DEng 802

Unit Description and General Aims

Clear and accurate communication of ideas and outcomes is critical to the advancement of engineering science and its application for the betterment of humanity. This criticality is shown most in the communication of research outcomes to the wider engineering community. Research and development of new techniques, ideas, processes, materials, analytical tools, and the like have been fundamental to the development of our advanced economies and societies, and communication of that R&D most often takes place through conferences and journal articles.

This unit develops the skills of the candidate in technical writing, with a particular emphasis on preparing a conference paper in collaboration and co-authorship with an expert colleague. The primary source of the content of the paper will be the research undertaken in DEng700 (Research Project Proposal), but the unit will also draw upon skills obtained through units DEng602 and DEng603. The DEng700 (Research Project Proposal) unit required preparation of a report, whereas the present unit DEng802 provides the candidate with their first opportunity to present some of the key findings from that Research Project in a recognised formal conference paper. It is a crucial part of the assessment in this unit that the paper is in a form ready for submission to an engineering conference at least at a national level, and which involves peer review.

Though the paper will be co-authored with someone who has proven expertise in publishing technical engineering papers, it is important that the candidate undertakes all of the work in preparing and writing the paper. The role of the candidate’s co-author is intended to be as a guide, mentor, advisor and reviewer prior to submission.

The quality of writing and presentation in the paper will be fundamental to the outcome of assessment in this unit. The candidate will be writing for a very experienced, technically expert audience with high standards and expectations for the papers presented to them in conference proceedings.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this Unit, students are expected to be able to:

1. Contrast, express and demonstrate the differences between conference and journal papers.

Bloom’s Level 2

2. Analyse and describe the differences between the styles of technical writing needed for papers, vs writing for dissertations, for business operations and for formal advanced academic technical reports.

Bloom’s Level 4

3. Compose a (co-authored) paper (with a colleague) suitable for publication in at least a local technical conference by drawing on one’s research outcomes

Bloom’s Level 6

Student assessment

Prescribed and Recommended Readings

Required Textbook(s): There is no required textbook for this unit. Please refer to the reference materials.

Reference Materials

Reference Book: Laplante, P.A. (2019) A Practical Guide for Engineers, Scientists, and Nontechnical Professionals. 2^nd edition. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis, Florida USA. 13: 978-1-138-60696-8

A number of useful texts, peer-reviewed journals, and websites may be found online. Suitable information may also be found through the following resources:

Creating in-text citations and referencing lists in Word:

• https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Create-a-bibliography-81b1ba4a-6d0b-4475-88ca-f150ed6f49a0

Conference vs journal papers:

• https://www.resurchify.com/blog/article/what-is-the-difference-between-conference-papers-8

Reference Manager Software options: (for constructing reference lists, bibliography)

Zotero: https://www.zotero.org/

Mendeley: https://www.mendeley.com/

EndNote^TM  (www.endnote.com)

Students are free to use any other relevant reference manager software as per their preference.

Unit Content

Meetings 1 and 2: (To be completed by week/topic 4)

Meeting with supervisor/s to discuss and finalise the following items: research paper title, research plan, suitable conference/journal for publishing, and the due date of submission.

Meetings 3, 4, 5: (To be completed by week/topic 10)

Meeting with supervisor/s to discuss paper writing progress: e.g. Introduction, Literature search, Methodology, Experimentation, Discussions, Conclusions, Future Scope. Submit the draft paper when it is due.

Meetings 6 and 7: (To be completed by week/topic 12)

Final meetings with supervisor/s: Review, refine and submit the paper. 

Software/Hardware Used

Software (Any one of these)

• Zotero: https://www.zotero.org/

• Mendeley: https://www.mendeley.com/

• EndNote^TM (www.endnote.com)

• Students are free to use any other relevant reference manager software as per their preference.

Hardware

• N/A

Unit Changes Based on Student Feedback