A Guide to Writing as an Engineer, 4th Edition

A Guide to Writing as an Engineer, 4th Edition

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Book description

The fourth edition of A Guide to Writing as an Engineer updates Beer and McMurrey's popular book on communication and technical writing for engineers. Used predominantly in freshmen engineering survey courses, the text is also applicable for specific courses on engineering writing or technical communication later in the curriculum. A Guide to Writing as an Engineer deals with a variety of topics ranging from important writing concepts that apply to professional engineers, to content, organization, format and style of various kinds of engineering writing. The book also covers oral presentations, research techniques, ethics, and proper citation methods. Beer remains a practical, handy book that can function not only as a classroom textbook, but also as a reference and guide for writing and research, for practicing engineers.

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Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. PREFACE
    1. WHAT'S NEW IN THIS EDITION
    2. WHO SHOULD USE THIS BOOK
    3. WHAT'S IN THIS BOOK
    4. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    1. ENGINEERS WRITE A LOT
    2. ENGINEERS WRITE MANY KINDS OF DOCUMENTS
    3. SUCCESSFUL ENGINEERING CAREERS REQUIRE STRONG WRITING SKILLS
    4. ENGINEERS CAN LEARN TO WRITE WELL
    5. NOISE AND THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS
    6. CONTROLLING THE WRITING SYSTEM
    7. EXERCISES
    8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    1. SPELLING AND SPELL CHECKERS
    2. PUNCTUATION
    3. TRADITIONAL SENTENCE ERRORS
    4. TECHNICAL USAGE
    5. EDIT, EDIT, EDIT
    6. EXERCISES
    7. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    1. FOCUS ON WHY YOU ARE WRITING
    2. FOCUS ON YOUR READERS
    3. SATISFY DOCUMENT SPECIFICATIONS
    4. GET TO THE POINT
    5. PROVIDE ACCURATE INFORMATION
    6. PRESENT YOUR MATERIAL LOGICALLY
    7. EXPLAIN THE TECHNICAL TO NONSPECIALISTS
    8. MAKE YOUR IDEAS ACCESSIBLE
    9. USE EFFICIENT WORDING
    10. FORMAT YOUR PAGES CAREFULLY
    11. EXPRESS YOURSELF CLEARLY
    12. MANAGE YOUR TIME EFFICIENTLY
    13. EDIT AT DIFFERENT LEVELS
    14. SHARE THE LOAD: WRITE AS A TEAM
    15. EXERCISES
    16. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    1. WHICH TO USE?
    2. WRITING STYLE FOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE
    3. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR TRICKY SITUATIONS
    4. BUSINESS LETTERS: COMPONENTS AND FORMAT
    5. BUSINESS MEMORANDA
    6. EMAIL: FUNCTIONS, STYLE, FORMAT
    7. NEW INTERNET MEDIA
    8. EXERCISES
    9. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    1. SOME PRELIMINARIES
    2. INSPECTION AND TRIP REPORTS
    3. RESEARCH, LABORATORY, AND FIELD REPORTS
    4. SPECIFICATIONS
    5. PROPOSALS
    6. PROGRESS REPORTS
    7. INSTRUCTIONS
    8. RECOMMENDATION REPORTS
    9. EXERCISES
    10. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    1. ENGINEERING RESEARCH REPORTS
    2. ENGINEERING DESIGN REPORTS
    3. GENERAL REPORT DESIGN AND FORMAT
    4. GENERATING PORTABLE DOCUMENT FILES
    5. USING CMS AND OTHER APPLICATIONS FOR TEAM REPORTS
    6. EXERCISES
    7. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    1. TABLES
    2. CHARTS AND GRAPHS
    3. ILLUSTRATIONS
    4. GRAPHICS AND TABLES: GUIDELINES
    5. EXERCISES
    6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    1. BASIC SEARCH STRATEGIES
    2. SOURCES OF ENGINEERING INFORMATION
    3. INTERNET ENGINEERING INFORMATION RESOURCES
    4. INTERNET SEARCH TOOLS
    5. EXERCISES
    6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    1. PREPARING THE PRESENTATION
    2. DELIVERING THE PRESENTATION
    3. PRESENTING AS A TEAM
    4. CHECKLIST FOR ORAL PRESENTATIONS
    5. LISTENING TO PRESENTATIONS
    6. THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMAL COMMUNICATION
    7. EXERCISES
    8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    1. HOW TO WRITE AN ENGINEERING RÉSUMÉ
    2. HOW TO WRITE AN APPLICATION LETTER
    3. HOW TO WRITE A FOLLOW-UP LETTER
    4. EXERCISES
    5. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    1. ENGINEERING ETHICS
    2. THE ETHICS OF HONEST RESEARCH
    3. EXERCISES
    4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    1. INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT
    2. CREATING A WORDPRESS BLOG
    3. BUILDING A FACEBOOK PAGE FOR A BUSINESS
    4. USING TWITTER TO CONNECT AND SHARE INFORMATION
    5. GENERATING YOUR INTERACTIVE RÉSUMÉ ON LINKEDIN
    6. TARGETING EXPERTS WITH GOOGLE+
    7. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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