Rhetorical Analysis

The articles that I read were written similar to a lab report. They were very structured articles that included an abstract, introduction, test plans and procedures, data, results, and conclusions. According to Linton these articles have conventions of structure, reference, and language. They provide cues to the readers about what is being tested and expected in the introduction.  They used strategic use of citations it referring to work or research that was previously done in their field. With engineering and really any other science research with never stop so really every engineering article has conventions of reference. All of these articles describe a method or procedure that was done by someone else earlier.

According to the Swales’s genre model the first move is established in the abstract and introduction of these article when they identify what the research is, previous research, and the method that are going to be used. The articles establish a niche, move 2, by either raising a question about previous research or continuing on a previous research. Move 3, occupying the niche is established in all these articles with the announcing of the findings.

I actually do not mind reading things like these because having to write several articles it makes it easier to reading and understand what is going on.

Core Elements of Construction Engineering

This week I read the article Core Elements of Construction Engineering Knowledge for Project and Career Success, which is located at the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) website. This article first discusses how the design and construction markets are increasing the requirements for the final constructed project. They mention how the market is making a big move towards sustainable construction and how this is becoming more and more important to construction engineering. The article then describes four core elements of construction engineering that are essential to having a successful projects and careers. These four elements are technical fundamentals, materials of construction, construction-applied resources, and field construction operations. This article also makes a big push for construction degree programs to put a bigger importance on the construction engineering aspect of the degree and the four core elements.

I like this article because as an engineer I like to see when people want to see more importance put on the engineering aspect of the job rather than just focusing on management. My theory is it doesn’t matter if you have great management if the building is designed properly or doesn’t do its intended job. I believe that if these four core elements of construction engineering are implemented then the project will be successful and could lead the designers and contractors to having successful careers.