CE 389C: Advanced Engineering Communication

This course offers engineering graduate students the opportunity to accomplish the following: communicate effectively with a variety of audiences; communicate effectively in several media: written, oral, visual; manage the process of collecting, synthesizing, and presenting data and information; manage the process of writing and publishing scholarly work; produce a portion of their thesis or dissertation or a complete scholarly paper.

Hart, Hillary. University of Texas (2007). Academic>Courses>TC>Engineering

A Guide to the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations in Science and Engineering  

This guide is intended to help you write the best thesis you can by anticipating and answering common questions about content, structure, format, figures, and language. We have also included some suggestions on how to manage the process of turning your research -- your testing and reading, your findings and conclusions -- into a clear, complete, well-written, and convincing thesis or dissertation.

Hart, Hillary. University of Texas (2005). Resources>Style Guides>Research>Engineering

Creating Marketing Slides for Engineering Presentations    

Defines basic sales terms. Explores ways to use text and illustrations to create engineering marketing slides. Examines six methods of strengthening the persuasiveness of engineering marketing slides.

Jennings, Ann S. Technical Communication Online (2009). Articles>Presentations>Marketing>Engineering

A Time to Speak, a Time to Act A Rhetorical Genre Analysis of a Novice Engineer’s Calculated Risk Taking     

This article discusses a longitudinal case study of a novice engineer who has successfully challenged a workplace genre. The study shows that a combination of the novice’s family background, a university engineering communication course, and workplace experiences helped him achieve success. It also provides evidence that, even though genres may differ from workplace to workplace, experienced professionals do recognize and accept superior communication practices imported from elsewhere. Thus, best practices may be taught apart from local contexts. The case study allows technical communication instructors and researchers to refine current understanding of what mastering genres means and indicates directions for the development of new pedagogies. Key Words: agency • engineering communication • kairos • rhetorical genre studies • school-to-work transition

Artemeva, Natasha. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2005). Articles>Communication>Engineering>Education

Comments on Lab Reports by Mechanical Engineering Teaching Assistants: Typical Practices and Effects of Using a Grading Rubric  

Many engineering undergraduates receive their first and perhaps most intensive exposure to engineering communication through writing lab reports in lab courses taught by graduate teaching assistants (TAs). Most of the TAs' teaching of writing happens through their comments on students' lab reports. Technical writing faculty need to be aware of TAs' response practices so they can build on or counteract that instruction as needed. This study examines the response practices of two TAs and the ways the practices shifted after the TAs began using a grading rubric. The analysis reveals distinct patterns in focus and mode, some reflecting best practices and some not. It also indicates encouraging changes after the TAs started using the grading rubric. The TAs' marginalia became more content focused and specific and, perhaps most important, less authoritative and more likely to reflect a coaching mode. The article concludes with implications for technical writing courses.

Taylor, Summer Smith. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Education>Engineering>Reports

Features of Success in Engineering Design Presentations: A Call for Relational Genre Knowledge    

This study explores design presentations that were graded by engineering faculty in order to assess the distinguishing features of those that were successful. Using a thematic analysis of 17 videotaped, final presentations from a capstone chemical engineering (CHE) course, it explores the rhetorical strategies, oral styles, and organizational structures that differentiate successful and unsuccessful team presentations. The results suggest that successful presenters used rhetorical strategies, oral styles, and organizational structures that illustrated students’ ability to negotiate the real and simulated relational and identity nuances of the design presentation genre—in short, they illustrated students’ relational genre knowledge.

Dannels, Deanna P. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2009). Articles>Presentations>Engineering>Genre