TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION

A major objective of this course is to help you develop your technical communication skills. Consequently, you will obtain considerable practice in oral and written communication. This also constitutes a significant portion of the grade. In a survey of practicing chemical engineers (Lipowiscz and Hughson, 1982), communication skills, knowledge of working in a business environment, and the ability to work with others were reported as the three weakest areas of traditional academic preparation. The survey quotes a number of engineers to make this point:

“Insufficient emphasis was placed on the importance of communication techniques.

Unless you can 'sell' your technical advances, you might as well not make them.” “The ability to communicate clearly is more important than any other skill that we

acquire. Lack of this skill very often negates other skills.” “In industry, one is judged by her reports (oral or written) almost exclusively.”

The student is also referred to Appendix C for an address given before the College of

Engineering Advisory Board by Dr. Carl Egger, an Iowa graduate, now a Vice-President at Grain Processing. Dr. Egger discusses what he believes are the critical issues in engineering education and the twelve attributes he looks for in a potential employee. It is interesting to note the prominent role that communication plays.

There are a wide variety of written documents a chemical engineer may be expected to prepare. These may include letters, memos, technical reports, journal articles, operations manuals, specification sheets, business plans or prospectuses, research proposals, sales and advertising copy, rules and guidelines, safety procedures, bids, software documentation, patent information and other less common forms of business reports. In the Unit Operations Laboratory courses, students will write technical reports as typically required in industry as well as a proposal for an independent research project in UO II. Students will also make a number of short oral presentations. The content and form of the writing assignments are constructed to give students practice in technical writing as well as to meet the other educational goals of the course. The instructor’s evaluation of student performance and comprehension of unit operations will be based largely on the written/oral reports. It should be noted that there are a number of key differences in emphasis between academic and business writing as illustrated in Table II-1.

Table II-1. Key Differences between Academic and Business Reports (adapted from

Eisenberg, 1981).

ACADEMIA BUSINESS ABSTRACT

Written for peers. Highly specialized

language.

Written for broad

readership. Includes commercial objective (Also called summary).

INTRODUCTION Survey of related literature. Rationale based on both

technical and commercial considerations. Related literature given in brief or placed entirely in appendix.

PROCEDURE Fully detailed. Given in brief.

Full account placed in appendix.

RESULTS Fully detailed. Given in brief.

Full account placed in appendix.

DISCUSSION Recommendations rare. Combine technical and

business aspects. Use a separate section for recommendations.

ATTACHMENTS Reference list necessary. Appendices give details.

Although there are many styles for written communication, for the purpose of this course

students will follow the layout and style for written documents contained in this manual rather than those contained in the referenced material. It is to be understood that specific styles and layouts of written work vary from company to company and journal to journal. The student should concentrate on learning the rationale behind each of the different forms of written technical communication. The student should learn the basic purpose of each section of a technical report. It is anticipated that students will then be able to adapt their writing styles to the specific requirements of future employers.

In all cases students are expected to use proper punctuation, grammar and vocabulary. Students who may find review necessary are referred to standard texts, such as The Elements of Style (Strunk and White, 1979) and the The Little Brown Handbook (Fowler, 1983). Two particularly useful articles on technical writing were written by M. A. Albright (1981) and H. B. Michaelson (1986). Other useful references are given at the end of this chapter.

PRE-LABORATORY PREPARATION AND REPORT Proper planning by the student is absolutely essential for successfully completing all of

the required experiments in a timely fashion and for obtaining the maximum educational benefit. Missed deadlines, poor data, and low-quality reports can often be avoided by thorough preparation. Therefore, a pre-lab report is required before permission to start the experimental work will be granted.

