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Engineering 123 – Assignment 1: Referencing

Due Dates

Section 1 – 6AM on Sept. 29

Section 2 – 6AM on Sept. 30

The purpose of this assignment is to become adept at referencing in your technical writing. Your future

assignments may have a portion of marks specifically awarded for the proper use of referencing.

Alternatively, marks may be deducted for the improper use or lack of references.

Instructions – Please read ALL of the instructions carefully!

Submit your assignment electronically through Turnitin. In order to do this, you must set up your own

account at www.turnitin.com. The instructions (including Class ID and password) are listed on UR

Courses. Please note, you must set up your account in the correct section.

If you do not hand in your assignment on tie, you will be awarded a grade of zero. However, you still

must submit your assignment in order to fulfill the requirements to pass the class.

Please submit your assignment using commonly used word processing software, such as MS Word.

Turnitin accepts both Windows-based and Mac-based software.

You will need to have an activated library account in order to access library material outside the

university campus. Your library card is your student card.

Remember, this is a formal writing assignment. As such, your writing, communication style, and

presentation should be formal. Answers should be in paragraphs and you should use proper punctuation,

grammar, sentences, etc.

When a question asks you to ‘discuss’ or ‘explain’ it requires an answer in paragraph-format and written

in your own words.

There should be no direct quotations in any of the answers given in this assignment or in any other

assignment in this class.

The suggested length for the answer is given below. However, this is only a guideline and you should

answer the question as completely as possible. Marks will not be deducted for ‘long’ answers. Please

label each question.

Question 1 – 6 marks

Discuss and explain at least three reasons why references are used in technical or academic writing. The

expected length of this answer is approximately one to two paragraphs.

Question 2 – 6 marks

Discuss three areas where you, a future engineer, expect to use referencing in your technical writing in

your future engineering job. In this section, you may discuss the types of documents you anticipating

referencing, and the types of documents you will produce that will require referencing. The expected

length of this answer is approximately one to two paragraphs.

Question 3 – 20 marks

Congratulations! You have been awarded a contract to consult as an engineer! The company that has

hired you (called company ABC) has asked you to do some research and report back to them with your

results. Your findings (results) must be written in a formal manner and must include references to

THREE journal articles that you can access through the library and must be published in the last ten

years (since 2004). This assignment, in essence, is a short review of three articles. The company that has

hired you has graciously given you a lot of freedom in your topic of choice. However, company ABC is

in the business of water quality detection, treatment and protection both in Canada and all over the

world. Therefore, your chosen topic must be related to the very broad area of water. The suggested

length is four to five paragraphs.

To get you started, here is a list of ideas, but you are certainly not limited to these suggestions! It is

recommended that you pick a topic within the broad area of ‘water’ in order to form a more cohesive

report. This will also assist you when you search for your journal articles that you will use (and

reference!) in your report!

- water quality in Canada

- water quality in the Prairie provinces

- urban water quality issues

- rural water quality issues

- water quality in developing countries

- water treatment challenges in: cold climates, developing areas, rural areas, urban areas

- climate change effects on water quality

- water treatment techniques using: biological methods, chemical methods, etc.

- wastewater treatment techniques using: biological methods, physical methods, a variety of

methods, low-tech methods, etc.

- desalination

- drought, water scarcity

- water quality detection

- regulations (government, etc.) related to water quality standards

- industrial wastewater issues

- the list is endless!

You are not going to be graded on your depth of knowledge on the subject matter – it is not expected

that you are an expert! However, what is expected of you is that you can research a commonly-known

topic (such as ‘water’), pick a theme related to ‘water’ and report on your findings based on the articles

you reviewed. Because ALL of your findings will be based on what you have read, this is the perfect

opportunity to practice your referencing skills. It is also expected that you will choose your words

wisely in referring to the authors and their work, and of course, to not plagiarise!

As a recommendation, you may first one to spend some time finding some journal articles you are

comfortable discussing. Be prepared that this may take some time. Use the library resources to search

for journal papers. If you find articles published in e-journals, then you can access the journal paper

online (without having to go to the library to get a paper copy). After you find the articles you wish to

review, prepare an outline. Be sure to introduce your topic, discuss (review) your three articles, and then

complete it with a small conclusion. At the very end should be your reference section.

e.g.

OUTLINE

Introduction

Paragraphs that review your journal articles (with the correct in-text reference)

Conclusion

Reference Section

Nelson, K. (2014). How to write a paper. Journal name...........etc.

You are expected to use APA format for your reference section.

There should be no references to websites in this assignment.