ADMISSION WRITING REQUIREMENT
Introduction
To be successful in the Engineering Management Program, students must be capable of effective writing. This capability is a necessity for the reports and term papers in the courses that comprise the curriculum and for satisfying the capstone project requirements. To ensure that entering students have the ability to meet the writing demands of this program, a demonstration of effective writing has been made one of the admission requirements.
Scope
The writing requirement sets a standard for demonstration of the characteristics of effective writing. These characteristics are summarized below:
- Main Idea The paper is focused, conveys the main idea, and meets the requirements for the subject. The paper shows a clear sense of purpose.
- Well Organized The paper is clearly developed; transitions are clear from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. The statements in the paper demonstrate a logic leading to an understanding and appreciation of the goal of the paper.
- Support The writer provides specific, concrete, and appropriate information from personal experience, published literature, interviewing, experiments, or other sources. The paper is well developed with examples, details, illustrations, etc.
- Style Sentences are varied and word choices are accurate. There is an absence of "clutter" or "padding." Phrasing is clear and direct. Sentence structure and word choices are appropriate for professional writing.
- Mechanics Punctuation, grammar, spelling, and aspects of format are handled correctly. The writer has prepared the paper carefully with attention to appearance and other details. Organization of the paper contributes to the sense of purpose, focus, and unity of the piece of writing.
Process
All applicants to the Lockheed Martin Engineering Management Program are required to complete a writing examination in the form of a typed paper, 3-5 double-spaced pages in length, on a topic selected from a list provided to them by the Education Officer (EO) at their site. The Engineering Management Program Administrator will provide a list of topics to the EO just prior to the exam date. This list will be prepared by the faculty of the Engineering Management Program and regularly updated. This list will contain contemporary topics with which applicants would be expected to be familiar. Applicants will be given two hours to prepare and submit this paper to the EO, who will, in turn, send the paper to the Program Administrator. This paper will become part of the application package for that applicant. Applicants will be allowed to prepare the paper using their own personal computer or one provided by the EO. Outside assistance will not be allowed, as the paper is intended to represent the original work of the writer.
Evaluation
The paper will be evaluated by the Admissions Committee and a composite score assigned in each of two categories, Content and Mechanics, as described below:
| Scoring | Mechanics | Content |
| 6: (Outstanding) Accept |
Largely free of any errors in mechanics; good evidence of control of language | Distinguished by clear and orderly thinking with logical development and analysis |
| 5: (Very Good) Accept |
Largely free of serious errors in mechanics with clarity of expression | Clear evidence of the writer's ability to organize and present information in a unified and coherent way |
| 4: (Satisfactory) Accept |
May contain some errors in mechanics, but not so frequently as to call into question the writer's command of the conventions of standard English or to seriously distract the reader | Does not contain serious errors in logic, analysis or synthesis of ideas; provides evidence of the writer's ability to support key ideas and allows the reader to move with relative ease through the discourse |
| 3: (Marginal) Conditional |
Errors in mechanics interfere with readability; distinctive weaknesses in construction | Definite weaknesses in logic, analysis or synthesis of ideas; key ideas stand with little support |
| 2: (Poor) Conditional |
Serious and frequent errors in mechanics providing major distraction to the reader | Serious errors in reasoning, little or no development if ideas, no clear continuity of thought |
| 1: (Unacceptable) Not Accept |
Clear lack of any real command of the mechanics of standard English | Conceptual and disorganization resulting in a paper which obviously does not deal with the topic |
Disposition
Acceptance to the program, relative to the Writing Requirement, will be determined from the matrix shown below. Results of the examination will be reported as Accept, Conditional, or Not Accept. The specific grading of the paper on the scale of 1-6 will be used to provide feedback to a student on areas of strengths and weaknesses.
| Category Scoring | Disposition |
| 4-6 in both categories | Accepted without condition into the program |
| 2-3 in either category | Accepted conditionally into the program with the stipulations outlined below in the section entitled Conditional Acceptance |
| 1 in either category | Not accepted into the program; individual may reapply for admission in a subsequent year if evidence of a successfully completed writing course is provided |
Conditional Acceptance
Conditional acceptance is granted when an applicant receives a score of Conditional (2-3) in either mechanics or content. A remedial course will be provided in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. Successful completion of this course will satisfy the condition for admission. The course will be divided into two segments, one on Mechanics and one on Organization, Support, and Style. If a score of 2 or 3 is received in Mechanics, regardless of the score under Content, then both segments of the course must be taken. If the score of 2 or 3 is received in Content but the score for Mechanics is more than 3, then only the segment on Organization, Support and Style must be taken. The course will be available via videotape through CAETE. Details on the course will be available from the Engineering Management Administrator. A satisfactory passing grade, as determined by the course instructor, must be attained to satisfy the condition for admission.
To facilitate understanding of the relationship between the scoring of the paper and acceptance into the program, the following matrix has been prepared. The legend is given below the table.
| Mechanics Score: | ||||||
| Content Score: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 1 | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| 2 | N | C-1,2 | C-1,2 | C-2 | C-2 | C-2 |
| 3 | N | C-1,2 | C-1,2 | C-2 | C-2 | C-2 |
| 4 | N | C-1,2 | C-1,2 | A | A | A |
| 5 | N | C-1,2 | C-1,2 | A | A | A |
| 6 | N | C-1,2 | C-1,2 | A | A | A |
Legend:
- A=Admitted unconditionally to the program
- C-1,2=Conditionally admitted; must complete the entire remedial writing course
- C-2=Conditionally admitted; must complete the Organization, Support and Style portion of the remedial writing course
- N=Not admitted to the program
