Engineering Communication

Introduction
Part 1: Getting Started
1. Purpose, Genre, and Audience
Principle 1: Finding Purpose
Principle 2: Improvising Genre
Principle 3: Constructing Audience
2. Strategies for Invention
Principle 4: Developing a Credible Argument
Principle 5: Using Rhetorical Tools Consciously
Principle 6: Building Effective Introductions
Part 2: Modes of Control
3. Directing the Advance
Principle 7: Framing Knowledge
Principle 8: Building Visible Structure
Principle 9: Directing the Reader Rhetorically
Principle 10: Making Transitions
4. Creating Clarity and Cohesion
Principle 11: Designing Paragraphs
Principle 12: Moving from Known to New
Principle 13: Modifying Matters
Part 3: Elements of Refined Design
5. Generating Flow
Principle 14: Elevating Verbs
Principle 15: Positioning the Verb
Principle 16: Finding the Real Subject
Principle 17: Capitalizing on the Power Position
6. Engineering Elegance
Principle 18: Determining Sentence Length
Principle 19: Mastering Sentence Rhythm
Part 4: Applications
7. Applying the Principles to Visual Communication
8. Applying the Principles to Written Communication
9. Applying the Principles to Oral Communication
Putting the Principles into Practice
Appendix A: Sentence Structure
Appendix B: Clauses
Appendix C: Adjectives and Adverbs
Appendix D: Conjunctions
Appendix E: Verbs and Verbals
Appendix F: Fallacies
References
Index

PowerPoint slides
In-lecture activities

Robert Irish and Peter Eliot Weiss have worked together for eight years in the Engineering Communication Program at the University of Toronto. Robert Irish, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, began the program in 1995 and served as its first director until 2008. Peter Weiss is Senior Lecturer at the University of Toronto and is the current director of the Engineering Communication Program, which he has been involved with since 2000.

Special Features

• Smart organization. Content is separated into a series of easy-to-follow principles (19 in total) which together help students improve their overall writing and communication skills in a step-by-step fashion.
• Practical. Students are taught transferable skills rather than simply being given templates to copy, giving them a workable and versatile knowledge of grammatical, effective writing.
• Real-world strategies. Real documents prepared by professional engineers; for example, a full-text project report on the failure of a crane at an aluminium plant is thoroughly analyzed. This model, as well as samples of work from engineering students, is provided to help students gain an understanding of how to apply successful communication strategies in the workplace.
• Helpful learning tools. The appendix includes guides to grammar basics such as sentence structure, clauses, and conjunctions, giving students a solid grounding in the basics of writing before they progress through more complex examples.
• Written for engineers. The text is written by experts in engineering communication to address the specific communication requirements of engineering students and professionals.