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Types of Communication

During your training as an engineer, you write and present large amounts of research. Typically, in academia, your instructor dictates what type of communication you'll use. For example, an assignment may require you to write a Technical Report instead of a giving a Presentation. Later, in industry, you may need to determine what type of communication to use in particular situations. However, most companies, like instructors, often provide guidelines for each communication type.

Types of Communication

The list below represents some of the most common communication types you'll use. While you may not create or contribute to every one of these types, you'll certainly review many of them. Typically, content and organization distinguish each of these. However, you'll find variations on these types in both academia and in industry. For example, one instructor might identify the written results of a lab test as a Lab Report, while another instructor might call it a Project Report. Always check with your instructor or company policy to know what type is expected and what to include. To read more about each type, choose any of the items below:

Design Reviews	Poster Sessions
Graphics	Presentations
Lab Reports	Project Notebooks
Letters, Memos, E-mail	Proposals
Narrative Writing	Engineering Reports
Operating Manuals	Specifications and Codes

Design Reviews

Often, mechanical engineers participate in writing Design Reviews with design teams. Design Reviews serve as a way for teams to communicate their progress and concerns about a design. Typically, a design team includes various experts. For example, a team designing a product might involve marketing and manufacturing experts, as well as industrial, mechanical, and electrical engineers. Writing a review allows all parties to input and critique ideas before production begins. For instance, electrical engineers may have specific requirements or criteria to meet before they can attach circuitry to a mechanical component. Design Reviews are a good way for everyone involved in a design to formalize his/her concerns.

Poster Sessions

As an engineer, you'll participate in Poster Sessions during conferences and group meetings. A Poster Session allows you to display and discuss your work on a project or the results of your research. These sessions are popular in both academia and industry. To read more, choose the item below. Use your browser's "Back" button to return to this guide.

Visit the Poster Sessions Unit

Graphics

Graphics provide illustrated information to readers. In general, graphics are designed to make it easier for readers to understand your ideas. Deciding when to insert a graphic depends on the information you need to convey. For example, as you're writing, you find yourself struggling to describe a complex concept. Fitting your description within a few paragraphs is impossible, so you decide to create a graphic. Often, graphics are useful when concepts, designs, or processes are too complex or cumbersome to describe in written or oral form. To read more, choose the item below. Use your browser's "Back" button to return to this unit

Presentations

Mechanical engineers give Presentations when they work on projects and Proposals. Often, professional Presentations require you to verbally and graphically present preliminary designs to colleagues. On the other hand, if you attend technical meetings or academic conferences, you'll discover that engineers use Poster Sessions to present research and other technical information. To read more about Presentations, choose any of the items below. Use your browser's "Back" button to return to this guide.

Visit the Poster Sessions Guide
Visit the Informative Speaking Guide

Lab Reports

Lab work is an important part of every engineer's training. During a lab test or experiment, you participate in a "hands-on" experience that no textbook or lecture can provide. Writing a Lab Report requires you to reflect on these experiences.

View More on Lab Reports

Lab Reports

Engineers write Lab Reports to describe their work in labs. As an engineer, even if you don’t work in a lab, you might read and evaluate Lab Reports written by other engineers. Knowing what information to expect and how it should be presented can help you evaluate such reports. To read more about Lab Reports, choose any of the items below:

• Definition of a Lab Report
• Purpose
• Audience
• Development
• General Format

Definition of a Lab Report

Lab Reports are factual presentations of test or experiment results completed in a lab or simulation. Typically, Lab Reports discuss procedures as well as describe the details of a test or experiment. As a student, you'll write Lab Reports not only for a passing grade, but to learn from the observations you make. As an engineer in industry, you'll read many Lab Reports. Whether or not you write Lab Reports in industry depends on the company you work for and your position there.

Purpose

The purpose of a lab report is to present the work completed in a lab test or experiment. This information may be used in several different ways. For instance, a lab report may explain why certain materials reacted the way they did. Or, perhaps someone will use the data from the report to make a decision about which material to use in a design or project. In this case, you may have to argue, based on your results, why a particular material is better than another. When documenting your lab work, always consider how someone will use the information.

Audience

As a student, it may seem as though your instructor is your audience. However, this may not always be the case. Your instructor may ask you to write for someone else, such as a peer in your class or a fellow engineer. Always check to see whom your audience is. This is important because you may need to explain a lab in more or less detail, depending on your audience. For instance, your audience may already know the procedures you used; therefore, you don’t need to explain these. On the other hand, your audience may be unfamiliar with the lab, and you might need to describe the lab set up, the equipment you used, and every procedure you followed.

