2. Engineering Communications
- Good communications within engineering
organizations is essential
- Engineering is a group activity
- Most engineering companies have 100 - 1’000 +
engineers
- Technical Information is usually very large and
complex
- Information must be distributed to many engineers,
managers and vendors
- Information must be very clear, precise and
distributed rapidly to avoid mistakes
3. COMMUNICATIONS RESOURCES
- Successful engineers always have good
communication skills
- Good communication skills require much effort and
preparation
- Language skills are very important: Brief, Clear,
Wording, Spelling, Style
- Graphics communications such as drawings: Primary
importance
4. - Written communications: Very important, from
short notes to long reports
- Oral / Graphic presentations: Very important,
mostly for summary reports
- Oral presentations: Important, specially for
managers and executives, …
- Dictionary, Thesaurus, Reading
- Libraries
- Courses and Books on writing style
5. - Technical dictionaries: Word and Subject
- Technical encyclopedias: General information on
technology
- Engineering Handbooks: Specialized in each field
- Technology Indexes: Monthly reports on new
technology
- Technical publications: Specialized Papers and
Abstracts for engineering knowledge
6. ENGINEER as a WRITER
• Memos, Letters: Few lines to few pages to
colleagues, managers , vendors
• Technical Reports: Summary or Detail, one to many
pages
• Specifications: Few lines to several pages
• Journal or Magazine Articles: One to several pages,
state of the art information
7. GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE
WRITING
1 - Plan and organize your thoughts before
writing
2 - Prepare an outline
3 - Avoid boring structure
4 - Be clear and as brief as possible
5 - Adapt your style to your audience
8. 6 - Avoid slang or fad words
7 - Avoid redundancies
8 - Avoid euphemisms
9 - Avoid spelling errors and poor grammar
9. 1 - Plan and organize your thoughts before
writing
• Think about the content and style of your
memo, article, report or book
• Think about and start gathering all the
sources of information you think you may
need
• Think about other good writings you or others
may have written
• Think about other potential contributors to
your writing
10. 2 - Prepare an outline
• List major topics
• Think about and list sequence of topics
• List sub-topics for each major topic
• List ideas to help make the writing interesting
• List other potential contributors in this
writing
• List References for each major topic
• Use different colors and fonts as needed for
clarity and attractive display
11. 3 - Avoid boring structure
• One paragraph for each theme or sub-topic
• Paragraphs introduced by topic sentence.
• Sections or sub-sections for related topics or
sub-topics
• Chapters for major topics
• Headings or titles for Chapters, Sections and
sub-Sections
• Use Tables or Charts for clarity of complex
data or information
12. 4 - Be Clear and as Brief as possible
• Use short words instead of long words
• “Near” instead of “in close proximity”
• “Scarce” instead of “in short supply”
• “Now” instead of “at this point in time” , …
• Use short sentences instead of long
sentences
13. 5 - Adapt your style to your audience
• Consider the level of understanding /
knowledge of your audience / readers
• Consider the level of interest of your
audience / readers
• Consider the socio-economic level
• Consider the age
14. 6 - Avoid slang or fad words or expressions for
technical writing
• Wards such as : “O.K.” , “terrific”,
“tremendous” are not suitable for technical
writing.
• Fad words like: “Finalize” , “the bottom line” ,
should be avoided.
15. 7 - Avoid redundancies
• Use “components” or “parts”, not
“component parts”
• Use “consensus”, not “consensus of opinion”
• Use “Unique”, not “most unique”
• Use “Surrounded” , not “surrounded on all
sides”
17. 9 - Avoid spelling errors and poor grammar
• Spelling mistakes are signs of carelessness or
inadequate education
• There is a statistical relation between
successful professionals and good spelling
18. TYPES OF ENGINEERING WRITING
Engineers write a lot . They spend ~ 25% of
their time writing.
1 - Logs and Notebooks
2 - Memoranda (memos) and Business Letters
3 - E-mail
4 - Technical Reports
5 - Journal Papers
6 - Specifications
19. 1 - Logs and Notebooks:
Essential for most engineers
• Informal notebook for recording information
• Record daily work to do, work done, meeting
date and time, …
• Meeting summery notes and records of
conversations with colleagues.
• Test result summaries
• Vendor or customer contact info
• Vendor phone call info or discussion
• Reminder messages
20. 2 - Memorandum (memo) and Business Letters
• Memo: Main inter-company communication
• Short message, usually single subject
• Usually sent to one or a few people
• Now usually sent by internal email
• May be asking a question, sending a reply,
confirming a meeting time, requesting
information, …
• Usually includes: Date, From, To, cc, Subject
21. EXAMPLE MEMO
• MEMORANDUM
• Date: Jan 2, 2010
• From: Muhamoud Ali, General Manager
• To: Mohamad Hassan, Mahmoud Ibrahim
• Cc: Actuator Design Team
• Subject: Investigate the problems with production
Line #2
• Please attend this meeting on 20/2/2010 at 11:00
am, or send a representative.
• Meeting room: M112
22. Business Letters
• Usually standard format for the company or
organization
• Style and tone should be Clear, Concise,
Complete & Courteous
3 - E-mail
• E-mails shall be concise , show a subject line
• Shall be kept to one screen length
• Lengthy subject matter should be attached to
the e-mail
23.
24. 4 - Technical Reports
• Main components of technical reports:
• Title Page: Title, Company, Client, Authors,
Report no., Date, ..
• Abstract: Concise summary of content,
purpose & results
• Introduction: Describe subject, purpose,
scope and plan of development
• Methodology or Procedure: Detailed account
of steps to accomplish work performed
25. • Results: Describes outcome of the project or
investigation work, normally including tables,
charts, statistics, …
• Summary and Conclusions: The useful
meanings derived from the report results,
upon which future decisions can be made
• Recommendations: Recommended course of
action based on the conclusions
• Acknowledgments: Recognize people &
organizations who have contributed
significantly to the report
26. • Bibliography/References: List of books and
other sources of information used
• Appendixes: Detail technical information such
as computer programs, tables, .
• Modes of Discourse
• Narration: Series of related events reported
in ordered sequence
• Description: Verbal representation of
something usually expressed in terms of size,
shape, color, texture or position
27. • Exposition: Explaining or clarifying some
matter or knowledge, such as in education
• Argumentation: For convincing the reader of
the probability that some proposition is
correct
5 - Journal Papers:
• Articles on state-of-the art engineering work
• Usually briefer than technical reports but
similar in content
28. 6 - Specifications:
Technical details to communicate to builders,
manufacturers and related organizations, to
provide complete information for fabrication
of the component or assembly. This includes
materials, dimensions, workmanship and all
other details defined with extreme care to
ensure completeness and accuracy, for proper
functioning of the component in the assembly
or product.
