Professional Communication in Engineering

By: H. E. Sales

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Hardcover | 1 December 2006 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

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272 Pages

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22.23 x 15.24 x 1.91

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Engineers have likened reading this book to looking into a mirror and seeing themselves clearly for the first time. The book throws fresh light on engineers, uncovering new information about them and their work. It was written particularly for those who need a better understanding of what engineers write and say, how they write it, and why. The book would interest: students studying engineering and wondering what to expect after their university courses, those who teach or train engineers, and those working in engineering procurement. It will be especially valuable also for researchers and teachers in the areas of professional and organisational studies, English for Science and Technology and English Language Teaching .

The descriptions centre on design engineers and others who work with them, including support engineers and technical authors. The book is lavishly illustrated with diagrams, authentic text extracts , including some spoken exchanges, and candid observations of engineers who search continually, sometimes in vain, for the best solution to the customer's requirement.

Industry Reviews

'...a unique opportunity for students to see the nuts and bolts of how communication really works in organisations that use team working and integrated systems design. A fly-on-the-wall documentary that will resonate with practising engineers and educate those in universities and procurement agencies. This should be recommended reading for professional studies and PDP-related modules.' - Frank Hamer, Programmes Director (Electronics & Communications), SoCCE, University of Plymouth

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Engineering & Technology Technology in General Engineering in General Reference, Information & Interdisciplinary Subjects Interdisciplinary Studies Institutions & Learned Societies Business & Management Business Communication & Presentation Language & Linguistics Linguistics Sociolinguistics

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Paperback

Published: 1st September 2009

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List of Figures	p. xi
List of Tables	p. xiii
Acknowledgements	p. xiv
The Engineers	p. 1
Introduction: technological creativity	p. 1
Engineering is essentially a creative profession	p. 1
Why they became engineers	p. 3
Engineers have to write a lot	p. 6
The customer	p. 8
Types of engineer	p. 9
Snap-shot of an engineering work-force	p. 9
Creativity versus restriction	p. 14
Communication skills: engineers' aspirations	p. 19
Final comment on the discourse community and aims of this book	p. 21
Engineering Practices and Procedures	p. 23
Engineering procedures	p. 23
The burden of responsibility	p. 23
Engineering methodologies: the importance of procedures	p. 24
Engineers' attempts to control writing behaviour	p. 27
Writing procedures and guidelines	p. 30
Written, and then often ignored	p. 30
Simplified English	p. 32
Information Technology Security Evaluation Criteria (ITSEC)	p. 35
Customer-imposed writing constraints	p. 36
Collaborative writing practices	p. 39
What do engineers write with other people?	p. 39
Risk-taking and the textual straw man	p. 41
Collaborative writing case study	p. 44
Evaluating the straw man: engineers' opinions	p. 51
Summary	p. 53
The Engineering Product	p. 55
Introduction: setting the scene	p. 55
The product life-cycle	p. 56
Knowledge accrual in engineering design	p. 56
Temporal considerations in product design	p. 60
A textual perspective of the product life-cycle	p. 64
Thresholds and stages in product development	p. 65
Summary	p. 69
Engineering Texts	p. 71
Introduction: engineers' view of texts	p. 71
Formal versus informal	p. 72
Ephemeral versus 'lasting' texts	p. 73
The documents engineers write	p. 75
Engineers don't write anything they don't value	p. 75
The product is the focus	p. 77
The main text types	p. 81
The problem documents	p. 84
Special features of engineers' language	p. 86
Technical description is far from simple	p. 86
Complex simplicity	p. 88
Summary	p. 90
Engineering Specifications and Requirements	p. 92
Introduction: delivering on a promise	p. 92
What are specifications and requirements?	p. 93
Clarifying terms	p. 93
Specifications are the textual bedrock of engineering	p. 95
A glut of guidelines, but a dearth of information	p. 96
The Customer Requirement	p. 98
Cardinal point specifications: customer's wishes and ideas	p. 99
Control of the design process: the need to manage change	p. 103
A recipe for success (or disaster)	p. 103
Categories of specification	p. 109
Hierarchies in requirements	p. 109
A special language: engineers have devised their own rules	p. 111
What engineers don't like about 'English'	p. 111
The special case of modal verbs	p. 113
Monitoring requirements in computer databases	p. 116
A specification document case study	p. 119
Concluding observations	p. 121
The Bid Process and Persuasion	p. 122
The bid process	p. 122
Proposal writing consumes huge financial resources	p. 123
Types of proposal	p. 124
Readers and writers of engineering proposals	p. 126
The writers and bid preparation	p. 128
The Customer Requirement: a catalyst for proposal writing	p. 130
Economic and social impact of winning (or losing)	p. 134
Persuasion	p. 136
Engineers versus marketing colleagues	p. 136
Attempting to pin down the notion 'persuasion'	p. 136
Engineers' ambivalence towards overtly persuasive language	p. 139
Engineers' attempts at restrained persuasion	p. 142
Restrained persuasion: Example 1	p. 142
Restrained persuasion: Example 2	p. 145
Restrained persuasion: Example 3 - composing text for a generic proposal	p. 146
Concluding observations	p. 152
The Presentation of Engineering Proposals	p. 153
Introduction: textual cosmetics	p. 153
Physical features: size, formats, and outline structure	p. 154
The textual 'extent' of proposals	p. 154
Significant parts of the proposal	p. 159
An overview of each section	p. 159
Generic outline structure of proposals	p. 160
The front cover: engineers' use of visuals	p. 163
Proprietary page: laying claim to design rights	p. 172
Acronyms unlimited	p. 174
Oral presentations of proposals: a case study	p. 178
Feedback on oral presentation	p. 182
Conclusion	p. 186
Engineering Proposals: Discourse and Information Structure	p. 187
Introduction	p. 187
Proposals persuade	p. 187
'Selling point' versus 'benefit'	p. 189
Guidance on proposal writing: a historical perspective	p. 189
Up to 1980: the popularity of report writing	p. 190
Post-1980: proposals receive scant attention	p. 193
A hierarchy of discourse functions	p. 196
Macro-level discourse functions	p. 196
Eight key discourse topics	p. 196
Themes	p. 201
Themes according to Ellis (1997)	p. 202
Themes according to Stross (1990)	p. 202
The identification of proposal components (PCs)	p. 206
The search for an analytical framework	p. 206
Towards a more topic-focused description	p. 208
Conclusion: reverse-engineered text	p. 212
Executive Summaries	p. 214
Introduction: what are executive summaries?	p. 214
Purpose of the executive summary	p. 214
Structure, information content, and presentation of executive summaries	p. 218
The summary as a notion	p. 218
A neglected genre	p. 219
Persuasion through selling points: discourse functions	p. 220
Examples of executive summaries	p. 226
Executive summaries and proposals: a structural comparison	p. 231
Patterns of information structure	p. 234
Summary	p. 240
References	p. 241
Index	p. 246
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Professional Communication in Engineering

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

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Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

Other Editions and Formats

Paperback

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