Development

How you develop a Lab Report depends on why you are writing the report (purpose) and who will read it (audience). Typically, a Lab Report includes specific information relating to the work done in a lab. This might include:

• Background Research on Testing Materials
• Equations
• Graphics
• Lab Set Up Description
• Equipment Description
• Procedure Description
• Data
• Results
• Explanations/Conclusions

General Format

The format you use to report your lab work differs in various situations. As a student, you should always check with your instructor for the proper format. In industry, most companies have a specific format for reporting lab work. This typically includes everything from the content to the paper you use.

View More on General Format

Project Notebooks

As an engineer, you should always keep a Project Notebook, containing notes of all your work. The Project Notebook provides a convenient place to keep track both of what you think about and the work you do on lengthy projects. To read more, choose the item below. Use your browser's "Back" button to return to this unit.

Visit the Project Notebooks Unit

Letters, Memos, E-mail

You might assume that as an engineer, you won't have to write business letters, memos or e-mail. This assumption is wrong! Any college instructor will tell you that these skills are necessary in industry. Every project you work on will demand that you communicate with other engineers and clients about your ideas and research. To read more, choose any of the items below item below. Use your browser's "Back" button to return to this unit.

View Writing Business Letters Unit
View Memos Unit
View Electronic Mail Unit

Proposals

Engineers write Proposals to present a topic to be researched or to suggest a plan of action. Typically, consulting engineers send Proposals to other companies in order to get work. The Proposal then works to convince its recipient that a particular engineer or firm is the right choice for the job. To read more about Proposals, choose the item below. Use your browser's "Back" button to return to this unit.

Visit the Engineering Proposals Unit

Narrative Writing

As an engineer, much of the writing you do is not specifically essay or creative writing, such as the writing you might do for a composition or poetry class. However, Narrative Writing is useful for explaining concepts or depicting situations that might otherwise be difficult to understand.

Read More about Narrative Writing

Narrative Writing

Narrative Writing involves telling a story. Typically, this writing is not accepted in the technical writing found in most engineering publications and in industry. Readers, specifically other engineers, expect what they read to deliver information in a straightforward way without comparisons or anecdotes. However, Narrative Writing can help readers visualize a concept or design in specific situations. To read about how engineers use Narrative Writing, choose any of the items below:

• Perspective: Narrative Writing in Publications
• Perspective: Explaining a Concept
• Perspective: Writing Style
• Perspective: Creativity in Engineering Writing

Narrative Writing in Publications

Neil Grigg, Civil Engineering Professor

Narrative writing is acceptable in some publications, but most technical people don’t want to read anything like that. They demand cut and dry writing. I’ve noticed more creative writing in publications recently; however, it takes a lot of confidence to write that way. You don’t want to risk loosing your readers’ attention because of your creativity.

Explaining a Concept

Neil Grigg, Civil Engineering Professor

I worked with a group to write software for state government supply. At a meeting, we were setting up protocols, that is, who would own the software, who would modify it, control it, distribute it. I told everyone that we needed to stop discussing these issues and look at the future to see how the software would be managed. To do this, I used a narrative story:

The year is 1999 and Judy is the software manager in Fort Collins. Jack works on the Western slope and needs to stay in contact with Judy. The two communicate via e-mail. They exchange files over e-mail, etc. This technology plays a major role in getting the job done.

From this story, everyone could visualize how this situation would work because the e-mail trend was apparent to everyone. A narrative story helped in that situation.

Writing Style

Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

Engineering writing should be very clear. When you enter the industry, you're expected to write efficiently and not be as creative as you may have been while in school. Your boss won’t want you taking a lot of time to write something and your readers don’t want to read more than is necessary. Good writing is structured, concise, well-illustrated, and therefore relatively short. I get fed up with long paragraphs because they take longer to read.

