Organization in Technical Writing
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 131, Issue 3
Abstract
Proficiency in technical writing is required of the student or professional engineer throughout his or her career. Technical writing that communicates well depends upon good organization at every level, from the details of grammar to the broad outline of structural headings and a title. Some aspects of organization in technical writing are readily prescribed by rules. Others, involving organization at a higher level, are not. This Technical Note first considers some hindrances to clearly written communication that are often overlooked in the literature. Concerned with the logical flow of ideas and with presentational form, the problems are illustrated by two examples of poor practice and suggestions for remedial action. The subject of the structural outline is then discussed and illustrated by the same examples. The emphasis of the note is that organization in technical writing is vital if the writer is to communicate his or her intended meaning and achieve the required outcome.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writer is grateful to the Reviewers and to Dr. C. M. StG. Kirke for their constructive comments.
References
Alley, M. (1996). The craft of scientific writing, 3rd Ed., Springer, New York.
Buzan, T., and Buzan, B. (1993). The mind map book, BBC Books, London.
Graves, H. F., and Hoffman, L. S. S. (1965). Report writing, 4th Ed., Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Woolston, D. C., Robinson, P. A., and Kutzbach, G. (1988). Effective writing strategies for engineers and scientists, Lewis, Chelsea, Mich., 37–38.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 28, 2004
Accepted: Sep 21, 2004
Published online: Jul 1, 2005
Published in print: Jul 2005
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.