Transcript CONDITION OF UNINSPECTABLE MEMBERS IN A STEEL …

Technical Communication
Oral and Written
Communication in Design
Ken McIsaac
October 14, 2009
Today’s Lecture:
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Communication
Oral Presentations
Written Communication
Technical Communication
From Course Outline:
5. Technical communication.

Prepare and deliver effective oral
presentations.
b. Communicate effectively both orally and in
writing.
c. Prepare effective and properly formatted
technical reports.
a.
Goals of Technical
Communications
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Convey information accurately and concisely:
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•
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Proposals and Business Plans
Design Reports
Progress Reports
Design Briefs
• Research Reports/Thesis
• Projections
• Specifications
• Contracts
• Resumes
Oral Presentations
For my curiosity, how many of you
like speaking in public or giving oral
presentations?
a) Yes, I like giving oral
presentations
b) I would rather do just about
anything else
Oral Presentations in
Engineering
The bad news:
You will have to do some
The good news:
The good news:
You have something to say
You are the expert
You have an interested audience
Tips on structuring slides

Use an outline to tell your audience what is
coming

Use graphics, as much as possible

Try to limit the amount of information on one slide
• Ideally, your graphics
should mean something
Tips on structuring slides
(cont.)

Use an introductory slide to motivate the
audience

Have your audience in mind when making up
slides – Who are they? What do they know?
Why are they listening?

Use a concluding slide to sum up the
contribution. Don’t make them guess at what you
accomplished.
Some tips to consider

Don’t read! Talk to the audience!
• Don’t use distracting animations
• Come prepared: your talk should feed
practiced and comfortable
• Proofread! Mistakes like that are
distracting and embarrassing
Written Communication
Email
 Design Reports
 Organization
 Editing and Style

Some notes on email
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Do not use text message shorthand:
- NOT GOOD: Can u hlp plz?
Use a proper salutation:
- GOOD: Dear Professor Smith
- NOT GOOD: Yo!
Remember, in general honey catches more
flies than vinegar:
- GOOD: Can you tell me where…
- NOT GOOD: WHERE IS …
Written Communication
For my curiosity, how many of you
enjoy writing essays and/or reports?
a) I very much enjoy writing
b) I can do it, but it’s not my favourite
c) I became an engineer so I’d never
have to write an essay.
Goals of a Design Report
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Objectives of design
Criteria/constraints used to select
alternatives
Description of design alternatives
Justification for selection of alternative
Sketches of final design
Innovations
Description of working prototype
Three Steps in Report Writing
o I. Content generation
• Purpose, brainstorming, research
o II. Organization
• Outline based on purpose, audience
o III. Revision
• Editing for flow, spelling, grammar,
punctuation
• Formatting to maximize visual impact
The Writing Process Parallels
The Design Process
Design:
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•
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Recognizing a
problem or need
Gathering
information, defining
problem
Generating
alternative solutions
Writing:
• Establishing
purpose
• Background
research and
brainstorm to focus
on goals
• Generating an
outline
The Writing Process Parallels
The Design Process
Design:
•
•
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Evaluating benefits
and costs
Decision-making and
optimization
Implementing best
solution
Writing:
• Revision and
editing
• Review of drafts by
others, revision
• Prepare final
document to
maximize impact
Content Generation
o Define problem
o Search for pertinent information
• Published Literature, including
Internet
• Fundamentals of Engineering
• Interviews
Content Generation
o Be focused
o Solve problem
o Write and demonstrate to others that
you have solved problem
Organization
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Define/Understand the Audience
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Who will read the report?
• How familiar is the reader with topic?
• What is the level of technical expertise?
• Why would the reader be interested?
depth of knowledge
Different Kinds of Writing
Preferred for
general audience
breadth of knowledge
depth of knowledge
Different Kinds of Writing
Preferred for
sophisticated readers
Preferred for
general audience
breadth of knowledge
Organization: Using an Outline
Outline: a planning tool
1.
Introduction
2.
Major Topic No. 1
3.
Major Topic No. 2
4.
Major Topic No. 3
5.
Summary
Organization: Using an Outline
Outline: a planning tool
1.
Introduction
2.
Major Topic No. 1
3.
Major Topic No. 2
4.
Major Topic No. 3
5.
Summary
point
form
“living”
document
Why an Introduction?
Train the Reader:
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Background of topic
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Purpose (clearly state objectives)
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State major topics (and their interrelation)
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Outline (where to find what)
What is in Each Major Topic?
Outline again:
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Subtopic A
•
details
•
more details
Subtopic B
•
details
•
more details
Paragraphs
o One idea = one paragraph
o Systematic development of idea
• Lead-in sentence (optional)
• Topic sentence
• Develop details pertaining to topic
o Not too long (if possible). Vary length.
o Points in detailed outline are
paragraphs
What is in Each Major Topic?
Outline again:
o
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Subtopic A
•
details
•
more details
Subtopic B
•
details
•
more details
use figures
and tables as
guide for
development
Figures / Tables
o
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Each figure or table should follow first
reference to it in text. Makes for good
reading.
Put non-essential data in tables in the
Appendix.
Always reference the source for the table
or figure if you got this from somewhere
else.
Summary
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Summarize important
points/findings and
importance
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Conclusions (optional)
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Recommendations
(optional)
Summary
o
Summarize important
points/findings and
importance
o
Conclusions (optional)
o
Recommendations
(optional)
No new
material
Style / Mechanics
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Formal, not conversational
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No jargon: simple is best (holes or
vacuons?)
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Remember your audience
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Remember you are trying to
communicate, not impress
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Never say something is “obvious” or
“clear”
Useful Tips on Writing
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Choose one voice and verb tense and stick to
it. Don’t start with “The experiment was
performed” and change to “We find this and
that”.
Don’t use “I”. If you like the first person, be a
“We”.
Don’t use “you”. Call the user “the user” and
“him or her”
In formal writing don’t use contractions, e.g. I’m,
You’ve etc.
More Tips
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Write in shorter sentences if possible. They have
more impact.
Connect paragraphs together, otherwise your
writing will feel disjointed.
Give due reference to work of others. Whenever
you make a claim, provide a reference if it is
not your own work. It should be clear what you
did and what you borrowed.
More Tips
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Never begin a sentence with a number or with
conjunctions …. If you have to use a number,
write the number in words, e.g. Three of the
samples were blue.
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Number all equations used and explain all terms
utilized immediately following the equation so
readers do not have to go to the nomenclature.
And More Tips
o Explain an abbreviation the first time you use it,
e.g. Random Access Memory (RAM) is used for
volatile storage in computers.
o Do not use the same word many times in the
same sentence, paragraph or page,
• e.g., the complex nature of the complexity was
puzzling. The problem was complex because of the
complex variables used.
And more..
o
Use italics for stolen latin et al., in situ, a
priori and so on
o
This also holds for names of
microorganisms e.g., Pseudomonas
syringae instead of Pseudomonas
syringae.
The Best
Reference