Creativity in Engineering Writing

Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

Most engineering writing is rather dry. I usually count off for story telling, especially when students should be describing what they did and how they did it. If the material is straightforward and simple, it should be presented in a straightforward and simple way. Typically, it’s not professional nor appropriate to liven writing with stories. On the other hand, I’ve read some publications where analogies, anecdotes, and metaphors were used to depict a concept. One example was to show the limitations of technology. In the article, the writer compared a robot to an ant in a bath tub. Like the ant with its sensory limitations, the robot also has limitations. The conclusion was that a robot can’t operate in certain environments. It makes sense, though, that this type of writing is used with this subject matter. After all, in behavior based robotics, writers build comparisons between living creatures to show how we want robots to act. Usually a writer has to have a solid reputation in the field before readers will accept this type of writing.

Engineering Reports

Just about every engineering project requires engineers to produce numerous reports. Some situations require only one report while others demand several reports to communicate work progress. The number of reports written typically depends on the type of project and who funds the project. To read more about reports, choose from the items below:

Read More about Progress Reports
Visit Engineering Technical Reports Unit

Progress Reports

Engineers write Progress Reports to communicate the status of their work or when they reach a milestone. Typically, consulting engineers produce these reports; however, other engineers might write them as well. The main purpose of this document is to inform funding agencies, mangers, and co-workers of problems or changes regarding a project. Often, changes can affect schedules and even budgets.

A Progress Report can be as informal as a quick e-mail or as formal as a bound report. Its format generally includes information such as project background, the work completed, the work currently being completed, and the work to be completed. It also states any problems and presents suggested solutions either already implemented or to be implemented. The details in a Progress Report depend on who the audience is. For example, a client may be more concerned about the financial status whereas a supervisor may care more about when the work will be completed. An audience analysis is necessary to determine what details to include.

Operating Manuals

Mechanical engineers write Operating Manuals to depict step-by-step processes. Operating Manuals require a specific type of writing for a particular audience.

Read More about Operating Manuals

Operating Manuals

Mechanical engineers write Operating Manuals to provide general product information, as well as to communicate specific procedures. Writing Operating Manuals can be difficult because you must consider how much your readers know about a product or design. To read more about Operating Procedures, choose any of the items below:

• Purpose
• Audience
• Perspective: Operating Manuals

Purpose

The purpose of Operating Manuals is to inform users how to operate a product. These manuals typically include general information about a product, such as a description of its features. Operating Manuals also include steps for maintenance, as well as information about troubleshooting. For instance, a manual might remind users to press a certain button or check a fuse.

Audience

The typical audience for Operating Manuals is a product's users or customers. Depending on this audience's technical background, the language engineers use in manuals may or may not be technical.

Operating Manuals

Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

If you are designing and selling a product, you might have to write an Operating Manual. Your customers will need to know the product's features, maintenance information, and other general product descriptions. We've all read Operating Manuals at one time or another. Think about software manuals. Mechanical engineers write those, and may even write them for other engineers. For example, an engineer might write software that analyzes the stresses in a piping system and predicts the flow rate. Only an engineer can write the manual because it's very technical. It requires an understanding of how the software works.

Code Writing

As an engineer, it's likely that you'll read countless Codes and possibly write many Specifications. Depending on your position as a mechanical engineer, you may even be involved in creating codes for other engineers to use.

Read More about Specifications and Codes

Specifications and Codes

When engineers develop designs for their projects, they consider many issues. In particular, mechanical engineers follow a strict set of restrictions known as Codes. These Codes help them write the Specifications needed for a specific design. To read more about Specifications and Codes, choose any of the items below:

• Definitions of Specifications and Codes
• Audience
• Perspective: Codes
• Perspective: Types of Specifications
• Perspective: The Legal Aspects of Specifications
• Perspective: O & M

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  Definitions of Specifications and Codes

  Specifications are what engineers write after reviewing the Codes (ASTM--the American Society of Testing and Materials--writes many Codes) affecting their projects. Codes are regulatory sets of rules, so Specifications "specify" the work that will be completed in order to comply with particular Codes. Engineers must take Codes into account because these prescriptive rules assist them in meeting the minimum performance standards.

  For example, ASTM publishes Pressure Vessel Codes. Engineers who design oxygen tanks must refer to these Codes when they write Specifications. In their Specifications, they note what materials should be used to build a tank, how thick the welding has to be, and where valves should be placed. The Specifications are then implemented when a design moves into the production stage.

  

  Audience

  Typically, technicians read Specifications to help them maintain equipment. Since most technians don't have an engineering background, they don't understand technical engineering terminology. However, technicians are familiar with the equipment and tools necessary for maintenance.

