Mangaluru: The Department of English, St. Agnes College (Autonomous) conducted an international-level workshop on Professional Writing Skills on Friday, November 29 at the Conference Hall of the college. The aim of the workshop was to create an understanding of the importance of writing skills in the present day professional world and to open up a world of careers available in the arena of writing to interested student participants and teachers.
The workshop commenced at 9.30 AM with the inaugural ceremony. Sr. Dr. M. Jeswima AC, Principal St. Agnes College, Sr. Dr. M. Carmel Rita AC, Administrator, St. Agnes College, Dr. Zita Lobo, key-note speaker, Professor Of English, Chairperson- Dept. of General Education, Rak Medical and Health Sciences University, Dubai, UAE and Sandhya Karnad Deviah, Communication Professional, USA, with a wide array of experience in the field of journalistic and corporate writing, both in India and abroad, were among the dignitaries present. They declared the workshop open with the traditional lighting of the lamp.
In her key-note address, Dr. Zita Lobo gave the audience the scope of professional writing skills and their practical applications in the globalized market. She said good articulation is imperative and the best way to improve is to read. She said that the subjects of English and Communication have grown to become very interdisciplinary in the present scenario and students must make best use of their time in such an era where innovation has gained importance and is also a reachable goal.
The first Session of the day was conducted by Sandhya Karnad Deviah, who covered the major aspects in the field of journalistic writing, content and technical writing. She also shared her experience as a journalist with major dailies in India, and, as a technical communicator in CISCO, Bengaluru. The participants obtained an experiential learning experience during the workshop and were able to develop content for various requirements during the course of the workshop. The session was particularly exhaustive and gave the participants an in-depth understanding of the intricacies in the development of content for the world of work in the present day global scenario.
Research papers were presented by a few of the participants in the afternoon session, explicating the given topics and taking the whole workshop to a new level of exploration, self-learning and understanding in the fields of Visual Content, Copywriting, Technical writing and the importance of developing focused and effective content.
The second session of the workshop was taken up by Dr. Geralyn Pinto, Retd Asst. Professor of English and former HOD of the Dept of English, St Agnes College. She is a published author and has won several awards over the last decade for her poetry and short stories, at the national and international level. The thrust of the session was on the art and craft of writing short stories and the elements of creative writing in general. The session was an admixture of language and literature charged with creative expression and storytelling by the resource person in an unusually brilliant manner. In the workshop that followed the session, the participants were encouraged to stimulate their creative thinking and came up with their literary output and shared the same with the audience.
The workshop concluded at 4.30 PM with the valedictory ceremony.
Students and teachers from near and far participated in the workshop.
