How Engineers Write: An Empirical Study of Engineering Report Writing

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Abstract
This study trials an analysis of engineering rèports using a modified version of Gosden's (1993) analysis of the science research article Using Hallidayan sociolmguistic concepts the analysis primarily, shows how engineering writers linguistically convert real-world entities and processes into non-real-world concepts and also tracks authorial presence in the article Concentrating primarily on the Mode aspect of Register, or how reality is constructed, the research looks at the system of organizing theme and information More particularly, it classifies the Subject in unmarked theme sentences to reveal strategic manipulation of thematic choices between real-world and non-real-world It is argued that the linguistic reconstrual into scientific concepts and data and then reconversion into real-world phenomena is the, essence of the engineering report A number of methodological and substantive findings are provided The modified version of Gosden's method of identifying (Un)marked Themes can be applied to engineering report analysis It is suggested that a new category, Analytical Concepts of Real-World Entities, Events, and Processes, provides valuable information about the extent and position of the engineers' conversion of real-world entities, events, and processes into scientific concepts as it is the second most common thematic categorization It is claimed also that the small proportion of unmarked subject-themes in the Participant Domain of engineering reports suggests that the interactive metafunction is less important than in research articles because engineers do not need to position themselves within a discourse community These findings underline suggestions for improving engineering report writing in particular, better thematic organization, avoiding inappropriate narrative, greater use of adjuncts in marked theme sentences, and manipulation of theme subjects to enhance textual coher

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