Creating a Culture of Communication: A Graduate-level STEM Communication Fellows Program at a Science and Engineering University

Academic Writing at the Doctoral and Professional Level in Engineering: The Current State of the Field and Pathways Forward

“…The studies detailed above show that a number approaches to teaching or providing feedback on academic writing still seem to point to a focus on sentence-level structure, or to the notion of writing as process that develops both organization and meaning, as is evident by focus on writing strategies, multiple drafts, and formative feedback by both peers and instructors. What can also be deduced from the case studies and analyses is that a number of scholars in the field of engineering have looked to the concept of genre to inform their writing instruction (e.g., Berdanier, 2019; Gassman et al, 2013, Simpson et al, 2015, Troy & Liang, 2019, although there at times remains a disconnect and lack in detail regarding (1) what approach to genre is being taken up by scholars, and (2) how certain conceptualizations of genre are being applied pedagogically. Studies also point to engineering exploring and acknowledging the relationship between text and context, as writing support initiatives are not only situated within a College of Engineering, but also within specific disciplines, thus recognizing that writing is used to create knowledge in different ways in different communities and social contexts (e.g., Gassman et al, 2013;Simpson et al, 2015).…”

“…I will briefly introduce examples of learning communities developed within Colleges of Engineering-including that of New Mexico Tech and the École de Technologie Supérieure in Montreal, Canada-that have reported both success and challenges. Simpson et al (2015) sought to address the lack of graduate level-writing support of engineering students at their institution, New Mexico Tech, a university who has strong specialized programs in areas such as mechanical engineering, atmospheric and astrophysics, earth sciences, and petroleum engineering. Simpson and colleagues developed a graduate STEM Communication Fellows program aimed at "creating opportunities to develop organic, student-run programs catering to the writing activities most suitable for students' disciplines and to develop more community among graduate students" (p. 2).…”

“…Simpson and colleagues developed a graduate STEM Communication Fellows program aimed at "creating opportunities to develop organic, student-run programs catering to the writing activities most suitable for students' disciplines and to develop more community among graduate students" (p. 2). STEM fellows as a program recruited graduate students from three disciplines (Earth and Environmental Science (EES), Physics, and Mechanical Engineering (MENG), with the fellows being chosen by respective departmental graduate faculty based on their written communicative proficiency and awareness of their own writing processes (Simpson et al, 2015). As a STEM fellow, students were initially trained and continuously mentored by graduate faculty in peer tutoring and reviewing writing samples.…”

“…In the seminar, enrolled students devoted time to thesis-related writing or drafts of National Science Foundation grant proposals. Every two to three weeks, students in the seminar would take time to peer review a writing sample they were currently working on to ensure that discipline-specific terms were explained, general relevance of the proposed project was emphasized, and methodology was described concisely and in detail (Simpson et al, 2015). Overall, students found that the seminar to be helpful, and even continued on to form their own informal writing group after leaving the course.…”

“…When MENG students were surveyed on why this was the case, STEM fellows found that most MENG students believed formal writing coursework was the only effective way to develop writing habits and skills. MENG students also had historically worked on research independently and in various laboratories across campus, and degree specializations within the department all required different coursework; thus, students in the department felt no true connection to come together as peers for writing purposes (Simpson et al, 2015).…”