Pre-lab reports are invaluable in helping you to prepare for the experiment. The objectives are to help you to:

• Develop an understanding of the objectives and scope of the experiment • Develop a clear understanding of the underlying theory • Determine what equipment is available • Prepare a flow diagram and equipment construction details • Decide what data are to be taken and how they will be interpreted • Understand experimental procedures • Conduct a safety review of the experiment • Review all the relevant MSDS • Identify any waste disposal requirements In the Unit Operation Laboratory, each research group will consist of 3 people (and

sometimes 4 people, when unavoidable) including: 1. a Group Leader 2. a Group Safety Director, and 3. a Group Design Engineer/Data Collector. These roles will rotate with the four experiments that will be performed by each group;

therefore, each person will serve in each of these roles twice. Although all group members should contribute to all aspects of the work, the specific responsibilities of the positions in regards to experimental preparations and the pre-laboratory report are given below. The Group Leader should deal with the problem of a noncontributing member, since it provides an opportunity for the student to learn conflict management and other work-related problem-solving. Such problems are commonly encountered in the work place. If the situation cannot be resolved, however, the problem may be brought to the attention of the Instructor. In addition to their individual responsibilities, each student should be constantly vigilant about safety hazards that may be encountered during the experiment.

Group Leader Responsibilities:

• *Develop a brief statement of the objectives of the experiment. • *Develop a brief summary of the approach to be followed to accomplish each

objective. • *Develop a list of data required for each objective. • *Develop a list of the work assignments of each member of the group, including

himself/herself. • *Fill out the permission to start experimentation form (Appendix B).

Group Safety Director Responsibilities:

• *Obtain copies of MSDS for each chemical that will be used in the experiment. • *Identify and evaluate potential hazards (fire, burns, chemical burns, ingestion, or

inhalation hazards, cuts, electrical hazards, etc.). • Conduct a continuing safety inspection of all aspects of the experiment from planning

through execution stages. • *Develop emergency procedures, including what will be done in case of mishap, i. e.,

how will the lab be evacuated (if necessary) and how will the equipment be shut down?

• *Answer all of the questions given on the Safety Checklist (Appendix B) on a separate piece of paper entitled “Hazard and Risk Assessment.” This sheet should also include emergency procedures. A typed version of this should also be included with the Final Report.

• Develop recommendations for improving safety. If necessary, fill out the Hazard Report Form (Appendix B).

Group Design Engineer/Data Collector Responsibilities:

• Oversee the assembly/setup of experimental apparatus (if required). • *Prepare written procedures for the startup, normal operation/data collection, and

shutdown phases of the experiment. • *Prepare a flow diagram of the process. • *Prepare detailed technical drawings/specifications of the major pieces of equipment. • *Assist the safety director in preparing the emergency shutdown procedure.

• *Write a detailed derivation of the “Theory” behind the experiment. It should be typed and based on more than one source. An abbreviated version of this may eventually be included in the Theory section of the Final Report.

• *Collect data. NOTE: Responses to the items indicated above by * should be written in the

respective group's laboratory notebook. The carbon copies of these pages should be included in the pre-laboratory report as indicated below.

The Pre-laboratory Report should contain the following items in the order given:

1. A cover page with experiment title, group members and respective positions (i.e., group leader, etc.), and date.

2. A completed Permission to Start Experimentation form (Appendix B). 3. A copy of the Safety Checklist for the experiment (Appendix B). 4. Typed answers to the following questions:

• What are the immediate objectives of the experiment? • What is the significance of this experiment in the overall project objective? • How are the objectives to be met? • What materials will be needed? • What methods will be used? • What will be measured and how will it be measured? • How will the instruments and equipment be operated in order to insure safety? • What accuracy and reproducibility is required of the measurements? • What are the expected results? • How will the results be tested for statistical significance? • What are the potential problems?

5. Detailed derivation of theory. 6. All MSDS relevant to the experiment. 7. Carbon copies of the responses to the group member responsibilities indicated above by *.

Approval must be taken before data collection can begin. Approval consists of having

both the TA sign the Permission to Start Experimentation form and discussing the “questions to be asked during safety review” with a TA just prior to beginning data collection. The TA must initial in the space provided for each question to indicate that the question has been discussed with the group. Groups beginning experimentation without receiving the required approvals will have points deducted from their grade.

