In the Engineering workplace, one must be able to negotiate many genres of writing: he or she must deliver updates, understand technical requirements, weigh project priorities, develop and carry out problem-solving techniques, all while using different forms of technical communication. Engineering work relies on the ability to flexibly transition between a variety of technical writing genres, while also navigating the broad array of technologies required to effectively complete these projects. However, the genres and types of writing present in the workplace do not always reflect the genres and types of writing undergraduate Engineering students complete during coursework. From a Rhetorical Genre Studies (RGS) perspective, this is a problem because genres are not preset templates but rather forms of social action and as such embody a community's way of knowing, being, and acting; therefore, a disconnect between genres indicates a disconnect between academic and workplace communities of practice, leaving undergraduates underprepared to meet the expectations of workplace communities.The purpose of the project discussed in this paper is to develop a heuristic of common workplace genres of regional workplaces and explore whether these genres are receiving coverage in the engineering courses at a southeastern, midsize research institution. This exploration emerged from a grant-supported, interdisciplinary faculty learning community consisting of faculty from the Department of English (with Technical and Professional Writing specialties) and different departments in engineering and technology. One of the primary tasks of this community, shaped largely from a Writing in the Disciplines (WID) approach characteristic of the institution's curricular and assessment bodies, was to map the current state of technical writing genres in engineering courses and to better understand the present gaps, if identified. This task was accomplished through workshop-based discussions and cross-disciplinary collaborative research. Based on the application of RGS methodologies to the interdisciplinary faculty learning community workshop, it is suggested that a genre-based categorization of writing tasks and projects in undergraduate engineering curricula is critically formative in working toward the holistic integration of writing across courses for the sake of preparation and conceptual-based student understanding of writing practices.
is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Technology in Mechanical Engineering Technology Program. She holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University in Mechanical Engineering Technology, focus on Digital Manufacturing. Her research is focused on mechatronics, digital manufacturing, digital thread, cyber physical systems, broadening participation, and engineering education. She is a Co-Director of Mechatronics and Digital Manufacturing Lab at ODU and a lead of Area of Specialization Mechatronics Systems Design. She worked as a Visiting Researcher at Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing in Disputanta, VA on projects focusing on digital thread and cyber security of manufacturing systems. She has funded research in broadening participation efforts of underrepresented students in STEM funded by Office of Naval Research, focusing on mechatronic pathways. She is part of the ONR project related to the additive manufacturing training of active military. She is also part of the research team that leads the summer camp to nine graders that focus on broadening participation of underrepresented students into STEM (ODU BLAST).
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.