Communicating in Civil Engineering

Related Resources
Print-Friendly Page
Authors & Contributors

Operating Procedures combine technical writing with writing for not-so-technical audiences. For instance, instead of writing, "Turn knob B' 30 degrees counter-clockwise," an engineer may write, "Rotate the green knob to the left as far as it will turn."

Deciding between which of these two procedures to write depends on which the audience is more likely to understand and how familiar the audience is with the equipment. Consider a VCR instruction manual. The manual doesn't assume that you know the electrical terms for every component. Instead, the manual's goal is to familiarize you with how to operate the equipment on a non-technical level in a language that you can understand. Engineers write Operating Procedures in much the same way.