Developing technical report writing skills in first and second year engineering students: a case study using self-reflection

Technical writing skills are vital to professional engineers, but many engineering students find them difficult to master. This paper presents a case study carried out among ~300 first and second year engineering students who had little previous experience in technical writing. The aim was to support them to write better technical reports. Students were asked to write an 800-word report following an experimental laboratory and to include written reflection on their work. This improved writing skills (as measured by mark awarded and by questionnaires completed by students before and after the activity) by encouraging self-regulation and had the additional benefit that students were more satisfied with and engaged with the feedback they received on their work.