How do you use writing in your job?

I hope it isn't inappropriate to ask for such help here, but I'm an electrical engineering student taking a technical writing course over the intersession. I have an assignment to ask someone in the field I'd like to enter a few basic questions about how they use writing in their profession. Since I don't know any electrical engineers personally, I thought I'd try the internet. This isn't a "do my homework for me" sort of thing, since it's still entirely up to me to interpret your responses and put them into a brief essay.

So, if the moderators don't object, the questions I'd like to ask are:


What is the importance of writing in your position?
What kinds of documents do you write?
What kinds of information do you most commonly research?
What, briefly stated, are your research processes?


I'd tremendously appreciate any kind of input, thanks!

Hi there Jason!

I'm Justin, a design verification engineer working for a semiconductor company. Nice to meet you. I'd be happy to answer your inquiries.

What is the importance of writing in your position?

In my job, writing helps keep a record of the engineering jobs and projects one has accomplished. It is also used to keep other colleagues informed on one's status (i.e. regular reporting). With good writing skills (detailed, but not too flowery or extravagant), order and harmony can be achieved yielding higher productivity and time efficiency.

What kinds of documents do you write?

I usually write summaries at the end of a project. It would contain everything I've accomplished as well as official documents related to the matter. The report follows a specific template in order for it to be in sync with other reports (I'm not the only one doing projects, also so that other engineers will understand it) and it has to be as detailed as possible. Sometimes we encounter problems in projects that require a lot of troubleshooting so we have to jut that down and include it in the reports so the next engineers who will do the project won't stumble on the same mistakes.

I also write reports (daily and monthly) so that management could monitor progress and problems that they can address.

What kinds of information do you most commonly research?

Usual topics that recur in my research are ones that involve problems I encounter while troubleshooting. For example, I need to find out the impedance of a capacitor with respect to frequency, because I'm suspecting it to be the reason behind an oscillating output. So I research the component's datasheet on the net. Another would be a circuit parameter I'm not particularly familiar with. I have to look that up in order to execute a proper measurement.

What, briefly stated, are your research processes?

Before the internet age, research was a very tedious process. Looking up a topic required acquisition of a related text and skimming the table of contents.
Now, when we are in need of some info, we just hit the letters/words on a search engine, search online articles with related subjects, or ask on reputed forums such as this one.

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