FINAL LABORATORY REPORT In industry, a formal technical report is used to communicate technical findings or

experimental results relevant to the solution of a particular problem or to meet a specific project objective. Industrial technical reports stress conclusions and recommendations rather than methodology and results as in journal articles. Technical reports, although based on scientific methods and procedures, must be readable and understandable by a much broader audience than the journal article. An immediate supervisor, an upper-level manager or perhaps even members of the sales and marketing departments may read the technical report. Potential readers may have virtually no engineering or scientific training at all, while others may have only a weak grasp of the underlying technology. It is important that the report be written in such a manner that it facilitates decision-making. Emphases should be placed on the principal conclusions and the most relevant supporting data. Technical reports should always deal plainly with the problem that initiated the technical study. The economic and practical considerations of a problem receive equal emphasis along with the scientific merits of the study. On the other hand, a journal article is written for the technical specialist, with complete technical rigor, and in as concise a form as possible, eliminating details that are already available in books, journal articles, accessible reports, etc. However, the Abstract and the Introduction of the journal article are written for the general technical reader of the journal, not for the specialist.

For the purposes of this course, it is necessary to make sure that the student fully understands all aspects of the experiment from theory through data acquisition to results and conclusions. As a result of the educational objectives of the course, the student will be required to include the details of her experimental work and calculations as well as the results of her study. It may appear to the student that there is no distinction between a journal paper and a technical report; however, the student is reminded that the purpose and the philosophy of each type of document are quite different. The technical report and the journal article have a different emphasis and are written to produce a different response. The technical report in industry is intended to lead to a specific decision or action. A journal article is intended to disseminate knowledge and to lead to more research. Some additional general points to consider in writing reports are given in Appendix E.

For this course, technical reports will be composed of three main parts: I) the letter of transmittal, II) the body of the report, and III) the attachments. The letter of transmittal and body of the technical report will emphasize conclusions, recommendations and other decision-making information. Economic, management, and manufacturing concerns will be treated as importantly as scientific matters. The letter of transmittal and major portion of the technical report should be

straightforward and understandable to a non-technical reader. The technical report will conform to the following format:

I. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

II. TECHNICAL REPORT A. Title Page B. Table of Contents C. Summary, 1 paragraph including a couple of lines each on:

• Objectives and Relevance • Key Results and Conclusions • Key Recommendations

D. Introduction, 2-4 pages including: • Objectives and Significance • Literature Review • Key Results

E. Theory, 3-4 pages F. Experimental, 3-4 pages including:

• Apparatus (including schematic, technical specifications) • Materials • Experimental Procedures

G. Results and Discussion, 5-10 pages including: • Discussion of Results Obtained • Comparison of Theory and Experiments • Relevant Figures, Tables, and Plots

H. Conclusions and Recommendations, 1- 2 paragraphs, more detailed than Summary

I. Acknowledgment J. Nomenclature K. Literature Cited

III. ATTACHMENTS A. Hazard and Risk Assessment B. MSDS Sheets C. Theoretical Analysis (handwritten theoretical derivation from pre-lab report) D. Sample Calculations, Spreadsheets, and Programs, etc. E. Raw Data F. Other Relevant Details (additional figures, Calibration Plots, etc.)

The attachments are to be considered supplementary material to the technical report. The body of the report should be able to stand on its own. The attachments are additional information, theoretical details, data and calculations which support the conclusions, but are not necessary for understanding and implementing the conclusions. Often the attachments will not be forwarded to upper level. Results and related discussion serve to support the conclusions made in the main body. Depending on the principal function of the report, the attachments may be omitted or included only in greatly abbreviated form. In order to meet the educational objectives of the course, the technical reports for this course will contain detailed attachments and the attachments will be graded with the same level of scrutiny as the body of the main report.

