AE 440 Writing Requirements and Tips

1
AE 440Writing Requirements and Tips

• Rhetoric Professional Writing

2
Contact Information

• Michael Behrens
• behrens4_at_illinois.edu
• Email reports to
• mike.a.behrens_at_gmail.com
• English Building, office 315
• OH Monday, 2 pm 3 pm and by appointment

3
References

• Use the AIAA format for references and in-text
  citation.
• Reference formats can be found at
• http//www.writetrack.net/aiaa/documents/Reference
  Format.pdf
• Manuscript styles and formats (for equations,
  tables, etc.) can be found at
• http//www.writetrack.net/aiaa/documents/Manustyle
  format.pdf

4
References

• You must reference all key technical items
  (figures, equations, etc.) that you did not
  write, derive, or draw yourself.
• Use proper AIAA reference format in your report.
  Available online.
• Look at AIAA journal articles available online to
  see proper examples.

5
Reference Example

• Kerwin 1 first demonstrated a three-layer beam
  with a damping layer sandwiched between two
  elastic layers. DiTaranto 2 derived a
  sixth-order differential equation to describe the
  transverse motion of a constrained laminated
  beam. Mead and Markus 3 developed a sixth-order
  differential equation of motion in terms of
  transverse displacement for arbitrary boundary
  conditions beyond those described by DiTaranto
  2.

6
Example Reference Page

• 1 Kerwin, E. M., Damping of Flexural Waves by
  a Constrained Viscoelastic Layer, Journal of the
  Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 31, No. 7,
  1959, pp. 952-962.
• 2 DiTaranto, R. A., Theory of Vibratory
  Bending for Elastic and Viscoelastic Layered
  Finite-Length Beams, Journal of Applied
  Mechanics, Vol. 32, Dec. 1965, pp. 881-886.
• 3 Mead, D.J., and Markus, S., The Forced
  Vibration of a
• Three-Layer, Damped Sandwich Beam with
  Arbitrary Boundary Conditions, Journal of Sound
  and Vibration, Vol. 10, No. 2, 1969, pp. 163-175.

7
Equations

• Be sure to define all symbols in the text either
  at the point of introduction or beforehand.
• Use the section number to number the equations
  and right-justify numbering.
• Be consistent with symbol usage.
• Use AIAA format.

8
Figures

• Introduce all Figures and Tables in the text and
  in the order in which they are numbered, e.g.
  (Fig. 4.2).
• Place them soon after the paragraph they are
  mentioned.
• Be sure to explain what the figure is
  demonstrating, comment on any trends or results,
  and explain the significance.

9
Rhetoric

• Be aware of your audience.
• As stated on the Written Report Guidelines
  assume the person reading it has a general
  knowledge of A/C design.

10
Rhetoric

• Things that can damage your credibility as a
  writer include
• Poor grammar
• Excessive use of sources
• Hedging or Intensifying
• Lack of clear objectives
• Restatement of evidence or use of filler
• Plagiarism

11
Plagiarism

• One of the best ways to undermine your
  credibility as a writer is through intentional or
  inadvertent plagiarism.

12
Rhetoric

• Support your claims
• Offer convincing evidence
• Factual statements
• Statistics
• Examples
• Expert Testimony
• Once you have adequately supported your claim, it
  is important to move on to the next point.
• Use Strong Topic Sentences.

13
Concision

• In professional writing, especially in
  proposals, it is important to state your
  argument, support it, and move on.
• Wordy The college has different parking zones
  for different areas for people living on campus
  as well as for those who do not live on campus
  and commute to the college every day.
• EditedThe college has different parking zones
  for resident and commuter students.

14
Concision

• Avoid piling modifiers in front of nouns
• The vibration noise control heat pump condenser
  muffler makes customers happier.
• The muffler on the heat pumps condenser makes
  customers happier by controlling noise and
  vibrations.

15
Concision

• Cut out unnecessary words

• Concisely Edited
• slowly
• now
• agree
• conclude, end
• because
• so that
• approximately, near
• so
• for
• while
• believe, affirm
• resemble

• Wordy
• at a slow rate
• at this point in time
• be in agreement with
• arrive at a conclusion
• due to the fact that
• in such a manner that
• in the neighborhood of
• with the result that
• for the period of
• for the length of time that
• express an opinion that
• look something like

16
Concision

• Remove Redundancies

• Concise
• essential
• reservations
• needs, necessities
• gift
• colleague, co-worker
• result / conclusion
• first
• full, complete
• opinion
• over
• proven

• Redundant
• absolutely essential
• advance reservations
• basic necessities
• free gift
• fellow colleague
• end result / final outcome
• first and foremost
• full and complete
• personal opinion
• over and done with
• tried and true

17
Concision

• Adding a prepositional phrase can also cause
  redundancy
• visible to the eye
• fly through the air
• orange in color
• rectangular in shape
• hard to the touch

18
Tone

• Use the appropriate level of formality
• Informal Weather forecasting is a pretty good
  field to be in.
• Medium Weather forecasting is an excellent
  field.
• Formal Climatology is a prestigious field of
  employment.
• Avoid slang or colloquial language
• Avoid sexist language

19
Voice

• Active
• Subject performs action of sentence.
• Example Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen in
  1774.
• Passive
• Subject is acted upon.
• Example Oxygen was discovered in 1774 by
  Joseph Priestly.

20
Conclusion

• When writing remember to
• Use proper citation
• Avoid plagiarism (when in doubt, cite it)
• Edit for conciseness within sections and
  throughout document
• Edit for consistency throughout document