GENG-8000 Sections 4, 6, and 7 | Winter 2024 | Engineering Technical Communications

Assignment #1 (Team): Project Problem Description

Overview and Context

The Project Problem Description assignment asks your group to engage with the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-
development-goals), a set of 17 specific targets addressing significant global challenges to human
prosperity. These goals are related to universally significant issues including poverty, inequality, climate
change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice. The United Nations hopes its stakeholders—
including professional engineers—can meet these challenges before 2030. The SDGs have been/will be
addressed at length in class.

As a team, you must identify an existing consumer product related to the broader topic of “animals.”
For example, this product might be purchased for or used by a pet or service animal, or it might
relate to zoos, animal grooming, animal pest control, animal agriculture, wildlife preservation, etc.
For the purposes of this assignment, a “product” is any single object (i.e., not a complex, interconnected
system) a private citizen can theoretically purchase on the open market. This can be something as simple
as a chew toy for a pet dog or as substantial as a large piece of factory farming equipment (e.g., an animal
feed wagon for a tractor). The product you choose must be a material object; it cannot be an app, website,
or other piece of software. Also, you may not choose a hunting weapon—or a weapon of any kind. If you
are unsure whether the product your team has identified is appropriate for this assignment, please ask
your instructor.

Next, in later assignments, your team must communicate how the chosen product can be modified or
improved in some way to address at least two of the SDGs. You will be asked to analyze the
modified/improved product to determine how it addresses four “smart design” lenses:

1. Business Viability
2. Human Desirability
3. Technology Feasibility
4. Nature Circularity

For further information about these four lenses and the principles of smart design, please consult the
“Project Planning – Introduction to the Four Smart Design Lenses” document (available under “Content”
in our Brightspace course section site).

Note: The Project Problem Description is not associated with the Annotated Bibliography assignment.
You may use some of the same sources, if appropriate, but you are not required to write about the same
topic.

Instructions
A problem description is an extended, detailed introduction that supplies information about the
status quo and why it needs to be changed. Your goal here is to persuade your audience that the product
you have identified must be modified or improved to address the chosen SDGs. Strong problem
descriptions support their claims with substantial evidence drawing from credible research.

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GENG-8000 Sections 4, 6, and 7 | Winter 2024 | Engineering Technical Communications

For example, you might argue the commercial production of a polyester dog collar has implications for
climate action (Goal 13) and responsible consumption and production (Goal 12). Perhaps there is a way to
engineer a better dog collar that would help humanity meet these two challenges.

At this stage, you do not need to detail the specific improvements/modifications you intend to make.
Rather, you need to identify the problem that needs to be solved and maintain that focus. The intervention
that you develop—the improvement/modification—will become the “solution” for the later assignments.

Review the Information Literacy, Evaluating Sources, Referencing, and Literature Review lecture
materials, and consider the following questions:
• What is a logical connection between the product you’ve chosen and at least two of the SDGs?
How, specifically, does the product contribute or relate to the SDGs?
• Where will your solution be deployed, and why? (e.g., in Southwestern Ontario? In Cape Town?
On campus at the University of Windsor? Elsewhere in the world?) In other words, identify and
justify the scope of your project.
• What, briefly, is the current “state of the art”? This assignment includes a literature review
component, which requires you to read and assess the merits of existing research in related fields.
How, if at all, does existing research address your product’s relationship to the SDGs you have
identified? For example, can you identify, making direct reference to your sources, how currently
available examples of this product contribute to the problems the SDGs aim to solve?

Keep in mind that audiences are vast and varied. This piece of writing must appeal to a range of readers
who may or may not be familiar with the topic area.

Overall Objectives
A problem description’s core functions are persuasive and argumentative. You must:
• Report the results of credible initial research, delivering sufficient evidence to show that the
problem exists (logos).
• Present factual, accurate evidence of the relationship between the problem, related to two or more
SDGs, and the product, thereby orienting readers with the issue at hand (logos).
• Persuade your audience (decision-makers) those facts constitute a problem that requires
immediate action by appealing to their beliefs, values, and priorities (pathos).
• Strengthen your ethos as a responsible and knowledgeable team by illustrating the team’s
familiarity with the context and complexities of both the product and the SDGs you are
addressing (ethos).
• Clearly establish and justify the scope of your project. Successful projects limit their focus to a
specific geographical location (e.g., a city, limited geographical region, or even neighbourhood).

Specifications
The document you submit must adhere to the following criteria:
• The problem description must be 2 to 3 single-spaced pages in length, double-spaced between
paragraphs and set in Times New Roman 12-point font with regular 1-inch margins.
• All in-text citations and bibliographic entries must correctly follow IEEE format; the references
page must be included but does not count towards the page length requirement.
• Satisfactory assignments include at least three (3) credible, peer-reviewed sources related to your
area of focus and produce a correct IEEE-style citation for each source.
• Pay close attention to the classes on Information Literacy and Citing and Referencing. Plagiarism
may be reported to the Academic Integrity Office. If you are unsure about what plagiarism is,
please contact your instructor or TAs before submitting your assignment. There are several

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GENG-8000 Sections 4, 6, and 7 | Winter 2024 | Engineering Technical Communications

resources, including TAs, the Leddy Library, and online materials that will help clarify what
plagiarism is and how to avoid it.
• Design and organization at all levels should promote ease of use and create an ethos of
professionalism.

Due Date and Weight

Note: As this is a team assignment, all team members will receive the same grade except in exceptional
cases. Only one team member needs to upload the assignment to Brightspace.

Tips
• You may approach this assignment in either of two ways:
o Some groups will be most productive if they start by identifying a product in which they
are interested, then analyze whether it addresses two or more SDGs. A group can propose
to “tweak” or modify the product as necessary.
o Other groups will prefer to begin by identifying two or more SDGs about which their
members are passionate. From this starting point, a group can research a product that
does or could (with modifications as necessary) address these SDGs.
• The use of headings and subheadings will be invaluable in organizing the document and helping
audiences to understand its contents quickly.
• Be sure to identify and describe a specific problem that lies within the scope of the assignment. In
other words, vague descriptions that are not specific to a geographic or problem area outlined
clearly in your assignment will be unsuccessful.

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