The Major Book: Engineering

By: Austin R. RoweWrit 1133

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Chapter 1: Review of Existing Literature

Chapter 2:Genre Investigation

Chapter 3:An Interview with Andy

Chapter 4:Proposing a Change

Conclusion

Reflection

Work Cited

Creative Commons License

IntroductionSince the beginning of my college experience, I knew that I

wanted to be an engineer. My family did not understand this as they all

had studied business. From the first class, I loved everything about it.

There was the hands on building, the designing, and especially the way

of thinking. Every aspect was perfect, until I reached the writing. Like

many others studying engineering, I had no idea how to write, so I

decided to take a closer look. On the surface there seemed to be

nothing wrong with the system, but as I begun take a closer look it was

evident that that was not the case.

Where were we going to begin? What was out there? Coming into

the major most of us were fairly uncertain of how to technically write.

We were given no more than a brief dissertation or handout on how to

achieve the product that professors so desired. Since not much was

given, it was determined that the best place to start was with an

investigation of existing literature. From this, we could then get a

better idea of what to expect past the hands on aspect. This approach

would also give a variety of opinions allowing us to draw conclusions

from there. The variety of sources then gave a starting point for the

rest of the chapters.

You could be reading this thinking come on, it's engineering, how

much writing can there be? However actually, there is a lot. In the

second chapter of this book, I will walk you through a few of the most

common genres in the major. Most of these genres you have

encountered before, but most likely in a different setting. Here I will

walk you through how to write in multiple genres, such as lab reports,

research papers, and memo reports. That sounds pretty useful, right?

Chances are you may have already been asked to write one of these.

From here we will endeavor into sources that are a little closer to

us as students. If you weren’t already convinced on why you should

keep reading then maybe this will help. In the next chapter, I will not

only give you my view but I will give you the perspective of a senior

engineering student as well. He adds a sense of experience to the

book, and will reassure you that it writing for engineering isn’t all bad.

Have you ever wanted to get involved? Have you ever wanted to

be apart of the change? Well, the last chapter will give you that

opportunity. No matter how nice it’d be for the system to be perfect

that is never the case. Here instead, of giving you all the positives here

I will break down some of the flaws. Once these problems are laid out

in front of you you’ll have a choice. Either sit back continue to be apart

of something average or stand up and join me by proposing a change.

What will you do?

Chapter 1

As a first year engineering student at the University of Denver, I

have been faced with the task of writing essays and papers my entire

academic career. However, this will be my first time writing a paper of

this genre. In engineering, along with any other college major, it is

crucial that you have the proper skills and guidelines in order to

successfully write. However, when it comes to writing in the field of

engineering the introduction, format, and having the appropriate aids

are curtail where it be for a research paper or a lab report.

Professionals agree that there are some guidelines that should be

followed in order to achieve the highest result possible.

In engineering there are two types of writing assignments that

are commonly assigned. The first is a typical research paper or article,

much like this one that I am writing to you. The other is a common lab

report. Engineering research papers are similar to your typical

research paper for the ordinary English class, however they do require

you to slightly change your process. Many well established groups

believe that when it comes to technical writing, the key aspects to get

down are the introduction, sometimes referred to as the abstract, and

the methods and results.

Starting off is always the hardest part, especially when it comes

to writing. This is where you’re trying to gather your thoughts and

organize what you are going to say. And no matter what you are doing

you always want to start off on the right foot. When it comes to writing

what’s the first thing you write? The introduction always comes first.

This can also be referred to as the abstract statement. This will come

before almost everything else in the research paper or lab write up. It

is the first thing that the reader will see. Many professionals at Kansas

State University, believe that:

“The introduction also has three main purposes. First, it provides

background and motivation for your topic (usually includes a

review of current literature on the topic). Second, it describes the

focus and purpose of the paper you are writing. Third, it gives an

overview of what is contained in the paper's various sections.

(Kansas State University)”

The goal with this section is to identify the topic to the reader. Really,

bringing to light why they should care about the rest of the paper.

The start of a scientific paper is exceptionally important.

