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Scoring Rubric

The curriculm of the Paper Science & Engineering program is designed to provide the balanced education necessary to produce highly trained professionals. One of the important outcomes of this education is the ability of students to produce well written technical papers. In the PSE curriculm, there are classes at each level of the program in which writing is stressed. In these classes, a common set of expectations and grading criteria has been developed. To be consistent with other engineering classes on campus, the grading criteria and writing expectations to be used in PSE classes were adapted from materials developed by the College of Engineering. Presented below is a description of the important underlying principles of engineering writing. Although there can be different formats and styles to papers, these principles will always apply. A scoring rubric has been developed from this information which will be used for grading papers.

UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES IN WRITING FOR ENGINEERING

• AUDIENCE guides decisions about what to include or not to include in an engineering document, about which writing style is most effective, and about which types of engineering documents are the most appropriate.
• PURPOSE serves the same roles as audience; in addition, it provides the motivation/context for the document-a sense of the "big picture" and the document's place in it.
• USABILITY is a key feature of engineering writing. Writing should be clear, consistent, and thorough enough so that others can extract and use information and/or methods.
• Engineers write many different DOCUMENT TYPES for different audiences and purposes.
• Engineering writing is produced as a result of an individual or collaborative PROCESS. This process is creative and is similar in nature to the design process. The writing process may be unique to each individual, group, or purpose, but it always includes two steps: writers' assessment of their own thinking at one or more points in the process and an editing/proofreading step.
• Technical writing is part of every engineer's CAREER and is likely to play a major role in the quality of one's contribution to the field.
• As writers improve their technical writing skills, they become more CONFIDENT writers and thinkers in engineering.

QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING IN ENGINEERING

1. The CONTENT of the document, including text and other elements, is effective.

The content:

• Clearly states the purpose, providing an explicit justification for the document.
• Explicitly defines the scope for the reader.
• Is factually correct.
• Supports the purpose thoroughly and concisely.
• Substantiates claims and, when appropriate, addresses alternative claims.
• Shows that the writer understands the topic under discussion.
• Uses language to connect the pieces of the argument or document.
• Uses non-textual elements (graphs, charts, equations) that are necessary for clarity, are complete, and are referred to and explained appropriately in the text.

2. The document is well-ORGANIZED for its intended audience and purpose

The organization:

• Exhibits a logical progression and structures the content to represent that logical progression.
• Uses headings and subheadings, when appropriate, to make the document's organization apparent to the reader.

3. The STYLE and TONE are appropriate for the intended audience and purpose.

The style (word choice, sentence structure, voice):

• Holds the reader's interest.
• Includes a variety of sentence structures.
• Shows appropriate use of active and passive voice.
• Through vocabulary, demonstrates an understanding of the content, concepts, and methods in the discipline.

The tone (the writers' attitude toward the reader, the topic, and themselves):

• Takes the reader's knowledge into consideration.
• Matches the purpose in the level of formality.
• Represents a voice that is authentic and credible, so the reader believes that the writer understands the topic.

4. The document shows knowledge of writing FUNDAMENTALS.

The writing:

• Conforms to conventions or requirements of the document type.
• Uses correct punctuation, grammar, usage, and spelling.
• Uses proper citation form.

5. The PRESENTATION is appropriate for the intended audience and purpose.

The presentation:

• Is designed to help the reader navigate through content.
• Provides clear labels for tables, figures, and equations and uses sufficient space around these non-textual elements.

6. The writing demonstrates an understanding of the ETHICS governing writing.

The writing:

• Includes citations for other's ideas, including any information and non-textual material from sources outside the writer.
• Does not use data selectively to manipulate the reader.
• Acknowledges ideas or data that challenge the writer's conclusions.

Glossary:

Purpose

The purpose (or objective) is what you want the readers of your paper to know or be able to do when they finnish reading your document. [back]

Scope

Scope refers to the type and amount of detail which is used in the document. It can also be described as the depth and breadth to which a subject is covered. The scope is dependent upon the objective of the writing and the intended reader. [back]

Supports the Purpose

At the beginning of the document, you have made a statement of purpose. Your writing needs to meet this objective in a thorough (complete) but concise (clear-without unnecessary words) way. [back]

Substantiates claims

In your document, you will make certain claims regarding prior results, current experimental results, etc. You need to provide information to back up these claims in the form of citations, research data, etc. In some cases, it may also be important to provide information which is contrary to your claim. [back]

Understands Topic

The writer provides all pertinent information relevant to the topic.

Language to Connect

The writer provides language to smoothly transition between subjects.

Non-textural Elements

In technical reports, it is often necessary to depict data or information in non-textural elements such as graphs, charts, tables, and equations. It is important that these are accompanied by the following:
A name and number (Figure 1, Table II, etc.)
An appropriate caption which consisely describes the information being presented.
Callouts in text. All non-textural used in a report must be referred to in the text.

Reader's Interest

Sentence Structure

Varying sentence length makes writing more interesting to the reader because a long series of senteces of the same length is monotonous. Too many short sentences can make the writing sound choppy while long sentences can be unclear and difficult for the reader to comprehend. Professional writers average about 20 words per sentence.

Active and Passive Voice

Voice indicates the relationship of the subject to the action of the verb. When the verb is in the active voice; the subject acts. When the verb is in the passive voice; the subject is acted upon. For example:

Dr. Jacobs-Young isolated the lovely lignin. (active)
The lovely lignin was isolated by Dr. Jacobs-Young. (passive)

One of the rules of good writing is to use the active voice as much as possible. In technical writing, however, there are instances where the passive voice is preferred. The passive voice is used when the identity of the author/doer is irrelevant such as in the "Materials and Methods" section of a report.

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Last Updated:
XX/XX/99