Conventions that you should follow while writing engineering dissertation tutors india.com

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Technical Writing Conventions that You Should Follow while Writing
Engineering Dissertation
Dr. Nancy Agens, Head,
Technical Operations, Tutors India
info@tutorsindia.com
In Brief
You will find the best dissertation
research areas/topics for future
researchers enrolled in Engineering and
Technology. In order to identify future
research topics, we have reviewed the
technical conventions. (recent peer-
reviewed studies). Technical writing is far
much different from the other casual
forms of writing such as essays, poetry etc
There are some specific guidelines or
conventions to be followed while writing
a technical document. There are different
types of technical documents such as
reports, white paper, dissertation etc. It is
necessary that the content incorporated in
technical documents in precise, in
accordance with the format and accurate.
Keywords: Research Proposal,
Academic Writing, Writing Technical
Conventions, Literature Review Writing,
Literature Review Help, Cloud
Computing, Machine Learning, DBMS
I. BACKGROUND
Technical writing differs from the
other forms such as advertising, essay
writing , poetry etc in different aspects
such as language style, formatting etc.
The technical writing is associated with
process, system and contrary to the non-
technical documents it emphasizes on
accuracy rather than style. Thus it becomes
necessary that in order to develop a good
technical writing the content should be
accurate, concise, clear, well-planned. In
addition the spellings, grammatical errors
should also be considered significant while
preparing the document (Ali & Al-
Othmany, 2012).
To summarize it can be asserted
that technical writing emphasizes on the
accuracy of matter and the language used
(grammatically correct). Apart from the
aforementioned constructs, the technical
writing also adheres to specific rules and
conventions (McMillan & Weyers, 2010).
Also, avail dissertation research
proposal, dissertation topic selection,
research planning service and more for
any research project.
There are different approaches that
are followed while writing technical
documents such as dissertations, reports
etc but there are some specific guidelines
or conventions that should be followed by
engineers so as to produce efficient and
accurate documents. The conventions
include all the factors that should be taken
into account by the writers from the
beginning of preparing the document to its
final drafting (Beer & McMurrey, 2005).
There is also literature review help to
bring more attention on Engineering and
technology.
Thus in order to prepare a proper
dissertation it is imperative that the
following sections are included in it in a
sequential manner. It is not necessary that
all the engineering documents should
include following sections because the
content and format varies for different type
of documents. The sections included in a
technical document are complex and might
vary. In addition the content developed is
also based on the length and significance
of topic. Thus it is necessary that the
technical writers have sound knowledge
of conventions before writing the different
sections of a dissertation.

Copyright © 2020 TutorsIndia. All rights reserved d 2
In Writing for Science and
Engineering: research article, Reports
and presentation, the researcher (Silyn-
Roberts, 2012) defines a layout by the
shortening AIMRAD that views for:
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Methods & materials
 Results
 Discussion
A snippet of the conventions to be
followed while writing these sections of
the technical document is given as follows:
1. Abstract: writing an abstract is the
most important element that gives an
insight of whole document. It gives an
idea about the approach followed in
research. Though the length of abstract
varies for different documents, in
general it should not have more than
300 words.
2. Introduction: The introduction
should exhibit association with the
topic and future scope of the document.
It is that part of the document that is
planned as per the audience. This
section gives a brief idea about the
different works performed by others.
To summarize, this section comprises
background, objectives, problem
formulation and research outline.
3. Literature review: In this section of
the document a brief description of the
previous works and the present
advancements associated with the
document is mentioned.
4. Methods & Materials: This section
includes the procedure and materials
that are employed for conducting the
research. It discusses the experimental
design of the research.
5. Results & discussion: This part of the
document comprises experimental data,
and discusses the results and
observations of the author. It presents
the data formatted in different forms
such as tables, graphical illustrations,
charts etc.
6. Conclusion & Recommendations:
This is the most vital section of
document as it gives an explanation of
the why the results obtained should be
considered as valid. Thus to give a
clear understanding of the research to
the audience the content presented in
this section should be precise and
accurate. Considering the conclusion
obtained the author can provide some
useful recommendations and enable the
author as well as audience to decide
that how can the approach discussed be
implemented and whether it will be
feasible or not.
II. SPECIAL FEATURES OF
TECHNICAL WRITING
Apart from the afore-mentioned
elements of a technical document, there
are also some other features that should be
incorporated. Some of these features are:
A. Use of Tables and Graphics: Tables,
diagrams, graphs, charts etc are some
of the key elements that are likely to be
found in an engineering dissertation.
These illustrative forms of presenting
the content enable the author to present
the content effectively as well as allow
the reader to have proper
understanding of the content. In
addition these forms also give a
professional look to the document and
facilitate a clear comparison in the
change of data. However, in order to
include this feature in the report the
writers should have knowledge about
the conventions to be followed. These
conventions explain provides
information about labeling, numbering
etc necessary conditions for
incorporating graphics into text.
B. Graphics in Instructions: While
preparing a technical document it is
sometimes not possible to convey
proper information through words. In
this case graphics serve the need. They
convey the information as desired by
the author.

