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COLLABORATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ENGINEERING STYLE MANUAL Jim Helbling, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Angela Beck, Department of Humanities/Communications, Patric McElwain, Department of Humanities/Communications

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Arizona

Abstract This paper recounts the development, testing, and publication of a style manual at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University/Prescott Campus. This manual was jointly developed by faculty at the College of Engineering and the Department of Humanities/Communications in response to faculty concerns that, despite a required course in Technical Report Writing devoted to engineering students, these students were still having difficulty mastering the organization, formatting, and technical style of lab reports and other professional genre. This paper introduces the project and its academic context, describes the process by which the manual was composed and classroom tested, and outlines future plans for similar manuals at Embry-Riddle based upon the success of the College of Engineering Style Manual. Sample entries from the manual are provided in a set of Appendices as well.

Introduction The following sections describe the development of the College of Engineering (COE) Style Manual at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Prescott, Arizona. The manual was developed as a cooperative effort between the COE and the Department of Humanities/Communications (HU/COM) at ERAU to create a document that provided engineering students with basic guidelines for technical-writing assignments.

The impetus for creating this document was twofold. First, the manual was to address a perceived lack of written communication skills possessed by graduating seniors as identified in recent alumni surveys. Second, it was to provide a consistent template for engineering lab students to follow in creating lab reports, a genre critical to many engineering courses.

This paper begins by explaining the context that led to the development of the manual. This development process is described in detail in the subsequent sections, where the organization, composition, and testing and revision of the document is explained. This discussion is followed by a description of how the manual has been implemented in various engineering courses. The paper concludes with a discussion of plans for similar manuals at ERAU/Prescott.

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright© 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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McElwain, P., & Helbling, J., & Beck, A. (2005, June), Collaborative Development Of An Engineering Style Manual Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--15270