A Preliminary Study on Supporting Writing Transfer in an Introductory Engineering Laboratory Course

Engineering undergraduates are exposed to writing curricula such as first-year composition (FYC) in their early program of study. However, they often have difficulties meeting the expectations of writing in engineering courses. The goal for this study is to improve engineering students’ writing performances through better understanding how writing transfer occurs and then applying pedagogical strategies designed to support writing transfer institution-wide. This poster reports preliminary data and findings on improving writing transfer for engineering undergraduates. Instructional materials for lab report informed by a rhetorical approach to writing were piloted in an introductory engineering laboratory course. The quality of students’ writing and their assessment scores were found to improve. Based on the data collected from student surveys and rhetorical analysis conducted on student writing artifacts (engineering lab reports), the summary of the rhetorical strategies that students successfully carry over and/or adapt as they move from FYC to an introductory engineering laboratory course will be shared. In addition, the students’ perspectives of writing transfer from FYC to the introductory engineering laboratory course will be discussed.