Research Question Topics

How is writing involved day to day for engineers?

What is proper writing etiquette for engineers?

What technical writing do Mechanical Engineers do?

Textual Rhetorical Analysis Paper

John Lauer

ENGL 250

Textual Rhetorical Analysis Paper

2/24/14

Textual Rhetorical Analysis of Effects of Leadership on Engineers: A Structural Equation Model

               As a future engineer, what better way to learn about my field and build on my leadership skills than to read and analyze, but the writings of three experienced engineers and businessmen that have researched the  specific topic of engineers and the effects they have as leaders. Each author of this scholarly article has great educations as PhD holder, an engineer of different sectors, and extended management experience that contributes to the in-depth analyzing of the topics discussed. These authors are Jose-Luis Mascaray Laglera, Javier Conde Collado, and Juan-Antonio Marco de Oca. As stated in the beginning of the paper, the main goal of this article is to, “propose a structural equation model to comprehensively explain the relationship between leadership and the variables linked to it.” The article also hits on specific topics that contribute to the success of a leadership role which include transformational leadership, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, trust in leadership, job performance, and relationship constructs. This clear goal is what the author hopes to fully explain, and a textual analysis, which will be carried out in this paper, is used to evaluate how well this was accomplished through the authors writing. 

               Starting with an overall look at the article, one component that must be analyzed is the style. The audience for this article is all engineers that are, or could be in a leadership role. So the piece must insure that it is written in a way that engineers will understand and agree with. As the article is written by engineers, the style is clearly correct in the straight forward, direct writing that is done. Engineers prefer to read and write as little as possible with getting all information across the writing. There are also some acronyms that were used, in which the authors took into account and labeled not only in the paragraphs, but in a separate list on page ten, so as to make future tables less cluttered when showing the data from the research. As all scholarly articles are, the writing is very formal, and as engineers, the transitions are sometimes a little rough, but as the audience is clear, the information stated is the important thing to absorb, and not the literary grace of more interpretive pieces.

               Another style that engineers prefer is tables and graphs. The authors show tables providing quick, straight forward information on exhibits 2, 3, 4, and 6, along with a diagram on page twelve labeled exhibit 5. Each exhibit supported the hypotheses given in the article, and has its own set of structure that helps interpret the data in number values. This is complicated, and not needed to be explained to evaluate the article itself. These visuals add to the understanding of the data, and the author knows these are beneficial to the engineers that will be reading the article, so the implementation of them helps with validity and quality of the writing. Another small, but important aspect is the spacing done with each new section of the article. The bolding and spacing done between points is well done, and holds to standards in proper writing.

               Organization is one of the most important parts to writing and is integral to the success of understanding and communicating the message and findings without confusing and frustrating the reader. The authors do a great job of organizing the introduction of the paper where it talks about crucial aspects of a company’s survival, in which one of the most important is leadership within the management staff. It then explains factors that affect outcomes in the work place between employees and their job performance related to how management acts.  And then a smooth transition takes the topic to transformational leadership. In the Previous Research section on page 8, there are multiple sections that talk about the aspects of leadership, but the order of “Job Satisfaction” and “Job Performance” is a little off in my opinion. I suggest that they follow each other in that order because they are very closely related, as depending on how satisfied you are with your job, changes how you perform day to day.  The rest of the order of the overall article makes sense. There are hypotheses present before the research and data, and the discussion and conclusion of the data then come, and the article ends with some analysis of the limitations of the research and some future research suggestions.

               After looking at the context of the article, the details show that the authors have extended knowledge in the field and vast experience in management over the years. This article is also supported by the many references in the back of the article that were used to help with the research and findings. All of the supporting evidence is shown with internal citations in the paper, which shows the reader that the information is legitimate and can be trusted.

               In conclusion, the article was well written in all aspects of analysis. To some people, the context and information provided might be analyzed, but the topics covered are really up to the authors and what they want to include in the article. Other than that, the topics and goal were accomplished well through the writing, and gave the reader a good overview and in-depth look at  the effects of leadership on engineers and the evidence behind the reasoning.  

