Mechanical Engineering The engineers view of writing Will

Mechanical Engineering The engineer’s view of “writing” Will Durfee Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Minnesota

Why Participate? Two years ago, in a round table discussion with our Industrial Advisory board, this statement was made… “Your students do not write as well as the students from Georgia Tech and Purdue”

Demographics • 180 undergrads graduate each year • 250 MS and Ph. D students • 40 faculty

A Sequenced Curriculum

Characteristics • Concise, factual • Data-driven • Efficient in describing and solving problems • Integrate text, graphics, equations • Describe 3 -D objects, complex technology

Abilities • Use knowledge of math, physics and engineering sciences in your writing • Communicate through figures • Joint authoring • Oral presentations

Types of Writing • Lab reports • Design reports • Project proposals • Annotated CAD drawings • Presentation slides • Project notebooks And the #1 form of writing is…

The Problem Set

Highlights of ME Plan 1. Three focus courses 2. Problem set courses (most) 3. Style guides (problem sets, lab reports, design reports)

Problem Set Style Guide

Assessment Experiment Problem set samples in ME 3331 Control Treatment N = 60

Design Reports • Long • Boring • Disorganized

ME 4054 Assignments

A New Structure • Volume I and Volume II • 25 page limit for Vol. I

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Reflections • Survey results: students, faculty, industry know that good writing is essential • For buy-in, pitch as improving undergraduate education, pitch as faculty-driven process • An advantage to it *not* being a university requirement • Need not have 100% faculty participation • For engineering fields, perfect match to ABET accreditation process (objectives and outcomes) • Recognize as a long-term process