A Guide to Writing as an Engineer - Softcover

Beer, David F.; McMurrey, David A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0470417013 ISBN 13: 9780470417010

Publisher: WILEY, 2009

Synopsis

This invaluable resource guides engineers through the technical writing issues that they must know in order to succeed in the field. The third edition includes numerous new examples integrated throughout the chapters that illustrate content, organization, and format of different types of documents. New material on the useful aspects of passive voice is added, such as when the actor is known/obvious and when emphasis needs to be on the recipient of the action. Discussions are included on plagiarism, ethics, and citing material properly. In order to accomplish this, the IEEE system of documenting sources is presented. Engineers will also benefit from the startup help for using PowerPoint or other software for their presentations as well as strategies for using such materials.

About this title

About the Author

DAVID BEER is professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas Austin.

DAVID McMURREY is a technical writer from industry, most recently with IBM.  This combination of academic and industry perspective gives this book its broad perspective covering all aspects of writing, from academic research to effective corporate communication.

From the Back Cover

What’s the signal-to-noise ratio in your communication?

To succeed as an engineer, you need more than technical know-how. You need to be an effective communicator. Eliminate the glitches that trip up the busy reader or listener, causing annoyance, confusion, or misunderstanding—so that your writing and speech are crystal clear.

Written for engineers and students of engineering, A Guide to Writing as an Engineer, Third Edition focuses on the technical writing and speaking issues you will face in your day-to-day work such as reports, business letters, office memoranda, proposals, emails, presentations, and more. You’ll learn how to:

• Eliminate the “noise”—grammatical errors, typos, poor organization, and unclear phrasing from your writing
• Create effective professional engineering documents, such as inspection and trip reports, laboratory reports, specifications, progress reports, proposals, instructions, and recommendation reports
• Communicate visually with PowerPoint and other graphic tools
• Stand out from the crowd with better application letters and resumes
• Deliver oral presentations and speeches with confidence
• Avoid plagiarism and other ethical pitfalls that engineering writers encounter

With updates on handling new media, from email and PDFs to wikis, forums, blogs, and social media, the Third Edition of A Guide to Writing as an Engineer will make your communication as impressive as your ideas.

Edition details

• Publisher: WILEY
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0470417013
• ISBN 13: 9780470417010
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 288