Engineering Writing by Design

Engineers are smart people. Their work is important, which is why engineering material should be written as deliberately and carefully as it will be read.

Engineering Writing by Design: Creating Formal Documents of Lasting Value demonstrates how effective writing can be achieved through engineering-based thinking. Based on the authors’ combined experience as engineering educators, the book presents a novel approach to technical writing, positioning formal writing tasks as engineering design problems with requirements, constraints, protocols, standards, and customers (readers) to satisfy. Specially crafted for busy engineers and engineering students, this quick-reading, conversational text:

• Describes how to avoid logical fallacies and use physical reasoning to catch mistakes in claims
• Covers the essentials of technical grammar and style as well as the elements of mathematical exposition
• Emphasizes the centrality of the target audience, and thus the need for clear and concise prose

Engineering Writing by Design: Creating Formal Documents of Lasting Value addresses the specific combination of thinking and writing skills needed to succeed in modern engineering. Its mantra is: to write like an engineer, you must think like an engineer. Featuring illustrative examples, chapter summaries and exercises, quick-reference tables, and recommendations for further reading, this book is packed with valuable tips and information practicing and aspiring engineers need to become effective writers.

Edward J. Rothwell received his BS from Michigan Technological University, Houghton, USA; MS and EE from Stanford University, California, USA; and Ph.D from Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA; all in electrical engineering. He has been a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan State University since 1985, and currently holds the rank of professor. Beforehand, he worked for Raytheon Co., Waltham, Massachusetts, USA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, USA. Dr. Rothwell previously coauthored a book on electromagnetics and has published numerous journal articles on related subjects. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, and URSI Commission B, and is an IEEE fellow.

Michael J. Cloud received his BS, MS, and Ph.D in electrical engineering from Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA. Since 1987, he has been a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, Michigan, USA. He currently holds the rank of associate professor. Dr. Cloud has coauthored 11 other books, primarily in the field of engineering mathematics. He is a senior member of the IEEE.