engineering writing

Project 3 Report and Competition Grading Guidelines ME 286 Engineering Design: The Process ***Subject to change In general, any technical report or memo should adhere to the following guidelines regardless of its overall format. These guidelines are typically covered in technical writing courses. Here are the guidelines that I hold to be absolutely critical to a good report: 1. Any supporting material, e.g. tables or figures, must be referenced in the text body of the report. If

you do not reference it, then why include it? Label figures as Table # or Figure # and always reference from the text, using “Table #” or “Fig. #.”

2. If possible, integrate the reference material directly into the body of the document. This is certainly true for figures and reasonably sized tables. If you include a great deal of information, then consider appending it to the end of the document and referencing it in the text.

3. Technical reports should include 1) an executive summary of the information (something a supervisor or customer several levels up might read); 2) an introduction that also lays out the scope of the report and the motivation for it; 3) the approach taken in conducting the work; 4) the results of the work; 5) conclusions drawn from the results and their impact; and 6) references cited.

4. Clear and succinct writing. Make your points and support them in clear terms. DO NOT use 25 words when only ten are needed!

5. Paragraphs and sections show flow smoothly between (i.e. have transitions that link each paragraph together and link one section to the next).

Skeleton for Project 3 Report -Title Page -Executive Summary (1-2 paragraphs, one figure maximum) -Table of Contents I. Introduction A. Motivation B. Scope and Limitations II. Design Approach and Results (to include, but not limited to:) A. GROUP: Function Model B. GROUP: QFD C. GROUP: Concept Generation and Selection D. INDIVIDUAL: Proof of Concepts (POC) E. GROUP: Design of Experiments (DOE) F. INDIVIDUAL: Alpha Prototype G. INDIVIDUAL: Design for X H. GROUP: FMEA I. INDIVIDUAL: Costing/BOM/Assembly Drawings of final concepts

(For each major step of the methodology) 1. General goal of each step of the engineering design methodology 2. Specific results for your design and what they mean

III. Conclusions and Recommendations A. INDIVIDUAL: Beta Prototypes discussion B. GROUP: Post Mortem analysis C. Discussion on overall results of Project 3 IV. References

Project 3-Reverse Engineering Score Sheet ***Teams must follow Section numbering as outlined in rubric below

Possible Awarded

Title Page 5

Executive Summary …………………………………………………………………………………………. 5

Table of Contents …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5

1. Introduction

1.1 Introduction to project and competition ……………………………………………………. 5

1.2 Motivation ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5

1.3 Scope & Limitations………………………………………………………………………………….. 5

Introduction Total ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 15

2. Design Approach and Results

2.1 GROUP: Functional Model

Result and Discussion …………………………………………………………………………….. 6

2.2 GROUP: QFD

Result and Discussion …………………………………………………………………………….. 6

2.3 GROUP: Concept Generation and Evaluation

Result and Discussion …………………………………………………………………………….. 10

2.4 INDIVIDUAL: Proof of Concepts (POC)

Result ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 6

Discussion……………………………………………………………………………………………… 6

2.5 GROUP: Design of Experiments (DOE)

Result ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 6

Discussion……………………………………………………………………………………………… 6

2.6 INDIVIDUAL: Alpha Prototypes

Result ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10

Discussion……………………………………………………………………………………………… 6

2.7 INDIVIDUAL: Design for X

Result ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10

Discussion……………………………………………………………………………………………… 6

2.8 GROUP: Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

Result ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10

Discussion……………………………………………………………………………………………… 6

2.9 INDIVIDUAL: Costing/BOM/Assembly Drawings

Result ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10

Discussion……………………………………………………………………………………………… 6

Design Approach and Results Total ………………………………………………………………… 110

3. Conclusions and Future Work

3.1 INDIVIDUAL: Beta Prototypes ………………………………………………………………… 15

3.2 GROUP: Post Mortem ………………………………………………………………………………. 15

Conclusions ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 30

Overall formatting …………………………………………………………………………………………… 10

(Note, this score maybe negative if formatting problems are severe enough.)

Overall Score ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 180

Note: Each team is expected to turn in ONE final report. For the sections marked “INDIVIDUAL” on the rubric, provide a group introduction to the section in the report and then label each subsection with the Device number and name of the individual responsible for the device that is discussed in that subsection. For example:

 Section 2.4: Proof of Concepts Proof of concepts were created to … The following subsections detail each device’s proof of concepts and the conclusions drawn from …

o Section 2.4.1: POC of Device 1 (Louie Lumberjack) o Section 2.4.2: POC of Device 2 (Bennie Beaver) o Section 2.4.3: POC of Device 3 (Donald Duck)

Comments for Project 3:

Project 3- Competition Result Grades The Presentation grade for Project 3 is the performance of your device in the end-of-semester competition. Possible Awarded Performance

Able to travel 2 meters within the bounds of the lane …………………………………….. 10

Able to trigger the motion of the next device …………………………………………………. 10

Performance Total ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 20

Satisfies all Competition Requirements ………………………………………………………….. 10

Creativity (thinking outside the box) ……………………………………………………………… 10

Well built …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10

(Clean engineering, does not break easily, repeatable performance)

Overall Score ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 50

Bonus: All devices complete the course within the time limit +3

Bonus: Top Score (+3), Second Place (+2), Third Place (+1) +3,2,1

Final Score 50