MIT Mechanical Engineering
Graduate Writing Survey

Designed by

James H. Williams, Jr., Liang-Wu Cai and James G. Paradis

This survey is designed to evaluate the effectiveness and to suggest improvements in the writing requirement for graduate students in the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT. Please answer all questions that are applicable and of interest to you.
Thank you for taking the time to participate in this survey. (This survey is strictly blind to individual participants.)

Part 1: About You

Please select the category that best describes your status:

Faculty

Non-faculty teaching/research staff

Doctoral candidate

Master's degree candidate

Are you knowledgeable about the graduate writing requirement in the Department?

Yes Somewhat No

Background: Currently the Department has the following "writing ability requirement" of each graduate student.

All incoming graduate students, native as well as foreign, must take the Departmental "writing ability test" which is administered each September. Depending on the results, a student will either (a) pass the writing ability requirement (b) be required to take a relatively short, but intensive, seminar-workshop in expository writing during the Independent Activities Period in January (21W.794 Technical Writing Workshop) or (c) be required to take a one-semester subject in writing. Several subjects that are suitable for engineers and scientists are offered at MIT, and special subjects are available for those for whom English is a second language. A student will automatically satisfy the writing ability requirement by passing any of the following subjects: 21F.225 Workshop in Writing for Science and Engineering, 15.280 Communication for Managers, and 21W.798 or 799 Special Topics in Writing. If any of these is passed, the student will be excused from taking the writing ability test. (Reference: Guide to Graduate Study in Mechanical Engineering at MIT)
(FYI: Approximately 80% of the incoming Mechanical Engineering graduate students passed the September 2000 writing ability test.)

Is English your native language?
Yes No

Except for grammar, when did you develop your English writing skills? Please very thoughtfully rank the following options (1, 2, 3 or 4), with 4 being the most relevant and 1 being the least relevant.

High school

Undergraduate school

Graduate school

Post-graduate profession

Except for grammar, how did you develop your English writing skills? Please very thoughtfully rank the following options (1, 2, 3 or 4), with 4 being the most relevant and 1 being the least relevant.
Reading and writing on your own

Formal writing-intensive subjects

Feedback on reports in lab/project subjects

Supervisory feedback on manuscripts and presentations

How easy is it for you to write a technical paper for refereed journal publication (after all the analyses and experiments have been conducted)? (1: very easy; 5: very difficult)
1 2 3 4 5

How important do you think the ability to communicate technical information in writing is or will be in your professional career? (1: irrelevant; 5: very important)
1 2 3 4 5

How important do you think the ability to communicate technical information orally is or will be in your professional career? (1: irrelevant; 5: very important)
1 2 3 4 5

How important do you think the ability to communicate technical information to non-technical audiences is or will be in your professional career? (1: irrelevant; 5: very important)
1 2 3 4 5

How would you evaluate yourself as a writer?

Poor Fair Adequate Good Excellent

Part 2: About Your Undergraduate Writing Experience (Students Only)
Please indicate the number of years (including the current year) that you have been a graduate student in the Mechanical Engineering Department.

1 2 3 4 5 6 or more

Was your bachelor's degree earned in an English-speaking country?

Yes No

Was your bachelor's degree earned at MIT?

Yes No

Did you write a senior thesis or project report?

Yes No

Did your undergraduate writing instruction prepare you adequately for the writing you do as a graduate student? (1: not adequately; 5: very adequately)

1 2 3 4 5

How many subjects that were specifically designated as writing subject(s) did you take as an undergraduate?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

How many other undergraduate subjects did you take that were writing-intensive?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

What percentage of the subjects covered by both questions 16 and 17 was in engineering or science (as opposed to the humanities, arts or social sciences)?

0 10% 20% 30% 50% 75% 100%

Estimate the total number of typed pages of formal writing that were required in all of your undergraduate subjects, not including your thesis or senior project?

0-19 20-49 50-99 100-149 150-199 200-299 >300

Part 3: About the Writing Ability Test (Students Only)
Assess the relevance of the test questions. (1: irrelevant; 5: highly relevant)

1 2 3 4 5

Judge the length of the test. (1: too short, 3: appropriate, 5: too long)

1 2 3 4 5

Rank the fairness of the test grading. (1: very lax; 3: fair; 5: very harsh)

1 2 3 4 5

Do you think your grade reflected your writing skill level? (1: underrepresented your skill; 3: represented precisely; 5: overrepresented your skill)

1 2 3 4 5

Do you think the requirements for passing the writing ability test should be changed? (1: highly relaxed; 3: no change; 5: highly stiffened)

1 2 3 4 5

Part 4: About the Writing Subjects (Students Only)

Which writing option did you take?
None IAP workshop A full-semester subject

How many students were in your classroom section?
0-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 20-25 >25

What do you think of the section size? (1: too small; 3: perfect; 5: too large)
1 2 3 4 5

Please rank the level of difficulty of the subject. (1: easy; 3: fair; 5: difficult)
1 2 3 4 5

Do you think an oral presentation component should be added to the subject? (1: absolutely no; 5: absolutely yes)
1 2 3 4 5

Please evaluate the competence of the instructor. (1: poor; 5: excellent)
1 2 3 4 5

Judge the relevance of the instructor's background/experience in technical writing. (1: irrelevant; 5: relevant)
1 2 3 4 5

