Writing in The Pen of a Civil Engineer

Ali N. El-Hajj

American University of Beirut

 Writing in The Pen of a Civil Engineer

I. INTRODUCTION

Few days ago, I was scrolling through my Facebook page when an article titled “The

Phonics Discover America Before Columbo” grabbed my attention. I started observing and

thinking about the Phoenician letters that were craved on that stones in America. To whom would

that message be written to? Would any reader understand what was written? How could linguistics

analyze that text? Would everyone be interested to know and understand what was written?

Bazerman (1981) may have answers to these questions by saying that:

Writing involves other people. You respond to and build on other people’s statements; you then write for
other people to read. As a reader and a writer, you converse with others over the written page. To converse
effectively you need to know what is on the other people’s minds, how you want to affect other people, and
how you plan to achieve that effect. Thus, writing well requires that you understand the writing situation,
grasp the particular writing problem, and carefully plan your writing strategy (p.1).

Through written communication, the reader can listen to the words and voices of others

that can travel time and space. These could have initiated from other’s observation to the world

around them, or from the voices echoing in the author’s mind, which came from readings of others’

writings. Writing then is not only limited to the writer by himself, it’s the result of his interaction

with other writers and his surroundings. Written words could be used for various purposes such

as communicating orders to employees, describing historical events, or academic writing. When

Considering academic writing in different disciplines, every author and reader in a certain

discipline has his own techniques for written communication. Even in disciples that could be

somehow similar, every one of them could have its own writing identity. Bazerman (1981) pointed

out that writing varied among disciplines saying: “In order to develop answers that will be accepted

by people working within a discipline, a discipline develops special ways of arguing and special

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types of evidence that members of the discipline agree are convincing and reliable for the research

questions the discipline concerns itself with” (p.221).

Considering the interaction in the civil engineering academic community, it involves

writing that follows special organizational pattern that drives the specified audience through a

certain flow to achieve the purpose of the author’s words. These writing components are present

in most academic writings in general, yet there is a special way for these components to be

integrated in the writings of civil engineers to provide acceptable and reliable evidences that better

answers the questions of this discipline and achieves the author’s purpose. In Bazerman’s view

(1981) “In some communities the members' need or desire for greater agreement has led to a more

organized conversation over the evidence and ideas that most members can accept as community

knowledge” (p.221).

Some books are written to inform the audience about basic engineering fundamentals,

principles, and theories. Other texts include certain engineering practices and applications, or

inform about procedures, steps, or guidelines for certain experiments or applications. In that case,

the writer is usually a professor who has practical a theoretical knowledge about the discipline,

and tries to inform its audience (usually students) about his knowledge. An example on describing

experimental procedure is presented by Awwad et Hamad et Mabsout et Khatib (2014): “Six

beams were prepared from each of the three mixtures: two identical replicate beams to fail in

bending or flexural mode …” (p.1309). On the other hand, when students are writing a research

paper for their professors, these texts would be more detailed and clarified to demonstrate student’s

intelligence and understanding of the topic. Students writing these texts may include description

of the way they have understood the topic, and how they have formed their perspective about it.

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 II. METHODOLOGY

To learn more about the conventions and practices of writing in civil engineering, different

methods and approaches were exploited.

a. Reflections about previous writings.

Observations based on previous personal reading and writing in civil engineering were

made to draw an image of general writing practices in this discipline.

b. Observations of Published paper.

A technical paper published in aci structural journal was observed and analyzed, then it

was pointed out how what have been pre- assumed applied to the paper.

c. Interview.

After the exploitation of the technical paper, to verify the observations and reflections, an

interview had been conducted with Prof. Mabsout, a professor and the chairperson of the

department of civil engineering at The American University of Beirut.

III. Results

a. Observations

Writing in civil engineering includes equations and numbers that models the behaviors of

objects, materials, quantities and the interaction between these things in our real life. The simplest

models such 1 apple plus 1 apple yields 2 apples are represented in an equation. In addition to

other complex real-life situations as the stability of a building, the simulation of applied earthquake

forces to a structure, numerical modeling for the stability of soils, the applied water pressure at a

dam, and many other situations that seems difficult and complicated to be understood in the math

and numerical language, however that is how information is communicated. This is like the case

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of English-educated person trying to read Phoenician text which has notations that he has never

been familiar to. That needs a deeper sense of imagination, curiosity to learn and analyze how real-

life situations are represented in the numerical language.

Academic writing in civil engineering has some characteristics that are like most academic

texts which consider the audience, purpose, organization and all the components important for an

effective writing, but the most important component of writing in civil engineering, or any other

discipline, is to integrate these components and present them in the best way that steals the reader’s

attention and draws him into his paper. I have written a paper about dynamic modal response

spectral analysis, which is a method for the analysis of the behavior of high rise buildings subjected

to earthquake ground motions. Through writing this paper, I have realized the importance of

connecting to the audience in writing. I have gathered information about this topic by reading a

book written for this type of analysis, at the time when the use of computers for solving complex

problems was limited. After the development of computer based methods to solve structural

equations easily and more accurately, practical structural engineers would be less interested in

reading the detailed explanations about complex methods, they would rather be expecting to learn

information that can practically translates the real-life problem into a simple language to be

communicated to the computer which will effectively display the output solution. That paper

included the basic concept information that civil engineers needed to know about performing this

type in a practical way using computer software. I have presented the information and organized

the ideas in a flow that was related to the background and common knowledge of the audience. So,

it could be inferred that all the components of academic writing are connected and interrelated.