  At the same time, when engineers write , they can't assume any background knowledge. That is, they don't assume a technician is familiar with the way equipment reacts, etc. Instead of writing "Carefully remove the end cap," an enginner needs to consider that the pressure behind the cap could explode if the cap isn't removed properly. Specifications must be very specific and detailed.

  

  Codes

  Tom Siller, Civil Engineering Professor

  Codes are very precise prescriptions; they're not very narrative at all and are usually presented in very small paragraphs. They also get very microscopic. For instance, a code might have several sub-codes within it, and so you'll see subheadings labeled as 1.1.2.

  Typically, you'll find Code books in an organization's reference library. As a student, you may or may not use a Code books in your classes, but they are available in t he campus bookstore.

  

  Types of Specifications

  Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

  As a mechanical engineer, you'll encounter many types of Specifications. One type is a maintenance spec. Engineers write these to illustrate how a system should be maintained. For example, technicians maintain turbine power generation facilities by lubricating parts, tightening bolts, applying paint, and replacing rubber fittings. Specifications tell them how to do this. Another type of Specification is a materials spec. Here, an engineer lists a material's properties and how they should be used. These might include temperature variations or corrosive environments. Other types of Specifications include operation specs and design specs. Engineers write Specifications for various stages in a product's design. Although Specifications can be boring to read, they must account for every detail affecting the product.

  

  The Legal Aspects of Specifications

  Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

  Specifications can become legal documents. For instance, another company might use your Specifications to build a product you've designed. They will follow your Specifications exactly. If you aren't satisfied with the final product, you can blame either yourself for not providing enough detail in the specs, or the company for not understanding the specs. Regardless, the final product is a direct result of what you presented in the Specifications.

  

  O & M

  Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

  Often, engineers combine operation specs and maintenance specs. These are called "O & M." That's something every engineer should know.

  

  Communication Conventions

  The engineering field has many established writing conventions. These conventions affect how you organize your thoughts and how you phrase your research and ideas. In this section we discuss the following:

  • Headings
  • Lists
  • Graphics
  • Passive Voice
  • Terseness
  • Pronouns
  • Group Writing
  

  Communication Conventions

  Most of the conventions you'll read about here represent what's generally expected when you communicate as an engineer. However, you may need to use different conventions in different situations. For example, your instructor may require you to use first person pronouns in a Technical Report, while the same report submitted to a publication may require the passive voice. Always check to know what's acceptable and what's not. To read more, choose any of the items below:

  Headings & Subheadings	Group Writing
  Lists	Perspective: Writing Style
  Graphics	Perspective: Engineering Writing
  Active & Passive Voice	Perspective: Writing in Industry
  Terseness	Perspective: Terseness in Writing
  Pronouns	Perspective: Details in Engineering Writing

  

  Headings

  Headings and subheadings are good organizational techniques, and they also help readers locate information. For example, students writing a design report about a performing arts center used "Main Hall Acoustics" as a main heading and placed "Background, " "Materials," and "Design Considerations" as subheadings. This way, a reader interested in the necessary materials could quickly find this information without reading the whole report.

  Additionally, headings and subheadings break up your text. They provide readers with visual stopping points. These stopping points help keep your reader's attention focused on your content rather than on where they are in the text.

  

  Group Writing

  Engineers often compose documents as a group. This occurs in both industry and academia when engineers have to present large projects. Writing as a group means that you have to work well together in order to assign tasks and complete the work. To read more, choose the item below. Use your browser's "Back" button to return to the Communicating as an Engineer unit.

  Visit the Working in Groups Unit

  

  Lists

  Lists are effective ways to present information. Not only do they break down large amounts of text, but they're also visually pleasing. Lists are especially useful when you have to convey steps, phases, years, procedures, or decisions. When creating a list, consider writing phrases, fragments or even questions and answers. By avoiding full sentences in a list, your information is concise and more likely to engage your readers. For example, to receive a degree in engineering, you must complete the following:

  • Core Courses
  • Elective Courses
  • Senior Design

  Lists can be bulleted, as in the previous example, or numbered. Typically, you should use a numbered list when you need to stress the order of the listed items. Priorities and steps are best presented as numbered lists.

  

  Writing Style

  Derek, Lile, Electrical Engineering Professor

  Engineering writing has a specific style. Open any publication and you'll see that style: never use personal pronouns, use the passive voice, etc. It's very impersonal. This is the accepted style, and I honestly don't know the history of it. In a technical paper we can't write, "I bought a bunson burner, I did this with it, and I made these measurements." This type of writing would get thrown out by any journal.

