ENGR 101
Learning Skills Centre
Common Writing Errors
The town of High Boulders is above the snowline in winter, this means that building
projects’ have to be completed by April. This is a problem for the company that is
laying the pipes for the town’s new wastewater system. The stupid pipe
construction dudes who have fouled things up by missing deadlines. You can’t
build a wastewater system with no pipes. Funding is a nightmare too. The
Government’s threatening to pull the plug on it’s promised grant for the High
Boulders project which has been on the cards for nearly ten years and which
needs to be done because the people there have health issues because of the
waste water oozing into the drinking supply which comes from a well at the end of
the town it is like being in a second world country, commented Town Councillor
Rocky Ledger. With not being able to round up enough skilled workmen the
company manager of Super Sewers is in deep despair on top of all their other
problems. Whose going to sort out all this mess?
Points to consider:
Avoid colloquial language
Do not use first person (I, we) and never, second (you)
Do not use contractions can’t = cannot. Government’s =
Government is
Avoid emotive personal language stupid, deep despair, nightmare
Phrasal verbs sort out = resolve, round up = to collect,
foul (something) up = to negatively affect
Comma splice
Points to consider:
Sentence fragment
Run-ons
Rhetorical questions
Pronoun antecedent disagreement Company manager … on top
of all their other problems
Apostrophe errors
Clarity
Revised version
Super Sewers, the company which is constructing a new wastewater
system for the town of High Boulders, has encountered many
problems. There is an obvious need for this system because waste
water is contaminating the drinking water supply, but it seems
possible that the Government may withdraw the grant that was
promised a decade ago. The pipes must be laid before the winter
snows begin, but late delivery by the pipe construction company has
delayed the schedule. The company has also been unable to recruit
sufficient skilled workmen. In view of these difficulties, it is possible
that the project may never be completed.
Structuring the report
Title - short, relevant title.
Introduction - context (focus / main subject)
Explain the project you have chosen
Outline the tasks that will need to be done
Aim/objective (what you intend to achieve)
Introduce the people necessary for the project (their main function)
Significance of the information contained in the report.
Body of the report
Planning saves time
Planning also results in a balanced report
Reading
If you find something that looks relevant before you take notes:
Read the first and last paragraphs (introduction and conclusion)
Skim the section headings and read the topic sentences of each
paragraph to give you the main points.
Note-taking – Cornell method
Bibliographic details: author, date, title, publisher, place.
Headings or Notes or Content Personal comments
Themes Reactions/ Insights/
Cross-references/ Ideas/
Confusions/ Questions
This column is This column is for your notes: direct This column is where
used to quotes/paraphrasing/ summarising main you critically evaluate the
indicate which points information, asking
theme the questions, responding
notes relate to. and interpreting and
sorting out points into a
hierarchy of relevance.
Note-taking – Cornell method
Bibliographic details: Rowe, M. (2006). Is engineering a profession? [Link] Retrieved 10
Feb 2009 from [Link]
Headings of Notes or content Personal comments
(Reactions /Insights/ Cross-
themes references /Ideas/
Confusions /Questions)
Definition of Rowe (2006) reports that some believe Disagrees with the idea of
professional Engineering is not a profession engineering as a profession.
because there is “gross deficiency” in If not a profession, how
the areas of registration and in defining
what the first professional degree
would you counter that?
syllabus should cover (p. 1).
Although New Zealand currently has a wide range of research Topic sentence (main
ventures within the many branches of biotechnology, its rating claim – point of argument)
on the international market is relatively low in terms of
commercialisation. New Zealand’s main biotechnological
Sub-claim 1
strength derives from its primary production sector which is
farming. Years spent genetically improving plant and animal Evidence
species has produced a successful biotechnological
agriculture (agritech) industry, which generated an estimated
$811million in 2005 (MoRST, 2006). Nevertheless, despite over Sub-claim 2
350 organisations producing groundbreaking work, New (developing the
Zealand has yet to see this kind of commercialisation in other argument)
biotechnology sectors. For example, New Zealand is
considered a world leader in primary drug discovery and
Evidence
research, yet the pharmaceutical sector barely registers on the
international pharmaceutical radar (Cleland, 2007). The reasons
for this are the slow growing New Zealand economy and its
relatively small business market size in comparison to
multinational companies; lack of financial capital for Support
investment; insufficient technological expertise; and its
distance from global markets (MoRST LEK Report, 2006, cited
in Helm, 2008). Although New Zealand maintains a strong
commendable position in the global research market, this Wrap up sentence
advanced status does not produce, manufacture, nor export
products.
Evidence
Relevant
up to date
drawn from reputable sources
factually accurate
correctly referenced
Referencing – APA citation style guide
In-text Referencing
Referring to a book or any source with an author in your text:
This is becoming an international issue (Yates, 2007).
or
Yates (2007) believes that this is becoming an international issue.
If you quote directly, put the exact words in double quotation marks and
include the page number in the reference:
Smith states, “This is a major breakthrough for mechanical
engineering” (2007, p. 22).
The Reference List
The Reference List
Sources are presented in alphabetical order by the surname of the
author (or by the source title if there is no author).
A book in a reference list:
Author’s family name; initials; year date of publication in round
brackets; name of book in italics; city of publication; name of
publisher:
Yates, J.K. (2007). Global Engineering and Construction. Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley.
Examples of APA referencing is on the Learning Skills on-line
resources page: [Link]
Conclusion
Gives a sense of completion
Brief and to the point
Addresses the problem/aim set out in the introduction
Main Slide with Bulleted List
Blank Slide with Bulleted List