Scientific writing is “the heart of the science community; they're one of

the major ways scientists communicate their results and ideas to one

another” (sciencebuddies.org). Therefore, if the purpose of the paper

is to distribute and share your findings with other academics in the

field then it is vital to catch their interest from the beginning. “Reading

the introduction is a test of whether or not you are ready to read the

rest of the paper; if the introduction doesn't make sense to you, then

the rest of the paper won't either” (sciencebuddie.org). If the point is

clear it will create a fresh perspective for all that is to come throughout

the paper and thus, instilling your findings even further. Almost every

person involved in with academic writing of any kind will tell you that

the introduction is one of the most important pieces of the composition

and should give an overview of what is to come; this is no different in

the case of writing for engineering.

Throughout my time as an engineering major I can say with the

utmost certainty that format is just as important as a quality

introduction. If the format is off or in a confusing order then things will

be difficult to interoperate. This will cause you’re information to get

lost in the mix of everything. You may be sitting there thinking to

yourself, I won’t need to do a lab report, I can present all my facts in

everyday writings and research papers however, this is not the case.

“Laboratory reports are written for several reasons. One reason

is to communicate the laboratory work to management. In such

situations, management often bases company decisions on the

results of the report. Another reason to write laboratory reports

is to archive the work so that the work will not have to be done in

the future” (Alley).

Unlike a standard research paper, depending on how much content the

lab write up is supposed to cover the format can get a little tricky. A

scientific report usually consists of the following:

1. Title2. Abstract3. Introduction

4. Materials and methods5. Results6. Discussion/Conclusion7.Literature cited

You can now probably see how making sure these sections are in the

right order is important. Much like the lab reports the format for

research papers will be much of the same.

Along with a quality introduction and format, researchers have

also a set of helpful tips that will help you strive when writing for

engineering.

“Never make an assertion of which you are not 100% sure—do

not open the door for a negative review or the eventual rejection

of your article. As a rule, it is better to be conservative. Most of

the experts reading your article will draw their own conclusions

anyhow. This section allows you to highlight the conclusions you

think are important” (Socolofsky 10).

When it comes to lab reports, it is absolutely critical that the methods

section comes before the results. You cannot have the methods before

the results or the reader would have no idea how those results were

obtained and be confused throughout the entire section.

It is almost certain that every person among the science

community will agree that simplicity is key. “Explaining the most

complicated of scientific principles in simple and understandable

language is a valuable skill and all it really takes is a little bit of

thought about the words you use to avoid repeating the mistakes of

the past” (Threlfall). As far as writing these sections goes be brief,

often times the data will be confusing enough.

When it comes to writing these reports and research

papers often time reports will contain data that that or information that

is confusing and hard to understand. This is where the use of visual

aids comes into play. However, determining what type of visual aid can

be a difficult depending on the situation. Lets give an example here. If

you were doing a lab that requires you to build a circuit and you are

trying to determine which resistances between two resistors in series is

greater. You would not display this in a list of observations. You may

choose to list the results in a table format. This would work if the

numbers were significantly different. The best choice for this would

make a graph, like the one below.

Line graph:

The line graph would be a viable option for this situation due to

the fact that “line graphs are used to track changes over short and

long periods of time. Line graphs can also be used to compare changes

over the same period of time for more than one group” (nces.edu.gov).

The main purpose of using graphs is that the graph will make it easier

to see the data and minimize the calculations needed.

When it comes to studying engineering you will most definitely

encounter writing assignments no matter how many calculations you

have to solve. When it comes to writing, or doing anything for that

matter, the goal most of the time is to succeed. To be successful while

writing for engineering a good introduction, proper formatting, and

concrete visual aids will indefinitely be needed. When it comes to the

introduction it is essential to create an atmosphere that will hook the

reader and make he/she want to continue on. This indirectly affects the

format as well. When it comes to dealing with complex ideas and

numbers it is very important that material are shown in the proper

order, so the reader is not confused. In another effort to make the

information easier for the reader graph are great tools that will help

synthesis the data. As long as you follow the essentials of being as

clear and precise as you can while still proving the most accurate

description possible then you are definitely going to find a level of

success.

