Just so everyone’s aware: the 700-odd students of ENGR 101 have received their first assignment today. Dave and I have given them a tutorial on library resources and citing (they’re using APA citation style), and Learning Skills have given a tutorial on writing essays. We have a lot of material on restricted loans but students will have to seek out other sources too. More information is available on Cog ‘n Blog starting with this post and continuing to update.
The assignment is:
Engineering has been called ‘The Invisible Profession’ because so much of what we take for granted during our daily lives depends upon engineering yet, by comparison with other professions such as law or medicine, the general public have very little idea what professional engineers do.
Write and essay that supports the argument that virtually anything you may cast your eye on or use during a routine day is affected somewhere along the line by the engineering profession. You must pick one specific example that involves more than one engineering branch to support your argument (ie at least two of: Chemical, Civil, Natural Resources, Electrical&Electronic, Mechanical, Mechatronic, Computer, or Forestry) and describe how each is involved. You may not use domestic water supply as a topic.
You will be awarded marks not only for the completeness of the information you present but also for the standard of your writing and the demonstrated use of a range of information sources. All sources of your information must be cited in your text and a full list of references, properly formatted, must be included. Do NOT rely solely on the internet for your sources of information!