Writing as an Engineer

From "Writing as an Engineer" by David Beer and David McMurrey

Noise and the communication process:




Find the mistakes in the following sentences:

 
a.) When they bought the machine they weren’t aware of it’s shortcoming.

b.) There was not a sufficient enough number of samples to validate the data.

c.) Our intention is to implement the verification of the reliability of the system in the near future.

a.) 

The possessive form of it = its
it's = it is

Example:

     It's raining today. (It is raining today)

     The dog wagged its tail.

b.) 

redundant and wordy: 

There weren’t enough samples to validate the data.

c.)   Wordy

We want to verify the system’s reliability soon.

Focus on:
 
 - Why you are writing.

• to inform, request, instruct, propose, recommend, persuade, record?

- Who are your readers?

• Fellow engineers from your field?
• Engineers from a different field?
• Managers? Marketing?
• Mixed audience?

Are you communicating technical information on a level your audience can use?   

Are you using appropriate vocabulary, examples, definitions, and depth of detail?

Satisfy Document Specifications

- Adhere to suggested length.
- Format spec’s: headings, spacing, margin widths, font

Get to the Point

• Put important info first.
• Intro - briefly state key points, complaints, requests, and conclusions.  
•  Do not include details until the body of the text.

 Accuracy

• Accurate references
• Accurate directions and instructions
• clearly state the conditions your data is applicable to. 
• Do not state opinions as facts.

Logical Presentation and organization:

• Numbered sections and subsections with titles.
• Organize in levels of detail and importance
• main subject first
• fill in the details later  

• First level headings should be in large font 

• separate headings from text by one line
• indent minor headings

Use Lists
 
Lists are often the most efficient way to communicate information.

List material from most important to least important

3 types of lists:

• numbered (or lettered) for procedures, or prioritized lists
• checklists – for things you need to do
• bullet lists – items in list occur in no specific order

Be Clear & to the point:

  Ambiguity – comes from the Latin word meaning to be undecided, causes readers to see more than one meaning in your writing without knowing which is correct.   
 
Avoid words like “they” and “it” to be specific and avoid ambiguity.

Ex:
Ambiguous: Before accepting materials from the new subcontractors, we should make sure they meet our requirements.

Who are “they”?  the materials? Or the contractors? or both? 

Clear:  We should make sure the materials from the new subcontractors meet our requirements before we accept them.




Ambiguous: The microprocessor interfaced directly with the 7055 RAM chip.  It runs at 5 MHz. (What does “it” refer to?)

Clear:   The microprocessor interfaced directly with the 7055 RAM chip.  The 7055 runs at 5 MHz.

Vague – contains no useful information.

Example:
“Take a few of these pills every so often.”  How many pills?  How often?
Vague: The Robotics group is several weeks behind schedule.
Useful: The Robotics group is six weeks behind schedule.
Vague: The CF553 runs faster than the RG562 but is much more expensive.

Useful: The CF553 runs 84% faster than the RG562 but costs $4,320 - $2,840 more than the CF553.
Coherence – comes from the word “cohere” or stick together.

Clear transitions – use words like “because”, “this shows”, “in addition”, “thus” to link sentences to one another.

Use a clear subject for each paragraph

Everything should support the subject of report

Directness:
Avoid suspense.

Put the most important information first.

example: Indirect: After a long and difficult development cycle due to factory renovation, the infrared controller will be ready for production in the very near future.
Direct: The infrared controller will be ready for production March 4.  Its development cycle was slowed by the factory renovation.


Avoid wordiness
Avoid unnecessarily pompous or ostentatious & showy words.  The point of technical documents is to convey information, not to make yourself look smart.

keep it simple and straightforward.

Remember, often your readers have English as their second language.

pompous  - straightforward

Commence – start

Compel – force

Comprises – is

Employ – use

Endeavor – try

Fabricate – make

Finalize – end

Initiate – begin

Optimal – best

Prioritize – rank

Proceed – go

Wordy: I regret to say that at this point in time I basically do not have access to that specific information…

Clear:  “I don’t know.” 

Wordy – efficient

A large number of – many

At this point in time – now

Come in contact with – contact

Exhibits the ability to – can

In the event of – if

In some cases – sometimes

In the majority of instances – usually

Redundancy
using multiple words to say the same thing

Redundant – clear

Alternative choices – alternatives

Actual experience – experience

Completely eliminate – eliminate

Connected together – connected

Collaborate together – collaborate

Very best – best

Component part – just say either “component” or “part”not both

Turning verbs into nouns:
Write in an active voice (rather than passive) by using verbs instead of nouns.

wordy – clear

An analysis of the data – analyze

An investigation of xyz – xyz was investigated.
made a selection – select

Procurement of services can be accomplished by – services can be procured by

Paragraph Length:
Avoid walls of words
rule of thumb – keep paragraphs to under 12 lines
Most paragraphs will be much shorter.  (one liners are just fine)
Formatting

Margins – Use large margins to prevent pages looking too busy

Typeface – 10 to 12 point, Times New Roman, Arial

Use ample “white Space” around figures, headings, paragraphs, equations, & lists

Manage your time

Create and use a schedule

Give yourself time to edit

Team: divide and conquer, assign different sections to different people, but then have one person organize, and re-write it to create a smoothly flowing document (rather than a patchwork quilt of different writing styles)

Graphics & Charts –
use numbered figure captions,
refer to the figure in the text by the number.

Tables
include a table heading.  Heading go above tables (figure captions go below figures) 

Report

References
Should be numbered at the end of the report, and referred to in the text by their number.

Presentation Checklist:

Check your ability to communicate -

Write it do it! - link
"Write it do it"  is a communications contest where you put your writing skills to the test.

"In Write It Do It, one team member is given a structure built from some sort of construction materials, and writes a set of instructions on how to build it. The other team member will receive the instructions written by their teammate and a set of unassembled materials, and attempt to recreate the object as accurately as possible."


ENGR1304 version:
  - Week one: no diagrams allowed, you must communicate what the structure is in words only.

- Week 2: No words allowed, sketch only.

Instead of teams, everyone will start out writing instructions, and then everyone will use someone else's instructions to build.  Time allowing, we'll do the build phase twice. 

At the end, we will look at pictures of the original structures, the replicas, and the instructions, and then vote on who was the best builder, and who wrote the best instructions.  Those who are voted the best, will be promoted to "Project Managers."

Rules:
No internet - if I catch you using the internet, I'll turn the computer off, and you will have to hand-write your instructions.

Keep your structure in your box - don't let others in the class see it, and don't look around trying to see other people's structures.


Use only letters, numbers, and "shift" symbols.

Save your work, put your name on top.

Choose your own formatting.