Chapter 2

Sci-Fi... Hip-Hop… Comedy… What do all of these have in

common? You’re right they are all genres. According to Merriam-

Webster’s online dictionary, genre can be defined as a particular type

or category of literature or art. Genre however, expands far past

movies, music, and books; it even carries over into the academic

world. Looking at specific genres can be a very useful tool. People have

been studying genre theory for many years with the sole purpose of

gaining knowledge about specific topics. Breaking down genres will

give you a better sense of how to compose them. After reviewing the

same genres chances are you will begin to put the pieces together,

and discover the norms that define them. For example, if you watch

thousands of comedy movies after a while, you will see that you need

one-liners or a ridiculous plot. The same concept can be applied to

academic genres.

Chances are college will be the most amount of work that you

have ever had to do in your academic career; and unfortunately, no

matter what major you are studying you will always have to write. If

you’re anything like me you probably haven’t thought about genre

from an academic standpoint unless you have received an assignment

on it in the past. The topics for these writings will vary, depending on

the class and field of study. However, as an engineering major the

writing is relatively limited. Throughout this article I will be breaking

down five genres that will be tailored for engineering, but can be

applied in a general sense to any other major. We will be examining

these genres in an attempt to better prepare you for what is to come.

The following tips and tricks about genre will help establish a platform

from which you can expand.

Professors’ works are exactly that, they are things that your

professor has written to often times publish. There are two types of

piece we will analyze here. The first is actual hard texts. In college

often times your professors will do research as well as teach. When

they do you should pay attention to what they discover and publish.

Often times the research will be very complex don’t fear; it can still be

very useful. Your professor should have no problem giving you access

to these papers if they are not already displayed.

Going about how to decipher these should not be a problem.

First off, you are going to need to have an idea of what you are looking

for. You could go as in depth as looking for a piece on synchronized

harmonic motion and Mathcad. For this you will need to have some

general knowledge of the topic. This will then help you reach a better

understanding of the material. To break this down when you are

reading it look for trends in the piece. Although, the piece will be

specific there will always be more subtopics. Like if you are looking at

1. PROFESSORS’ WORKS/RESEARCH PAPER

the synchronized harmonic motion piece you will probably see that

amplitude, displacement, and frequency are all used multiple times in

various ways. This will be the place that you can evaluate and gain an

even better understanding of why those are specific topics.

Another way to go about breaking these down is to talk. Yes, to

talk. This is the most helpful way in my opinion. For the Mathcad piece

simply start off by reading it. This will give you an idea of what is

happening in the paper. Then think of things you do not understand,

this could be anything. This is a compacted program and your

professor would be more than happy to explain to you what is going on

and the key ideas of his or her research.

Chances are you have conducted or participated an interview

before. Simply stated, you’re going to be asking someone a lot of

questions. According to a top job search company some good interview

questions when asking an engineer are:

Tell me about the most challenging engineering project that you have been involved with during past year.

Describe the most challenging written technical report or presentation that you have had to complete.

Describe an experience with a difficult client. How did you handle the situation? What would you have done differently?

Tell me about your greatest success in using logic to solve an engineering problem at a previous job.

Give me an example of a time when you applied your ability to use analytical techniques to define problems or

2. THE INTERVIEW

design solutions. What checks and balances do you use to make sure that

you don't make mistakes? Do you have any patents? If so, tell me about them. If not,

is it something you see yourself pursuing in the future? Why or why not?

What engineering skills have you developed or improved upon during the past year?

Which software packages are you familiar with? What is the most interesting thing you know how to do with one of these packages?

What are you doing to stay up-to-date with the latest technology?

It can never hurt to interview more than one person with the same

questions or intentions. If you do this it will give you a different

perspective on your topic. Different people have had different

experiences and this will give you an extra edge when analyzing your

interview.

When evaluating a professional or news article the techniques

used are very similar to the ones used to evaluate research paper.

You’ll have to look at the text with a fresh unbiased perspective. From

here break down the article into points and questions that you have

looking for reoccurring themes and ideas that are important. From

here, the commonalities will be clear and you will be able to see the

author’s true meaning. However, there is one slight problem when it

comes to evaluating articles. Occasionally, the information can be bias.

