This quarter, you will work within a team to develop a written proposal and oral presentation for a product or service. Each class member will pitch an idea during our second class to two or three different groups, and we will vote for the best ideas, followed by a class discussion and final selection process. As instructor, I reserve the right to invoke 'executive privilege' to refine and guide the selection process; however, I will attempt to intervene as little as possible. If you observe all four of the qualifications listed below, the selection process should go fairly smoothly.
Qualifications:
1) Your idea must respond to a real-world need. It should solve a stated problem that actually exists in the real world, preferably offering a solution that improves quality of life for people and/or sustainability of the natural environment.
2) Your idea must be readily comprehensible to you and your classmates. Your team and classmates must be capable of rapidly understanding each system and sub-system of the idea, without the need for extensive expertise or difficult-to-acquire resources beyond the classroom. That being said, this IS a research writing class and your idea—no matter how simple—will require research.
3) You must be able to graphically and numericaly describe your idea. To be effective, all engineers must master three languages: prose, numeracy, and graphics. For Writing 50E, you must be able to write about your idea, draw renderings of what your idea looks like, and quantify some of its qualities (e.g., market figures, engineering paramters, customer demographics, etc.). These may take the form of diagrams, flow charts, photographs, charts, table, graphs, etc. Here's a quick test: if you cannot draw your idea on the back of a napkin, and/or if you are incapable of quantifying the most fundamental aspects of your idea, it does not qualify.
4) You must be able to research your idea, including a minimum of eight (8) secondary sources such as books, research articles, and online resources, AND notes and/or direct quotations from at least one (1) outside expert whom members of your team have persoanally interviewed for this assignment. Experts may include industry engineers and technicians, customers, professors and graduate students, or retail and wholesale managers.