Transferable Skills

Assessment 2: Extended Writing Skills

Introduction and Purpose
Engineers frequently have to present written information in reports. This assessment
helps you develop some of the necessary skills by writing a short essay. There are 10
essay titles below. You can choose which one to write about. Please (i) read the
material in the course manual about extended writing skills, (ii) note the principles
covered in the lectures and tutorials, and (iii) ask questions during the tutorial
sessions.
Please note that when you submit this electronically (details to follow) your text will
be compared with every other submission as well as the content of the entire Internet
and many printed sources for possible plagiarism. Please read the instructions very
carefully.
Instructions
1. Your essay should be 1200 words excluding the reference list at the end of your
work. A 10% deviation from this can be tolerated, i.e. 1080-1320. At the end of
the essay you should include the word count as measured by Microsoft Words
word count function.
2. Your essay will be assessed for its logical structure. Ensure that it has a clear
introduction, a developing discussion and a conclusion. Headings can be used to
make the structure clear.
3. It will also be assessed for presentation. This includes aspects such as: (a) an
appropriate font and font size (probably something like Times New Roman pt12),
(b) grammar and spelling - do make use of the spelling and grammar checkers in
Word, (c) appropriate use of headers and footers, etc. You will probably want to
avoid footnotes.
4. The work should include some data that you have presented graphically using
Microsoft Excel. A single appropriate graph of a format of your choice (x-y graph,
pie chart, etc.).
5. The content of the essay is important. It is not feasible for you to produce a fully
comprehensive review, but the point of view and argument you make must be
supported with appropriate citation of your sources.
6. A minimum of five sources of information should be included. This should
include at least two Internet citations and two paper based (textbook, magazine
etc.) ones. Ensure that your referencing is consistent with the Transferable Skills
Course Manuals guidelines.
7. You need to annotate five of your references. You can find out more about
annotated reference lists (often known as annotated bibliographies in other
disciplines) from the notes for the research skills Lectures and Tutorial 5.
1

Essay Titles
1. The future of genetically modified foods
2. What should engineers be doing about global warming?
3. What impact will nanotechnology have on our way of life in the future?
4. A review of the scientific evidence for the impact of technology on the ozone
layer
5. Whose responsibility is it when technology damages the environment?
6. Is the exploration of space worthwhile?
7. What is the biggest challenge in sending a manned mission to Mars?
8. How can we find extra-terrestrial life?
9. Will humankinds innovation always match the threat of new diseases?
10. The future of renewable energy
Assessment
20% for structure.
20% for presentation.
20% for appropriate use of data as a chart.
20% for content (accuracy, detail, selection, etc.).
20% for annotated bibliography and referencing.
This assessment is worth up to 40% of this Semesters Transferable Skills marks.
Submission
4:00pm Monday 21st November
This work must be submitted as a paper copy to the TSO AND as an electronic

Word document through ULearn. It will not be marked unless you submit both a
paper and an electronic version.
Submission is via an Icon in ULearn which will appear in week 6. Please follow the
simple instructions.

Mark Whiting, October 2011

m.whiting@surrey.ac.uk