3. PROFESSIONAL/NEWS ARTICLE

For example, if you are reading an article on how one company designs

a new type of plane. This will be bias towards that company and their

methods. When in reality there could be multiple companies designing

this plane and they could all be using different techniques. The best

way to avoid this is by reading more that one article on the same story.

An even better method is seeing what the industries standards are

therefore; you can see what to compare the article too.

Lab reports… Chances are you’ve done one sometime in your

academic career, whether that be in a high school science class or you

may be having write one or two weekly for your major like I do. Either

way, you’ve ran into one sometime in you’re academic career so they

aren’t new to you. You know the general layout and purpose. If you

don’t, don’t worry ill give you a quick refresher. The layout will be a lot

of short paragraphs and descriptions summarizing information and

results. The purpose is to synthesize data collected in an easy and

manageable way. All of the written parts in this report we will be

following the same steps as in the pervious three topics listed above.

The one thing that can be tricky however is reading graphs. No fear, Ill

break one down to give you a better idea.

4. LAB REPORT

Here is a

displacement vs. shear stress graph with the data spanning throughout

four trials. Usually, in a lab report there will be a brief explanation of

what you are looking at, which should help some. However, with this

each axis, or side of the graph, will tell you something different. There

will be numbers or outputs on the sides of these axis’s and from there

you can find your desire point and see the output.

By no means is a syllabus an unfamiliar genre. You have seen

these your entire life however, maybe you have not thought about

them in this sense. When confused about a topic or portion of your

class, go to the teacher’s syllabus. Often times this will have key words

or phrases that can help you deduct what you need to do for the

assignment or even specifics on how to do it. This will save you the

time and effort of second-guessing whether you’re doing that tedious

5. SYLLABI

lab report right or not, and hopefully getting you that A you strive for.

Syllabi… Horror… Jazz… I bet now if I asked you what these all

have in common you wouldn’t even hesitate. Without a doubt these

are all genres. Some are more relevant to your life than others, some

will bring you pleasure where as others will just be a nuance. Either

way they are all unavoidable. Whether you are faced with the task of

writing a lab report or conducting an interview you will have the proper

foundation to do so; and if you don’t you can do what many people

before you have done, and examine existing pieces in that genre even

further. But when in doubt, you can always do what we did in the next

section and ask someone. No matter how confused you become

another persons opinion can really give a fresh perspective. So next

time someone asks you what genre throw a curveball in there and say

something like an interview or syllabus. You won’t be wrong, and even

better you’ll have a better understanding of how to break down these

genres to help you succeed.

Chapter 3

In these past several chapters we have been asking ourselves

one simple question. First of all, what is genre? How do you direct a

piece based upon a certain audience, and are there set norms that

come with writing for this genre? As time ticks on in your college

career, you will most definitely pick up some tricks and tips along the

way. You are no stranger to the educational system and by now you

have an idea of what does and does not work in a classroom

environment. However, you may not be as sure of what works and

does not work in your intended field.

You are just beginning on your path to receiving an engineering

degree. That means you will be thinking, designing, and constructing

all types of objects. But, did you know that you would be writing? The

pervious chapters will help get you started on your path, but what

good is that if you don’t have real life knowledge and advice? This is

why; I decided to interview Andy Cromer. Andy is a senior electrical

engineering student at the University of Denver. When I contacted him

about an interview in regards to writing in the field of engineering he

was not at all surprised. This lack of surprise was confusing,

considering I myself had no idea of the writing involved in engineering.

The building and designing aspect is more or less why everyone

gets involved in the study of engineering. However, often times we

lose sight on the fact that not everyone can be invloved every step of

the way. This is where the writing comes into play. As an engineer at

any level you should never lose sight of one thing, the customer.

“When it comes to writing always think about the customer…

place yourself in their shoes. Write from a perspective that would

make you want to buy your product.”

The customers will vary. Sometimes they will be your professor, while

other times they will be a company placing a multimillion-dollar order.

