So far, based on the previous chapters, this text seems to have a very systematic approach to writing technical documents. This is a good thing because it makes everything quite simple; “Follow these steps and you will not fail...” Something I really liked was the use of power point to create an outline. I think this works because physically separating ones thoughts by having several slides helps to organize thoughts in your head more clearly-just makes sense to me.
The text's method of 'forecasting the content' doesn't seem ideal to me; I've always been taught to NOT write about writing-just write it. This seems like it is something reserved for presentations when the information is not right in front of the audience. It seems silly to waste the readers time this way.
Patterns of arrangement are great for engineers-I can think of several cases where using this type of organization would be useful or at least appropriate. For example, a proposal to install a new heat exchanger to solve a temperature problem in a process. The document would outline causes of the problem, identify why using a heat exchanger to change the temperature of the fluid will solve the problem, an economical analysis of installing the heat exchanger, ect.
I'm in disagreement a little bit with the text on conclusions. They mention, “Here are some transitions that will wake up your readers:” then a list of obvious transition statements follows. This seems, to me, like a mental disconnect-why would I need to 'wake' my readers up? The main body of the document is where all pertinent information is, so why should we wait until the end to capture our readers' attentions? The rest of the points about conclusions is fine-I would emphasize the 'look to the future' portion, however.
transition words
After reading your response to Chapter 8, I agree with your argument on the conclusion section. I also don’t see the reason to have “wake up” our audience. Having a conclusion is necessary to “sum up” the information within your technical document to help your audience fully comprehend the material. However, I don’t think it’s necessary for the obvious transition statements that Chapter 8 discusses to incorporate in your conclusion. I was brainwashed in elementary school to avoid using the obvious transition words when writing a document. Maybe the rules are applied differently when writing a technical document and obvious transitions words are frequently used.