Everyday Writing for Engineers

Everyday Writing for Engineers 

Grant Brown 

University of Iowa 

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Importance of Writing 

Writing plays an important role in every job around the world. Each job requires certain unique skills to write effectively and get necessary information across essential to their job. This is especially important for engineering. Engineers have to deal with lots of data and important information. One slip-up or wrong detail can result in catastrophic mistakes and failure of projects. Engineering writing also requires the writer to incorporate many graphs and images into their writing to portray information that words can't. When asked how important writing is to his everyday job Joe Baum, one of the lead engineers in Ford Motor Company in  Detroit, Michigan, stated that it is "an essential part of (his) everyday job" (personal communication, 2016), as it allows him to discuss complex problems over simple emails.  I will analyze both academic and non-academic writing by engineers to see the effects they have on several factors of traditional writing. The sophisticated language, formatting, and detail selection and management are what set engineering writing apart from the writing in other occupations. 

Breaking Down the Engineering Language 

To a first time reader an engineering paper may feel like it is written in a foreign language. Part of the reason for this is because engineers write with an assumption that the readers will already have somewhat of an understanding about the subject. This is very common in non-academic writings like lab reports. When preparing lab reports an engineer is writing with the purpose of summarizing his project and its findings for other engineers working on the same or similar projects. In my studying of several NASA lab reports I found that they constantly made references to previous projects done my the company or events of the company  as part of the explanation for their findings. When discussing the Carbon Fiber Strand Tensile Failure Dynamic Event Characterization the writers continuously reference "the 13-00912 test experiment,"(Johnson & Reeder, 2016 p. 14)  as a reasoning behind several factors in their experiment, but they never inform us what that experiment was and the information received from it. They also assume that the reader has a basic understanding in both chemistry and physics when deciphering their paper. They assume the reader knows how to calculate equations like "fiber volume" (Johnson & Reeder, 2016 p.17) to understand their calculations for the report. 

Academic writings take a different approach to communicating their findings. They make an even greater assumption about the reader assuming that they understand how procedures work and the exact process that goes into a procedure. They often shorten terms to make the paper more concise and to the point, in one journal "heart failure" is shortened to "HF"(Wang, Nielsen, & Nash, 2015, p. 2), to help the reader get to the facts faster. These abbreviations are often summarized in a table at the beginning of the article.  Journal articles also tend to include a lot less actual calculations in the article, but do include several formulas "C=F^T*F" (Wang et al., 2015, p. 11) used to make calculations. All though these calculations do make the writing more concise it does add a lot of confusion for the average reader.  

Language plays an important part in both academic and non academic engineering writing. It can be the difference between a cm and a km, which in the grand scheme of things can have a big impact on the product. Engineers have to take their time and analyze every thing they write to insure the success of their product. 

Formatting the Engineering Way 

Formatting is critical in any form of writing to effectively get a message across. Engineers have lots of little formatting tricks that they include in their writing to help get their message across. One of these important tools is the use of subheadings and a table of contents. Subheadings allow the reader to skip around and find the information they need. Most of the people reading these papers are reading it to either build the project described or use part of the research for their own projects.  The inclusion of a table of contents allows readers to jump straight to the part they need with out having to spend precious minutes skimming information they don't need. Academic and Non academic writings both include subheadings, but they take a different approach to using them. The subheadings in non academic lab reports often follow the engineering process, a seven to eight step process engineers use to gauge how far along they are on a project. Usually they will include an executive summary before diving into the process. Once the process begins, the first sub heading will always be "Background and Problem Description," (Squire et al., 2105 p. 19) because the problem always has to be found and stated before it can be solved. Subsequent headings will continue to follow the process until the end is summed up with a conclusion. Academic journals take a different approach to subheadings. These headings very rarely follow the engineering process because most times an experiment is not being conducted. Journals focus more on the summary of a persons research and their findings. To reflect this journal heading are categorized by subject to set apart the knows and unknows from the new found discoveries. They usual begin with a history of what has gotten us to where we are today and how the subject of their research got to were it is today. This allows other researches to gain more of and understanding and appreciation for the work. 

The other major formatting trick used is visuals. Engineers have the difficult of trying to explain complex processes and have the read actually visualize what is going on. Graphs and tables help to clarify the information provided in the writing. The help display results from testing and show how effective the writers research has been and help display results.  Visuals can also help the reader understand exactly what designs look like and allow them to truly visualize what the author is trying to portray. Non academic writing  uses a mix of graphs, tables, and pictures to display information that words often can't. Renderings are also very common to give a visual of the final product. Rather than writing out lot of information these writers feel it is more time effective to use flow charts. Flow charts allow the reader to process information, that would last multiple paragraphs, in a matter of seconds. The "Risk Assessment Process"(Squire et al., 2015, p. 24) chart included in NASA's report about satellite orbits includes arrows and a chart to show the step by step risk evaluation that satellites must go through. This information could take multiple pages to explain, but engineers are on strict deadlines and don't have the time to sit and read multi-page processes just to understand what they need to do. Academic articles tend to use pictures of experiments that they have done to show the reader the process they have gone through. These visual give backbone to the research information included in the paper and help build the writers ethos. When discussing Lensless Imaging and Sensing, the author includes a representation of  a " General lensless imaging experimental setup based on complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) or chare-coupled device (CCD) image sensors" (Ozcan & McLeod, 2016, p. 3) to show an experiment they personally did to formulate their information. This in turn adds strength to their experimental results, which helps prove their findings. 

