Engineers communicate multimodally using written and visual communication, but there is not much theorizing on why they do so and how. This essay, therefore, examines why engineers communicate multimodally, what, in the context of representing engineering realities, are the strengths and weaknesses of written and visual communication, and how, based on an understanding of these strengths and weaknesses, one can consider using the strengths of each form of communication to address weaknesses in the other. Doing so can possibly enable one to demonstrate for engineering majors how they can, with greater effectiveness, communicate multimodally for representing well engineering realities.
FoxS. (2005) Serious graphics: How a picture can make it or break it. IEE Engineering Management. 47.
6.
GarmendiaM.GuisasolaJ.SierraE. (2007) First year engineering students' difficulties in visualization and drawing tasks. European Journal of Engineering Education32(3): 315–323.
7.
HaasC.WitteS. P. (2001) Writing as an embodied practice: The case of engineering standards. The Journal of Business and Technical Communication15(4): 413–457.
8.
HuttoD. (2007) Graphics and invention in engineering writing. Technical Communication54(1): 88–98.
9.
JeyarajJ. (2004) Liminality and othering: The issue of rhetorical authority in technical discourse. Journal of Business and Technical Communication20(10): 9–38.
10.
KraemerW. (2009) The hypnotic literary genre: Poetry, trance, and hypnotext, Ann Arbor, MI: Proquest (UMI Microfilm 3376839).
11.
MaritainJ. (1937) The degrees of knowledge, London, England: Geoffrey Bles: The Centenary Press.
12.
McGrann, R. T. R., Sharon, F. B., & Lafferty, M. E. (2005). Collaborative partnerships: Writing in the engineering classroom (using undergraduate course assistants from the English department to improve the writing skills of engineering students). 35th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference S2E-42, Indianapolis.
PolanyiM.ProschH. (1975) Meaning, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago.
15.
Posniak, M., & Monti, C. (2013). Attitudes towards visual communication and design education within the engineering community at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Retrieved from http://chrismonti.net/files/Client%20Report.pdf.
