Features of Success in Engineering Design Presentations: A Call for Relational Genre Knowledge

Deanna P. Dannels North Carolina State University

Abstract

This study explores design presentations that were graded by engineering faculty in order to assess the distinguishing features of those that were successful. Using a thematic analysis of 17 videotaped, final presentations from a capstone chemical engineering (CHE) course, it explores the rhetorical strategies, oral styles, and organizational structures that differentiate successful and unsuccessful team presentations. The results suggest that successful presenters used rhetorical strategies, oral styles, and organizational structures that illustrated students’ ability to negotiate the real and simulated relational and identity nuances of the design presentation genre—in short, they illustrated students’ relational genre knowledge.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2009-10-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651909338790
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Cited by in this index (7)

  1. Written Communication
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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  1. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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