Keeping in mind that the readers of a report may have different backgrounds, levels of interest, and amounts of time available to peruse the report, it is best to structure and write a report in increasing levels of detail, much like a news paper article. For instance, some may just want to read the headline, others may just read just the first paragraph, while still others may be drawn in to read the entire article. Thus, the “Summary” corresponds to the first paragraph of a newspaper article and should tell the entire story briefly. It should summarize the reasons and objectives of the study, what methods were used, and what the important results and conclusions are. The “Introduction” section is where you begin to tell the story in complete detail. Here you explain what the project is all about, why it is important, what has been done so far, and how your results contribute to the objective, but without going into the details of your results, etc. This section is important to draw the reader in to read what you did. You should place your work in context by summarizing the previous literature and work done. The “Theory” section is written for the reader with a technical background and should be written rigorously, without apology to the non-technical reader. It should be complete in itself and comprehensible, without requiring the reader to refer to other literature for a complete understanding. All the necessary theoretical results required for data analysis should be included. While you should explain the main symbols in the Theory section, it is not necessary to be comprehensive, since the “Notation” section should describe the notation in complete detail. The “Experimental” section should be complete enough that the reader is able to repeat your experiments by following your report. Emphasize the practical aspects or necessary precautions to obtain useful results in an efficient manner. In “Results and Discussion,” discuss the various aspects of the results, what went well and what didn’t, how do experimental results compare with theory, and possible reasons for any deviations, etc. Many readers simply read the “Summary” and the “Conclusions and Recommendations” sections. Therefore, the “Conclusions and Recommendations” section should briefly restate the entire story, from the rationale for undertaking it to a summary of results. In addition, it should suggest recommendations for future work or for improvements. More details of the various sections are next described.

I. Letter of Transmittal This letter should accompany every substantial technical report and serves to introduce

the report to the reader. You should assume the reader is busy and has many reports and other correspondence to read. Thus, the letter should be short, clear and to the point. It is written in the form of business letter: single-spaced, addressed to the person to whom the report is submitted, salutation (Dear Dr. Smith:) and closing (Sincerely,). The letter of transmittal contains a brief review of the project giving the date of the assignment, the specific objectives to be met, the principal team members and the significant conclusions and recommendations. The first paragraph serves to quickly orient the reader to the nature of the project. The conclusions and recommendations state what you have found out and what you would like the reader to do.

Conclusions should be stated simply and directly. Generally, it is best to restrict yourself to statements that can be supported by the data. If conjecture or extrapolation is required, then it should be stated as such and the level of confidence and the solidity of the supporting data should be indicated. The letter should not be “wishy-washy” -- either you accomplished something significant or you did not. Technical reports that report meaningless or inconclusive results are of no value to the reader. The letter of transmittal should be limited to two or three paragraphs on a single page.

The letter of transmittal accompanies the report but is not considered to be a part of the report. Both the report and the letter of transmittal should stand on their own. Some writers place a short message after the receiver’s address and before the salutation (i. e., “RE,” abbreviation for “regarding,” followed by message) to indicate what the letter is about. Below the signature and title of the writer, there is usually the initials of the writer (upper case letters) followed by the initials of the typist (lower case letters) as in “SAJabc.” If copies of the communication are also being sent to other individuals, their names follow the “cc:” (for “carbon copies”). Finally, if there is additional material contained in the letter one usually specifies “Attachments” or “Enclosures” in order to alert the reader (or the reader’s secretary) that there should be more information contained in the envelope. Sometimes, in the haste of business, the sender forgets and mails the letter without the necessary enclosures or the receiver removes the letter and discards the envelope with the additional contents still enclosed. The sample letter of transmittal found in Appendix A is indicative of the form to be used in the Unit Operations Laboratory courses.

