Communications Requirements and Guidelines

Engineering work is critically dependent upon communication skills. Engineers must be able to explain their ideas and designs clearly and succinctly to their coworkers, supervisors, and customers. The format of engineering communications can vary widely, from summaries of calculations and short technical memos to complete written reports, oral presentations, and drawings describing data or machinery. The undergraduate curricula of the MechE Department include instruction in all of these formats.

The Communication Requirement is a general institute requirement. All MIT students must complete one Communications Intensive (CI) class every year, as follows:

Sophomore Year CI-H: Review a list of CI-H subjects 
Junior Year CI-M: 2.671
Senior Year CI-M: Course 2/2-A: 2.009, 2.014, 2.019, 2.750; Course 2-OE: 2.019
Learn more about the MIT communications requirement.

Communications Guidelines

There are five general types of technical communications for MechE students:

  1. Problem Sets. The calculations that you turn in for your homework sets form the backbone of your education in technical communication. By learning and practicing certain basic guidelines, you will develop the ability to convey your work clearly and convincingly to others.
  2. Written Reports. You will be asked to write formal reports on your work in many of your engineering classes. These reports will vary in content and format, but they include milestone and design reports in your project classes, lab reports in your experimental classes, and term project or research reports in other subjects.
  3. Oral Reports. You will make oral reports in several of your classes. Often, you will do this in conjunction with visual media (such as a PowerPoint presentation or poster).
  4. Lab and Design Notebooks. Written records of experiments and design development act as important reminders for subsequent work. They also serve to protect your rights as an inventor or discoverer of new information. You will keep a formal lab or design notebook in several of your classes.
  5. Graphical Presentation of Technical Material. You will learn the techniques of graphing data, measurements, and equations: how to choose coordinates, labels, and symbols that make your work clear. You will also learn to make engineering drawings of components or systems that include proper perspective and dimensioning.

Departmental subjects that involve extensive education in communication include 2.671, taken in the sophomore or junior year; 2.009 and 2.019, taken in the senior year. 

The MechE faculty regard the development of good communication skills as an essential learning outcome of our undergraduate programs. More importantly, our alumni universally report that good communication skills are absolutely essential to their work, no matter what the field or endeavor.

Problem Sets

These documents describe basic guidelines for formatting problem sets. Please note in particular the need to be legible and the fact that giving numbers without showing their units is the same as giving a wrong answer. Also note that homework should not be turned in on scrap paper from the Athena printers.

Written Reports

Oral Reports

Lab Notebooks and Design Notebooks

Graphical and Visual Presentation of Data

General Style Manuals

A collection of online style manuals is given on these MIT Libraries web pages: