This brief guide was written for science and engineering students and professionals to help them communicate technical information clearly, accurately, and effectively. The focus is on the most common communication forms and the most common issues that arise in classroom and professional practice.

Freshman chemistry or physics will be the introduction to technical report writing for many college students. The format for writing these laboratory reports is most often specified by the instructor. This guide will be useful in developing a good technical writing style and for preparing tables and figures for those reports. Upper-level courses often use the same formatting as is required for submission to technical journals or for technical report writing, which is the focus of this book. Graduate students and professionals encounter many of the same problems in technical communication. Good communication skills are required in all forms of technical writing and presentation. This book is designed to help the reader develop effective communication skills and to be a reference on stylistic and grammar issues. Unlike most texts on writing style, this book also treats oral presentations, graphing, and analysis of data.

The authors' intention is to give the reader the basics of technical communication in the first chapter and then to treat in detail the various forms of technical communication. The structure of the book is as follows:

1. Chapter 1 provides a general discussion of technical communication.

2. Chapter 2 covers writing technical reports and archival papers.

3. Chapter 3 discusses writing letter reports, which are common in industry.

4. Chapter 4 gives general guidelines for oral presentations.

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