Creating A Library Instruction Session For A Technical Writing Course Composed Of Engineering And Non Engineering Students

This paper provides a framework of ideas for librarians and technical writing instructors interested in developing library instruction programs to enhance students’ performance in technical writing courses. A new library instruction program for ENGL 3323: Technical Writing addresses a concern of engineering faculty that engineering students, the largest student population enrolled in this course, are not locating the high quality resources needed to round out the development of their assignments. In addition, workplace expectations for new engineering graduates, as well as information literacy guidelines which correlate with ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accreditation criteria justify the need for the program. In the instruction sessions, librarians teach students how to search by subject category rather than by a specific keyword, as well as how to utilize critical thinking skills, make use of disciplinespecific databases, consult government documents and technical report collections, and utilize subject experts as a means of increasing the pool of useful information for the development of final project reports. Students are exposed to a range of discipline-oriented databases and print sources in a single instruction session designed to cover business, engineering and agriculture sources in article, technical report, and government document formats. Librarians manage the broad scope of material by focusing on a limited number of subject-discipline library resources and by referring students to additional resources described on print handouts. Librarians found that customizing instruction by searching with students’ topics, rather than by using canned examples, helped focus attention and increase the participation of the audience, and reduce lecture content in some cases. Technical writing instructors reported a positive relationship between library instruction and quality of citations in student reports. The program continues as a work in progress.