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Engineering Reports&
Revising and Editing
Angelos AnastassopoulosUniversity of Windsor
85-118 Professional Development2 November 2004
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Engineering Reports
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Engineering Reports
Engineers write a lot of technical reports: Lab report Co-op report 4th year design project report industry, particularly consulting engineers
e.g., Environmental Impact Studye.g., Design Validation Report
NoteProposal is essentially a type of report (proposes atechnical solution to a client)
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Parts of a Technical Report
FRONTMATTER
MAINTEXT
ENDMATTER
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Parts of a Technical Report:
Front Matter
1. Letter of transmittal
2. Cover (with label)
3. Table of Contents
4. List of Figures & Tables
5. Abstract /Executive Summary
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Front Matter: Letter of Transmittal
Similar to a cover letter for your resume
Usually, staple or paperclip to front cover of report
Use Block Letter Format
1 page max
3 paragraphs:1. Name of report (italics)
2. Purpose of report,brief overview of report’s contents (withkey conclusions)
3. Encourage reader to contact youe.g., “I hope you will find this report satisfactory and lookforward to hearing from you soon.”
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Front Matter:
Abstract / Executive Summary
Intended for skimmers
“Descriptive Abstract” Very brief overview of purpose and contents
Not as common in industry
“Executive Summary” More common in industry
The “take home message”…key findings, conclusions, recommendations
Usually 1/2 page - 1 page, (max 3)
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Parts of a Technical Report:
Main Text
6. Introduction Purpose
Background
Scope
Etc.
7. Body of the report
8. Conclusions
9. Recommendations
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Main Text: Introduction
Introduces the report Purpose
Intended audience
Situation that brought about need for report
Background
Scope
Self-references the report
e.g., “This report analyzes the results of using variousenergy-efficient strategies to determine…”
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Use headings
Important Headings: Problem / Purpose
Background
Scope
Additional Headings: Significance
Authorization
Literature Review
Definitions & Key Terms
Organization
Main Text: Introduction
e.g.,
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Purpose
1.2 Background
1.3 Scope
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e.g., Environmental impact assessment report
2.0 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
2.1 Proposed development
2.2 Environmental Impacts
2.3 Proposed mitigation measures
Provide evidence for the conclusions you will make
Choose an organizing principle (use your outline)
Use headings for topics and sub-topics
Use lists to organize information (bullets, numbers)
Use graphics (figures, tables) as appropriate
Main Text: Body of the report
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Logical conclusions that follow directly from report’spreceding text
i.e., Don’t introduce new information! Avoid “non sequitur”!
Move towards general Explain the significance of your findings
Implications, applications, future developments
Use numbered or bulleted list for longer set ofconclusions
Main Text: Conclusions
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Feasible and specific
Should evolve from findingsand conclusions
i.e., Don’t introduce newinformation!
Can number therecommendations (notbullets)
Describe how to implementrecommendations
Main Text: Recommendations
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Parts of a Technical Report:
End Matter
10.Appendix
11.End Notes
12.References
Note
For References, use a “standard style”, appropriate tothe audience you are writing for!
Example:Co-opWork Report
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Revising & Editing(Rewriting)
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Edit at Different Levels
Level 1 Mechanics: grammar, spelling, punctuation, typos
Level 2 Paragraph/sentence length
Paragraph/sentence structure
Concise use of words? Best word choice?
Tone
Voice (e.g., 1st person active, 3rd person passive)
Level 3 ‘Global’ edit on overall document
Organization (change outline?), format, appearance
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TUTORIAL #4
Rewriting a technical paragraph “Use of CO2 for refrigeration”
Bring a typed draft to the tutorial (2 copies).
Website:http://web2.uwindsor.ca/courses/bondy2/index.html
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Use of CO2 for Refrigeration
Due to the global warming impact of hydro-fluoro-carbons (HFCs), tosave the environment, worldwide attention has been paid on the use ofnatural refrigerants. The ways to use these refrigerants efficiently arethe urgent needs of the present automotive and HVAC industries. As anatural refrigerant, carbon dioxide (CO2) seems to be the mostpromising one, especially for automotive air conditioning systems.Therefore, much interest has been focused on the transcritical CO2
refrigeration cycle for the automotive air conditioning system. Thedifferent nature of the gas cooling process as compared to theconventional phase-change condensing process leads to the muchdifferent characteristics of transcritical CO2 refrigeration cycle. Theproperties of supercritical CO2 vary drastically during the supercriticalgas cooling process making the design of the gas cooler veryimportant.
NOTE: Posted on the website
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What Questions Would You Ask?
TIPKnow your subject before rewriting… create a “FAQ”!
What is HVAC? Heating ventilation and air conditioning
Isn’t CO2 a greenhouse gas itself? Yes, but the idea is to use waste CO2 gas that
would otherwise be vented to the atmosphere.
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What Questions Would You Ask?
How does the conventional phase-changecondensing process vary from thesupercritical gas cooling process? The conventional process uses a condenser to
cool and liquefy the refrigerant. The supercriticalprocess has no condenser.
What does the gas cooler do in therefrigeration cycle? It is used, instead of a condenser, to cool the
supercritical CO2 fluid.
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The End