  

  Graphics

  Graphics provide illustrated information to readers. In general, graphics are designed to make it easier for readers to understand your data. Deciding when to insert a graphic depends on the information you need to convey. For example, as you're writing a technical report, you find yourself struggling to describe a complex concept. Fitting your description within a few paragraphs is impossible, so you decide to create a graphic. Often, graphics are useful when concepts, designs, or processes are too complex or cumbersome to describe in written or oral form.

  Read a Unit about Photographs and Drawings
  Read a Unit about Tables
  Read a Unit about Graphs and Charts

  

  Engineering Writing

  Carmen Menoni, Electrical Engineering Professor

  Our approach to writing is similar to the way we, as engineers, work. Because writing is a process by which you start with something and you improve it by shaping it into a particular form. This is exactly what we do with an experiment. We start with a problem, devise a way to solve the problem, and then consider the outcome. Engineers do this type of analytical thinking.

  

  Passive Voice

  In the past, many engineers stressed that the passive voice should be used in writing. However, this trend is changing. Some instructors, publications and industries now accept the active voice in written documents. To differentiate between the two, consider the following:

  1. I used the electric identifier to solve the problem.
  2. The electric identifier was used to solve the problem.
  The first sentence is in active voice. It stresses who completed the work, "I." The second sentence is in the passive voice. It stresses the work completed, "The electric identifier was used." Typically, if you use a first person pronoun (I, we) you are writing in active voice. Always be sure you know which voice you should use in your writing.
  

  Writing in Industry

  Tom Siller, Civil Engineering Professor

  Writing is more factual in industry and more team writing gets done. Because writers must convey a corporate image, individual ownership over the work is not as common.

  For example, I worked on a group report with government contractors. The contractors just didn’t like what we wrote. We thought we presented factual information, and the contractors disliked it because it didn’t say what they wanted to hear. They didn’t read it for discovery; they read it for confirmation of their ideas. Here, the client determined the goals. After we were criticized, the company’s president defended us. We weren’t there because of the corporate ownership.

  

  Terseness

  Many engineers stress that writing should be terse. Lengthy sentences and long paragraphs are signs that your writing is not terse. The reason why terseness is necessary to good engineering writing is because it helps your readers understand information quicker. For example, you can write five paragraphs about the procedures you followed during a lab, or you can summarize the key points in a paragraph or two.

  What's important to remember about terseness is that you shouldn't give up any detail. In other words, don't delete large portions of text because you think you've been too wordy. Remember that good writing is descriptive, but it also gets to the point as quickly as possible. The information you present should always be relevant to your topic, as well as to your audience.

  

  Terseness in Writing

  Patrick Fitzhorn, Mechanical Engineering Professor

  When I grade technical papers from students, the most common comment I write is "Why?" In order to be as terse as possible, many students make statements without providing back-up, support, or reasons to believe that’s the case. As much as terseness in writing is desired in engineering, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to justify what you write. You still have to explain how you arrived at decisions, etc.

  

  Pronouns

  Like active voice, pronouns were once unacceptable in engineering writing. According to some engineers, using pronouns made writing more "personable" and less "scientific." However, this trend is changing. Some instructors, publications and industries now accept pronouns in written documents. For example, "We tested each sample," as opposed to 'The sample was tested." Before you begin writing, always determine whether or not it's acceptable to use pronouns.

  

  Details in Engineering Writing

  Ken Reardon, BioChemical Engineering Professor

  Calculations, graphics and other engineering information are important details in writing, but you have to know how and when to use them. A good engineer must know how to integrate these details into the bigger picture to answer "why" questions with them. For instance, calculations can be used to make decisions or convince other people of your ideas. They support what you have to say.

