Handbook: Writing Tips for Undergraduate Engineers

As an instructor and grader in the University of Toronto Engineering Communication Centre, part of my responsibilities have included grading or otherwise responding to nearly 800 engineering formal reports. This short list addresses some common problems that brought down the grades of almost every student. The first three points should help you get started, the next group will help as you write, and the final six -- perhaps the most important -- will help you revise what you've written and prepare to hand it in. -- Dennis G. Jerz

Before You Write
1. Plan ahead. If you can, bring an outline and/or a draft to the Engineering Communication Centre. It may be the most productive half hour you invest in your studies this year. Be aware that the centre tends to fill up early when major assignments are pending, so you need to book an appointment ahead of time.
2. Follow your instructions carefully. Know what is expected of you, and invest your time accordingly. For instance, evaluating a design takes more work than merely describing it; justifying a conclusion takes more work than merely reporting it. Understanding rhetorical patterns may help you see what the assignment is asking. Omitting or skimping on an important section in favor of an unimportant one can severely hurt you. If you're puzzled, don't delay; ask your professor, TA or someone in the writing centre to help you decode what is being asked.
3. Outline. Resist the urge to start filling up pages immediately with nonsense like, "Throughout the ages, mankind has sat around tribal fires, looking up at the stars and wondering about [your topic here]." In order to avoid being defeated by a false start -- or a series of false starts the night before the assignment is due -- you should have a clear idea of where you want to go before you start trying to get there.

While You Write

4. Remember that every word is NOT precious. Often students get bogged down trying to say it right. Just say it. Get your ideas down as quickly and efficiently as possible. If you get stuck on one section, look at your outline and start working on the next section. Soon, you'll find you can come back to the trouble spot with little sweat. When you write this way, your first draft will come out fairly quickly, but it will need to be revised!

5. Use paraphrasing and direct quotation intelligently. Some students will laboriously rewrite an entire paragraph or page from another source -- for instance, taking a phrase like "the structure's outer shell" and turning it into "the external shell of the structure," and so on. Even if you spend hours revising the original work in order to avoid using the original author's words, you still have to give credit to the original author. The time you spend revising somebody else's text is time that you aren't spending on your own writing. Even if you copy none of the original author's exact words, using another person's work without giving due credit is still plagiarism. See the Engineering Writing Centre's Accurate Documentation for details on how to cite your sources properly.

6. Organize your text. Use good paragraph structure, paying attention to topic sentences and transitions. Define your terms before you use them, carefully working from old information to new information. Also, use informative headings to help bridge sections. A header such as "Design of a Hyperdrive Filter" is more informative than just "Project Design".
8. Use illustrations properly. No matter how beautiful your charts, graphs, and diagrams may be, good graphics cannot save bad writing. Do not let your graphics steal too much time that you should spend on your writing. You must also describe in words all the important information you give in your illustrations. In fact, any illustration that you don't write about as well is useless. Labelling illustrations correctly including Figure number, title, and source is also very helpful and shows a clearly organized document.
9. Back up your files (and learn how to change your printer cartridge, and feed your dog something other than your homework) so you won't have to give a lame excuse for why you aren't ready on time.

After You Write
10. Cut the filler. Your grader will read your document, not weigh it. Technical documents are not like English essays. In English essays, you search for extra words to pad out what little you have to say about Hamlet's madness, but in technical writing, "brevity is the soul of wit." Often, the introduction section winds up being the most wordy and pointless. Revise that section particularly carefully.
11. Create strong indicators. One important aspect of a technical paper is that you create really obvious indicators for your reader. For example, the last sentence in the first paragraph at the top of this document explains my three sections. In technical documents such "signposts" are very important, even if they make boring sentences.
12. Check for cohesion (good transitions and logical ordering). Ensure that the title and introduction you originally chose for your document still make sense. Your grader will judge you (in part) on how well you do what you say you are trying to do. If you notice at a late stage that your document does not actually deliver what you promised, but you're satisfied with what you provided instead, touch up your introduction so that it fits perfectly. Be sure your conclusion is not like the following:
Therefore, this paper has [repeat introduction here].
12. Proofread. Spelling and grammar checkers are no substitute for a dictionary, close inspection, and time.
13. Format your document neatly. Everybody plays with margins now and then in order to stretch or squeeze text, but immense titles, oversized graphics, and great swaths of white space will fool nobody. A well-formatted document has the following simple features:

One-inch margins all around

Double-spaced text so that your grader has room to make comments

12 point font because smaller type is too hard to read

Clear paragraph breaks either by indenting half an inch or skipping a line (not both)

Numbered pages (even if you do so by hand)

Simple staple to bind pages. Paper clips fall off; spiral bindings or those horrible static-laden plastic covers irritate graders who often have hundreds of papers to sort and handle. As a general rule, I assume that the excessiveness of binding is inversely proportional to the quality of the work.

14. Print out your final draft with care. If you are planning to become an engineer, you had better know how to replace a fading printer cartridge. If for some reason you must use erasable paper, turn in a clear photocopy; otherwise, your grader may accidentally obliterate part of your work.

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