Abstract
An updated edition of the classic guide to technical communication. Consider that 20 to 50 percent of a technology professional's time is spent communicating with others. Whether writing a memo, preparing a set of procedures, or making an oral presentation, effective communication is vital to your professional success. This anthology delivers concrete advice from the foremost experts on how to communicate more effectively in the workplace. The revised and expanded second edition of this popular book completely updates the original, providing authoritative guidance on communicating via modern technology in the contemporary work environment. Two new sections on global communication and the Internet address communicating effectively in the context of increased e-mail and web usage. As in the original, David Beer's Second Edition discusses a variety of approaches, such as: * Writing technical documents that are clear and effective * Giving oral presentations more confidently * Using graphics and other visual aids judiciously * Holding productive meetings * Becoming an effective listener. The new edition also includes updated articles on working with others to get results and on giving directions that work. Each article is aimed specifically at the needs of engineers and others in the technology professions, and is written by a practicing engineer or a technical communicator. Technical engineers, IEEE society members, and technical writing teachers will find this updated edition of David Beer's classic Writing and Speaking in the Technology Professions an invaluable guide to successful communication. © 2003 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved.
... Much has been written about the essentials of writing requirements in various curricula settings and career preparations. [1][2][3] Surveys repeatedly have demonstrated both the shortcomings of graduates in their ability to write and the demands of the workplace for improved performance. 2 However, what has been stated with insufficient clarity is what is the specific purpose of writing, and, therefore, how can one more effectively address this issue in a curriculum? ...
... A writer feels the sense of achievement coming from seeing his/her ideas in print and is often regarded to be an authority in the field. Writing skill should be regarded as a crucial element in engineering success [9]. Like other engineering skills, writing skill is developed with time. ...
Engineers in industry have complained again and again that graduating engineers are not well prepared in written and oral communication. Engineers are expected to write a lot. They are required to write specifications, reports, manuals, and other technical documents. Unfortunately, most institutions do not offer writing courses for the undergraduate and graduate programs. Although graduate students are expected to conduct research and publish the results of their work in journal and conference publications, they are not prepared to write publishable papers. As a result, many students go through a lot struggle, difficulty, and frustration. This paper provides some tips on writing a high quality research paper that is publishable.
... However, the workplace context is a little challenging for language trainers who feel ill-equipped to deal with such a context due to their lack of knowledge of the business milieu (Cummins and Davison, 2007). Therefore the first measure in creating a workplace course is to identify the learners' specific needs (Beer, 2003). Needs analysis can be carried out in the form of questionnaire, interviews, analysis of authentic workplace texts (Forey, 2005), or even workplace observation which might be used in class in the form of photos to explain job system and security measures (Belfiore and Burnaby, 1995). ...
The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which workplace training in the English language catered for the needs of a group of executives in a Tunisian public sector institution (the Institut National de la Statistique, INS). The participants consisted of 33 executives, their administrator, the syllabus designer, and the teachers of English. The trainees’ present and target situations were investigated through questionnaires. The remaining participants were interviewed. Also an observation of the workplace environment was undertaken. The type of analysis carried out was mainly qualitative. An analysis of the textbooks in use was undertaken to perceive the convergence or divergence between what the teaching situation offered and what the trainees expected. The results indicated that 79% of the trainees expected to learn social language, 73% expected to write reports and 67% wanted to learn to conduct presentations. The analysis of the two textbooks revealed that they covered 81% of the trainees’ needs. The findings of the present study showed that the English training at the INS was adequate. Materials analysis revealed that the two textbooks failed to cater for 11% of the trainees’ needs. It was therefore necessary for the teachers to fill this gap through the inclusion of extra materials.
... Advanced literacy, for example, cannot be assumed. The US Army, a great producer and consumer of manuals, found that, in 1982, almost 40 per cent of its junior enlisted personnel had reading abilities below the sixth-grade level, or were in fact illiterate by United Nations standards (Meyer 1992; see also online chapter 3). English has become the de facto 'global language', although this does not mean that all people who have a grasp of the language do so at a sophisticated level. ...
... Difficulty in writing is a general problem of our students, so some extra effort has been devoted to it, in this course. During a lecture, the teacher usually stresses the importance of communicating correctly any work and generally instructs the students how to do it before they start preparing their oral presentations or their papers; some bibliography on the subject of writing and speaking is also recommended [6] [7]. ...
A Visualization course offered twice (1997/1998 and 1998/1999) as an elective in the M.Sc. degree on Electronics and Telecommunications at the University of Aveiro is presented. Its contents, bibliography and teaching methods are described. Some difficulties encountered during the preparation and lecturing of this course are identified.
