This proceedings presents the papers from a workshop on engineering writing and professional communications. The purpose of the workshop was to share resources and ideas for improving the teaching of professional communications within engineering colleges. The papers are: (1) "Engineering the Written Word" (keynote address) (Craig A.…

Study indicates Fog Index of eleven is normal for popular literature and suggests the readability levels have increased by two in the past twenty years. (RB)

An editor of the Texas Tech Journal of Education makes recommendations on how would-be contributors to scholarly journals can: (1) get started in publishing; (2) select an appropriate journal outlet; and (3) increase chances of acceptance. Considerations about article length, appropriateness, style, and documentation are included. (PP)

Describes a strategy for teaching abstracting in technical writing classes. Discusses kinds of abstracts and guidelines for writing them, and provides in-class and follow-up assignments. (HTH)

Advocates the use of a cassette tape as a permanent and more enlightening record of students' efforts and errors on technical writing assignments. Provides procedures for the use of this grading technique. (HTH)

Explains and illustrates some rarely explained and often underemphasized punctuation principles. (AEA)

Offers a step-by-step procedure for business writing teachers to use in marketing their services as technical writing consultants. (AEA)

Since the need for better communication in the accounting profession is evident, report writing should be emphasized in the accounting classroom. Three points to consider in writing reports are: (1) interpretation of accounting information, (2) presentation of the report, and (3) writing style. (JOW)

Reports on a study that found people could follow instructions from flowcharts or lists more quickly and accurately than from prose. (HOD)

Notes that the technological processing of data and information through computers has not diminished but enhanced the need for all professionals to have some training in technical communication. (RL)

Describes three experiments designed to investigate the effect of sentence organization on the comprehension of procedural directions. Ease of comprehension was determined by measuring reading time for two different sentence patterns, while subjects followed instructions to operate an unfamiliar device. Experimental results showed that…

Formal, highly technical, and often unintelligible language is used by some professions, notably in law. Because of pressure from consumers, a trend away from this type of writing is emerging. (JOW)