Though many writing researchers link the role of writing with disciplinary socialization, there is little research outside of anecdotal evidence on how engineering graduate students in particular conceptualize and relate to the writing process. These affective components of writing are as necessary as the cognitive activities in terms of developing successful graduate engineering writers. To meet this gap, the present study shows survey data from N=210 graduate engineering students at research intensive universities across the United States. The survey comprised three validated writing scales investigating students' conceptions of writing, processes of writing, writing self-efficacy in a single survey deployment. Descriptive statistics show the common processes and conceptions with writing, but Pearson correlations calculated across scales reveal statistically significant relationships among the scale factors, for example that many graduate engineering writers often struggle with a “trifecta” of low writing self-efficacy, perfectionism, and procrastination. This study extends prior mixed methods and smaller scale quantitative work that has been done in the past with engineering graduate students, and also points to the importance of addressing the layered nature of student issues with writing. Findings are situated in terms of practical recommendations for technical writing researchers and faculty as they help graduate students navigate academic engineering writing.
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Quantitative Comparison between Writing Attitudes of U.S. Domestic and International Engineering Graduate Students
Engineering students entering graduate school are typically underprepared for the writing tasks involved completing a Ph.D. Previous work has shown that writing attitudes and confidence in writing skills correlate with likelihood of pursuing certain careers and persistence and attrition in the program. However, all work to date has considered graduate students all together: In this study we seek to understand potential differences in the ways that U.S. domestic students and international student (both those studying in the U.S. and those studying in other countries) so that researchers and faculty who teach engineering communication can better tailor their activities and approaches to teaching writing. A survey accessing the students writing approaches, concepts, and self-regulatory efficacy was distributed to engineering graduate students at universities in Japan and Norway. The results of this survey were then compared to the results of a similar survey taken by domestic engineering graduate students and international engineering graduate students studying in the U.S. Findings indicate that there are statistically significant differences between U.S. domestic engineering graduate students with international engineering graduate students for most of the engineering writing attitudinal factors studied, indicating that instructors should begin to tailor approaches differently for individual students. From a research perspective, we will continue to use these findings to investigate and illuminate cultural variations that can influence the writing process.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1733594
- PAR ID:
- 10094080
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 126th ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1-8
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Available attrition statistics for graduate engineering students do not adequately inform current attrition research because they focus on degree completion rather than attrition or early departure; aggregate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students; and reflect out-of-date data. While recently some work has begun to explore doctoral attrition qualitatively, the purpose of this study is to describe current trends in graduate engineering students’ consideration of departure from their programs of study by capturing current numerical data specific to engineering about students’ recent attrition considerations. This is important because, since the last studies were conducted, higher education systems have experienced a global pandemic, economic downturn, and sociopolitical turmoil in the United States. Graduate students (n = 2204) in the U.S. completed a survey. The sample includes master’s (n = 535) and doctorate (n = 1646) degree-seeking students from 27 engineering disciplines and includes U.S. domestic and international populations. A majority of students considered leaving their degree program in the month before they took the survey: nearly 70% of Ph.D. and 39% of master’s students, while 31% of Ph.D. and 16% of master’s students seriously considered leaving their program without their degree. Descriptive statistics provide early departure considerations by engineering discipline, gender identity, race/ethnicity, nationality, and year in program by degree sought. Comparisons between groups are presented for gender, nationality, and career stage. It is essential to have an updated and discipline-specific benchmark of attrition considerations for continued engineering education research purposes, for mentorship, and for administrative purposes. Early departure from graduate school remains a threat to innovation and broadening participation in engineering and the professoriate.more » « less
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Abstract Background Graduate education literature tends to focus on faculty careers with little attention to industry careers. However, more than one‐third of U.S. engineering doctorates enter industry.
Purpose Our purpose is to understand engineering graduate students' interest in industry, academia, and government careers as it relates to their graduate engineering identities.
Design/Method A total of 249 engineering thesis master's and doctoral students completed a survey about their graduate engineering identities and career preferences. We created regression models to predict students' likelihood of pursuing careers in industry, academia, and government. Then, we used cluster analysis to understand the extent to which students are considering multiple options and used chi‐squared and ANOVA tests to compare the clusters.
Results In the regression model predicting an academic career, research recognition and research performance/competence were positive predictors and engineering performance/competence was a negative predictor. Regression models of industry and government described less than 10% of the variance. Four clusters emerged, which collectively demonstrate that engineering graduate students are considering careers in multiple sectors. Students with internships during graduate study were more likely to pursue industry careers. Master's students were underrepresented in the cluster with highest likelihood of an academic career. International students were keeping more options open than some domestic students. There were also differences by engineering discipline.
Conclusions Engineering graduate students are considering multiple career sectors. Advisors and education researchers should focus not only on academic career preparation but also on industry and government career preparation, particularly on preparing for multiple options simultaneously.
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Graduate engineering students are rarely taught to write in formal disciplinary coursework, but it is an essential skill required for success in industry and academic careers. This study builds on existing work exploring doctoral writing practices, processes, and attitudes, expanding it into the disciplinary context of engineering. Engineering traditionally offers few opportunities for students to practice or develop academic writing in coursework, despite the fact that most academic milestones for graduate students are based on writing. Grounded in Academic Literacies Theory, this paper seeks to determine how engineering graduate students’ writing attitudes affect their career trajectories. This study surveyed N = 621 engineering graduate students at ten research-intensive universities in the United States using several previously established scales. These data were analyzed using Pearson correlations and Welch’s t test methods to answer the research questions. Results indicate that while most students consider writing to be a knowledge transforming activity, they overwhelmingly struggle with procrastination, perfectionism, and low-writing self-efficacy. Further, strong writing attitudes are linked statistically with the likelihood to pursue a broader set of future careers after graduate school, indicating that writing may be an invisible mediator for broadening participation in all sectors of engineering.more » « less
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The objective of this research paper is to present the development and validation of a short-form survey that can be used to easily assess primary attitudes that engineering students hold as they approach academic writing. Engineering writing is a competency that is often-cited as a crucial skill for engineers to develop but is often under-emphasized in undergraduate or graduate curriculum. The affective dimension of writing (feelings, emotions, writer’s block, and writing apprehension) can further complicate the process of writing for students who write infrequently. For graduate students, in particular, attitudes about writing have implications on career trajectory, persistence, and well-being in graduate school. The purpose of this research is to understand how graduate engineering student attitudes toward writing affect career trajectory, attrition, and persistence. Our prior research employs a series of previously-developed scales assessing various dimensions of writing attitudes and behaviors as a way to understand multiple dimensions of a student’s affective relationship with writing; however, the survey is long (~30 minutes) and can be time-consuming for researchers to analyze. Each of the scales within the survey studies an aspect of the writer’s attitudes. This research employs confirmatory factor analysis to develop a short form survey that gives accurate results, such that students can take a web-hosted writing attitudes survey and immediately be given their “writing attitude profile” with writing strategies tailored to their specific writing profile.more » « less
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