The IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields

A Note from the Series Editor, ix

About the Authors, xi

PART I A TECHNIQUE FOR WRITING LIKE A PROFESSIONAL 1

Introduction, 3

1 The Social Situation of Text 7

The Social Contexts for Technical Writing, 8

Models of the Writing Environment, 9

Transmission Models, 10

Correctness Models, 11

Cognitive/Behavioral Models, 13

Social/Rhetorical Models, 14

This Guide's Approach, 16

The Rhetorical Situation: Purpose, 18

The Rhetorical Situation: Audience, 21

The Rhetorical Situation: Identity, 26

The Rhetorical Situation: Context, 28

The Pragmatic Situation: Community and Genre, 29

2 Making Writing Decisions 33

Introduction, 34

Document Structure and Granularity, 35

Arranging Text at the Macro Level, 37

Sectioning and Heading Sections, 39

Aids for Navigating and Understanding Document Structure, 43

Creating Effects with Lexis and Syntax at the Micro Level, 45

Lexical Technique: Word Choice, Technical Terms, and Hedges and Boosters, 47

Syntactic Technique: Modification, Clausal Arrangement, and Discursive Cueing, 53

Intermediate Structural Units and Argumentative Movement, 68

Paragraph Cohesion and Paragraphs as Structural Units of a Document, 69

Structures Other than Paragraphs, 72

Citations and Other Intertextual Statements, 73

Implications for the Process of Writing, 75

Additional Reading, 77

PART 2 WRITING DOCUMENTS 79

Introduction 81

3 Writing to Know: Informative Documents 85

Introduction, 86

The Purposes of Informative Documents, 86

Occasions for Preparing an Informative Document, 88

Audiences for an Informative Document, 88

Key Communication Strategies When Writing to Know, 90

Understanding What Constitutes Sufficient Evidence to Support a Claim, 90

Structuring Evidence in Your Document, 91

Establishing Expertise, 92

Questions for Analyzing Existing Documents, 93

Some Typical Informative Documents, 93

Reports, 93

Specifications, 104

4 Writing to Enable: Instructions and Guidance 109

Introduction, 110

The Purposes of Enabling Documents, 110

Occasions for Preparing an Enabling Document, 112

Audiences for an Enabling Document, 112

Key Communication Strategies When Writing to Enable, 113

Anticipating a Document's Use Context, 113

Deciding How Much Background Is Warranted, 115

Testing the Document with Users, 116

Questions for Analyzing Existing Documents, 119

Characteristic Enabling Documents, 119

Manuals/Guides and Other Documents That Primarily Contain Instructions/Directions/Procedures, 119

Tutorials/Training Materials, 128

Policies, 130

5 Writing to Convince: Persuasive Documents 133

Introduction, 134

The Purposes of Persuasive Documents, 134

Occasions for Preparing a Persuasive Document, 135

Audiences for the Persuasive Document, 136

Key Communication Strategies When Writing to Convince, 137

Designing Your Argument to Consider the Audience's Preexisting Beliefs, 137

Using the Terms and Values of the Audience to Articulate a Shared Goal, 140

Assuring Outcomes and Benefits without Seeming Unrealistic, 142

Questions for Analyzing Existing Documents, 143

Typical Examples of Persuasive Documents, 145

Proposals, 145

Business Plans, 149

6 Correspondence: Medium of Workplace Collaboration 155

Introduction, 156

The Purposes of Correspondence, 157

Occasions for Preparing Correspondence, 158

Audiences for Correspondence, 158

Key Communication Strategies When Corresponding, 160

Consider Workplace Roles and Official and Unofficial Relationships and Responsibilities, 160

Evaluate Target Size and Frequency of Communication for a Relationship, 162

Pause to Reconsider Composition, Time, and Tone before Sending, 163

Characteristics of Correspondence Documents, 165

Letters, Memoranda, and E-mails, 165

Types of Correspondence, 167

Pre- and Post-meeting Documents: Announcements, Agendas, and Minutes, 170

Social Media, 171

Appendix: IEEE Style for References, 173

Index, 183