How Engineers Write: An Empirical Study of Engineering Report Writing

This study trials an analysis of engineering reports using a modified version of Gosden's (1993) analysis of the science research article. Using Hallidayan sociolinguistic concepts the analysis primarily shows how engineering writers linguistically convert real-world entities and processes into non-real-world concepts and also tracks authorial presence in the article. Concentrating primarily on the Mode aspect of Register, or how reality is constructed the research looks at the system of organizing theme: and information. More particularly, it classifies the Subject in unmarked theme sentences to reveal strategic manipulation of thematic choices between real-world and non-real-world. It is argued that the linguistic reconstrual into scientific concepts and data and then, reconversion into real-world phenomena is the essence of the engineering-report.