... This paper can be seen as the "quick and dirty" guide, or an appetizer to further studies. Beer (1992) has collected more than 60 short articles providing practical help on a number of issues from writing the first draft of a paper to giving talks. I have found a couple of papers on the topic as well: a relatively short one by Naur (1992); one containing detailed examples of how to present results by Gopen and Swan (1990);Snyder's (1991) is directed at potential submitters to OOPSLA; Pugh (1991) and Wegman (1986) focus on how to write extended abstracts. ...
When we as researchers sit in solitude, just before (or after) the final deadline for submission, and fight a hard battle in order to finish our latest, newest, and definitely, best paper to date, we do not think much about it. When we post the paper to a journal or a conference, we do not think much about it either. But I bet that most of us do when we get reviews back, or when we get nasty questions when presenting the paper at a conference. Our own colleagues are often much too polite to tell the bitter truth that the paper is flawed, unfinished, and contentious.
The following pages explores the question: How do I write a good article which both documents the body of research I have conducted, and which also “sells” the points I am trying to make? These pages contain some of the basic questions it is a good idea to have had considered before shipping the first draft off. They are based on my own subjective experiences with writing articles. It is my aim to present some of the basic rules I have learned, not the “full story”. If you, when you have read these pages, try to apply the normative statements I forward in this paper,
you will understand why I chose to call it “This is Not an Article — Just Some Food for Thought on How to Write One”.
... This report summarizes the research results and progress to date, as well as next steps. Students are referred to various books on how to design clear and effective visual aids and how to write clear and concise technical papers1234. In class meetings when no project presentations are scheduled, the seminar focuses on informal discussion of various issues and problems raised by students' projects. ...
This paper describes the personal experience of this professor in conducting a graduate seminar class, the primary purpose of which is to provide a vehicle within the graduate curriculum for students to engage in independent research. This paper describes the format and processes employed during the course which have proven successful in ensuring that students fulfill the course requirements and the objectives of their research projects.
Dental anxiety (DA) is a prevalent public health issue. However, there is a lack of self-administered DA interventions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the short-term effects of web-based interventions aiming to reduce DA in adults in two European countries. A pretest posttest design was used. Tailor-made websites were developed in Lithuania and Norway. Volunteers who self-reported DA were invited to participate. DA levels measured by the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) were assessed at baseline and after two weeks via online questionnaires. The interventions were completed by 34 participants in Lithuania and 35 participants in Norway. In Lithuania, the median posttest MDAS score (9.5, IQR 5.25) decreased compared to the median pretest MDAS score (14.5, IQR 8; Z value = −4.246, p < 0.001). The same was found in Norway—the median posttest MDAS score (12, IQR 9) was lower compared to the median pretest MDAS score (15, IQR 7; Z value = −3.818, p < 0.001). The present study demonstrated that two tailor-made web-based interventions had the potential to reduce dental anxiety levels when assessed in the short term in Lithuania and Norway. Studies with more controlled designs assessing long-term outcomes are needed to validate the results of this pilot study also in other cultures.
For years traditional and digital media have played an essential role of disseminating news and information to keep their target audience always updated about what is happening nationally and internationally. News consumption has globally been experiencing enormous deviations due to advancements in technology. In this context, the study examined and analysed news consumption patterns among the youth through traditional and digital media. The study employed a sequential mixed research method. A self-administered questionnaire and semi-structured personal interview were used to collect data from youth aged between 18-34 years. A sample of 320 youth participated in the study, with 300 in quantitative and 20 in qualitative methods of research used to gather data for the study. Youth participants were randomly selected using convenience non-probability sampling. The data collected through a questionnaire were analysed using the Statistical Programme for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, inferential and descriptive statistics, while qualitative data were thematically analysed and interpreted considering diverse themes, sub-themes and common statements.
The study results revealed that most youth highly preferred to access and consume news through online media more than television and newspapers because digital media are cheap, easily accessible and affordable. The findings further indicated that most youth highly preferred to consume news through television channels such as ETV because it is a credible and reliable source of news. It is highlighted in the results that most youth preferred to consume entertainment news more than business, political and sport news because they find the former interesting and relaxing. Also, most youth did prefer to discuss entertainment news with family members and friends and that there are positive relationships between media credibility and news consumption which tend to influence family and friends’ news discussions. In a nutshell, the findings of this study further suggest a philosophical change in news consumption patterns among South African youth and the operation of media industries. However, the study recommends that most media houses need to broadcast and publish business and political news that are more relevant, accurate and objective for most youth to consume proficiently.
