Course Overview
English 398 and Engineering 398 are complementary and corequisite courses that together introduce students to the issues that shape the environment for communication among professional engineers and to the practices that define engineering as a profession. The one-credit Engineering course is administered through the Case School of Engineering, while the two-credit English course forms part of the University's disciplinary writing programs based in the English Department. Satisfactory completion of the corequisite ENGR/ENGL courses fulfills the University's General Education Requirement for a Departmental Seminar as well as specific CSE curricular requirements.
Course Descriptions
Engineering 398 introduces major practical, theoretical, and ethical issues that shape the environment for communication among professional engineers. Weekly lectures focus on important topics such as professionalism; invention, intellectual property, and technology transfer; entrepreneurship, design, and individual and collective creativity; and technological, economic, and cultural aspects of globalization. As an introduction to broad communication environments for both academic and professional engineering, Engineering 398 promotes knowledge of contemporary engineering issues; understanding of professional, ethical, academic, and workplace responsibilities; and practices of life-long learning.
By the end of Engineering 398, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge and application of the principles of professionalism and codes of ethics among practicing engineers.
- Describe the legal environment for matters of intellectual property and the practices and policies of academic technology transfer.
- Identify the principal issues involved in engineering entrepreneurship and design.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the global, cultural, and contextual impact of engineering solutions.
English 398 introduces principles and strategies for effective communication in both academic and workplace engineering settings. Through analysis of case studies and of academic and professional genres, this course develops the oral and written communication skills that characterize successful engineers. Students will prepare professional documents that focus specifically on communicating academic and technical knowledge to diverse audiences. Because such documents are always situated within professional, social, and rhetorical contexts, this course also requires students to explain and justify their communicative choices in order to become adept in navigating the rhetorical environments they will encounter as professional engineers. As a SAGES Departmental Seminar, English 398 also prepares students for the writing they will do in Capstone projects.
By the end of English 398, students should be able to:
- Produce written texts in a variety of professional genres - texts that communicate effectively and adhere to professional ethical standards.
- Deliver clear and professional oral presentations on a range of engineering topics.
- Reflect on and justify the rhetorical choices involved in planning, writing, revising, and presenting academic and professional engineering documents.
- Summarize the research writing of an academic engineer for a non-technical audience.
- Demonstrate the ability to work as part of a research team, coordinating workflow and collaboratively presenting outcomes.
- Synthesize the academic research and professional best practices related to an engineering project in the student’s field.
- Produce and refine an array of personal professional documents.
- Demonstrate the capacity for life-long learning through sustained reflection, revision, and research.
Questions, Comments & Concerns
- Eve McPherson
- Coordinator ENGR/ENGL 398 Program
- English Department
- 107 Guilford House
- 216.368.8571
- Email: english398@case.edu
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