Ieee Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields

Helps both engineers and students improve their writing skills by learning to analyze target audience, tone, and purpose in order to effectively write technical documents
 
This book introduces students and practicing engineers to all the components of writing in the workplace. It teaches readers how considerations of audience and purpose govern the structure of their documents within particular work settings. The IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields is broken up into two sections: "Writing in Engineering Organizations" and "What Can You Do With Writing?" The first section helps readers approach their writing in a logical and persuasive way as well as analyze their purpose for writing. The second section demonstrates how to distinguish rhetorical situations and the generic forms to inform, train, persuade, and collaborate.
 
The emergence of the global workplace has brought with it an increasingly important role for effective technical communication. Engineers more often need to work in cross-functional teams with people in different disciplines, in different countries, and in different parts of the world. Engineers must know how to communication in a rapidly evolving global environment, as both practitioners of global English and developers of technical documents. Effective communication is critical in these settings.
 
The IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields
* Addresses the increasing demand for technical writing courses geared toward engineers
* Allows readers to perfect their writing skills in order to present knowledge and ideas to clients, government, and general public
* Covers topics most important to the working engineer, and includes sample documents
* Includes a companion website that offers engineering documents based on real projects
 
The IEEE Guide to Engineering Communication is a handbook developed specifically for engineers and engineering students. Using an argumentation framework, the handbook presents information about forms of engineering communication in a clear and accessible format. This book introduces both forms that are characteristic of the engineering workplace and principles of logic and rhetoric that underlie these forms. As a result, students and practicing engineers can improve their writing in any situation they encounter, because they can use these principles to analyze audience, purpose, tone, and form.

List of contents

A Note from the Series Editor, ix
 
About the Authors, xi
 
PART I A TECHNIQUE FOR WRITING LIKE A PROFESSIONAL 1
 
Introduction, 3
 
1 The Social Situation of Text 7
 
The Social Contexts for Technical Writing, 8
 
Models of the Writing Environment, 9
 
Transmission Models, 10
 
Correctness Models, 11
 
Cognitive/Behavioral Models, 13
 
Social/Rhetorical Models, 14
 
This Guide's Approach, 16
 
The Rhetorical Situation: Purpose, 18
 
The Rhetorical Situation: Audience, 21
 
The Rhetorical Situation: Identity, 26
 
The Rhetorical Situation: Context, 28
 
The Pragmatic Situation: Community and Genre, 29
 
2 Making Writing Decisions 33
 
Introduction, 34
 
Document Structure and Granularity, 35
 
Arranging Text at the Macro Level, 37
 
Sectioning and Heading Sections, 39
 
Aids for Navigating and Understanding Document Structure, 43
 
Creating Effects with Lexis and Syntax at the Micro Level, 45
 
Lexical Technique: Word Choice, Technical Terms, and Hedges and Boosters, 47
 
Syntactic Technique: Modification, Clausal Arrangement, and Discursive Cueing, 53
 
Intermediate Structural Units and Argumentative Movement, 68
 
Paragraph Cohesion and Paragraphs as Structural Units of a Document, 69
 
Structures Other than Paragraphs, 72
 
Citations and Other Intertextual Statements, 73
 
Implications for the Process of Writing, 75
 
Additional Reading, 77
 
PART 2 WRITING DOCUMENTS 79
 
Introduction 81
 
3 Writing to Know: Informative Documents 85
 
Introduction, 86
 
The Purposes of Informative Documents, 86
 
Occasions for Preparing an Informative Document, 88
 
Audiences for an Informative Document, 88
 
Key Communication Strategies When Writing to Know, 90
 
Understanding What Constitutes Sufficient Evidence to Support a Claim, 90
 
Structuring Evidence in Your Document, 91
 
Establishing Expertise, 92
 
Questions for Analyzing Existing Documents, 93
 
Some Typical Informative Documents, 93
 
Reports, 93
 
Specifications, 104
 
4 Writing to Enable: Instructions and Guidance 109
 
Introduction, 110
 
The Purposes of Enabling Documents, 110
 
Occasions for Preparing an Enabling Document, 112
 
Audiences for an Enabling Document, 112
 
Key Communication Strategies When Writing to Enable, 113
 
Anticipating a Document's Use Context, 113
 
Deciding How Much Background Is Warranted, 115
 
Testing the Document with Users, 116
 
Questions for Analyzing Existing Documents, 119
 
Characteristic Enabling Documents, 119
 
Manuals/Guides and Other Documents That Primarily Contain Instructions/Directions/Procedures, 119
 