Copyright © 2020 TutorsIndia. All rights reserved d 3
C. Plagiarism: This the most important
feature of any document. Plagiarism
Report can be defined as the use of
other’s work, ideas presenting them as
their own work and not providing any
sources or reference to it. This might
seem easier to some but this issue
needs to be rectified and hence the
content should be plagiarism free.
D. Reference: There are generally three
most common styles of referencing
followed in the engineering
dissertation. They are as follows:
1. Parenthetical short text references
linked to a list of references
 Modern Language Association (MLA)
style
 American Psychological Association
(APA) style
2. In-text numbers linked to a list of
references
 Council of Biology Editors (CBE)
citation-sequence system
 Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) reference style
3. In-text numbers linked to footnotes or
endnotes with or without a list of
references
Besides the afore-mentioned
features, some other features that should
be incorporated while writing engineering
dissertation are as follows:
A. Abbreviations: The abbreviations
mentioned in any technical document
for the first time should be spelled out
fully.
B. Numbers: There is a wide use of
numbers in an engineering document.
However, to avoid confusion there
have been mentioned some guidelines
by Beer & McMurrey (2005).
C. Equations: Equations should be
incorporated in any technical document
as they convey the ideas more
effectively than words (Fezari & Al
Dahoud, 2018).
III. SUMMARY
From the above discussion it can
be concluded that adhering to certain
guidelines while writing an engineering
dissertation avoids confusion and fulfils
the objective of delivering a concise and
accurate report. The conventions are
helpful in organizing a well-planned report.
Keeping these conventions in mind one
can plan organization of thesis properly.
REFERENCES
[1] Ali, M. S., & Al-Othmany, D. (2012). How to be an
Effective Technical Writer? International Journal
of Engineering Pedagogy (IJEP), 2(3), 4.
https://doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v2i3.2094
[2] Beer, D. F., & McMurrey, D. A. (2005). A guide to
writing as an engineer. Wiley.
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=uL8eAQAAI
AAJ
[3] Fezari, M., & Al Dahoud, A. (2018). Guide and Hints
to write engineering research paper.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/3278317
67_Guide_and_Hints_to_write_engineering_resea
rch_paper
[4] McMillan, K., & Weyers, J. D. B. (2010). How to
Write Dissertations & Project Reports. Prentice
Hall.
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=x_5JPgAAC
AAJ
[5] Silyn-Roberts, H. (2012). Writing for science and
engineering: Papers, presentations and reports.
Newnes.
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=g
Y64F4w8KuMC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=++Heath
er+Silyn-
Roberts,Writing+for+Science+and+Engineering:+
Papers,+Presentations,+and+Reports.+Oxford:+B
utterworthHeinemann,+2000.&ots=Eaqed-
Sl_5&sig=BfgsCxYVfZb8IYkT6BX95sWHLRo

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