BOOKS

Improving Technical Communications to Improve Productivity

In most of industry, writing is a type of productivity—the final arrange­ment of information in a form that is useful to others. Raw data is to a clearly written report as taconite is to iron. It is the refinements that make the material useful. Estimates vary from group to group, but MIT re­searchers have found that writing can account for as much as one third of the time the average professional spends working in research or de­velopment.

The writer in industry struggles under some unique pressures. Not only does his or her research typi­cally generate a remarkable variety of information—in notebooks, graphs, computer printouts, memoranda, and published documents—but it also produces information in astonishing volume. Frequently, the writer of a report, article, or memo begins with a pile of data several inches thick. To add to the problem, industrial time means dollars, and unfinished doc­uments mean cost overruns.

If writing is, indeed, an aspect of productivity that requires consider­able skill, it is surprising that so few professional people have studied report and article writing or oral presentation. For these individuals, the most common way to learn how to write effectively is through on-the-job experience. Two other com­mon methods are the in-plant com­munications seminar and indepen­dent study, in which the individual reviews the basics of technical com­munication in a text.

"Effective Technical Communi­cation" by Anne Eisenberg, an assis­tant professor of communications and humanities at Polytechnic In­stitute of New York, is a textbook for students and professionals who wish to pursue the latter course. Her vol­ume on the basics of technical com­munication is written from the per­spective of a writing instructor who is laying out a course for students.

Surprisingly few professional people

have mastered the art of report writing or

oral presentation

"Effective Technical Communica­tion" by Anne Eisenberg, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Princeton Rd., Hightstown, N.J. 08520, 1982, 355 pages, $17.95 in hardback and $11.95 in paperback

Reviewed by James C. Paradis, director of technical communication in the writing program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who has written a biography of biologist Thomas H. Huxley and about the influence of science on the humanities during the Victorian era, as well as nu­merous articles on technical communi­cation

She covers a variety of subjects, from the forms of technical documents and the elements of style to the techniques of preparing oral reports, graphics, and final manuscripts. In addition, she supplements her text with a great number of exercises that require the reader to prepare the typical elements of full-scale reports, proposals, and progress reports.

Hence, her primary audience is the university student who is just be­ginning to consider the special problems of technical communica­tion. Few others can be expected to prepare such assignments, since they would be unlikely to have anyone available to review them.

Eisenberg's chapter on the writing process demonstrates both the strengths and limitations of her ap­

proach. She begins by breaking the writing process down into the stages of assembling materials, planning the writing project, drafting the document, revising, and preparing final copy. In her section on drafting a report, she suggests that the writer break the job into smaller tasks and write a few sections at a sitting. These recommendations, although not profound, will, I believe, be highly useful to individuals who don't know how to think about writing. Textbooks about writing, of course, generally tell us little that is not common sense. But by bringing up the right topics at the right time, they do make us think about how to coordinate the rather complex pro­cess of assembling materials, orga­nizing them, and then preparing a draft.

On the subject of outlining, Eisenberg must be faulted for her rather casual approach. She tells her readers that outlining is no big deal, noting that, as a high school student, she wrote her papers first, after which she wrote the outline to satisfy the instructor. She fails to appreciate the great difference between the typical high school writer and the researcher. Individuals preparing a technical paper need every device they can find to help them discipline and structure a sizable mass of in­formation. Outlining is one of their primary aids.

Eisenberg has a clear writing style and her book is lively and chatty. She covers a standard but useful variety of material that will be of value to individuals enrolled in short courses or in beginning technical commu­nications classes. Her book is thus a useful addition to the growing number of textbooks on technical communication.

Other textbooks to be considered alongside of it include Henrietta Ti-chy's "Effective Writing for Engi­neers, Managers, Scientists/' James

March 14, 1983 C&EN 31

Books

W. Souther's and Michael White's "Technical Report Writing," and J. C. Mathes' and Dwight W. Stevenson's "Designing Technical Reports." The Tichy book provides a sound discus­sion of the basics of technical com­munication, stressing fundamentals; it is a durable text on professional communication. The Souther and White book is brief but provides a good review of report design and the elements of technical writing. The Mathes and Stevenson text is an am­bitious, systematic approach to technical report writing, in which the authors prescribe a series of well-considered steps to help the writer work through the writing process.

Other important texts on writing are Herbert B. Michaelson's percep­tive "How to Write and Publish En­gineering Papers and Reports" and Robert R. Rathbone's informative and lively "Communicating Tech­nical Information." And don't forget the American Chemical Society's style guide, "Handbook for Au­thors," which ably reviews the re­quirements for preparing technical manuscripts. •

Advances in Agricultural Microbiology. N. S. Subba Rao, editor, xxii + 704 pages. Butter-worths, 10 Tower Office Park, Woburn, Mass. 01801.1982. $89.95.

Advances in Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biochemistry. Vol. 40. R. Stuart Tipson, Derek Horton, editors, x + 452 pages. Academic Press, 111 Fifth Ave. New York, N.Y. 10003. 1982. $65.

Advances in Thin Layer Chromatography. Joseph C. Touchstone, editor, xv + 521 pages. John Wiley & Sons Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1982. $55.