Getting your article published through peer review is a great way to not only disseminate your experimental findings to other scientists, but also gain credibility. My goal for this chapter is to help you understand how the peer review system works and provide you with practical guidelines, so that you can start publishing. Key to successfully publishing is the need to:Understand your audience.Write an outline to clearly define scope.Identify the right journal for your article.Appreciate the structure/format expected from you, as a writer. Understand your audience. Write an outline to clearly define scope. Identify the right journal for your article. Appreciate the structure/format expected from you, as a writer. Although there are a number of different types of articles that you can publish for peer review, this chapter focuses on some of the more common ones, namely the publication of a:Technical paper—to report your findings from the laboratory.Review article—to give an overview of a particular topic or issue.Opinion piece paper—to give perspective/commentary/opinion on a particular topic or issue. Technical paper—to report your findings from the laboratory. Review article—to give an overview of a particular topic or issue. Opinion piece paper—to give perspective/commentary/opinion on a particular topic or issue.
Ponorogo with all its uniqueness has a famous art that is a Reyog Ponorogo. On its
development, Reyog Ponorogo experiencing a paradigm that makes the different form of Reyog Ponorogo
performance into two versions, namely; Reyog obyogan and Reyog festival. Dancers, instrument
accompaniment, stories or myths, costume almost the same but it has different shows. Reyog with festival
concepts is likely more modern than Obyogan form. Festival concept filled by the spirit to win the game
and to get the president trophy, while reyog obyogan occupied with a sense of kindship, solidarity, and it
has hidden and indirect meaning of communication. This forms and the way how to communicate became
the style of the communication within these group. This study is based on the theory of high / low culture
context of Edward Hall differentiates the delivery of information in a culture and is influenced by the
surrounding context. Research Method that used in these style of Reyog Ponorogo communication show
is using participant observation and in-depth interviews. The results of this study about communication
styles in the Reyog Ponorogo show indicates that obyogan version belongs with the category of high
culture context with the characteristics of harmony with nature, self-awareness becomes part of the
community, delivering a message indirectly and fraternal. In Contrary with Obyogan, Reog Ponorogo
Performance that set up in a festival format included in the category of low context culture with the
message delivery model direct and clear, written rules, a competitive attitude and orientation towards the
future is clear and systematic.
Incorporating visuals into technical documents functions as rhetorical and document design moves intended to: simplify dense text, draw attention to particular aspects, or convey emotion. Proposal writing literature, however, tends toward content and text-based analysis and production with little emphasis on visual communication. With this opportunity, this study investigates visual usage in nineteen successful National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) proposals to codify visual practices, describe current uses, and recognize opportunities to better integrate visual communication into this high-stakes genre. Results show that proposal writers in the humanities field seem to use text manipulations frequently and effectively, though there also seems to be little consistency concerning the actual form of typographical manipulations for specific purposes. Further, usage of graphical visuals appears to be an underrepresented aspect of proposal writing both in frequency of incorporating visuals and also diversity and complexity of visuals when they are incorporated in proposals.
In Japan, university education has been required to teach university students "technical writing skill" as well as "basic scholastic achievement" and "specialized knowledge" by the progress of globalization. By focuses on making of the manuscript co-authored in the university laboratory, this paper discusses an improvement of technical writing skill. We educate the technical writing skill of the student as we improve the quality of the study by the academic-document writing process. The problems of this process do not advance on scheduled to depend on the skill of the student. In this paper, we will consider the method of document production support, by representing document production as a software reliability growth model. Also, we will make it a realistic model in order to add incomplete correction to document writing process.
This paper presents practice of efficient short-term education on signal processing in internship. The author has hosted nearly sixty international and domestic internship students in the field of signal processing since 1985. By investigating the facts from the 20-year experience, an overview of internship students is provided. A suitable research type is discussed followed by some techniques for efficient education in internship. Some examples of significant achievement in a short time are introduced to support these techniques
Many books on preparing engineering documents tell us that the first and most important step is audience analysis. While we agree that audience analysis is important, do we have the appropriate tools and techniques for anlaysis? Surveys can be effective tools for audience analysis, but identifying the audience is a problem - not only because the audience can be drawn from a globalized and diversified society, but also because the audience often consists of people of different nationalities and cultural backgrounds. However, any attempt at audience identification is better than none. In this paper, I present a method to identify the audience using a multi-agent system (MAS) when preparing engineering documents.
Marketing presentations can convince external clients to award a contract to the presenting engineering firm. Presentations to internal clients can result in the approval of a project or a purchase. Because persuasive presentations are crucial to engineering firms, individuals who create these presentations can benefit from investigating illustrations and text suitable for slide content. Appropriately incorporated sales techniques can reinforce visual and verbal information.
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