Textual Rhetorical Analysis Article Source

Effects of Leadership on Engineers: A Structural Equation Model

Visual Rhetorical Analysis

John Lauer

ENGL 250

Visual Rhetorical Analysis Paper

2/11/14

Smart Fortwo Tridion Commercial

               Visual communication is present everywhere in our lives. You can literally “see” it everywhere, such as in ads, commercials, shows, billboards, restaurant menus, etc. Our society is very visual with a lot of our choices and influences, so companies now integrate their products in a way that is pleasing to the eye and produce visual pictures and videos that persuade their customers to buy what they have. All companies when deciding how to market their product have to think about the intended audience who will be purchasing it. For this example, the intended audience is mostly adults who can afford a vehicle and could be looking for one at the time. So for a lot of visual communication, the main objective to accomplish is to make what your marketing look damn amazing and only focus on the positives of the product. A lot of commercials strive for that output and the commercial I analyzed did a really good job of that, but I will also analyze the down sides to the it and how when the public does an internal visual rhetorical analysis of the commercial, it really shows if they are impressed with the product or not. The Smart Fortwo Tridion commercial is what I’ll be looking at and seeing how Smart used the features of its product to successfully communicate the reasons to consider the car as a future investment.

               Now let’s dive into the commercial itself. The video ad can be viewed at the link below and was produced at the beginning of 2013, but the main basis of it is that the new Smart Fortwo Tridion is a new, small in size, smart car that has many new features that make it very safe, even though of its light and small. The commercial mentions the car comes with eight air bags, a crash management system, and the world’s only Tridion safety cell which can stand over three and a half tons. The phrase at the end that ties it all together is, “Small in size, big on safety.” So obviously the commercial is focusing on the safety of the vehicle even though it is light and small. Not many people know what tridion is or how strong it is, and people also don’t know how three tons compares to what a regular car can withstand. And I don’t know about you, but what does the crash management system actually do? How can a car manage a crash? All these things might be pondered in your head if you were actually going to think critically about this commercial. But most of the time, you won’t.

               One great thing about this commercial, and what most commercials that have an emphasis on engineering try to do, is to keep things simple for the viewer, so that they can fully understand the content. All companies know that including detailed drawings of the engineered parts of a system, or physics diagrams of how a part can support weight and pressure, is not needed and will actually make the ad or commercial less appealing to viewers and turn them away from paying attention. Keeping the information presented straight forward and to the point make an ad believable and interesting along with the visuals presented.

Most people watch the commercial and are amazed by the facts put in front of them, along with the visual part of the commercial which is when they show the Tridion safety cell frame holding up a black Ford Excursion.

This is the main visual of the commercial that really sells the car. The commercial starts with what looks like the full smart car under the SUV. Then the small car drives away revealing just the frame of the car actually holding up the Excursion. That’s the whole commercial, but gives a good emphasis on how simple, yet at the same time powerful this idea is. To get an idea, the SUV is 7000 pounds that the safety cell is withstanding when put on top of it. This is the “coup de grace” of this commercial, convincing people that this vehicle must be a great car with an emphasis on safety. Smart nailed this one on the head in my opinion, but there are also some aspects of the commercial that don’t really speak completely and if you’re analyzing it, you can tell that maybe the car isn’t as safe as you first thought it was.

               While there were a lot of pros to this commercial, there are also some loop holes. Many people don’t know the specific mechanics of cars, but rely that everything a commercial says is correct. Well when looking into what the car offers, it’s not that incredibly safe. First off, the eight airbags that are in the car are not that impressive. Most cars have ten or more airbags. This is a small car so you can’t fit as many airbags in it, but those are standard and should be part of the vehicle anyway. Along with that, the management system is just like any other system that releases airbags on impact and has an anti-lock breaking system. So this car is still not that impressive. The tridion safety cell is the one thing that actually does a new and improved job to keep passengers safe. Tridion is a reinforced, steel alloy that it very strong. This would be used for other cars, but it is very expensive to use. So it makes sense that it would be used on a small car that would use less steal to make. This is a big bonus to the car, but there is one more problem with the commercial.

The Ford Excursion is just sitting on the top of the car. It’s not being dropped on the car or crashed into it; it was just lightly set on the smart car. This is a problem and mostly ruins the commercial for people who know how physics works. The problem is that most people know that the effect of a car being set on another and a car hitting another at 65 mph is way different. That’s where the loop hole comes in. Some people realize this and know that the car is still not as safe as what they are trying to portray on the commercial. Most people know that even though the smart car has stronger steel, it is still way lighter than most cars, and in a crash will be flung way farther as being the smaller and lighter of the crash. This is almost an unavoidable problem, but the makers of the commercial did a great job in convincing and showing that the car can withstand large amounts of weight in case of another car being on top of it. So even though the commercial had some pros and cons, they still presented the information well and made it visually appealing, but for the rhetorical visual analyzer, the commercial didn’t quite cut it.

