Avoid redundancies. For example,

Avoid Use instead

component parts components or parts

consensus of opinion consensus

most unique unique

surrounded on all sides surrounded

8. Avoid euphemisms. Pompous and wordy euphemisms tend to clutter good writing and should not be used. Consider these examples:

previously owned vehicle used car communications resource center library

sanitation engineer garbage collector

9. Avoid spelling errors and poor grammar. If you have a weakness in spelling or grammar, seek to correct it by taking remedial courses. In the meantime, ask a friend to check your writing to spot and correct spelling and grammatical errors that would mar your work.

6.4 TYPES OF ENGINEERING WRITING

Richard M. Davis (7) conducted a survey of successful engineers and reported in 1977 that the respondents spent an average of 24 percent of their time writ-ing. Engineers perform a wide variety of writing, including entries in research notebooks and logs, office memoranda, business letters, technical reports and papers, and design specifications.

Logs and Notebooks Many engineers maintain an informal record of their work by routinely making entries in a diary, log, or notebook. Such writing usually consists of a day-to-day record of the engineer’s work, including results of laboratory experiments, notes of meetings, records of conversations with colleagues, and other pertinent matters. Records of this type, carefully made and maintained in a permanent form, provide a ready source of information for memoranda, letters, and technical reports.

Memoranda and Business Letters In most large companies and organiza-tions, internal correspondence is accomplished by memoranda. Memoranda usually are short and deal with a single subject. Although the format may vary among organizations, this form of communication typically includes the date, the addressee (TO), the writer (FROM), the topic (SUBJECT), and the message.

An example of a memorandum is shown in Figure 6.1.

6.4 TYPES OF ENGINEERING WRITING

149

External correspondence, that is, with persons not in the writer’s organiza-tion, is usually accomplished by business letters. Engineers use a standard for-mat for business letters, as exemplified by Figure 6.2. The style and tone of business letters should be clear, concise, complete, and courteous (8).

E-mail Most engineers now routinely communicate by means of e-mail. This means of communication is typically succinct. In general, it is advisable to attempt to keep the e-mail to one screen length. The e-mail should show an appropriate subject line, and lengthy subject matter should be attached to the e-mail rather than embedded in the document.

Technical Reports Of all of the forms of written communication employed by engineers, technical reports are the most commonly associated with engi-neering work. Such reports provide the engineer with a vehicle for communi-cating the results of his or her work to colleagues, clients, supervisors and other management personnel, and the general public.

The format of technical reports may vary depending on the type of report.

Progress reports, proposals, and empirical research reports have organizational similarities, but each type of technical writing has a distinguishing format. For a given class of report, the format is fairly standard. Table 6.4 lists some of the components of technical reports. Typically, these parts are not written in the order listed.

The title page gives the title of the report, identifies its writer or writers, their company or organization, and the publication date. It may contain addi-tional information such as report number, name and address of sponsoring organization, a distribution list, and restrictions on the report’s reproduction and use.

The abstract is a concise summary of the content and purpose of the main report. Its purpose is to provide enough information to allow the reader to decide whether or not to obtain and read the complete report. A descriptive abstract describes what the full report contains but does not give the findings of the report. An informative abstract briefly describes study methodology and states major conclusions and recommendations. Many clients, including many November 5, 2001 MEMORANDUM

TO: Division Engineers

FROM: Jane Gorman, Director of Engineering

SUBJ: Establishment of a Computer Security Committee

A meeting has been scheduled for 11:00 A.M., November 15, 2001, in Conference Room A to discuss the establishment of a Computer Security Committee. The purpose of the committee would be to safeguard and protect departmental data, solutions, and correspondence.

Please attend this meeting or send a representative.

Figure 6.1 Example of a memorandum.

federal agencies, require an executive summary, which briefly summarizes the results and recommendations of the report.

6.4 TYPES OF ENGINEERING WRITING

151

BROWNLOW AND ASSOCIATES Engineers and Planners 1000 Memorial Building

Columbus, Ohio 43232

June 30, 2001 Mr. Jerome Salter, P. E.

Planning Engineer

Ohio Department of Transportation Columbus, Ohio 43215

Dear Mr. Salter:

I submit the accompanying report titled “Noise Impacts of the Cross-County Freeway”

as the final report for Contract E20-400.

The report discusses the levels of noise likely to be experienced in one-half-mile borders along each side of the 15-mile Cross-County Freeway and evaluates the expected impacts of noise on residential, commercial, and industrial land uses within the study areas.

Thank you for the opportunity to perform this work. Please do not hesitate to contact me if there are questions or if I can be of further service.

Very truly yours, Jorge Perez, P.E.

Project Engineer Figure 6.2 Example of a business letter.

TABLE 6.4 Components of a Technical Report Title Page

Abstract or Executive Summary Introduction

Methodology or Procedure Results

Conclusions Recommendations Acknowledgments

Bibliography or List of References Appendixes

The introduction sets forth the subject, purpose, and scope of the report and its plan of development. It may also contain theoretical or historical back-ground material based on a search of the technical literature.

The methodology or procedure section gives a detailed account of the steps taken to accomplish the work described in the study or investigation. In reports of experimental investigations, the equipment that was used is normally de-scribed in this section.

The results section describes the outcome of the project or investigation.

This section of the report normally contains figures and tables, as well as a description and interpretation of the results or findings.

The conclusions “are the inferences drawn from the factual evidence of the report” (8). In technical reports dealing with complex or controversial matters, many writers precede their conclusions with a summary of the facts and title that section of the report summary and conclusions.

The recommendations section states a recommended course of action based upon the conclusions. The recommendations are stated simply, often in the form of a list, and need not contain supporting argument.

The acknowledgments section recognizes those people and organizations who have made significant contributions to the project.

The bibliography lists the books, journal articles, and other references used in the preparation of the report. In technical reports, a list of cited works is usu-ally headed References. Many different bibliographic formats are used in tech-nical reports. Figure 6.3 illustrates two such formats. In the body of the report, reference sources may be cited parenthetically by name or number or by super-script, for example:

Research performed at the University of Texas (Carter, 2001).

Research performed at the University of Texas (1).

Research performed at the University of Texas (¹).

Some organizations prefer to list the bibliographic sources as footnotes rather than in a separate list at the end of the main body of the report.

Detailed technical material such as computer programs, tables of data, and the like are usually placed in one or more appendixes at the end of the report.

The writer of a technical report usually employs four modes of discourse (8):

1. Narration, in which a series of events are related in an ordered and