Judge the relevance of the instructor's engineering background/experience. (1: irrelevant; 5: relevant)
1 2 3 4 5

Part 5: Opinions on Graduate Writing Requirement and Development
Overall, do you think the graduate writing requirement is beneficial to the Department's graduate program? (1: not at all; 5: definitely)
1 2 3 4 5

Do you think a graduate writing requirement should exist? (1: not at all; 5: definitely)
1 2 3 4 5

(Faculty Only) Please fairly assess the writing ability of our master's degree candidates. (1: poor; 5: excellent)
1 2 3 4 5

(Faculty Only) Please fairly assess the writing ability of our doctoral degree candidates. (1: poor; 5: excellent)
1 2 3 4 5

In your opinion, how rigorous should the graduate writing requirement be for master's students? (1: more relaxed; 3 no change; 5: more rigorous)
1 2 3 4 5

In your opinion, how rigorous should the graduate writing requirement be for doctoral students? (1: more relaxed; 3 no change; 5: more rigorous)
1 2 3 4 5

Do you think the current options are effective in improving students' technical writing skills? (1: not at all; 5: definitely)
1 2 3 4 5

Do you think the writing development instruction in our graduate program should be revised? (1: less writing; 3: no change; 5: more writing)
1 2 3 4 5

(Assume that no formal graduate writing requirement existed.)
If you are a student, would you take a technical writing subject? If you are an advisor of graduate students, would you ever ask your students to take a technical writing subject? (1: not at all; 5: definitely)
1 2 3 4 5

What is the best pace for integrating writing skills development into the doctoral program?
Two years at low intensity (~5 hours/week)

One year at moderate intensity (~10 hours/week)

One semester at high intensity (~20 hours/week)

One month at very high intensity (>30 hours/week)

(Assume a high intensity effort.)
What in your opinion is the shortest time span over which one's writing skills can be noticeably improved?
Two years

One year

One semester

One month

When is the best time for a graduate student to take a writing subject?
Upon entering the Department

Before the doctoral qualifying exam

After the doctoral qualifying exam

Just before writing the thesis proposal

Anytime

Which of the following resources have helped to improve your writing ability as a graduate student at MIT? (Check up to three)
Writing subjects

Comments by faculty on class term/project papers

Comments by faculty and research staff on co-authored papers

Comments by faculty on parts of thesis

Comments by other graduate students

Writing and Communication Center

The Online Mayfield Handbook

Other online sources

Writing reference books
Part 6: About Mechanical Engineering Subjects

To what extent do you think it is possible to integrate writing into mechanical engineering "non-lab/non-project" graduate subjects? (1: easy; 5: difficult)
1 2 3 4 5

To what extent do you think it is possible to integrate writing into mechanical engineering "lab/project/design" graduate subjects? (1: easy; 5: difficult)
1 2 3 4 5

To what extent do you think it is possible to integrate student oral presentations into mechanical engineering "non-lab/non-project" graduate subjects? (1: easy; 5: difficult)
1 2 3 4 5

To what extent do you think it is possible to integrate student oral presentations into mechanical engineering "lab/project/design" graduate subjects? (1: easy; 5: difficult)
1 2 3 4 5

What in your opinion should be the relative emphasis (in an ideal technical writing subject) on "organization of ideas" versus "grammar"? (1: much toward organization; 3: equal emphasis; 5: much toward grammar)
1 2 3 4 5

Would additional writing and oral presentations in ME graduate subjects likely lead to a dilution of their quantitative engineering content? (1: not at all, 5: definitely)
1 2 3 4 5

(Faculty Only) Do you have a writing component in any graduate subject you teach? (Check all that apply.)
Multiple laboratory reports

Writing and oral presentations

Term project report

Multiple papers

None

(Faculty Only) If additional monetary and personnel resources were allocated, would you be interested in introducing writing/oral presentations into a graduate subject you teach? (1: not at all, 5: definitely)
1 2 3 4 5

Part 7: About the MIT Writing and Communication Center

Do you know that free individual tutoring with professional writing consultants is available at the MIT Writing and Communication Center?
Yes Heard of, but not sure No

If you have used any of the services provided by the Writing and Communication Center (for example, one-on-one consulting for writing or oral presentations, advice about résumé and job applications, or opportunities to practice oral presentations):

How helpful did you find the session(s) at the Center? (1: poor; 5: excellent)
1 2 3 4 5

Please evaluate the competence of the consultant(s) with whom you worked? (1: poor; 5: excellent)
1 2 3 4 5

Please indicate any other services the Center could provide that would help you during your graduate education or professional activities at MIT. (Please use the space in "Additional Comments" in Part 8.)
Part 8: Additional Comments (Note: As in all the other parts of this survey, the authorship of these comments is also blind unless explicitly signed by the respondent.)

If you feel the above questions do not adequately address your concerns or interests in this topic, please use the following space to provide additional comments. For example, you may suggest ways in which the current graduate writing requirement should be changed, or a particular writing subject should be enhanced.

You may leave your e-mail address if you would like to be contacted; and especially if you have made a quotable comment which you would like to have attributed to you.

Again, thanks for participating in this survey.
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MIT Mechanical Engineering Graduate Writing Survey

MIT Mechanical Engineering
Graduate Writing Survey