Lesson 9: Emphasizing Details

     This lesson works through one example of a document that did not emphasize the most important details. The spirit of this lesson is not to blame the author (who was the only person to recognize important flaws of a design) but to learn from the example so that we do not make the same mistakes in our writing. ​(15 minutes)

Example showing the importance of analyzing your constraints in scientific writing.

Comprehension Quiz

  1. Why was the NASA memo the end of the paper trail? In other words, why did the managers who received the memo not pay attention to the warnings in the memo?
  2. Name four ways that we can emphasize details in a technical document.
  3. From your own experience, think of a technical document that did not emphasize an important detail. What suggestions would you give the author to make the details stand out?

References

  1. Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Writing, 4th ed. (New York: Springer Verlag, 2018), Lesson 1.
  2. Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1996), pp. 104–111, 249. Dr. Hillary Hart from the University of Texas at Austin suggested this NASA memo example to me some years ago, and it still powerful today.

Sponsors and Editors


​Sponsors
     Leonhard Center, College of Engineering, Penn State
​     National Science Foundation, NSF EAGER Award  1752096

​Content Editor
     Michael Alley, Teaching Professor, College of Engineering, Penn State

Film Editors
     Richelle Weiger, College of Engineering, Penn State
     Casey Fenton, College of Engineering, Penn State