II. Body of Technical Report The main body of the report should be double-spaced with a 12 point font.

A. Title Page

The following information should be centered and widely and neatly spaced: a. Title of Project. Choose a succinct title which accurately describes your work. Avoid

being overly general. b. Date(s) work was performed. c. Date submitted. d. Author(s) of report along with their signatures. e. Other contributors. f. Organization or affiliation (Use “Unit Operations Laboratory, Department of Chemical

and Biochemical Engineering, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242”).

B. Table of Contents

Provide three lists as follows: 1. Table of Contents 2. List of Tables 3. List of Figures Every heading and sub-heading (e.g., use MS Word format for these) used in the text and

the number of page on which it first appears should be listed. The relationships of the subdivisions can be shown through the use of indentations. All verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns, and pronouns should have capitalized initial letters. The page numbers should be mentioned opposite each item. The List of Tables and List of Figures should follow the Table of Contents, with ample space provided to separate the three lists.

C. Summary

The summary is to the technical report what the abstract is to the journal paper. The summary should provide sufficient highlights of the technical report so that the reader may decide whether she needs to read further. It answers the following four questions very briefly:

1. What did you do? 2. Why did you do it? 3. What are the important findings?

4. What are your conclusions and your recommendations? The Summary should describe what you found out and what you are concluding or

recommending. Economic and management concerns are as important as the scientific or technical content. Remember that the technical report is part of the decision-making process and thus, the Summary should address the key questions which need to be answered in order to render a decision or initiate some action. The summary should be short and to the point. For the course purposes, a paragraph is adequate.

D. Introduction

The purpose of the introduction is to orient the reader. Basically, this section answers the following questions in considerable detail. What did you do? Why did you do it? What did you find? This section should highlight the significance of the study and should clearly indicate the immediate objective(s) of the work and the method of attack. The introduction should be fairly detailed. Pertinent literature review or previous work should be described in detail vis-a-vis the current project. Do not include details of results, discussion, recommendations, or theory.

E. Theory

Familiarity with the theory behind the experiments is crucial so that you can properly plan and carry out the lab. You should, thus, prepare a draft of this section during the pre-lab preparation, with completely detailed derivation. This will help you to familiarize yourself with all the assumptions involved and the strength and limitations of the theory. The Theory section for the final report should be a condensed but complete version of the handwritten notes in pre-lab report. You should write this section in the same way as you would a journal article, except it should not be as succinct and should provide more details such that it is easily comprehensible to some one with your background. It may be necessary for you to consult more than one source. In such a case, write a coherent section with consistent notation so that the reader can easily follow the theory. Briefly explain the notation used also in this section following an equation, in addition to providing a complete list of notation separately. It is very important to clearly note down the assumptions involved and the limitations of the theory so that it is not applied to situations where it is not applicable. Frequently in textbooks, the theory makes sweeping assumptions, e.g., isothermal conditions, or adiabatic operation, which conditions may be very difficult to produce in reality. It may also be necessary for you to extend the existing theory in the field if data analysis of your project so requires. For example, the McCabe-Thiele method may be the only method known to you to analyze distillation problems; however, it is applicable only under certain conditions and it may be inappropriate for the experimental data you have

collected. You have only two choices. Collect data under conditions that satisfy the McCabe-Thiele analysis or modify the theory so that it is valid for the experimental data you have collected.

F. Experimental Methods

Write this section in the same way as you would for a journal article, except it should be more detailed. The section should be sub-divided as follows:

1. Equipment and Apparatus 2. Materials and Reagents 3. Experimental Procedure 4. Data Be sure to fully describe the apparatus used (include schematic diagrams), technical

specifications, experimental procedure, the measurements taken, and the analysis completed. Remember that this section should have all of the information an investigator would need to redo and confirm, if necessary, your experimental data. Specify materials and reagents as completely as possible, including supplier. Experimental procedures should be described in the past tense. Reduced data should be presented in the form of tables.