Even though the author’s arguments can sometimes be against the believes and opinions

of his reader, a smart author with good writing skills finds a way to learn about the background

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knowledge and personality of his audiences, then he can let them understand clearly what he is

claiming. The argumentative type of reading and writing is mostly encountered at graduate level

writing after researchers have established their basic knowledge. Bazerman (1981) supported this

idea by saying that “As you advance in your chosen discipline or profession, you will read books

and articles that argue new claims to knowledge. Rather than rely on the unquestioned statements

of well-established knowledge reported by textbook authors, you will be obliged to share

responsibility for assessing new findings within the discipline and you will be asked to argue what

constitutes disciplinary knowledge in the field. Part of your professional job will be to read such

arguments and to write them” (p.222).

What is also common and practical about writing in civil engineering in specific, and some

other similar discipline, is frequently using tables, graphs, diagrams, matrices and drawings to

provide evidence, display results or summarize data.

First, these tools help engineers visualize and understand the content of the writing. For

example, it would be easier for the reader to track the data of an experiment by observing it in the

summarized table form rather than reading long texts that includes scattered and unorganized data.

Second, graphs and diagrams are the best way to illustrate the variation of certain quantity (applied

forces, bending moments…) at different locations in a structural element. Figure 1 articulates the

external forces applied to continuous beam element, the bending moment diagram, and the

reinforcement diagram respectively. The bending moment diagram is the graph of the flexural

stress applied to the beam due to the external forces, and the reinforcement diagram is the location

of steel reinforcement distributed at several locations in the beam section. By inspecting figure 1,

and without doing the calculations, it could be easily predicted by the civil engineer that the

bending moment diagram will resemble the one in the figure, and that steel reinforcement is located

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at positions of maximum bending stresses at the top and bottom surfaces of the beam section. That

explains the location of bottom reinforcement almost at midspans of AC and DF, and the location

of top reinforcement above supports C and D. Structural engineers need to know the basic

equations for calculating the required amount of steel, and the reasons for locating the

reinforcement this way. On the other hand, foremen are interested in looking at the final

reinforcement detail and executing the member on site.

Figure 1 Bending, shear and reinforcment diagrams respectively (take from learneasy.info)

Third, graphs are better tools to convey certain information in a way that tables cannot display.

When I was writing my final year project last year, I have decided to present the results of

displacements at each of the 40 stories in the form of a graph that had showed only the most critical

values, then I have checked the maximum value with the allowable one to ensure safety due to

sway. I did not find it practical to present the results like some of my friends who articulated a

table spread over 10 pages that included irrelevant data. Forth, mathematical equations can be

written in the form of matrices, which makes it easier to visualize and use for computer solutions.

The below equations for example can be written in the matrix form as follows:

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y = 2x1 + 4 x2 & z = 3x1 + 7x2 (Equation Form)

𝑦 2 4 𝑥1
= * (Matrix Form)
𝑍 3 7 𝑥2

b. Observation of technical paper and interview

Further characteristics about writing in civil engineering were inferred by observing the

technical paper “Structural Behavior of Simply Supported Beams Cast with Hemp-Reinforced

Concrete” that is written by professors Elie Awwad, Bilal Hamad, Mounir Mabsout, and Helmi

Khatib. That paper was written to investigate the performance of the recently developed concrete

mixture. In this mixture, hemp fibers were introduced to the conventional concrete mix, and the

content of coarse aggregates was reduced. The reduction of coarse aggregate content makes this

mix environmental friendly, that is why they have called it green hemp-reinforced concrete. The

purpose of the experiment was to check if the green alternative has similar performance to the

conventional one. The main observation was that the text follows the AIMRD research article

structure.

The strategy followed in writing the introduction section was moving from the general to

the specific. It started by talking about achieving sustainability in communities by developing and

meeting their needs without compromising future generations from meeting their need, then it

moved to the specific when it described specifically how the use of industrial hemp fibers has

sustainable impacts. According to professor Mabsout, he says that:

In writing a technical paper, there are many ways that you can start your introduction, and the
content of the introduction depends on whether you are writing the first paper on the topic, or if
was written as part of a previous study. And since the research in the paper we are discussing has
been a part of a continual research, and has come from previous work done, then our introduction
cannot be independent from anything else. So, in this case the introduction starts with the general
description of the topic like what are natural fibers, why are hemp fibers that come from nature
being used for structural purposes. We have to say the rationale behind the paper in the introduction.
NOT ONLY behind the paper, but also behind the research, that’s why it becomes general. So, if

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you check out previous research papers on this topic, you will notice that they discuss the same
generalities, until you move to the specificity of each paper. This paper for example tackles one
aspect of using natural hemp fibers into structural beams. Yes! This is a standard way. You go
general to describe the problem, then you go specific into the particular area of using hemp fibers
in structural beams.