  

  Advice from Engineers

  Engineers who've been in the field for years have learned that presenting information requires writers and speakers to consider specific issues. These issues can help you effectively present your ideas and research. In this section, we discuss the following:

  • Present Information Logically
  • Format Your Documents
  • Know Your Purpose and Audience
  

  Advice from Engineers

  The advice you'll read here comes from engineering instructors who have been reading student writing for years. As a result, these engineers have found that students need to understand how to effectively present information, how to format documents, and how to incorporate purpose and audience into writing. Following this advice can help you prepare organized, logical documents. To read more, choose any of the items below:

  Present Information Logically	Perspective: Writing Style
  Format Your Documents	Perspective: Creativity in Engineering Writing
  Know Your Purpose and Audience	Perspective: Logical Flow
  Perspective: Structured Writing

  

  Present Information Logically

  Many engineering professors note that much of the writing they read from students often doesn't have a "logical flow." By this, they mean that the writing doesn't present ideas in an order that makes sense. Consider, for example, that you are writing the procedures to a lab you conducted. Obviously, you should relate the steps you followed in the order you completed them. This way, your readers can visualize how you completed the tasks. You should also make sure that your entire document or presentation presents information logically. For instance, don't include conclusions or results in either the procedure section or the introduction.

  

  Writing Style

  Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

  Engineering writing should be very clear. When you enter the industry, you're expected to write efficiently and not be as creative as you may have been while in school. Your boss won’t want you taking a lot of time to write something and your readers don’t want to read more than is necessary. Good writing is structured, concise, well-illustrated, and therefore relatively short. I get fed up with long paragraphs because they take longer to read.

  

  Format Your Documents

  Another common mistake many engineering instructors identify in student writing is that writers give little or no consideration to formatting. Whenever you produce a document, you should always consider how you've organized your thoughts and how you can make this known to the reader. For example, if you're writing a report, you should use headings and subheadings to alert your readers of the various sections your report presents. Then, bolding or somehow highlighting (with various font sizes, etc.) these headings can make them stand out to your readers. Also, consider how your document appears. In other words, you should use a consistent style (according to the style guidelines in your discipline). This includes margin sizes, line spacing, and even the title page you attach to the front of your document. The final draft your instructor collects should look good enough to send to a publication or a conference.

  

  Creativity in Engineering Writing

  Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

  Most engineering writing is rather dry. I usually count off for story telling, especially when students should be describing what they did and how they did it. If the material is straightforward and simple, it should be presented in a straightforward and simple way. Typically, it’s not professional nor appropriate to liven writing with stories. On the other hand, I’ve read some publications where analogies, anecdotes, and metaphors were used to depict a concept. One example was to show the limitations of technology. In the article, the writer compared a robot to an ant in a bath tub. Like the ant with its sensory limitations, the robot also has limitations. The conclusion was that a robot can’t operate in certain environments. It makes sense, though, that this type of writing is used with this subject matter. After all, in behavior based robotics, writers build comparisons between living creatures to show how we want robots to act. Usually a writer has to have a solid reputation in the field before readers will accept this type of writing.

  

  Know Your Purpose and Audience

  Many student writers don't consider why they're writing and who will read what they write, according to several engineering instructors. These are important aspects to consider even before you begin researching a topic. For example, by determining who your audience is and what your purpose is, you can then gather specific information instead of including everything that you might find on a particular topic. This way, you don't have to worry about presenting information that may bore or confuse a particular audience. To read more, choose either of the items below. Use your browser's "Back" button to return to the Communicating as a Civil Engineer unit.

  Visit the Purpose Unit
  Visit the Audience Unit

  

  Logical Flow

  Derek Lile, Electrical Engineering Professor

  Technical writing has a logical order to it, an accepted flow. It can be varied, but you better have a good reason to do so. Within sections, you should also have a logical flow. I've seen writing where the information is in the wrong section. For example, writers placing results in the conclusion section. I've also seen information placed in the wrong order. Instead of A leading to B, some writers jump directly to B.

  

  Structured Writing

  Carmen Menoni, Electrical Engineering Professor

  Engineering writing is very structured. We teach you to write this way because it's expected in industry. We all learn to write this way from reading published articles, our colleagues' work, and by writing ourselves.

  

  Perspectives on Communicating as an Engineer

  In this section, you'll read about what mechanical engineers think about communication.