G. Results and Discussion

This section is the heart of the report and discusses the experimental results obtained vis-à-vis the theory. Results and Discussion section should be directly related to and substantiate the conclusions and recommendations of the technical report as rigorously as possible. Therefore, it must be written with the same care and faithfulness to good scientific methodology as a journal article. All of the results should be presented in the form of graphs and tables. The use of figures, tables, and charts will greatly help the reader understand your conclusions. However, it is not necessary to include all of the graphs and tables here, just the relevant ones that support your conclusions. The rest should be included in the Appendix. The discussion of the results should be in the context of graphs and tables, each of which should be numbered in the order of appearance in the text, and referred to in the text by their numbers. Do not attach figures and tables that are not referred to in the narrative.

The discussion of results reflects your interpretation of the data and the results. Up to this point, only facts have been presented. Now opinions and interpretation of results are presented. Remember, no two people arrive at exactly the same conclusions and interpretations based on the analysis of the same data set. Provide your perspective by explaining the significance of the results. Discuss also the limitations of the data, conclusions of special

interest, etc. Comment on the discrepancy between theory and experiments as well as scatter in the data. Be as quantitative as possible. For example, instead o saying the results are “good” or “bad,” give percent deviation,. Also discuss the limitations of the theory, limitations of the equipment, and sources of error.

This section should be similar to a journal article, but more focused on the industrial concerns related to the project rather than an exposition of scientific phenomena. In a journal article, description of the phenomena under investigation is critical. In a technical report what the phenomena represents and its implications for plant or process design, operation, safety and profitability are of foremost importance rather than the phenomena itself. If the conclusions are readily accepted by management this section may not be given serious attention; however, if your conclusions are controversial then this section will become very important.

H. Conclusions and Recommendations

This section should not simply be regurgitation of the “Summary” section and should be more detailed. In a concise form state the “answer” to the question posed or the objective met. The conclusions should be based on the factual data obtained and the body of theory developed. Suggest ways in which a future experimenter may be able to obtain more meaningful results. Possible areas where recommendations may be appropriate are changes in the experimental method, limitations of the equipment used, additional experiments, other factors influencing the work and requests for future work. Recommendations should only be made if you strongly support them. Do not make recommendations out of a sense of obligation.

At times, you may have the unpleasant task of reporting that few, if any, of the assigned objectives are met. Many times, a project can be salvaged through improvisation and creativity. When a study does not go as planned, develop a contingency plan. It is important to report something of value to management, even though it may not be one of the stated objectives. Describe why you were unable to accomplish the stated goals? If good data were not obtained, why not? How do you know the data are unreliable? How does it compare with theory or previous investigations? Did you modify the theory, relax the assumption and take other steps to use the data as collected? What did you do to troubleshoot the problem? What have you eliminated as a possible cause? What are the most likely causes yet to be examined? What was learned from this study?

I. Acknowledgments

Express your thanks to all persons other than the authors of the report who may have contributed to the study either financially, technically, or otherwise.

J. Nomenclature

This section is similar to that in a journal article; however, special attention should be given to clarify. Remember, a technical report may be read by non-technical personnel or by personnel in a totally different discipline. Avoid jargon and abbreviations wherever possible to prevent confusion. For example, flux (flow per unit area per unit time) to a chemical engineer means something totally different than flux (material used to make solder stick to metalwork) to an electrician.

K. Literature Cited

This is a list of all the references used in the report. Remember indirect quotes as well as direct quotes must be cited. The two most common methods of citation are alphabetically by principal author’s last name or numerically as they appear in the text. If the former method is used, the references in the text takes the form illustrated in the following example:

“Polymeric membranes used for gas separation suffer in

general from low values of selectivities and permeabilities (Matson et al., 1983; Sengupta and Sirkar, 1986).”

and are listed in the bibliography as:

Matson, S. L.; Lopez, J.; Quinn, J. A. (1983). Separation of Gases with Synthetic Membranes. Chem. Eng. Sci. 38: 503-524.