Tutorials/Training Materials, 128
 
Policies, 130
 
5 Writing to Convince: Persuasive Documents 133
 
Introduction, 134
 
The Purposes of Persuasive Documents, 134
 
Occasions for Preparing a Persuasive Document, 135
 
Audiences for the Persuasive Document, 136
 
Key Communication Strategies When Writing to Convince, 137
 
Designing Your Argument to Consider the Audience's Preexisting Beliefs, 137
 
Using the Terms and Values of the Audience to Articulate a Shared Goal, 140
 
Assuring Outcomes and Benefits without Seeming Unrealistic, 142
 
Questions for Analyzing Existing Documents, 143
 
Typical Examples of Persuasive Documents, 145
 
Proposals, 145

About the author

David Kmiec, PhD is a Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of Undergraduate Technical Writing in the Department of Humanities at New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA. He also consults for government agencies and manufacturing and engineering services firms, helping them establish knowledge of management practices and effective workflows for digital and print publications. Bernadette Longo, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities at New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA. She won the Emily K. Schlesinger Award for outstanding service to the IEEE Professional Communication Society in 2014.

Summary

Helps both engineers and students improve their writing skills by learning to analyze target audience, tone, and purpose in order to effectively write technical documents

This book introduces students and practicing engineers to all the components of writing in the workplace. It teaches readers how considerations of audience and purpose govern the structure of their documents within particular work settings. The IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields is broken up into two sections: "Writing in Engineering Organizations" and "What Can You Do With Writing?" The first section helps readers approach their writing in a logical and persuasive way as well as analyze their purpose for writing. The second section demonstrates how to distinguish rhetorical situations and the generic forms to inform, train, persuade, and collaborate.

The emergence of the global workplace has brought with it an increasingly important role for effective technical communication. Engineers more often need to work in cross-functional teams with people in different disciplines, in different countries, and in different parts of the world. Engineers must know how to communication in a rapidly evolving global environment, as both practitioners of global English and developers of technical documents. Effective communication is critical in these settings.

The IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields
* Addresses the increasing demand for technical writing courses geared toward engineers
* Allows readers to perfect their writing skills in order to present knowledge and ideas to clients, government, and general public
* Covers topics most important to the working engineer, and includes sample documents
* Includes a companion website that offers engineering documents based on real projects

The IEEE Guide to Engineering Communication is a handbook developed specifically for engineers and engineering students. Using an argumentation framework, the handbook presents information about forms of engineering communication in a clear and accessible format. This book introduces both forms that are characteristic of the engineering workplace and principles of logic and rhetoric that underlie these forms. As a result, students and practicing engineers can improve their writing in any situation they encounter, because they can use these principles to analyze audience, purpose, tone, and form.

Product details

• Authors: D Kmiec, Davi Kmiec, David Kmiec, David Longo Kmiec, Bernadette Longo, Longo Bernadette, Julia Williams
• Assisted by: David Kmiec (Editor)
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.09.2017
• EAN: 9781119070139
• ISBN: 978-1-119-07013-9
• No. of pages: 200
• Series: IEEE PCS Professional Engineering Communication Series; IEEE PCs Professional Engineer; IEEE PCS Professional Engineering Communication Series; IEEE PCs Professional Engineer
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > IT, data processing > Data communication, networks; Informatik, Schreiben, computer science, Ingenieurwesen, Technische Dokumentation, Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Elektrotechnik u. Elektronik, Technical Communication, Management im Ingenieurwesen, Engineering Management, Professional Development for Engineers, Perspektiven in Ingenieurberufen