Technical Writing

A Practical Guide

for Engineers and Scientists

TECHNICAL WRITING

A Practical Guide

for Engineers and Scientists

TECHNICAL

WRITING

Phillip A. Laplante

CRC Press is an imprint of the

Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Boca Raton London New York

WHAT EVERY ENGINEER SHOULD KNOW

A Series

Series Editor*

Phillip A. Laplante

Pennsylvania State University

1. What Every Engineer Should Know About Patents, William G. Konold,

Bruce Tittel, Donald F. Frei, and David S. Stallard

2. What Every Engineer Should Know About Product Liability, James F. Thorpe

and William H. Middendorf

3. What Every Engineer Should Know About Microcomputers: Hardware/Software

Design, A Step-by-Step Example, William S. Bennett and Carl F. Evert, Jr.

4. What Every Engineer Should Know About Economic Decision Analysis,

Dean S. Shupe

5. What Every Engineer Should Know About Human Resources Management,

Desmond D. Martin and Richard L. Shell

6. What Every Engineer Should Know About Manufacturing Cost Estimating,

Eric M. Malstrom

7. What Every Engineer Should Know About Inventing, William H. Middendorf

8. What Every Engineer Should Know About Technology Transfer and Innovation,

Louis N. Mogavero and Robert S. Shane

9. What Every Engineer Should Know About Project Management,

Arnold M. Ruskin and W. Eugene Estes

10. What Every Engineer Should Know About Computer-Aided Design and

Computer-Aided Manufacturing: The CAD/CAM Revolution, John K. Krouse

11. What Every Engineer Should Know About Robots, Maurice I. Zeldman

12. What Every Engineer Should Know About Microcomputer Systems Design and

Debugging, Bill Wray and Bill Crawford

13. What Every Engineer Should Know About Engineering Information Resources,

Margaret T. Schenk and James K. Webster

14. What Every Engineer Should Know About Microcomputer Program Design,

Keith R. Wehmeyer

15. What Every Engineer Should Know About Computer Modeling and Simulation,

Don M. Ingels

16. What Every Engineer Should Know About Engineering Workstations,

Justin E. Harlow III

17. What Every Engineer Should Know About Practical CAD/CAM Applications,

John Stark

18. What Every Engineer Should Know About Threaded Fasteners: Materials and

Design, Alexander Blake

19. What Every Engineer Should Know About Data Communications,

Carl Stephen Clifton

20. What Every Engineer Should Know About Material and Component Failure,

Failure Analysis, and Litigation, Lawrence E. Murr

21. What Every Engineer Should Know About Corrosion, Philip Schweitzer

22. What Every Engineer Should Know About Lasers, D. C. Winburn

23. What Every Engineer Should Know About Finite Element Analysis,

John R. Brauer

*Founding Series Editor: William H. Middendorf

24. What Every Engineer Should Know About Patents: Second Edition,

William G. Konold, Bruce Tittel, Donald F. Frei, and David S. Stallard

25. What Every Engineer Should Know About Electronic Communications Systems,

L. R. McKay

26. What Every Engineer Should Know About Quality Control, Thomas Pyzdek

27. What Every Engineer Should Know About Microcomputers: Hardware/Software

Design, A Step-by-Step Example, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded,

William S. Bennett, Carl F. Evert, and Leslie C. Lander

28. What Every Engineer Should Know About Ceramics, Solomon Musikant

29. What Every Engineer Should Know About Developing Plastics Products,

Bruce C. Wendle

30. What Every Engineer Should Know About Reliability and Risk Analysis,

M. Modarres

31. What Every Engineer Should Know About Finite Element Analysis: Second

Edition, Revised and Expanded, John R. Brauer

32. What Every Engineer Should Know About Accounting and Finance,

Jae K. Shim and Norman Henteleff

33. What Every Engineer Should Know About Project Management: Second Edition,

Revised and Expanded, Arnold M. Ruskin and W. Eugene Estes

34. What Every Engineer Should Know About Concurrent Engineering,

Thomas A. Salomone

35. What Every Engineer Should Know About Ethics, Kenneth K. Humphreys

36. What Every Engineer Should Know About Risk Engineering and Management,

John X. Wang and Marvin L. Roush

37. What Every Engineer Should Know About Decision Making Under Uncertainty,

John X. Wang

38. What Every Engineer Should Know About Computational Techniques of Finite

Element Analysis, Louis Komzsik

39. What Every Engineer Should Know About Excel, Jack P. Holman

40. What Every Engineer Should Know About Software Engineering,

Phillip A. Laplante

41. What Every Engineer Should Know About Developing Real-Time Embedded

Products, Kim R. Fowler

42. What Every Engineer Should Know About Business Communication,

John X. Wang

43. What Every Engineer Should Know About Career Management, Mike Ficco

44. What Every Engineer Should Know About Starting a High-Tech Business Venture,

Eric Koester

45. What Every Engineer Should Know About MATLAB

®

and Simulink

®

, Adrian B.

Biran with contributions by Moshe Breiner

46. Green Entrepreneur Handbook: The Guide to Building and Growing a Green

and Clean Business, Eric Koester

47. Technical Writing: A Practical Guide for Engineers and Scientists,

Phillip A. Laplante