Writing 50E
Research Writing for Engineers

Course overview: requirements, assignments, grading and schedule

Product/service pitch (practice exercise)

Writing sample (ungraded)

Career Services Workshop: Handshake 101
12:00–12:50 p.m., Engineering Sciences Bldg., Rm. 2001

Career Services Workshop: Resumes and Cover Letters
4:00–5:00 p.m., Career Services, Room 1109

Product/service pitch (final) and design team formation

*Come prepared to make a pitch for your product/service design proposal.

Assignment #1: Employment Study

See also: Career Services workshops (above)

Career Services Workshop: Handshake 101
12:00–12:50 p.m., Engineering Sciences Bldg., Rm. 2001

Career Services Workshop: Resumes and Cover Letters
4:00–5:00 p.m., Career Services, Room 1109

Consolidation of design teams

Assignment #2: Resume or CV

Resume writing

Business correspondence fundamentals: letters (incl. cover letters)

Assignment #3: Cover letter

Career Services Workshop: Networking 101
4:00–5:00 p.m., Career Services, Room 1109

Career Services Workshop: Engineering Resume Webinar
12:00–1:00 p.m., URL: https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/8058932522

Career Services Workshop: Resumes and Cover letters
4:00–5:00 p.m., Career Services, Room 1109

Writing a marketing study

Assignment #A: Marketing study

Readings for Week 2

2(a)

Career Services Workshop: How to Work a Job Fair
4:00–5:00 p.m., Career Services, Room 1109

IDEO "Deep Dive" Development Approach

APT writing: audience, purpose and tone
Engineering audiences: lay, professional, and expert/specialist

Readability models: the Fog index
Word choice and conciseness

Personal statements

Reading: UCSB Career Manual pp. 88–95

Journal writing exercise (one paragraph): Take a self-guided tour of the Career Services Center, OR attend a workshop and describe what you learned.

Assignment #1: Employment Study

Peer reviews of resumes/CVs

Note: Be sure to bring extra copies of your resume today. One copy is for your classmates to mark up, the other is for me.

Readings for Week 3

Assignment #2: Resume or CV

Bring two (2) copies of your resume for in-class peer reviews.

2018 Fall Career and Internship Fair
11:00–2:00, UCSB Events Center (Thunderdome)

*Early admission (10:00) to those with an early admission pass.

Cover letter peer review
Interviewing for an engineering job

Preparing for an engineering team meeting:

Project tracking and organization
Meeting notes
Team roles / teamwork
Email correspondence

Readings for Week 3

Assignment #3: Cover letter

Bring two (2) copies of your cover letter for in-class peer reviews.

Story-telling as an engineering communication strategy

Groupwork: marketing study

Review of previous product proposals

Readings for Week 4

Rudiments and ethics of engineering IP (intellectual property)

Patents; copyrights; trademarks

Citing sources and avoiding plagiarism

In-class journaling

Peer review of marketing studies

Integrating graphics and numeracy into written reports (Part I)

Assignment #7 and #B: Engineering design

Engineering feasability studies

Outlining strategies

Assignment #6: Marketing study (individual section)

Bring your individual marketing section to class for groupwork and peer review.

Assignment #4: FMEA matrices

Memo fundamentals

Assignment #5: progress report memo

Science communication fundamentals

Scientific and engineering storytelling

Integrating graphics and numeracy into written reports (Part II)

Proposal appendices

Assignment #5: Progress report memo

Groupwork: engineering design sections for Assignment #B

Writing executive summaries

Assignment #C: Executive summary

Writing instructions

Analogies and metaphors to access audiences

Assignment #7: Engineering design (individual sections, rough draft)

Bring two copies of your individual engineering design section to class for groupwork.

Groupwork: executive summary outlines

Assignment #4: FMEA matrices

Groupwork: graphics and data organizers (rough drafts)

Proposal checklist

Public speaking and oral presentations

Preparing your PowerPoint presentation
Groupwork: PowerPoint presentations

In-class revisions of graphic elements and PowerPoint presentations

UCSB Holiday

***Thanksgiving***

Proposal boilerplate and legal issues

Assignments #A and #B (rewrites of team drafts)

Catch-up day for loose ends and unfinished, class-related business

Team Meetings with Instructor
*NOTE: For today only, each team should come to class during the time shown:

Assignment #C: Executive Summary (rough, team draft)

Team Presentations

Course and instructor evaluation (15 min.)

All team projects and rewrites of assignments due today.

NOTE: You may drop off proposals and rewrites of individual assignments in one of two ways: 1) by bringing them to my office in South Hall 1523 (either give them to me in person or slip them under my door); or, 2) by putting them into the Writing Program mailbox outside South Hall 3422 [please be certain that my name and "Writing 50E" is on your assignment(s), as the box is shared between five departments].

Team projects due (final draft, incorporating team assignments: #A (Marketing study); #B (Engineering design); and, #C (Executive summary)

All final rewrites of individual and group assignments due