               In the end, visual communication is a key part of industry and retail today, but not all ads are done perfectly or even well. The overall idea of commercials is to persuade the consumer, not necessarily give him all the facts or maybe even stretch the truth a little. I guess one important lesson to learn from this analysis is to not let yourself be tricked into visually appealing ads or commercials. Instead let the rhetorical analysis side of your brain do the work and make a good, calculated decision about the truth behind the story, or in another sense of reading between the lines. This is always good practice for later in life when you have to make big, investment decisions and decide which one is really the better deal. Research is key and analyzing is just the beginning. 

Works Cited

Radu, Mihnea. "Smart Fortwo Tridion Safety Cell Supports an SUV [Video]." Smart Fortwo Tridion Safety Cell Supports an SUV [Video]. Autoevolution, 5 Nov. 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2014 <http://www.autoevolution.com/news/smart-fortwo-tridion-safety-cell-supports-an-suv-video 51425.html>.

Smart, USA. "High Strength Steel Safety Cage -- 2013 Smart Car Safety Features - Smart USA. YouTube. YouTube, 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch v=7VqHEGsB2iA>.

Varela, Kristin. "How Many Airbags Are Enough?" - KickingTires. Cars.com, 19 June 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. <http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2013/06/how-many-airbags-are-enough.html>.

Visual Communication

In this picture, there is a smart car holding up a very heavy SUV that is probably around three times its weight. This commercial is used to promote the liability and safety the Smart Fortwo Tridion has. This picture is intended for anyone who can buy a car and who wants to buy one. This picture is trying to convey that this new smart car is very safe, as it has a strong and supportive frame that seems very trusted sense it had hold so much weight. This picture is related to my major because this body design was created by engineers, along with the whole car.

Rhetorical Analysis Story

John Lauer
ENGL 250

Rhetorical Analysis Story
2/5/14

Analyzing Without Knowing

               When prompted with this assignment, it was hard for me to think of what to actually write about, and I’m still not exactly sure what kind of story the teacher was thinking was going to come out of this. All I can think of is what is the broad definition of “rhetorical analysis”? I would say that an easy definition is just the process of reviewing and judging someone’s work. Looking at all different aspects of their work and saying what is good and what can be improved on.

Some small examples on this in my life was when I was in speech class, and the teacher had us evaluate each speech that was given by other students and say one good thing about the presentation and one thing that they could improve on. This was just a small exercise but was exactly what rhetorical analysis is! Another example was when you would read over peoples essay drafts in English class, and give them critiques and ideas of what could improve their paper.

Maybe a more abstract example of when I used rhetorical analysis and I didn’t know it was when I was in the marching band. I was in band for six years starting in 6^th grade and I was in marching band all through high school. I was a section leader for two of those years, and part of leading the section was making them better by critiquing them and analyzing how to make them better. This was more of a physical way of keeping their posture perfect, their tone beautiful while wanting a strong sound and having them pay attention in rehearsals. This was more of a leadership opportunity than rhetorical analysis, but music and marching can always be improved on, so as a leader, I would judge and review a marcher, and give them tips to improve their performance.

These are all simple examples of rhetorical analysis and give a little insight to how different it is to judge someone’s work in all kinds of situations.

Summary Reflection

John Lauer

ENGL 250

Summary Reflection

2/3/14

My Reflection

               This assignment was a little different than the papers we wrote so far this semester. Instead of pondering ideas and information that you could use for a paper, all of the material was right in front of you in the article. And the order of the paper was guarded by how the article was written. When it comes to summaries for me, I have a natural knack for writing them.
               Usually the process starts by first reading the article and highlighting as I go to mark the main, important information in it. After, I start with an introduction to what the main premise of the article is and other small information like the authors. Then I summarize the article from the main points I marked and add more information as I go.
               The hardest part to writing a summary is paraphrasing all the information in the writing. Sometimes it seems like the author created a really great sentence with the information he needed to say, but you have to change it so it’s not plagiarism. It is also very hard to read scholarly articles and translate all the information inside. Most of the reading is quite wordy and can get overbearing. The easiest part of writing a summary is finding the important information and topics. Usually they are spelled out in the title or sub-headings. I wish I would've had the authors of the article next to me when I wrote it so they could've helped me process the information and write an accurate summary of their work.
                The most important thing I observed and learned is how people write in my field. Though it was a thirteen page article, every paragraph was chalk full of information, and every sentence was informative and direct. That is one skill I will have to work on over the next years of college and I already have had much exposure to it in my classes so far.
                 In the end, this summary was a great exercise for me to see some research by real engineers and practice interpreting that information into my own piece.