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Drew Taylor
Instructor Keaton
ENC2135-07
25 July 2016
Genre in the Engineering Community
Engineering; the backbone of innovation and the future of technology. As of right now I
want to be a chemical engineer. Chemical engineering is much different than the word most
people think of as engineering. Currently there are about 17 main branches of engineering in
the world right now (Institution of Engineers). What they have in common is that they all deal
with problems the world has right now and they, through research, experiments, and
collaboration, try to come up with solutions to help advance the world in their particular field of
engineering. While the chemical engineering branch has a wide variety of interest from utilizing
plants in society to transforming materials to a more useful structure, I chose to research the
engineering field as a whole (Riders). The reason the entire community seems more interesting to
write about is because of the dynamic of how each branch works with one another. Mechanical
engineers would most likely work on the architecture of a vehicle but a chemical engineer would
work on the fuel resources for the vehicle. In the engineering community there are many genres
to use and focus on but the three I found the most prevalent and useful are the lab reports,
proposals, and case studies.
For those who dont know what each of those genres are, a lab report would be an in
depth compilation of all the research on the particular point of interest, many lab reports contain

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the scientific method in that it has the hypothesis, the measures or charts, and the conclusion, but
thats a very basic description about them (Irish, Tiede, and Weiss). A proposal is what one would
think it is; usually written by one of the engineers to his peers for review and it talks about an
idea to solve one of the problems, it usually has information to back up his proposal. A case
study is a way of researching in itself, in a case study for psychology, researchers examine one
person or a small number of people, often over an extended period of time (Davidson and
Lazarus, 2007). Its used similarly in engineering where its used to study one specific problem
in depth; if a rocket has troubles entering the atmosphere that would be a case study for a group
of aerospace engineers to research. In researching many articles and examples of each of these
genres one would notice the genre conventions of each, how each genre relations to each other,
and how the genre is used in the community. In addition, the way the genres are used and
discussed help define the nature of the community.
The way the community is, it wasnt anything someone just created, its something that
exists because of the way that engineering is. For the best results and general success its best to
confer with not only ones peers within the branch but also with other branches to see if they
have faced similar problems or to see if the problem could be solved through a solution in a
whole different way. Another way the community works together is to work on a joint project
including multiple styles of engineering so that their project could incorporate research and
technology from different ideas. While the community has most communication within the
engineering interest group, they also can make projects with other professions varying from
architects to doctors themselves. One of the main goals of the biomedical engineering profession
is to improve ways of surgery and procedures taking place in the hospital or ER setting and in
order to get best results the members are often active in the medical areas and consult the doctors

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for their opinions or observations. There are currently 6 major branches of engineering
(Riders). Within each major branch is literally hundreds of subcategories of engineering.
Engineering is a very vague term; but its necessary because even though branches like
mechanical and geotechnical are considered two different branches, they have similar steps in
solving each problem and due to that they are often intertwined within each other branch. In each
branch of engineering, the styles and genres used are often similar. Practically every branch and
subcategory uses some variant of proposals, lab reports, and case studies. While they are still
used, case studies are a type of research used less often because they encompass a very specific
view and with a case study one cant generalize his/her findings to the mass variety.
To go more in depth with each genre, one should know about their genre conventions and
how each is used in the community. One of the most important things one would learn about
while in any basic science class is the scientific method, I personally learned about it in 1st grade
and have used it in one shape or another at least twice a year when doing science projects or any
science activity. The scientific method is a convention for both case studies and lab reports. The
lab report in a nutshell is a paper documenting the scientific method for the current project. In a
lab report one would generally write it in a manner that one of his/her peers would be reading it
to observe the findings in the paper. In a lab report by Aimee Lalime about the integrity of a truss
structure, she writes extensively about each test they did and the results from the experiment, it
also contains a few charts and graphical organizers to better show her results, which is a common
convention in the genre (Lalime 2). For a lab report its often written so that the readers can
clearly figure out the tests, the way it worked, and how it relates to practical problems. A
proposal is similar to a lab report in that they generally include extensive information and
evidence about the problem. The proposal goes less in depth about the procedures leading to the

