Engineering Discourse Community
Engineering Discourse
Community
Nate Fuss, Andrew Sedano, Justin Cobb, and Alec Pickup
S
Discourse Community
o o o o o
What is a Discourse Community
Engineering Discourse Community
Jargons
Certain writing and citation styles
How writing is used
S
Types of Writing
o o o o o o
Technical Reports
Research
Memos
E-mails
Project Proposals
Employee Reviews
S
Writing Styles
o o o o
The style depends on the intended audience
Passive voice is rarely ever used
It is too objective and non professional
High style or formal writing is most popular
S
Writing Formats
o
IEEE
Research Papers and Technical Writing o
Chicago Manual Style
Reports and Research Papers o
MLA Format
Simple Papers that are non professional
S
o o o
Jargon
Important so that Engineers can communicate efficiently
Engineering Jargon is mostly made up of technical terms related to design
Use a lot of acronyms
S
o o o o o
CADD
ASCE
NSPE
MRP
TDM
Jargon Examples
S
o o o o
Jargon Purposes
Quick form of communication
Efficient shorthand
Short but still professional
Easily recognizable
S
Interview
With Professor Don Blackmon
S
o
-
-
Real Life Examples
Duke Power Company
Four-story elevator for a power plant
Involved specifications, proposals, and reports.
-
-
-
High Voltage Lines
Design needed to raise the lines 1200 feet, and then across the river.
Also needed proposals, reports, and specifications.
S
o
Real Life Examples
Duke Power Company
Environmental Reports for state and federal agencies.
-
-
Three or four 3-inch binders of material needed to be submitted
Proposal to US Department of Energy o Turning weapons grade plutonium into nuclear fuel.
As many as 100 people working at the same time on specifications, environmental reports, and proposals.
S
Real Life Examples
o National Account Manager for Duke Power
-
Must be able to write letters, reports, proposals.
Find out problems that companies are having, and then solve them.
o One example, a yard spinning company had seven 700 horsepower air compressors. o o
Variation in the power lines needed to be fixed.
A proposal was written to do work to fix the air compressors.
S
Computers in Engineering
o Computers have become an integral part of engineering, despite just recently being invented.
In 1970, computers were only used for advanced modeling.
Currently, computers can be used for modeling, prototyping, word processing, and many other tasks.
S
Academic & Professional Societies
•
•
• National Society of Professional Engineers
American Society of Civil Engineers
Computer Science & Engineering Society
S
Forms of Publications
•
•
•
•
•
•
Blogs
Magazines
Journals
Books
Contracts
Documents
S
What are They Like?
•
•
•
•
•
•
News
Legislative
Educational
Formal
Technical
Employment
S
Works Cited
"American Society of Civil Engineers." ASCE. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov 2012. http://www.asce.org/default.asp&xgt ;
ASCE, "Writing Style." Accessed November 6, 2012. www.asce.org
"Chicago Formatting Guide." worksCited4U. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov 2012. http://www.workscited4u.com/chicago.html
"Engineers: Why You Need A Work Portfolio." Key Personnel . N.p., 06 2012. Web. 7 Nov 2012. http://www.keyjobs.com/Article.aspx?RSSId=18
Marquette University, "Writing in Engineering." Last modified July 7, 2011. Accessed November 6, 2012. http://www.marquette.edu
"National Society of Professional Engineers." NSPE. NSPE, n.d. Web. 7 Nov2012.< http://www.nspe.org/index.html
Online Learning Environment, "Engineering Jargons." Accessed November 6, 2012. http://www.geocities.com/Baja/8205/jargon.htm
Professional Training Company, "The Passive Engineer." Last modified 2008. Accessed November 3, 2012. http://www.protrainco.com/essays/passive.htm
S
