Engineering writing by design : creating formal documents of lasting value

Description

"Preface In Walden, Henry Thoreau asserts that "Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written." Given the serious and highly technical nature of formal engineering writing, any reader of such writing would be wise to follow Thoreau's advice. The purpose of the present book, however, is to speak to the engineering writer. Our basic premise is that engineering material should be written as deliberately and carefully as it will be read. Engineers are smart people and their work is important. Their writing should not be inaccurate, vague, ambiguous, or otherwise opaque. To a great extent, modern engineering is an extension of science and mathematics and is therefore amenable to clear and logical exposition. Some aspects of engineering remain more art than science, to be sure. We would argue, however, that in such cases it is especially important for engineers to write precisely, as readers will be in less of a position to close expository gaps through deductive reasoning. In other words, clear description is just as important in technical writing as clear argumentation. Technical subjects can make for difficult reading as it is. A reader should not have to go over a passage again and again, finally being forced to guess whether the writer was attempting to motivate a viewpoint, describe something that already exists, describe something that could conceivably exist, draw a conclusion from known facts, persuade, or something else. Yet, a writer who approaches the writing task carelessly, by simply accumulating a pile of words and equations, may produce just that sort of confusion"-- �Read more...