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paper and takes it a step further by introducing an idea to fix the researched problem. All
proposals in the engineering community should have evidence supporting their idea and how the
said proposal would affect the existing problem. A company can request a proposal to solve a
particular problem they have been having, and they usually get a few and can decide which
proposal would be most cost efficient or which could most accurately solve their problem. In a
sample proposal about a deep brain stimulator the author includes their tests about how certain
voltage of electricity affects the brain, and provides the goals that the researcher would like to
achieve, in this instance he believes he could slow the effect of Parkinsons using his program
(Cook). The case study is one of the main ways we research something, but it takes one instance
of a problem occurring and thoroughly studies how and why it happened in hopes to not only
solve that one problem but also too possibly apply the knowledge to other similar problems. In
the case of railway catenary sections, the research involved full-scale measurements, operational
modal analysis, pantograph-catenary interaction; all complicated measures in research and for
the sake of this essay I will just say that they are very in-depth and not performed often unless
studying something very deeply (Nvik 1). Case studies contain the research about the specific
case and why its important to use a case study in the scenario rather than a wide research
situation. Each genre is used across many different sciences and the engineering community also
uses many other genres such as correlational designs or experimental designs. The importance of
the three genres though is that they are the main connections throughout the engineering
community, each genre is used to explore a problem and track the progress researching the
problem. While that doesnt seem like much, the papers are passed throughout their occupation
and sometimes to other branches of engineering. They organize and elaborate enough have multi
branch research and projects throughout the engineering community.

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The way each genre is connected to the community is integral in the structure of the
community and how successful it can be. Of course the goal in the engineering community is to
improve our way of living in many different ways, that vague goal may not be accomplished as
quickly as it is with the use of the genres and the connection within the genres. All the genres
covered in this essay have similarities and because of that they are often used together. Most
closely connected; the lab report and the proposal are used together more often than not. The lab
report is a research method and a proposal uses research to not only come up with the idea for a
solution but it often times uses lab reports for evidence supporting their topic. A proposal for
Italian military designs show the testing they did about the engineering of the weapons and
fortifications (Parinello 6). Lab reports and case studies are used similarly and their conventions
have them looking similar, but the small key differences are what connect the two and what
makes it able to use both in conjunction. Both genres are ways of researching and so using both
makes the argument even stronger. The juxtaposition of lab reports being generally focused on
the big picture and case studies being very specific and focused on the one particular situation
make it so they can be used jointly. Case studies alone dont make for a good generalization so
using a lab report with it can greatly improve the practicality of the finding. The relationship
between case studies and proposals is similar to the one between lab reports and proposals
because in a case study one aggregate his/her information on the topic which can then be used in
the proposal. The relationship is different however, because the way case studies are used the
proposal should rarely be about generalizing the research into the idea within the proposal. The
lab report being a very thorough writing containing diagrams and tables show how the
community is, in that the occupation of an engineer is very meticulous and elaborated. This is
due to the fact that the field is a very scientific community and also it has ties into many

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important pieces of technology or innovation and the slightest error can be crucial to the integrity
of the project. They also peer review practically every paper to check for said mistakes.
Proposals and their conventions also show how the engineering community is always looking to
improve whatever field they are studying and to properly do that each proposal is checked by
superiors and peers to ensure that only the best work is being presented by their company. The
case studies are interesting because they tell a different story than many of the other genres. The
fact that one cant really generalize his/her findings but its still a popular form of research shows
how everything matters in engineering. If one Holmes tower fan isnt working, they want to
make sure that a Dyson tower fan couldnt run into the same problem. It introduces an interesting
dynamic because working for different companies may alter the motivations but management
would generally want the best or most profitable innovation as possible. The fact that all of the
genres have conventions being very scholarly, elaborated, and often contain a lot of evidence and
examples show how the community needs the papers to be. Differently, one couldnt write about
research to his/her boss or to his/her peers through a poem because that would be very
unorganized and overall would alter the meaning of each observation. The way proposals are
used in engineering is made to be because of how the community works, for example how they
can send a proposal request to a whole different department of studies and it still be relevant to
their solution (Cook). Even going back as far as the A.D. time period engineering and some of its
genres were used. When the wheel, one of the greatest inventions ever, was being invented it had
to go through many of the same steps and was included in genres similar to the ones weve been
talking about in current times. The wheel started out as an idea and while a written proposal most
likely never occurred, the people with the idea had to talk to the other smart people of the tribe or
civilization before a useful wheel was ever created (Slaughter). They also had verbal lab reports

