IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Jan 1997

Beginnings and endings: keys to better engineering technical writing

M.M. Pierson ; B.L. Pierson

Abstract

Engineers face many technical writing tasks that have many features in common: title, abstract, introduction, problem formulation, methods, results, and conclusions. But it is often very difficult to actually write these segments in the same order they appear in the finished product. Instead of this linear approach, we recommend a modular approach starting with the core sections, the methods and results that researchers know best, and working backward and forward to pick up the beginnings and endings. We show how the beginning and ending sections build on the core sections and offer strategies to improve them.

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published
1997-01-01
DOI
10.1109/47.650007
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
technical communication
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Wilson-Fetrow et al. (2023)
    Engineering Students’ Writing Perceptions Impact Their Conceptual Learning
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. Anthony (1999)
    Writing research article introductions in software engineering: how accurate is…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

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Show all 20 →
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CrossRef global citation count: 6 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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