The literature review section, or background section as it is titled in the paper, has pointed

out how the authors came to their terms based on pointing out and illustrating the results of

previous researches and studies that were related to the topic which this paper was investigating.

By investigation the results of previous studies, it is observed that the research topic has been

chosen because it bridges the gap that is missing about the performance of the organic and not

industrial hemp fibers in reinforced concrete practices, since there were no previous studies that

describes their behavior, and since it could give a positive impact to the environment. Professor

Mabsout elaborates more on coming to terms when he says:

It’s very critical and dangerous to only depend on your own research because then it means that
no one else has done this work, you might be misleading people, and people will question that. So,
you always have to start actually with the global picture that is looking at previous work done by
others, because that’s how you start to look into your own work and make sure you’re not
duplicating. You are actually using someone else’s knowledge to build more on. So, we start
reporting from the bigger background which is based on others who have done similar researches,
or maybe researches in the same general topic of natural fibers perhaps using hemp fibers in
different ways, that’s why you want to use their reporting and their background, and then we
include our previous research that we have done at AUB in the same context. It’s part of what
others have been doing, now we have also done things, and then we report it, so when we report
our new research it doesn’t become totally independent or separated, it becomes part of continuous
work.

He also clarifies more on finding good resources when he says:

We should try to look for scientific resources. These are either researches reported into dissertation,
journals, or conferences. Journals are typically more reliable because they have been validated by
reviewers. As we report from these resources, we will never capture the whole thing, but we’ll
eventually get the best of them that relate most to our research. And with every resource that you
read, you will find another good resource that might be discussing the same research topic. And
then actually, if you send it to reviewers, they’ll inform you if you have missed to include some
other work done.

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 In the research objective and significance section, the importance of this research paper

was emphasized by stating the conclusion for the literature review, and starting from there, future

goals and targets were set. The first objective was to investigate the performance of the organic

hemp fibers with respect to a variable that could have a prominent impact on the performance, and

in a more advanced approach that better simulates their behavior in real life applications, since the

previous studies were limited to specimens instead of structural elements. The second objective is

to visualize added value, and the positive sustainable impact that this study could add. Thus, that

innovation could be advantageous at economic, social, and environmental levels.

The experimental procedure section includes a clear description of the tests that were

conducted, and elaborates all the relevant details that gives credibility and reliability to the results.

It is noted that these details were summarized in tables shown and figures that elaborate the tests

in a more convenient way. Understanding the details of the experiment by observing the figure

and tables is easier for civil engineers than reading texts. Professor Mounir discusses the

importance of these illustration tools when he says:

At the end it is a number that we’re reporting, it can be reported in any way you want. When you
say that this is stronger, maybe I’ll say that this is what you meant, it would be easier to read, and
it will be clearer. When you report things in table, and you have let’s say an experimental set up
where it has many variables, you can write them down in a full paragraph. I start from the
beginning of the paragraph, I reach the end, I forgot what I have read. But when I see tables or
charts for data presentation, for the input of the experiment, then I can see these in a more
convenient way. When variables can be seen tabulated, I can see the variations easily, then just
reading texts. Perhaps you’re going to ask about results, but again the same applies to results.
When we present results that has different variables, we have to present them into tables, because
again, they will be easily compared, and even better with charts, whether they are line charts or
pie. First, to promote our work versus other people’s work, so you compare with others who have
done similar work. Second, you can also validate numerical versus experimental, or our work
versus people’s work outside. Furthermore, it shows that our variation of data, which is parametric,
in a convenient way rather than reading that this is bigger than this, this is smaller than that by
10% so on. Reading a lot of text will be nice, but then when you show these, and you can show
them in tables and charts or graphs they are easily readable. And last on this, you still have to
present the whole thing by a few sentences which summarizes the whole thing via text. At the end,
if I want to say something to someone, I cannot tell them read this, they can read, they can

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appreciate the numbers, they can see comparisons in tables, graphs, pie charts, or whatever, but at
the end, unless you have also a few sentences that concludes these, then it will be still missing. So,
maybe not a long text, but the text at the end should cumulate what you have in a few good
sentences, so that people can make use of your work in a few sentences at the end.

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 References

Bazerman, C. (1981). The informed writer 5th edition. The WAC Clearinghouse, Fort collins, Colorado

80523-1052.

Awwad, E., Hamad, B., Mabsout, M., & Khatib, H. (2014). Structural Behavior of Simply Supported

Beams Cast with Hemp-Reinforced Concrete. ACI Structural Journal, 111(6), 1307.

Mounir Mabsout is a Professor of civil engineering at AUB. He received his PhD from the University of

Texas at Austin and his BE in civil engineering from AUB. Interviewed on Wed. 25th October 2017.

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