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beforehand about the problem of transportation and figured to investigate possible solutions. The
first mechanical engineers worked a lot different than how current ones do, a medium we havent
talked about are programs like CAD which are 3D designing software to help visualize a
solution. Often times in physical engineering sciences they include a proposal with a CAD or
CAD equivalent design (Tinkercad). The engineering community basically created the software
for use to communicate within their groups. CAD can also 3D print which is a fairly recent
practical innovation which basically creates a whole new genre in the community.
The engineering community however boring it may seem to the non-mathematical
oriented mind, is useful in our everyday lives. The earliest engineering can be traced back to the
mechanical engineering of the wheel, the creation of weapons, and any architecture. While
engineering has existed in some shapes or another for thousands of years, the conventions of the
now common genres didnt exist until around the industrial era. Proposals, lab reports, and case
studies have been used at the earliest verbally, and more recently through papers. The
conventions of each genre are fairly similar, and they all connect to help further the engineering
community. The cool thing about the advancements in engineering technologies is that we can
use what we created to write more and to continue improving the way we work in the
engineering community. Before computers existed one would have to write a lab report
completely on paper but thanks to the inventions from many different engineering groups, we
can now type our lab reports and proposals.

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Works Cited
Cook. "Sample Project Proposals: Engineering in Medicine." Thayer School of Engineering at
Dartmouth. Trustees of Darthmouth College, 2016. Web. 24 Jul. 2016.
Friedman, Fred. Personal Interview. 20 Jul. 2016
Lalime, Aimee. Evaluation of Vibration Analysis Tools to Predict the Dynamic Integrity of a
Truss Structure (2001): n. pag. Martin Cooling, Inc., 5 Oct. 2001. Web. 24 Jul. 2016.
Magana, Alejandra J., et al. Computers in Human Behavior: A Case Study of Undergraduate
Engineering Students' Computational Literacy and Self-Beliefs about Computing in the
Context of Authentic Practices. 61 Vol. Elsevier, 08/2016. Web. 23 Jul. 2016.
Nvik, Petter. "A Wireless Railway Catenary Structural Monitoring System: Full-scale Case
Study." Case Studies in Structural Engineering 6 (2016): 22. Web. 24 Jul. 2016.
Parrinello, Sandro, and Silvia Bertacchi. Nexus Network Journal: Geometric Proportioning in
Sixteenth-Century Fortifications: The Design Proposals of Italian Military Engineer
Giovanni Battista Antonelli. 17 Vol. Nexus Network Journal, 2015. Web. 23 Jul. 2016.
Riders, Jessica. "40 Different Types of Engineering Degrees." Types of Engineering Degrees.
Michael L. Murray, 2011. Web. 24 Jul. 2016

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Slaughter, Jamie. "History: Invention of the Wheel." The National Office for Technology
Acquisition and Promotion. NOTAP, 8 Feb. 2010. Web. 24 Jul. 2016.
Tiede, K., R. Irish, and P. Weiss. "Understanding Genre - Engineering." Engineering
Communication Program. Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, 2004. Web. 23
Jul. 2016.
"Tinkercad | Create 3D Digital Designs with Online CAD." Tinkercad. Autodesk, Inc, 2016.
Web. 24 Jul. 2016.
"What Different Branches of Engineering Are There?" What Different Branches of Engineering
Are There? The Institution of Engineers, Australia, n.d. Web. 24 Jul. 2016
Yano, Jun-Ichi. Journal of Physics. A, Mathematical and Theoretical: Subgrid-Scale Physical
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IOP Pub., 07/2016. Web. 23 Jul. 2016