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Technical Writing @ SLCC
Department of English, Linguistics, and Writing Studies · Salt Lake Community College · 2020
What is technical writing? You can think of it as writing about specialized topics or you could also think of it as using technology to communicate your ideas. A science lab report, a specification, a change order for building construction, or patient education materials–just to name a few–are all considered technical writing. Similarly if you design a webpage or a brochure this can also be considered technical writing. Academic writing, the writing you do for school, generally is informative or persuasive writing and usually only comes in a few different genres. In technical writing, on the other hand, one is often documenting what was done (such as a science experiment or auto repair invoice). Therefore the format of the writing is often as important as the content. This leads to an emphasis on usability and accessibility for your documents. Finally, although citing your sources is important in all writing, you will find that in some fields of technical writing, such as the sciences and engineering, it is one of the more important considerations of your writing.
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Experimental Design and Technical Writing for Engineers
Susan Ely · University of Southern Indiana · 2024
This text is intended for undergraduate engineering students completing a technical writing course. As engineers complete technical writing in conjunction with research activities, this work also includes a basic overview of experimental design and the implications of robust quantitative methodologies. Hallmarks of quantitative research, best practices in presentation of data and a brief description of the use of descriptive statistics in data analysis are also provided. Technical communications for engineers often include industry related documents like memos, executive summaries, case studies, quality and process documents, standard operating procedures and requests for proposals. These documents are discussed, in addition to formal technical reports. The text also includes best practices in engineering oral presentations and the impact of Artificial Intelligence on technical communications. Ethical implications of engineering communications are also discussed from a framework of professional integrity as defined by the National Society of Professional Engineers Code of Ethics. Students using this text should be capable of communicating, in both verbal and written formats, in a way that clearly, concisely and correctly conveys engineering principles, projects and concepts to both technical and nontechnical audiences.