Honing the Writing Skills of Engineers

A great deal can be done to improve student writing without asking engineering professors to teach writing as a separate subject. This paper explains how to hone writing skills by convincing engineering students to be concerned simultaneously with technical content and the quality of writing. Many engineering courses offer opportunities for students to improve their writing, but the most effective motivation arises from design problems. Experience in several courses over a 10 year period indicates that some simple advice coupled with frequent opportunities to practice can improve writing skills rather easily and quickly. This can be done without trying to teach English or doing extensive editing on reports. Encouraging good writing in engineering courses has been well received by students. They see that it will be valuable after graduation and they appreciate the value of practicing writing skills in a realistic engineering problem-solving environment.