  

  Perspectives on Communicating as an Engineer

  Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering

  • Writing Style
  • Creativity in Engineering Writing
  • Operating Manuals
  • Types of Specifications
  • The Legal Aspects of Specifications
  • O & M
  Patrick Fitzhorn, Mechanical Engineering
  • Terseness in Writing
  Neil Grigg, Civil Engineering
  • Narrative Writing in Publications
  • Explaining a Concept
  Derek Lile, Electrical Engineering
  • Being Hired as an Engineer
  • Logical Flow
  • Writing Style
  Carmen Menoni, Electrical Engineering
  • Engineering Writing
  • Structured Writing
  Ken Reardon, BioChemical Engineering
  • Details in Engineering Writing
  • Developing Your Writing
  Tom Siller, Civil Engineering
  • Technical Presentations
  • Writing in Industry
  • Codes
  

  Writing Style

  Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

  Engineering writing should be very clear. When you enter the industry, you're expected to write efficiently and not be as creative as you may have been while in school. Your boss won’t want you taking a lot of time to write something and your readers don’t want to read more than is necessary. Good writing is structured, concise, well-illustrated, and therefore relatively short. I get fed up with long paragraphs because they take longer to read.

  

  Creativity in Engineering Writing

  Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

  Most engineering writing is rather dry. I usually count off for story telling, especially when students should be describing what they did and how they did it. If the material is straightforward and simple, it should be presented in a straightforward and simple way. Typically, it’s not professional nor appropriate to liven writing with stories. On the other hand, I’ve read some publications where analogies, anecdotes, and metaphors were used to depict a concept. One example was to show the limitations of technology. In the article, the writer compared a robot to an ant in a bath tub. Like the ant with its sensory limitations, the robot also has limitations. The conclusion was that a robot can’t operate in certain environments. It makes sense, though, that this type of writing is used with this subject matter. After all, in behavior based robotics, writers build comparisons between living creatures to show how we want robots to act. Usually a writer has to have a solid reputation in the field before readers will accept this type of writing.

  

  Operating Manuals

  Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

  If you are designing and selling a product, you might have to write an Operating Manual. Your customers will need to know the product's features, maintenance information, and other general product descriptions. We've all read Operating Manuals at one time or another. Think about software manuals. Mechanical engineers write those, and may even write them for other engineers. For example, an engineer might write software that analyzes the stresses in a piping system and predicts the flow rate. Only an engineer can write the manual because it's very technical. It requires an understanding of how the software works.

  

  Types of Specifications

  Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

  As a mechanical engineer, you'll encounter many types of Specifications. One type is a maintenance spec. Engineers write these to illustrate how a system should be maintained. For example, technicians maintain turbine power generation facilities by lubricating parts, tightening bolts, applying paint, and replacing rubber fittings. Specifications tell them how to do this. Another type of Specification is a materials spec. Here, an engineer lists a material's properties and how they should be used. These might include temperature variations or corrosive environments. Other types of Specifications include operation specs and design specs. Engineers write Specifications for various stages in a product's design. Although Specifications can be boring to read, they must account for every detail affecting the product.

  

  The Legal Aspects of Specifications

  Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

  Specifications can become legal documents. For instance, another company might use your Specifications to build a product you've designed. They will follow your Specifications exactly. If you aren't satisfied with the final product, you can blame either yourself for not providing enough detail in the specs, or the company for not understanding the specs. Regardless, the final product is a direct result of what you presented in the Specifications.

  

  O & M

  Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

  Often, engineers combine operation specs and maintenance specs. These are called "O & M." That's something every engineer should know.

  

  Terseness in Writing

  Patrick Fitzhorn, Mechanical Engineering Professor

  When I grade technical papers from students, the most common comment I write is "Why?" In order to be as terse as possible, many students make statements without providing back-up, support, or reasons to believe that’s the case. As much as terseness in writing is desired in engineering, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to justify what you write. You still have to explain how you arrived at decisions, etc.

  

  Narrative Writing in Publications

  Neil Grigg, Civil Engineering Professor

  Narrative writing is acceptable in some publications, but most technical people don’t want to read anything like that. They demand cut and dry writing. I’ve noticed more creative writing in publications recently; however, it takes a lot of confidence to write that way. You don’t want to risk loosing your readers’ attention because of your creativity.

  

  Explaining a Concept

  Neil Grigg, Civil Engineering Professor

  I worked with a group to write software for state government supply. At a meeting, we were setting up protocols, that is, who would own the software, who would modify it, control it, distribute it. I told everyone that we needed to stop discussing these issues and look at the future to see how the software would be managed. To do this, I used a narrative story:

  The year is 1999 and Judy is the software manager in Fort Collins. Jack works on the Western slope and needs to stay in contact with Judy. The two communicate via e-mail. They exchange files over e-mail, etc. This technology plays a major role in getting the job done.

  From this story, everyone could visualize how this situation would work because the e-mail trend was apparent to everyone. A narrative story helped in that situation.

