First Draft of Major Writing 1

Engineering W­riting Styles

Todd C Perrin

University of Iowa

Engineering Writing Styles

            The purpose of an engineer is to solve problems through a process. To be an engineer one must be able to handle all the complication that come up during that process, doing so requires an engineer to be knowledgeable in several different fields. One such field is writing. Effective communication through writing is crucial for engineers to produce and recreate results. Knowledge in the field of writing is the gateway into effective communication between fellow engineers. As an engineering major in my freshman year of college, I hope to become knowledgeable in the different types of writing styles present in an engineer’s daily life. I have read, analyzed, and compared 4 different engineering reports, 2 academic and 2 nonacademic, in order to acquire a better understanding in these types of writing styles. The different writing styles in engineering all include concise, sophisticated explanations of advanced topics, similar structure as to allow for ease of reading and referencing, and a clear conveyance of the purpose or bigger picture found in their studies.

Academic and Nonacademic Writing Styles in Engineering

              In the academic and nonacademic writings of engineers, common themes start to surface as one begins to study them. One such themes is how each paper is structure. The structure is crucial in academic engineering writing as it allows for the audience to understand the specific detail that the writer is trying to convey. These specific details are often the main results and real-world applications found in the experiments conducted by the author. Another theme present in each paper is brief concise language that helps deepen the understanding of the purpose of the article. Using brief concise language is critical in engineering academic writing so other engineers to reference them for their own experiments. Language is key in how the message of a passage is conveyed to the reader. This is holds true for engineer writing as the message and findings are how engineers communicate through academic writing. One final theme present in engineer writing is bias. Bias in engineering writing is difficult as it changes based on the topic of the report. If the purpose of the report is to be informative then the bias of the author should be kept minimal and only stated in the closing remarks of a report. However, if the purpose of the report is to be influential then the bias of the author must be present throughout. The bias of an author also depends on whether the writing is academic or not. All these themes present within the academic and nonacademic writings of engineers help to create well-written reports that further communications throughout the field.  

Structure

           Academic writing in engineering, no matter the specialty, remains the same as to allow for all manner of engineers to understand and reference any journal or article written by an engineer. The structure of academic writing of each paper includes an introduction followed by experimental data and processes used then concluded with the real-world application. In Davidson, May, Monahov’s (2018) review of lead batteries, the structure is laid out as a comparison of lead-acid to other batteries on a basis by basis format starting at the overview of the technologies present in both. The structure of this paper is helpful as it presents first baseline data on both objects under comparison without bias. This baseline data allows the article to be read by anyone with a basic concept of chemistry and mathematics rather than just those select few chemical engineers that focus on batteries. Overall the article is significantly longer than most other academic sources but that is due to the nature of a review. An academic review will be longer with more details and thorough explanations of all the information brought up.

Concise Language and Data

            Within the field of engineering the ability to convey your findings and expertise on a subject without it being hidden behind long and confusing reports is important. The purpose of an engineer is to solve problems but that problem solving can be extremely difficult if the information that an engineer needs is hidden behind a wall of useless symbolism and text. In order to streamline the information processed within a report, concise language is needed. A good example of this streamlined data is within Sakyi and Lu’s (2019) report on the model for replications of moveable robots. Within this report, Sakyi and Lu use language devices such as figures and data tables to help illustrate their point as well as paragraphs such as

“A robot is created with very similar mechanisms. A distinctive robot has a movable body, a mechanical device, a sensor, a power source and a CPU “brain” that regulates all of these components. Fundamentally, robots are artificial forms of bodily life - they are machineries that imitate human and animal behavior or conduct.”  (p. 1)

Which uses clear concise language that helps to introduce the topic of their reports as well as create their personal arguments and create an inner voice that will carry on through the remainder of the article. The language that Sakyi and Lu uses is simple yet inventive and creates an educated tone continues through the article. One such example on the nonacademic side of engineering writing comes in Wiley’s (2020) article on the journal in which the author explains the uses of certain chemicals in batteries such as “triethyl phosphate.…This substance is known as a flame retardant.” This explanation while seemingly mundane allows for a greater audience to be reached and cuts down on outside research that needs to be done. Had the article not explained what triethyl phosphate then it would have left the readers confused and taken the focus away from the main point of the article. The article doesn’t over explain either. Had the article explained the production or chemical formula of triethyl then the audience would have gotten information not directly related to the main point of the article. This use of clear concise language allows for a greater understand of the main point given by the authors of the article.

Bias

            Bias in the field of engineering is not as simple as other fields such as create writing or philosophy where the focus of the field is of bias. When dealing with informative writing such as most academic articles within the field of engineering, the use of bias is not common. Because the purpose of these articles is to be informative, authors try to without their bias of the topic in the article until the concluding remarks section of each academic journal. One such example is present within May, Davidson, Monahov (2018) review of lead batteries where the main content of the article is informative and only because bias in the concluding remarks section where the make statements such as

“Lead batteries have a long history of use in utility energy storage and their capabilities and limitations have been carefully researched. Their reliability is well established and they can be adapted for a wide range of duty cycles within this sector which will continue to ensure they provide a good solution that is competitive to other approaches” (p. 157)

This is the closing paragraph towards the whole review and in it the bias of the author comes out in which they endorse the use of lead-acid batteries. This bias is important as it is built upon the facts and sources brought up by the authors throughout the article. Had the bias been introduced within the first sections of the article, the credibility of the authors would have gone down and the audience would be less inclined to believe them but because the bias is introduced at the end of the article and had been slowly and suble built up by the facts presented, the audience is more likely to agree with them.

            Nonacademic engineering writing differs greatly from this, however. The focus of most nonacademic engineering writing is to persuade an audience as well as inform them upon a study that was done and reported on in an academic article. As such, nonacademic article will start out by trying to convince the audience as to why a certain study is important and how it will directly relate to the real world and common people. A good example of this is in the article written by Jo Napolitano (2020) about the DOE/Argonne National Laboratories research on the mystery of photosynthesis, in which the author writes that “scientists are now closer than ever to being able to design electron transfer systems in which they can send an electron down a pathway of their choosing.”. This quote does nothing to inform the public of the accurate result of the research but rather creates an exciting almost false sense of accomplishment without stating any fact at all. This bias in nonacademic writing is used to convince the audience to support and further fund the research done by the DOE.

Conclusion

            The different writing styles in engineering allow for the effective communication between the different fields of engineering as well as towards the general public. In order to achieve this effective communication, an article must contain an easy to understand structure, clear and concise language and a bias that helps to convey the bigger picture or general message that is present within each article. Effective communication is the key to being successful in the field of engineering.

Works Cited

Davidson, A., & May, G.J., & Monahov, B. (2017, November 15). Lead batteries for utility energy storage: A Review. Journal of Energy Storage. Retrieved February 10, 2020 from https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S2352152X17304437?token=EC52B8A17C540606B645EDA3AA67C035B3C706681E77025943615D9B62CD94E28830FFEB22A8AC188642DC04B3B33745

Napolitano, J. (2020, February 5). Scientists unravel mystery of photosynthesis. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 10, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200205132347.htm

Sakyi & Lu (2019, February 28). The Efficient and Tentative Model for Extenics Replications of the Moveable Robots. The Open Mechanical Engineering Journal. Retrieved February 10, 2020 from https://www.benthamopen.com/FULLTEXT/TOMEJ-13-1

Wiley. (2020, January 31). Safe potassium-ion batteries: Nonflammable electrolyte for high-performance potassium batteries. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 10, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200131114739.htm