On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the wide range of variables which constitute human communication;
2. Demonstrate knowledge of the range of factors which affect both oral and written communication within professional contexts;
3. Demonstrate an understanding of argumentation, reasoning and persuasion as factors in written and oral communication;
4. Demonstrate appreciation of communication across cultures;
5. Demonstrate a range of critical perspectives about issues relating to electronic communication from a written, interpersonal and organisational perspective;
6. Demonstrate skills to write effectively using a variety of formats especially essays, reports and technical documents;
7. Demonstrate skills of oral presentations;
8. Demonstrate research skills including use of library catalogues, databases and the Internet;
9. Demonstrate communication skills through participation in workshops and the importance of consideration of a variety of personal views, perspectives and styles.

1. Importance of communication in personal and professional encounters: the notion of interpersonal competence, interpersonal communication, face to face interaction, communication involving reciprocal creation of meaning rather than linear message transmission;
2. Factors influencing human communication: perception, observation, inference, effects of personal experience, cultural experience, language as a factor in the social creation of meaning;
3. Non-verbal communication: proxemics, paralanguage, kinesics, interpreting non-verbal communication, influence of culture on non-verbal communication, ambiguity of verbal and non-verbal messages;
4. Censorship: definitions, what types of information/media are censored, brief history of censorship, political, social and cultural nature of censorship, censorship of the internet, issues and problems;
5. Electronic communication and the factors which influence its use and impede its effectiveness: writing email, problems of lack of social presence, some organisational problems arising from use of electronic media;
6. Principles of effective writing: generating ideas, use of outlines, importance of structure to enhancement of meaning, importance of identifying audience and purpose, analysis of style, what constitutes good style, types of sentences, types of paragraphing, word choice, ordering, clarity, parallel construction, problems of writing and layout which impede meaning;
7. Common genres of professional and technical writing: reports, letters, instructions;
8. Oral reports and presentations: how to prepare and present effectively, the importance of oral organisational strategies, developing appropriate and readable a/v, consideration of the differences between writing and speaking, the implications of non-verbal aspects to message effectiveness;
9. Principles of effective library research: using the catalogue, using databases, using the internet, using appropriate referencing conventions.