For the next several years the professor will most likely be the only

customer you have; but nonetheless they are still the customer. That

means you must adhere by their guidelines and produce what they

want. A very key aspect to this style of writing is to stay in touch with

the client. Keep them up to date on what is going on.

“I (Andy) cannot remember how many times I’ve had to go redo

something or spend time thinking about something just because

I didn’t write it down it the first place. This is just a better way to

stay organized and on top of things… My favorite is bullets, it just

makes everything a whole lot easier in the end when you are

trying to write your report.”

As you make progress on a project, write it down. When you are

approaching a deadline this will then help you write up your lab report

or complete a research paper. If you stay updated each step of the

way it will also ensure accuracy in your writing.

By now you can see that engineering is not your typical major.

You will have to do much more hands on work and much less

traditional schoolwork. With this comes the understanding that you will

not being doing traditional writing either. They call this style of writing

technical writing; and it is relatively similar to the writing you would do

in a chemistry or biology class. For all types of technical writing you

are going to want to be short and concise.

“If you are wordy and use lots of fancy words and personal

pronouns then it puts off the vibe that you don’t know what you

are doing and when it comes to building a product that is not a

good vibe to put off.”

The writing that you will be doing will often times be describing a

process or a part that has been designed. You will want you keep the

language and description as simple as possible for two reasons. First

off, often times the part or material being designed will be complex. A

complex part will require a complex description. Fluffy big words and

personal pronouns make the description even harder to follow. I know

what you are thinking; you are probably saying to yourself why do I

have to be clear and concise if my client is the professor? After all, he

did write the assignment. Yes, he did but the clearer you are the better

he will understand your thought process behind what you did. Chances

are they already know the outcome of the experiment and they just

want to see your thought process behind your results.

The situation does not entirely change when you have a real life

client. When a client is paying you to do a job you want to make sure

they understand what is going on so that they can receive the product

that they desire; and moreover you can get paid for a correct product.

Secondly, often times the client is busy and does not have a lot of time

to curl up and read your report. Most of the time it will be on the go.

The last thing they want to do is to have to decipher what is going on

with in your report to find out about their product.

Recent advances in technology have made the sharing and

collaborating on writings and designs easier than ever in the field if

engineering. Often times, you will not be the only one working on a

project. Each of you will play a unique role in the design process. This

in turn means that more than one of you will be writing the same

report, each adding your own pieces.

“For designs where if it is collaborative if one person messes up

it saves the latest version of the code or design. Its like a secure iCloud

designed especially for engineering.”

Technology has even changed the way we share and written in the

work place as engineers. With programs like these is even allows the

client to go in and edit or make notes on the design. This then ensures

that they get the best overall product possible.

With the clients happiness as your main interest the key is a

good product. I’m not just talking about the physical design; I’m also

talking about the final written product. The best customer satisfaction

will come from a clear, concise, and intelligent overview of what has

been done. Along the way you will need to keep up on things by taking

notes, but this will save you time and guarantee you a high grade or a

nice fat paycheck.

Chapter 4By now you probably can see that engineering is not your typical

major. In fact, it is different in almost every aspect on the academic

spectrum. Engineering is a discipline that requires a lot from you. Not

only are you expected to know how to design and build objects; you

are also expected to know how to convey your ideas to a costumer or

boss in a technical way. However, how are you supposed to convey

these ideas if you have never been taught? Professors have been

teaching the hands-on science of design to engineers from the get go.

High up academic’s and administration believe that the typical one

hundred level writing classes will do for all students however, this is

not the case. I propose that a technical writing class is added to the

major requirements not only for engineering, but also for all majors

that involve a precise level of writing. For this to be further addressed

we must first look at the reasons for change, the current course

requirements, and the parties that will be affected if a change is

implemented.

For the entirety of our academic careers, we have been taught

how to write in a traditional and almost creative setting. As great as

this is, it has served us well up this point; however at this level of

education is it still considered helpful? The further we progress in our

academic careers, the more specific and tailored our work, especially

writing needs to become. With high precision majors, such as

engineering, it is important that ideas and concepts formed can be

clearly presented to the customer in a way that is clear and easy to

understand.

