2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Criterion 3 of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) lists many student outcomes that should result from completing an engineering curriculum. These include communicating effectively with a range of audiences, developing and conducting appropriate experimentation, and analyzing and interpreting data.
Despite the recognized importance of technical writing, engineering students often struggle upon beginning their careers due to a disconnect between academic instruction and industry expectations for technical writing. This research project aims to bridge this gap by integrating industry-standard technical writing templates into laboratory assignments and leveraging collaborations with industry professionals. By doing so, the study seeks to enhance technical writing skills, better prepare students for their engineering careers, and ensure alignment with ABET accreditation.
Through collaboration with professionals on the advisory board, engineering faculty, and campus research facilities, a “best-of-breeds” lab template was created for use in the Thermal & Fluid laboratory and the Materials Testing Laboratory. This collective effort was designed to expose students to diverse writing nuances and increase their technical writing awareness and skills. Each semester begins with students completing their laboratory assignments and submitting their reports according to templates adopted in the previous semester with few updates. After the midterm period, students are given the “best-of-breeds” template to adhere to when completing the closing assignments of the semester. At the end of the semester, students will be given a survey to share feedback and learning experiences from the new template.
Over two semesters, these reports were evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively against previous template submissions and feedback provided in the surveys.