Michael Alley, Penn State
Writing as an Engineer or Scientist
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Design Reports


Design reports are written to show how engineers use the design process to arrive at an effective design. A design begins with a problem that a customer needs solving. The design process can follow many strategies, but the main steps usually involve identifying customer needs, generating design concepts, narrowing and selecting a design concept to prototype, and then testing and redesigning a series prototypes to arrive at a final design. This section shows example documents that follow the design process. Included are special templates to teach students how to write such documents.
Design Proposal: Guidelines and Template
Sample Design Proposal: Wind Turbine

Presentation of Proposed Design. Joshua Rosato, Kirby Perosa, Tom Heller, and Kate Ferster present a proposed design concept for a small-scale wind turbine to run a low-power application. Pay attention to how the presenters designed the visual aids such that the audience can follow the details of the decision-making process. Also pay attention to the way that the members present as a team.


Presentation of Final Design. Evan Dibiase, Michael Lacey, and Mark Frederick present a final design of a small-scale wind turbine to run a low-power application. Pay attention to how detailed information is presented in a way that the audience can follow. Also, play attention to how the team incorporates a demonstration into the talk. Finally, pay attention to the transitions between team members.


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One model of the design process.

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Sample Design Report: Microcontroller System
Final Design Report: Wind Turbine
Final Design Report: Guidelines and Template


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Content Editor:

Michael Alley
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