In light of what has been said it is clear that a change needs to

be made. Writing for engineering and all technical majors is becoming

more and more of a struggle the further along we go. As projects,

experiments, and designs get bigger and more challenging the

material that needs to be transcribed also gets bigger and more

challenging. As write-ups lengthen the background knowledge of

students becomes less and less. Soon we are writing on a whim, basing

our knowledge off of some shady site that was the top result on a

Google search. This does no one any good. Students do not want to

spend hours upon end searching and trying to find information about

how to do an assignment when they could be taught how to complete

it in the first place. Moreover, clients, bosses, and professors do not

want to read a report that may or may not be right depending on what

site was used to gather the knowledge.

So we ask ourselves, why isn’t a technical writing class

implemented into the current course requirements? Currently, the

University of Denver requires that all students take two basic one

hundred level writing classes. The classes are Rhetoric and Academic

Writing and Writing and Research. Which on the surface you could

easily think that these classes would have at least some of the tools to

succeed in the field of technical writing, however, they do not. These

classes offer a more in-depth look into the traditional style of writing

that you have done throughout your academic life. As a result of this, I

feel as though there should be a class that solely teaches technical

writing put in place in the curriculum.

As there are many students and staff for this there is an equal or

greater number against this proposal. Academic’s and administration

will say that the core concepts of writing will be lost if this is put in

place. On one had they are correct. The student will not be taking their

basic writing skills to the same general level as a student, not in a

technical field. However, they will not be completely disregarding

writing either, they will simply be tailoring their writing to fit a more

applicable area of their major. To go along with this, I am also not

suggesting that you get rid of the writing process completely and

replace it with one class. No. Since there are two classes in the writing

sequence, I believe that only one of these classes should be replaced.

Typical academic writing is still very useful and relevant no matter

what field you go into, however, the extent of traditional writing

needed in majors varies. When the expectations for traditional writing

are met this is when the technical writing class will be implanted.

Doing so would thus, fit the desired major even better and further

enrich the value of a degree.

People opposed to this idea will also say what about the money?

The implementation of a new course will require funds; professors,

books, and programs all cost money. However, that is a small price to

pay in exchange for the profits to come from the addition of a single

class. With each credit hour, a student pays for the school will make a

profit. This class will give the students more credit hours to choose

form, meaning more seats to fill, and more money to be made. On top

of that this class will make it so students will excel faster. This progress

and tailored style of learning will over time make the school even more

prestigious. With this comes the inverse affect of more people will want

to attend such school, thus turning an even larger profit.

However, there is more than one solution to this problem. The

university could always choose to print literature or give a sample of

the desired result, but would this be as effective? The addition of this

class would be the most effective solution and the most lucrative. If the

main goal is to give students what they need to succeed outside of a

classroom setting, then this is the best way to do so.

As a person that is required to do a lot of technical writing for

their major I often find myself searching the web for examples or tips

on how to write my technical report. This got me to thinking, why isn’t

there a class that teaches this? There is only so much traditional

writing that one needs. This style is still very important and useful,

however, the extent at which it can be used in a technical field is

limited. Therefore, you should not limit yourself with classes that you

will rarely apply the material; when a class could be implemented and

the knowledge would be applied daily. So what are you going to do?

Pay for a class where you will seldomly use what you learned; or pay

for a class that has daily applications?

ConclusionNo matter how much we love something, nothing is ever perfect.

No matter how much you love your major it will never be perfect, there

will always be changes that needed to be made. Throughout this book

many ideas have been presented to you. Like how in chapter one we

utilized existing literature to teach us the basics and gave us a general

idea of what we needed to include in our writing. As we moved along to

chapter two the investigation transitioned from overviews to detailed

genres. These then gave us a much more exact and told us how to

break down a certain type of writing. We continued to chug along until

we reached chapter three. In this chapter Andy Cromer, provided a

fresh perspective that gave us valuable insight into our future lives as

engineers. Proceeding further we reach the last substantial chapter,

chapter 4. This is where you discover what was wrong with the system,

and what we can do to fix it.