Formatting plays a key role in displaying the research and hard work of engineers. It helps to add credibility to the writers work and establishes an overall professional feel both of which are essential in the field. 

Detail Management 

"The best writing is concise and to the point. Effective writers tell me what I need to do, or what they need from me in the first couple of line. Then follow up with the details and bulk of the information." (personal communication, 2106) Detail management is the foundation all writing. Effectively balancing details is a very important skill taught in schools around the world. To much detail and a paper becomes dull and boring. To little detail and the point of the paper never clearly come across.  Academic writing surprisingly uses a lot less detail than its counterpart, non academic writing. The goal of academic writing is to give an overview on a whole subject without getting into the specifics of each individual experiment.  One unique instances of this I found was in a bio medical engineering article titled The Virtual Physiological Human: Ten Years After. This article discusses the advancement in study of psychology based on new technology and equipment. It references the "long tradition, dating particularly from the work of Claude Bernard (1) in the nineteenth century, of quantitative research on the structure-function relationships that underpin physiological process and the practice of medicine," (Viceconti & Hunter, 2016 p. 2) without directly stating the results of Bernard's research. It does offer these results in a separate entry for reference. The exclusion of this detail helps to keep the paper concise, but still gives an overview of the topic being discussed in the piece. 

Lab reports and other non academic writings are a lot more detail oriented. The reason behind this is because they focus on one instance rather than a brooder topic. Details are essential for another engineer to replicate the work and truly grasp the findings. Without detail the task would be impossible. It would be like a math teacher telling someone to solve a problem for x without x in the equation.  When designing rockets and planes  NASA includes the smallest details like "(a) 0.25-in between the capacitor terminal and the experimental chassis." (Dennehy et al., 2014 p. 39) The failure to include these essential details could be the difference between a successful flight and a catastrophic accident. 

Engineers also have to deal with a lot of secretive information in their job. Many of their projects deal with classified info that if revealed could coast the company lots of money. When handling these project engineers must take extra precautions. When dealing with this information it is definitely a "need to know basis" and "info can't be left out on your desk because you never know who may read it There is definitely certain information you have to be careful of from a legal standpoint, or you could find yourself in big trouble." (personal communication, 2016) Engineers have to be very precise in what they say or write. With out doing this they could find themselves in a very sticky situation. 

Conclusion 

Writing plays a major role in the daily lives of engineers. They may only spend "45 min- 1 hour" (personal communication, 2016)  a day physically writing, but everything else they do builds off writing.  They are constantly writing up reports on projects and experiments that they've done that are essential for the work of others. The fact that there are so many factors that go into this style of writing is what truly sets it apart from all other occupations. 

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References 

Dennhey, C., Orr, J., Barshi, I., Statler, I., 2014 A Comprehensive Analysis of the X-15 Flight 3-65 Accident, NASA. Retrieved from https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20140013264&hterms=NESC-RP-&qs=Ntx%3Dmode%2Bmatchall%26Ntk%3DReport-Patent-Number%26N%3D0%26No%3D20%26Ntt%3D%2522NESC-RP-%2522  

Johnson, K., Reeder, J., 2016 Carbon Fiber Strand Tensile Failure Dynamic Event Characterization, NASA. Retrieved from https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20160006405&hterms=NESC-RP-&qs=Ntx%3Dmode%2Bmatchall%26Ntk%3DReport-Patent-Number%26N%3D0%26No%3D0%26Ntt%3D%2522NESC-RP-%2522   

Ozcan, A., McLeod, E., 2016 Lensless imaging and sensing.  Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, 18, 77-102. Retrieved from http://www.annualreviews.org.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-bioeng-092515-010849 

Squire, M., Cooke, W., Williamsen, J., Kessler, D., Vesely, W., Hull, S., … Cornford, S., 2015 Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD)  Assessment, NASA. Retrieved from https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20150017054&hterms=NESC-RP-&qs=Ntx%3Dmode%2Bmatchall%26Ntk%3DReport-Patent-Number%26N%3D0%26No%3D10%26Ntt%3D%2522NESC-RP-%2522  

  

Viceconti, M., Hunter, P.,  2016 The virtual psychological human: ten years after. Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, 18,  103-123. Retrieved from http://www.annualreviews.org.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-bioeng-110915-114742  

Wang, V., Nielsen, P., Nash, M., 2015 Imaging-based modeling of heart mechanics. Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, 17, 351-383 Retrieved from http://www.annualreviews.org.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-bioeng-071114-040609