and Sengupta, A.; Sirkar, K. K. (1986). Membrane Gas

Separations. Prog. Filtr. Sep. 4: 289-295. where the order of the entry is authors' last name, authors' initials, year of publication, title of the article, the journal title abbreviated as given in Chemical Abstracts in italics, the volume number in bold, and inclusive page numbers. All authors should be listed in the bibliography reference. If there are three or more authors, then it is correct to cite only the principal author in the text followed by et al. (e. g., the Matson reference given above; note the italics). If the sequentially numbered method is used, the citation in the text is

“Polymeric membranes used for gas separation suffer in general from low values of selectivities and permeabilities [1, 2].”

1. Matson, S. L.; Lopez, J.; Quinn, J. A. (1983). Separation of Gases with Synthetic Membranes. Chem. Eng. Sci. 38: 503-524.

2. Sengupta, A.; Sirkar, K. K. (1986). Membrane Gas

Separations. Prog. Filtr. Sep. 4: 289-295. where the order of entry is the same as before; however, the references are listed in numerical order rather than in alphabetical order.

Both styles are commonly seen in the technical literature. Some technical journals require a particular style be used. Others leave it to the author’s discretion. Regardless of the style used, it is important that the author be consistent and that the reference be complete. The alphabetical method takes up more room in the text; however, it is easy to add additional references in the bibliography. The numerical method takes up very little room in the text, as multiple references can be easily cited (e. g., [1, 2, 44-56]). However, if additional references are added in the middle of the text, the reference numbers change, and a large portion of the document must be re-typed to coincide with the new numbers. Sometimes the reference numbers in the text are indicated by superscripts without parentheses or brackets. The alphabetical method should be used in the Unit Operations Laboratory reports.

III. ATTACHMENTS This section includes details of the technical material which supports the other sections of

the technical report, but is not of sufficient importance or cannot be contained in the other sections of the main report such as raw data, detailed theoretical analysis, detailed calculations, duplicative figures, calibration plots, etc.

A. Hazard and Risk Assessment

Include the checklist that you developed during the pre-lab preparation in answering the questions on the safety checklist (Appendix B) including the emergency procedures.

B. MSDS Sheets

Include the MSDS sheets for all chemicals and materials used.

C. Theoretical Analysis

Include the complete handwritten theoretical derivation from the pre-lab report.

D. Sample Calculations.

You may make a data spread sheet on which calculations are made according to specified equations derived in the theory section. Sample calculations should include the derivation of working equations and at least one hand written representative example of each important computation. Each sample calculation should be clear and complete in itself. Units should be explicitly indicated as well as any conversion factors used. Constants and parameters estimated or obtained from other sources should be carefully cited. If computer programs are included they should be well documented and capable of being run on a suitable computer.

E. Raw Data

Complete tabulations of raw experimental data should be included here.

F. Other attachments

The other relevant details such as lengthy details of the derivation, additional figures, calibration plots, etc., may be included here.

ORAL PRESENTATIONS Oral presentations are extremely important in career advancement. Thus, you must do

your best in making a good presentation. Keep in mind that although the presentation is technical, there are some theatrics involved in making a good presentation. Think of it like story telling. There should be a beginning, middle, and an ending, along with perhaps a moral of the story. You have to draw your audience into your story and keep them interested. The best way to do that is to talk to the audience and not to simply recite a well-practiced talk. However, it is useful to memorize the first few opening lines to start-off well. If you have eye-contact with your audience, it not only helps you to relax, it draws the audience in and you have instant feedback, e.g., whether they are bored with excessive detail, or whether they are clue-less due to lack of adequate explanation. It is good to be unambiguous in your conclusions. Also it is a good idea to be not too casual as it may convey the impression that you don’t really care about the work or the presentation. It is, therefore, useful to be a bit formal, though relaxed, in your presentation.