  

  Being Hired as An Engineer

  Derek Lile, Electrical Engineering Professor

  When hiring, job recruiters look for someone with a reasonable reputation. They assume you already have technical abilities. What they look for are strong writing skills, good presentation skills, team skills, and leadership skills.

  

  Logical Flow

  Derek Lile, Electrical Engineering Professor

  Technical writing has a logical order to it, an accepted flow. It can be varied, but you better have a good reason to do so. Within sections, you should also have a logical flow. I've seen writing where the information is in the wrong section. For example, writers placing results in the conclusion section. I've also seen information placed in the wrong order. Instead of A leading to B, some writers jump directly to B.

  

  Writing Style

  Derek, Lile, Electrical Engineering Professor

  Engineering writing has a specific style. Open any publication and you'll see that style: never use personal pronouns, use the passive voice, etc. It's very impersonal. This is the accepted style, and I honestly don't know the history of it. In a technical paper we can't write, "I bought a bunson burner, I did this with it, and I made these measurements." This type of writing would get thrown out by any journal.

  

  Engineering Writing

  Carmen Menoni, Electrical Engineering Professor

  Our approach to writing is similar to the way we, as engineers, work. Because writing is a process by which you start with something and you improve it by shaping it into a particular form. This is exactly what we do with an experiment. We start with a problem, devise a way to solve the problem, and then consider the outcome. Engineers do this type of analytical thinking.

  

  Structured Writing

  Carmen Menoni, Electrical Engineering Professor

  Engineering writing is very structured. We teach you to write this way because it's expected in industry. We all learn to write this way from reading published articles, our colleagues' work, and by writing ourselves.

  

  Details in Engineering Writing

  Ken Reardon, BioChemical Engineering Professor

  Calculations, graphics and other engineering information are important details in writing, but you have to know how and when to use them. A good engineer must know how to integrate these details into the bigger picture to answer "why" questions with them. For instance, calculations can be used to make decisions or convince other people of your ideas. They support what you have to say.

  

  Developing Your Writing

  Ken Reardon, BioChemical Engineering Professor

  Some writers think that because they're writing as an engineer, they can use numbers and symbols instead of words. Not true. In these cases, the writing is almost always too terse. These writers need to learn the differences between what constitutes terse and what's enough explanation. I personally like writers to think outside the lines. Tell me what would happen in different cases and why.

  However, it's important to come to the point and not write excess information. Most engineers discuss and hypothesize more than a scientist ever would. I don't want someone to say, "The answer is this." I look for the reasons why it is a certain way. As a writer, you should be efficient with your words; be terse, but don't leave out information. As an engineer, you look at problems and see multiple solutions. You then determine what solution is most effective. I want to know why.

  

  Technical Presentations

  Tom Siller, Civil Engineering Professor

  At technical presentations you have to present enough information in short amounts of time. People expect you to talk about something solid, but you have very little time to do this. You can’t introduce the topic or conclude as well as you would like, so you present the heart of the point very quickly. It’s challenging. You have to be concise.

  

  Writing in Industry

  Tom Siller, Civil Engineering Professor

  Writing is more factual in industry and more team writing gets done. Because writers must convey a corporate image, individual ownership over the work is not as common.

  For example, I worked on a group report with government contractors. The contractors just didn’t like what we wrote. We thought we presented factual information, and the contractors disliked it because it didn’t say what they wanted to hear. They didn’t read it for discovery; they read it for confirmation of their ideas. Here, the client determined the goals. After we were criticized, the company’s president defended us. We weren’t there because of the corporate ownership.

  

  Codes

  Tom Siller, Civil Engineering Professor

  Codes are very precise prescriptions; they're not very narrative at all and are usually presented in very small paragraphs. They also get very microscopic. For instance, a code might have several sub-codes within it, and so you'll see subheadings labeled as 1.1.2.

  Typically, you'll find Code books in an organization's reference library. As a student, you may or may not use a Code books in your classes, but they are available in t he campus bookstore.

  

  Additional Resources

  Other writing guides are available to help you write as an engineer. Choose any of the following for more information:

  Purpose
  Audience	Electronic Mail
  Civil Engineering Citation Guide	Poster Sessions
  Abstracts	Informative Speaking
  Executive Summaries	Project Notebooks
  Working in Groups	Engineering Proposals
  Engineering Technical Reports	Civil Engineering Lab Reports