Importance Of Writing Skills In Engineering

Rhetorical Elements in “The Importance of Writing Skills in Tech-Related Fields”
In “The Importance of Writing Skills in Tech-Related Fields”, Theresa MacPhail asserts that engineers should place more value and make more of an effort in improving their writing skills. There are many aspects in tech-related jobs that require a strong foundation in writing, yet there is a prevalent belief among engineers that writing is simply an extraneous skill. Theresa MacPhail attempts to dispel that way of thinking and prove that writing is in fact a necessary skill for success in the tech industry. Out of all of the texts that we have gone over in this class, this article is the most effective in accomplishing its objectives of convincing the intended audience of the importance of writing and bringing attention to the issue through rhetorical elements such as anecdotes and quotations. MacPhail starts her article off with a brief anecdote from her time as an assistant professor at UC Berkeley, a prestigious university for engineering. …show more content…
She recounts the cases of various engineering students griping and complaining about, “...what they often see as a ‘nonessential’ course” (MacPhail). The usage of her anecdote is particularly effective when we consider that students in the engineering field are her intended audience. She is aware that the mention of other engineering students’ struggles will make the issue more relatable to her readers. Additionally, MacPhail consciously mentions UC Berkeley students in her anecdote in order to show that the pervasive aversion to writing even extends to students at a top-tier university. This anecdote successfully accomplishes her first goal of informing others of the writing issue among engineers, as well as capturing the attention of those in the audience who may find the problem as relatable. Her emphasis on the engineering students in the anecdote makes it apparent that she seeks to spread awareness on the issue and persuade her audience of the importance of writing in the tech industry. In comparison to MacPhail’s anecdote, the anecdote that Mike Bunn utilizes in “How to Read Like a Writer” is less successful in accomplishing his goal. While MacPhail is able to get her intended audience to connect more to the text, Bunn merely uses the rhetorical strategy to describe the events leading up to his epiphany and segway into his explanation on how to read like a writer. MacPhail’s superior usage of the anecdote is apparent in this case. Another rhetorical strategy that MacPhail employs well is the quoting of largely influential and successful tech professionals. The three people quoted all strongly agree with MacPhail and urge that writing is a necessity when employed in the tech field. For example, Emily Greer, the CEO of Kongregate, is quoted to say that, “Taking a big project and breaking it down into chunks for different parties to work on takes clear vision and documentation. It’s quite similar to a good outline for a paper” (MacPhail). Some may argue that it would be better for MacPhail to quote people who are more relatable to the engineering students in her audience. However, there is no better way for the intended audience to be convinced of the main claim than by having their possible employers stating the importance of writing. This usage of quotations greatly adds credibility to the article’s main argument and is extremely useful in accomplishing the goal of persuading engineers of the essentiality of writing. Without these quotes, MacPhail does not have much evidence other than her own statements, which do