Strunk and
White “The
Elements of
Style”

~ 100 pages

cheap in used
book stores
The importance of editing (part 1)
A panda walks into a restaurant, has dinner,
kills the waiter with a gun and walks out.
From the dictionary:
Panda (n):
• A black and white mammal, related to the
raccoon.
• Lives in the forests of China.
• Eats, shoots and leaves
The importance of editing (part 2)
In the early days of printing, a set of bibles
were printed with the following
commandment:
Thou shalt commit adultery
Improve Style by Editing
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Editing written work is essential
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Objective is to improve clarity and
conciseness
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Learn to be critical of your own work
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Importance/value is independent of
work done to create
Proofreading
o Essential — errors reflect badly on the
author
o Preferably by others — especially “nontechnical” others
o Look for:
• spelling errors
• poor paragraphs
• leaps in logic/turbulent flow
Do-It-Yourself
o Proofread well after you have written it
when:
• you have forgotten what you were trying
to say
• you have forgotten how much time you
spent preparing it
Afterthought
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Unfortunately, humour and hyperbole have
no place in technical writing.
It is also best to avoid colloquialisms (“The
new idea helped us a whole bunch”)
(Save them for the oral presentation)
Academic Integrity
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Plagiarism is an academic offense!
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Paraphrasing (without citation) is plagiarism
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Cite references
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If a thought is not your own, state where it came
from
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Good reference citations add to the credibility of
written work
Citing resources
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References
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Use one consistent style
• Check with your instructor on what is
required, e.g.
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APA style (at library reference desk)
ASCE
http://pubs.asce.org/authors/book/generalresources/references.htm#referencesquickguide
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IEEE
http://www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs_iportals/iportals/publications/authors/transjnl/stylemanual.pdf
The CV project is your first
chance to hone your writing
skills
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Use an outline to organize your report
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Generate content from various sources
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Revise by editing
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Look at it as a learning opportunity