Teaching the next generation of engineers and scientists to write: Taking responsibility and overcoming challenges

Abstract

In educating engineering and science students as authors, four challenges exist today that did not exist thirty years ago. First, the decreasing attention over the past three decades on teaching grammar to students has left us with many students unable to analyze writing at the sentence level. Second, the increased focus by writing teachers on the writing process to the exclusion of the product has given many students the impression that properly finishing a paper is not important. No doubt, developing a process to write is important, but so is the final product. Third, many engineering and science instructors mistakenly assume that the responsibility of teaching students to write resides solely with English departments. To develop as authors in their disciplines, engineering and science students also need thoughtful feedback from experts in the field, particularly with regard to the precision of technical terms and the proper emphasis of details. Fourth, the emergence of artificial intelligence has led many students to assume that they need not learn anymore how to write. This paper presents three undertaught writing skills that engineering and science instructors should emphasize to the next generation of engineers and scientists for them to achieve excellence in their documents.