Oral presentations may be formal or informal; however, in both cases, they should be as brief as possible and to the point. Remember the audience has a limited attention span and cannot be expected to follow the details of your talk. In general, your talk should concentrate almost exclusively on the results, conclusions and recommendations of your work. Only a brief introduction is necessary and should be limited to the information necessary for the audience to understand and appreciate the significance of your work. The methods used should be touched on lightly and details should be avoided. However, you should try to convey the impression that you are technically familiar with the subject and can be relied upon in your conclusions and recommendations.

Your talk should center on delivering only 3 to 5 main conclusions to the audience, they usually cannot be expected to remember or keep track of more than these. Use sub-points only when they follow directly from the main conclusions. Keep your points as simple and direct as possible. Your results should clearly support the conclusions and should be displayed in a way that the audience can instantaneously interpret and accept. Figures should be large and uncluttered and illustrate the main point well. Tables should generally be avoided, but when necessary should be limited to only a few entries per table. Headings should be easy to read. You may use MS Word, PowerPoint, or another program for overhead/slide preparation. However, remember that PowerPoint is memory intensive.

USE OF SLIDES AND TRANSPARENCY A good rule of thumb is to use no more than one slide, transparency, or visual aid per

minute of planned talk. You will be surprised to see how long it takes to explain one slide. Visual aids should be designed so that they can be easily read from the back of the room or auditorium. Only one idea per slide is recommended and excessive equations should be avoided when possible; however the key equations should be presented. If color is used, avoid color combinations that are difficult to read (e. g., red on green). Usually, light lettering on a dark background is easiest to read and less subject to glare from extraneous light sources. Proportion material so that it takes up the whole slide. Photographic slides have the proportions of 3:5 and the material should be proportioned according to these dimensions. Although the slides should not be sloppily made, it is not necessary to make them “too artsy,” as it might detract from the main message.

If an overhead projector is used, the proportions are approximately 8:10 and material should be proportioned to these dimensions. Use very large letters (e. g., at least size 18 if Times font is used) as overhead projections are inherently difficult to read. Avoid writing on the slides while speaking as it distracts from the slide.

The important points to consider in preparing for an oral presentation are given in the evaluation form given in Appendix B. Some suggestions are included here (Felder, 1988):

• Know the technical background of your audience and gear the talk to that level. • Do not present more than about 10 lines on a transparency. • Figures and process flow charts should be uncluttered. Make sure that the axes labels

are readable. • In Theory, provide only the equations used, without derivation or notation definition.

The physical significance of the equations and the various symbols should be explained orally.

• Never simply read from the slides. You also don’t have to explain every word on it. Put the slide up and then “talk” about the material on it.

• Make frequent eye contact with your audience. Do not simply stare at your notes or the screen.

• Sound enthusiastic about your work. If you speak in a monotone, and appear unenthusiastic, you can be sure that the audience will follow your lead.

• Make sure that a watch/clock is visible so that you can keep track of the time. If you are going over your time, adjust your presentation to hasten it up.

REFERENCES

Albright, M. A. (1982). When Engineers Communicate. Hydrocarbon Process. 61: 159-176. Brown, J. F. (1989). Engineering Report Writing, 3rd ed., United Western Press, Solana Beach,

CA. Eisenberg, A. (1981). How to Write a Clear Technical Report. Graduating Engineer 2(4): 92-

94. Felder, R. E. (Spring 1988). Chemical Engineering Education, 84-87. Fowler, H. R. (1983). The Little Brown Handbook, 2nd. ed., Little, Brown and Co., Boston. Henry, M. H.; Lonsdale, H. K. (1983). The Researcher’s Writing Guide. J. Membr. Sci. 13:

101-107. Lisk, D. J. (1972). Why Research Proposals Are Turned Down. CHEMTECH 2: 468-470. Michaelson, H. B. (1986). Strategic Choices for the Engineer Author. Chem. Eng. 93(15): 50-

60. Strunk, W.; White, E. B. (1979) The Elements of Style, 3rd ed., Macmillan, New York.