Voice in first-year engineering design report writing: An academic literacies investigation

CONTEXT When students enter into engineering study, they are required to take on the ways of knowing and doing that characterise their chosen discipline. One of the primary means of doing so is through the writing they produce and, in engineering, one of the main genres of writing that students might produce is the design report. The design report, as a genre, is governed by certain conventions and requires unique ways of constructing an authoritative 'voice'. This is because it requires that students move from what is given (specifications and constraints), through what is already known (in the literature) in order to develop something 'new' (a proposed design). PURPOSE OR GOAL The aim of this research paper is to investigate how first-year mechanical engineering students demonstrate 'voice' in design reports submitted for assessment within an introduction to engineering design module. More specifically, attention is given to three areas in which 'voice' in an engineering design report is enacted: framing the design problem, synthesising the relevant literature, and demonstrating creativity during the concept generation and selection process. METHODOLOGY The design reports of first-year students who provided consent to participate in the present study were collected. Design reports were collected over a period of three years. In total, over 50 design reports were collected over this three-year period. These design reports were analysed using the technique of content analysis, which entails systematic analysis of the characteristics of a selection of texts. In this research, the characteristics of interest pertained to how students engaged with certain writing practices required within a design report such as, for example, describing the design concept selection process. OUTCOMES Analysis of the first-year design reports reveals the different ways in which first-year students demonstrate 'voice' (or not) through the various generic sections of an engineering design report. At the point of framing or understanding the design problem and context, a minority of students experienced challenges in this regard. However, students struggled to situate the literature in conversation with their particular design objectives and to engage in design as a creative process, rather than just a technical one. CONCLUSIONS The outcomes of this study may be used to inform ways to enhance engineering students' engagement with the techniques of design and design writing. Engineering students' literacy practices reflect their engagement with and understanding of engineering tasks and activities. While much attention is given to engineering as a structured and objective enterprise, limited attention is paid to engineering as a creative act in which the design engineer exercises substantial agency.