Although this is a lot of information to process, there were

several commonalities throughout the book. After hunting around it

can be said that everyone form older students to top researchers can

agree that briefness and clarity are key to successfully writing in this

field. I bet that you can already tell that the experiments you will be

completing will be difficult and tedious, so lets not confuse the reader

even more by getting fancy. Students and professionals alike, agree

that when it comes to the complexity of data in engineering, visuals

make everything easier to synthesize. You can tell that engineering is

all about making difficult tasks easier.

Throughout this entire book we realize how important it is to be

concise. Each chapter explains this in a different way. In chapter one

the point is proven by the verification of multiple professional sources.

Where chapter two demonstrates this matter by illicitly explaining how

to write for certain genres. Then we get a personal look into why this is

important from our senior engineering student. Chapter four

approaches this in an entirely different way. Here I propose a change

and ask you if this style of writing has ever been taught to you in a

college setting.

I can see how by this point in the book your asking yourself why

do I care? I can manage to get by in my classes. With this you would be

correct. I assume by now that you have picked up the general skills to

skate by. But why skate by, when you can soar to success? For once

instead of going to Google or a professor for help, imagine how nice it

would be to confidently write you research paper or lab report. I will

not guarantee that this information will make you succeed, however, it

will make it a whole lot to deliver a quality product to the intended

audience.

No matter how much us engineers hate writing it is an

unavoidable aspect of the major. Regardless, of how many flaws the

system has or how poorly writing is taught we chose to be engineers

for one reason because we love the hands on aspect. This book is not

intended to be an exact outline of what to expect throughout your

entire college and professional career, however it should serve as

starting place and help build the foundation for what is to come.

Engineering may not be for everyone, but now hopefully now you have

a relatively good idea of what is to come.

ReflectionAs an incoming freshman, I had no idea how to write for

engineering. I mean why should I? It was never taught to me. So I

figured I’d do some investigating and try to give incoming freshman a

new and helpful perspective on what to expect when it comes to

college writing. Throughout this book there is everything form what

writing to expect, to what needs to be changed, and thrown in is even

some personal experience from myself and other students.

Before writing this book I decided to take a step back and ask

myself, how can I make this information useful yet interesting? I

figured that my personal preference and experiences thus far, would

give the best insight for those to come. From the beginning, there was

not a lot of information given to us on how to write. Since this was the

case I had to investigate information that was already out there. I

researched how to write lab reports, research papers, syllabi, and

memos. I chose these genres because they are the most commonly

used, and no matter what engineering you do they will be applicable.

Throughout each chapter, I tried to keep the tone light but still

keep the information informative. I felt that this method would keep

the audience intrigued while still maintaining a professional persona.

There is a point in chapter three when I am talking about how it is

critical to keep your writing brief and concise. Here I used a quote

from Andy Cromer, another engineering student, which said:

“If you are wordy and use lots of fancy words and personal

pronouns then it puts off the vibe that you don’t know what you

are doing and when it comes to building a product that is not a

good vibe to put off.”

The use of quotes from professionals, as well as other students, helped

solidify my information even further, and emphasize its importance.

Throughout this quarter and year I feel that I have truly made

strides in my writing. Writing 1122 prepared me for what was to come

in Writing 1133, as it should have. Moreover, it gave me the skills to

look at existing literature and analyze it from a more academic

standpoint. This was something that was rarely expected of me up

until my college years. This then broadened the number of sources; I

could use effectively to validate my thesis. From this my writing has

become more persuasive and well rounded. Writing 1133 then

introduced me to the aspect of precise research, through genre. Before

this class I had not realized how specific research could become, while

still being applied to a broad topic like engineering. This project taught

me that the audience is everything. If you do not connect with your

audience what is the point? In order to reach the reader the

information being provided had to be easy to process and understand.

Otherwise the intended message would not be received, and the point

would be lost.

All in all, this project opened my eyes to what was necessary

within the field of engineering. From day one the goal was to connect

with incoming freshman, and give them a perspective of someone who

has recently endured the same things. The use of multiple genres

along with a light tone gave the best quality, while still providing the

necessary information to succeed.

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