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.
"Teaching technical writing is challenging, as most engineering students feel that it isn't important, because they are studying engineering not English. A book that teaches the logic behind technical writing combined with basic writing rules/tips is an asset."-Raenita A. Fenner, Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, USA
"This book places the value of good writing in an engineering context-both in terms of methodology (by using the design process) and in terms of the need for good writing in engineering. ? I'm not aware of other engineering-based [writing] texts that go much past the mechanics of writing." -Fred DePiero, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, USA
