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Subject:Re: A sobering encounter (So now what?) From:"Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 2 Dec 2002 11:53:01 -0500
Andrew Plato <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
>The other sobering fact is that most engineers CAN write. Accomplished
>engineers are usually college graduates. And pretty much all colleges require
>graduates to be decent writers.
Andrew, this may be true of engineers you have encountered. I guess your sample and my sample differ. I've certainly worked with my share of educated, literate engineers; but they are far from the majority. Some colleges do a good job in this regard; many do not.
Beyond that, though, even engineers who write well are focused, as they should be, on how the thing works rather than how to work the thing (shameless plagiarism from someone on this list, but I've forgotten who). So the tech writer still adds value by considering the needs of the audience and then organizing and presenting the material accordingly.
Dick
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