Advances in X-Ray Spectroscopy. C. Bon-nelle, C. Mande, editors, xiv + 466 pages. Pergamon Press, Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, N.Y. 10523.1982. $80.

Analytical Techniques in Environmental Chemistry 2. J. Albaiges, editor, x + 473 pages.» Pergamon Press, Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, N.Y. 10523.1982. $75.

Applied Cpmplexometry. Rudolf Pfibil. xv + 410 pages. Pergamon Press, Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, N.Y. 10523. 1982. $75.

Atmospheric Corrosion. W. H. Ailor, editor, xx + 1028 pages. John Wiley & Sons Inc., 605

Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1982. $150.

Building Scientific Apparatus. John H. Moore, Christopher C. Davis, Michael A. Coplan. xii + 483 pages. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Reading, Mass. 08167. 1982. $54.95.

Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics. Stephen A. Newman, editor, xi + 544 pages. Ann Arbor Science Publishers, P.O. Box 1425, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48106.1982. $45.95.

Chemical Reaction Equilibrium Analysis: Theory and Algorithms. William R. Smith, Ronald W. Missen. xvi + 364 pages. John Wiley & Sons Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016.1982. $42.95.

The Chemical Scythe. Alastair Hay. xi + 264 pages. Plenum Press, 233 Spring St., New York, N.Y. 10013.1982. $27.50.

Chemistry and Biology of #-Lactam Antibi­otics. Vol. 1. Robert B. Morin, Marvin Gorman, editors, xl + 553 pages. Academic Press, 111 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10003.1982. $73.

Chemistry and Physics of Carbon. Vol. 18. Peter A. Thrower, editor, xii + 185 pages. Marcel Dekker Inc., 270 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016.1982. $45.

Detoxication of Hazardous Waste. Jurgen H. Exner, editor, xvii + 362 pages. Ann Arbor Science Publishers, 10 Tower Office Park, Woburn, Mass. 01801.1982. $37.50.

DNA and the Creation of New Life. Christo­pher Lamp ton. viii + 135 pages. Arco Pub­lishing Inc., 215 Park Ave. South, New York, N.Y. 10003.1982. $12.95.

Indirect Solar/Wind/Geothermal. Vol. 4. T. Nejat Veziroglu, editor, xxiii + 446 pages. Ann Arbor Science Publishers, 10 Tower Office Park, Woburn, Mass. 01801.1982. $85.

Industrial Applications of Electroorganic Synthesis. Ralph Roberts, Robert P. Ouellette, Paul N. Cheremisinoff. xviii + 205 pages. Ann Arbor Science Publishers, 10 Tower Office Park, Woburn, Mass. 01801.1982. $29.95.

Methane —Fuel for the Future. Patrick McGeer, Enoch Durbin, editors, xiii + 334 pages. Plenum Press, 233 Spring St., New York, N.Y. 10013.1982. $42.50.

Minerals of California. H. Earl Pemberton. vii + 591 pages. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 135 West 50th St., New York, N.Y. 10020. 1982. $29.95.

Molecular Mechanic. ACS Monograph 177. Ulrich Burkert, Norman L. Allinger. ix + 339

pages. American Chemical Society, 1155—16th St., Washington, D.C. 20036.1982. $64.95.

Nutritional Bioavailability of Iron. ACS Symposium Series 203. Constance Kies, editor ix + 204 pages. American Chemical Society, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. 1982. $29.95.

Paperbacks

American National Standard Metric Practice. 48 pages. Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers, 1111—19th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.1982. $5.00.

The Amylograph Handbook. William C. Shuey, Keith H. Tipples, editors, vi + 37 pages. American Association of Cereal Chemists, 3340 Pilot Knob Rd., St. Paul, Minn. 55121.1982. $10 members; $12 nonmembers.

Annual Reports in Organic Synthesis—1981. L. G. Wade Jr., Martin J. ODonnell, editors, xiii + 498 pages. Academic Press, 111 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10003.1982. $26.

An Assessment of Research-Doctorate Pro­grams in the United States: Mathematical & Physical Sciences, xii + 243 pages. National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20418.1982. $10.50.

21 Astounding Science Quizzes. Grace Mar-mor Spruch, Larry Spruch. 149 pages. Harper & Row, 10 East 53rd St., New York, N.Y. 10022. 1982. $4.95.

Building Contents-The Real Fire Problem. Fire Retardant Chemicals Association. 251 pages. Technomic Publishing Co., 265 Post Rd. West, Westport, Conn. 06881.1982. $35.

Conservation of Historic Stone Buildings and Monuments, xiii + 365 pages. National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20418.1982. $21.25.

The Control of Exposure of the Public to Ionizing Radiation in the Event of Accident or Attack. Proceedings of symposium held April 27-29, 1981, in Reston, Va. vii + 282 pages. NCRP Publications, 7910 Woodmont Ave., Suite 1016, Bethesda, Md. 20814. 1982. $20.

Controlling Technology: Ethics and the Re­sponsible Engineer. Stephen H. Unger. x + 192 pages. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 383 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017. 1982. $11.95.

Corrosion of Steel in Concrete. Kyosti Tuutti. 468 pages. Swedish Cement and Concrete Research Institute, S-100 44, Stockholm, Swe­den. 1982. Sw. Fr. 200.

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