Is Writing An Essential Skill For Engineers By James Koelsch

1783 Words4 Pages

“Is Writing an Essential Skill for Engineers”
Summary
The article “Is Writing an Essential Skill for Engineers” by James Koelsch discussed how having the ability to write and communicate is a very important quality for all engineers to possess. The author used multiply techniques in trying to persuade the reader as to why successful engineers must be able to write, as well as be able to communicate to others. Koelsch started out by using anecdotes, talking about his own personal experience with learning about writing and communication in his college years, which he used to relate to his audience because his audience seems to be engineering college students. Likewise he used a few different examples on some professionals’ views on how they …show more content…

Koelsch was very adamant about how he believed that having the education and experience with writing can go a long way in determining how successful of an engineer you become. Koelsch showed right away his thoughts on if writing is an important attribute for engineers to have, he started his paper stating that the technical skills engineers need to have are still the most valuable skills to possess, but having writing and communication skills is also an essential attribute to possess.
Analysis
1) Anecdotes
2) Examples
3) Quotes
4) Analogies
5) Scenarios
Anecdotes:
One thing Koelsch sure didn’t leave out of his article was anecdotes. He used a plethora of anecdotes to try to convince the reader just how important writing and communication skills are in shaping your career as an engineer. I have mixed feelings on the anecdotes used in this paper; I do think Koelsch use of anecdotes was somewhat effective in proving his argument. On one hand I like how he tries to appeal to reader through more of a personal level through using stories to convince the reader, but on the other hand I believe he didn’t appeal to the audience as well as he …show more content…

For me as an engineer I like comparing things to something else in my life, so the use of analogies would really appeal to me. The author did use one analogy that I saw and I really liked that he included at least one in his paper. Koelsch compared how learning to write is like learning to ice skate or learning how to do karate, I thought this was a good way for me to see what he meant by learning to write is only done through the experience of just writing. In the one occasion where Koelsch used analogies he was very effective, I just feel he could have used them more to try and convince the reader that writing and communication skills are important. For example he could have said that the skill of writing and communication is as important to engineers as studying a playbook is for a football player. If a football player wants to become successful he has to study the playbook, because even if he is a very strong athlete, if he doesn’t know the plays he won’t become successful; just like if an engineer is very strong in the technical side of engineering but very poor in the communication and writing side that person will not develop their

Open Document