The Professional Engineering Genres (PEG) Project

This paper reports on research work being conducted by faculty at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. In the spring of 2002, technical communication faculty developed an online survey instrument designed to gather information from alumni of Rose-Hulman about the genres of communication they use most in their professional engineering practice. Initially used to survey mechanical engineering alumni, the survey has been expanded to include electrical computer, and civil engineering alumni as well. This paper explains the primary research questions we investigated and shows how the survey instrument was designed to answer those questions. Next, results from the first survey of mechanical engineers are given, with particular focus on one common genre-the progress report-as it functions within two different work environments. Finally, results from subsequent surveys are outlined in order to demonstrate the applications of this research to classroom practice, both in technical communication and in engineering.