work. So, like the professionals whose knowledge it aims to develop, the MA course in Technical Communication is multidisciplinary. The teaching covers a variety of disciplines, some theoretical, some practical, following the document development life cycle as a guiding principle. During Year 3, students choose a topic to explore in their dissertation. We consider any topic of relevance to the field of technical and business communication.