CHAPTER 4

Engineering Communication

© 2011 Cengage Learning Engineering. All Rights Reserved. 4-1

 Engineering – An Exciting Profession

• Introduction to engineering profession

• Preparing for an engineering career
• Introduction to engineering design
• Engineering communication
• Ethics

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 Outline

In this chapter we will

• Discuss problem solving skills
• Show how you should present your
engineering work
• Introduce you to Microsoft PowerPoint—a tool
that is used commonly to give an attractive
and effective presentation

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 Objectives

The objectives of this chapter are to

• Introduce basic steps in engineering problem solving
• Introduce various forms of engineering written
communication
 Homework presentations

 Progress reports

 Technical reports

 Lab reports

• Introduce oral and engineering graphical

communication
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 Why Is Communication Important to
an Engineer?

• As an engineering students you need to

develop good written and oral communication
skills.
• As an engineering student and later as an
engineer you need to
 know how to express your thoughts
 present a concept for a product or a service
 present an engineering analysis of a problem and
its solution, or
 show your findings from an experimental work
© 2011 Cengage Learning Engineering. All Rights Reserved. 4-5
 Why Is Communication Important to
an Engineer? (continued)

• You need to know how to communicate design ideas

by means of engineering drawings or computer aided
modeling techniques.
• Most engineers are required to write reports that
 may be detailed and lengthy

 may contain charts, graphs, and engineering

drawings, or
 may be brief and in the forms of progress reports,

memorandum, or executive summary

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 Examples of Written Communication
Categories

• Homework
• Weekly progress reports
• Technical reports
• Lab reports
• Design project reports

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 Problem Solving – 4 Basic Steps

• Defining the problem

• Simplifying the problem
• Performing the solution or analysis
• Verifying the results

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 Problem Solving

Step 1: Defining the problem

• Understand the problem
 what is being asked

 what is known

 what is to be determined

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 Problem Solving

Step 2: Simplifying the problem

• Make appropriate assumptions
• Understanding the fundamental concepts and
physical laws as well as when and where to
apply them and their limitations will benefit
you in making the correct assumptions

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 Problem Solving
Step 3: Performing the solution or analysis
• Select appropriate model(s)
• You may need to apply
 Mathematical concepts

 Physical laws

 Engineering fundamentals

• Show appropriate units

• You may need to show your results in
numerical or parametric forms

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 Problem Solving

Step 4: Verifying the results

• Does the answer make sense? How would you know
your answer is correct?
 Should you ask your professor?

 Should you check the back of your textbook to

match answers
• You should know the range of answers
• You should know other ways to analyze the problem
• You should know how to simplify or approximate the
problem for a “ball park” answer

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 Homework Presentation
All homework presentation should include:
• Given:
 Problem statement

 Extracted information

• Find:
 What is to be determined?

• Solution
 Appropriate model(s)

 diagrams

 Step by step calculations

 Answers with proper units highlighted

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 An Example of Engineering Problem
Presentation

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 An Example of Engineering Homework
Presentation (continued)

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 Progress Report

A short form of communication to others in an

organization or to the sponsors of a project
• Work completed so far
• Work expected to be completed during the
next reporting period
• Any problems that may have come up, and
the recommended solutions

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 Executive Summary

• A brief and concise form of communication

to top management
• To convey the findings of a study or
proposal
• Typically few pages long
• References may be made to more
comprehensive reports

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 Short Memos

Short memos are used to convey

information in a brief way to interested
individuals

An example of a memo format

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 Examples of Technical and Design
Report Contents

Technical Report Design Report

• Title • Title
• Abstract • Executive summary
• Objectives • Design objectives
• Theory & analysis • Design assumptions,
limitations & specifications
• Apparatus & experimental
procedures • Design summary
• Data & results • Design drawings

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 Examples of Technical and Design
Report Contents (continued)

Technical Report Design Report

• Discussion of results • Alternative designs
• Economic analysis
• Conclusions & • Conclusions &
recommendations recommendations
• References • References
• Appendix • Appendix

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 Technical Report – Abstract

• The most important section in any report

• Complete and concise statements including
 Objectives

 Procedures

 Results

 Conclusions and recommendations

• The last section to write

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 Technical Report – Objectives

• State what is to be investigated

• List your objectives explicitly, for example, 1. ,
2., 3., . . . .

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 Technical Report – Theory and Analysis

• To state pertinent principles, laws, and

equations (equations should be numbered)
• To present analytical models used
• To define unfamiliar terms and symbols
• To list important assumptions

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 Technical Report – Apparatus and
Experimental Procedures

• To present the list of apparatus and instrumentation

used (include instrument range, accuracy, and ID
number)
• To describe how you performed the experiment
• The experimental procedure should be itemized
• Include schematic diagram of the experimental setup

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 Technical Report – Data and Results

• Present the results of the experiment in tabular or

graphical forms
• The tables and graphs must include titles, column or
row headings, units, axis labels, and data points
clearly marked
• All figures and tables must be numbered and have
descriptive titles
• All figure numbers and titles should be placed below
the figures. All table numbers and titles should be
placed above the tables.

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 Technical Report – Discussion of the
Results

• Emphasize and Explain to the reader the

important results of the experiment.
• When applicable, compare experimental
results with theoretical calculations

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 Technical Report – Conclusions and
Recommendations

• Compare your objectives with your

experimental results
• Support your conclusions with appropriate
reference materials
• State recommendations based on the
conclusions

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 Technical Report – References

Books
 Author, title, publisher, place of publication,

date (year), pages

• Articles
 Author, “title of article,” name of journal,

volume number, issue number, year, pages

• Internet materials
 Author, title, date, URL address

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 Technical Report – Appendix

• Original data sheets

• Sample calculations
• Supplementary notes

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 An Example of Lab Report Cover
Sheet

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 Oral Presentations

• Oral presentation
 Keep the audience’s attention

 Maintain eye contact with the audience

 Use humor

 Use good visual aides

 If possible get the audience involved

 Avoid using terminology or phrases that may

be unfamiliar to the majority of listeners

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 Oral Presentations (continued)

• Length of Presentation
 Varies depending on the scope of the talk

 Usually 20 – 30 minutes

• Prepare and rehearse your presentation

 Ask a friend to critique your presentation

 Practice, practice, practice!

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 Visual Aides

• PowerPoint
• Use colorful charts, graphs, & tables
• Use appropriate contrast
• Use large fonts
• Don’t overcrowded the “slide”
• Use short phrases instead of paragraphs
• If available, use models and prototypes
• If possible, use video clips and animations

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 An Example of Animation

mechanical work is defined as the component

of the force that moves the object times the
distance the object moves more in physics,
mechanics of materials,
structural analysis &
work = F x d others

unit: N-m, j, ….
distance, d

force

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 Engineering Graphical Communication
More in
chapter
• Engineers used engineering drawings to 16
convey their ideas and design information
about products
• Engineering drawings portray vital information
such as shape of the product, its size, type of
material used and assembly steps
• Machinists use the information on the
engineering drawings to make the parts

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 Examples of Engineering Drawings

Assembly crawing of corkscrew

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 Examples of Engineering Drawings
(continued)

Common manufactured metal beam connectors

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 Examples of Engineering Drawings
(continued)

Examples of drawings used in electrical and electronic engineering

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 Summary

• You should know the basic steps involved in

the solution of engineering problems.
• You should realize that you must find your own
ways to verify your solutions to a problem.
• You should realize that it is very important for
engineers to know how to communicate well
with others both orally and in written form.
• You should be familiar with various ways of
giving an engineering presentation.

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