Justin Velek

Writing 2
Matt Wilson
11/2/16
WP2
You are about to set out into a new and exciting field, you want to become a doctor or an
engineer. Its likely that you believe that these fields doesnt involve too much writing. While
they may not have as much writing as fields like history and philosophy, they still have a fair
amount. In order to be successful in the fields of medicine or engineering, you will have to
understand the conventions of the writing in these fields, and how to make an argument in these
fields. Both of the disciplines use jargon but they use different kinds of evidence and structure
their writing in different ways. The conventions give insight into the purpose of each discipline.
The engineering discipline focuses on creating a tangible solution to a problem, while the
medical discipline focuses on making observations about the current state of medicine.
The medical discipline uses quotes from other articles in other peer reviewed articles as
its main source of evidence. For example, the article quotes a report from New York League for
Americanism talking about how a bill created professional guilds which seemed like they
would benefit doctors but essentially cut their pay (Terris). The actual quote is long and directly
sources where it comes from. This shows that the discipline relies heavily on all of its members
being able to read and understand the importance of the quotes. This reliance means that anyone
joining this discipline will have to learn to do the same. The quote was from a publication in

1920, and this shows that the discipline places importance on history, which supports the
disciplines observational style, as much of observation is done on the past.
The engineering discipline relies more heavily on numbers, data, and studies to provide
proof of the writers points. For example, the writer of the monograph looks at results of studies
on the survival of bacteria claiming that they tend to be more sensitive to the methods of
aerosolization, collection, and culture (Cox 1989, 1998), (Memarzadeh). The writer does not
directly quote his source. He paraphrases and then cites it because he wants to be as concise as
possible and get his point across. This choice indicates that the discipline values the big picture
and is not as concerned with the details of citations. This set of values supports the problem
solving nature of the engineering discipline since to solve a problem, you have to see the whole
situation.
This focus on the big picture can also be seen in the engineering discipline monographs
use of jargon. The writer uses a lot of acronyms, but he states what they stand for the first time
he uses each one. For example he talks about the Centers for Disease Control Prevention
(CDC) and personal protective equipment (PPE) throughout the monograph and after the first
mention of them he uses the acronyms that he designates for each (Memarzadeh). This is an
example of practicality in the engineering discipline, because engineers dont want to read
through all those words when they could just use an acronym. When participating in the
discourse community of engineering, using acronyms is important because it is a distinctive
choice that is made my the writers in that field. To not use them would be to break a rule of the
discipline and thus be less successful participating in the community. In the engineering

community, reading unnecessary words is not the goal; the goal is to see the problems and then
find a way to fix them.
The last big thing which is distinctive about the medical discipline article is its
organization. The writer breaks down his article into six different parts, which makes the article
much easier to follow. He separates each section with titles. These serve a couple of purposes.
The first is to guide the reader and inform him what he is about to read. The second is to put the
events from the past which the writer talks about in chronological order. This focus on order of
events again goes back to the way that observations are made, which is almost always
chronological. This style of organization also makes the content make much more sense and
allows the reader to follow along with the writers thought process. Being able to see eye to eye
with the writer is especially important in a field where the main purpose of writing is to share
observations.
Similar to the way that the medical discipline uses organization, the engineering
discipline uses structural devices in its writing to help achieve its purpose. The writer puts little
asides at the side of the page, separated from the bulk of the text, and in a different color. For
example, on page 2 there is one that says Design features can be used to address the
vulnerability of buildings that house ill patients and healthy staff in an environment where they
may be exposed to many infectious agents, (Memarzadeh). This little aside is meant to illustrate
the main point of the entire page in just a single sentence. This serves the purpose of the
engineering discipline, because it makes it so the reader could quickly get the point of the whole
monograph just by flipping through its pages and reading only the blue colored side text. This

may be seem repetitive, but every single convention that the engineering discipline uses does one
main thing; all the conventions make the piece as streamlined as possible because of the practical
natures of the discipline. Having these asides allows other engineers participating in the
discipline to quickly figure out the writers point and then they can go back if there is anything
that needs to be discussed.
The medical and engineering disciplines have different sets of rules that guide them. The
medical discipline has rules that allow the writer to share his observations with his colleagues.
The engineering disciplines rules make the material very easy to skim over, both because of the
diction and structure of the writing. For both disciplines, the rules determine the purposes of the
discipline. In order to be a successful, participating member of either of these two disciplines,
you have to take all of these rules into consideration when either reading or writing in them. This
idea holds true for all communities, not just academic fields. Everywhere you look, there are
rules about writing which you have to follow. Look at even reddit, a site designed purely for
entertainment, and you will see that each subreddit has its own rules about what you should be
writing, and how you should be writing it.

Works Cited
Memarzadeh, F., PhD, PE. (2011). The Environment of Care and Health Care-Associated
Infections An Engineering Perspective. Dallas, TX: E Facility Guidelines Institute.
Terris, Milton. "National Health Insurance in the United States: A Drama in Too Many Acts."
Journal of Public Health Policy 20, no. 1 (1999): 13-35.