Guidelines

The case writing opportunity is structured to run continuously and is divided into three main steps to maximize efficiency: case summary (~ 1 hr), case plan (~ 2 hrs), and case study (~ 15 hrs). Students who complete all steps will receive a total payment of $1000 and a technical writing certificate.

Step 1 – Case Summary (~1 hr)

Submit your case summary and the corresponding work term report

Case summary: Submit a one-page case summary of your work term report to help WCDE decide if your material is usable as a case study. It is based on the summary in your work term report; it describes the context and problem in general terms, and key analyses and results. The case summary should be written using the template provided . WCDE is looking for cases which present an interesting engineering design problem and/or illustrate an important engineering analysis concept.

Corresponding Work Term Report: The work term report should be submitted along with the case summary. You may convert any of your work term reports into a case study. 

Case summary feedback: All submissions will receive feedback based on our evaluation criteria. Students whose case summaries have been selected will be invited to proceed to step 2.

Step 2 – Case Plan (~2 hrs)

Submit case plan and employer permission to use the material

Case plan: The case plan is an outline of the proposed case study. It shows everyone involved the content and structure of the proposed case study, so that WCDE can evaluate its quality and suitability for use in class, and you employer can judge whether they will be comfortable releasing the information. To allow these decisions to be made, students must follow the template provided, to provide a concise description of the design and/or analysis process used and a list of key data and results to be used in the case. Students will also propose a schedule for completion of the case writing process. All students who submit an acceptable case plan will be eligible for a payment of $200, whether or not they are able to continue on to step 3. Students may collect their $200 at this point, or it will be automatically added to their payment of $800 for the case study, for a total of $1000.

Employer Permission: Your work term employer must be comfortable with publishing the information in your work term report as a case study. Our experience is that most employers value this opportunity to contribute to engineering education and promote their company to engineering students. In some cases, specific details such as costs and sales figures can be removed without harming the educational value of the case. In other cases, employers request that their name and/or the name of specific clients be removed. In all cases, they must provide permission before a case is released for use in class. At this stage, we request ‘provisional release’ from the employer based on information in the case plan. This allows us to avoid work on a case if the core information is sufficiently sensitive that they are unwilling to release it when the case has been completed. Please provide a conformation email from your employer, agreeing to consider releasing the information you will be using. WCDE will provide an email template to help you ask your employer’s permission.

Case Plan Feedback: Feedback will be provided on your case plan with regards to clarity and completeness, to maximize the quality of the completed case study. Most students will be invited to proceed to step 3 – the case study itself.

Step 3 – Case Study (~15 hrs)

Submit Draft Case Study and Copyright License form

Draft Case Study : The revised case plan should be used in drafting the case study. This entails editing and reformatting your work report with a clear and concise description of the problem and context (module 1), and a series of modules to present your solution approach and results. Sometimes, supplemental information is required for completeness.  Note that when the final case is used in class, only the first module is released to students and the solution modules are made available to instructors to help guide discussion. WCDE will work with you through an editing and approval process before it is ready to be sent to your employer for approval for release as a case study.

Copyright License Form (Student): The copyright for the case will remain with the author(s). Therefore, WCDE requires that the author(s) sign a license to permit the University of Waterloo to distribute and use the case.

Release Form (Company): WCDE does not claim any intellectual property rights regarding material submitted for cases. WCDE will require that an appropriate company representative sign a release document certifying their agreement to publish the final case for educational use. This will represent public disclosure of all material contained in the final case.

These copyright and release forms will be sent to you by email when the editing process of the case study is nearing completion. They must be signed and sent to WCDE (scanned or faxed) before the case study can be released.

Final case release: After you Case Study has passed all of our quality checks and you have submitted of the forms, your case study will be promoted through our website and directly to professors for use in class. Students will receive instructions on receiving their additional payment of $400 and their certificate for professional writing.

Intellectual Property and Copyright

By submitting your case summary and work term report, you authorize WCDE to review the summary and work term report for conversion to a case study, as part of this opportunity. The material will be held in confidence by WCDE and any instructors consulted during case development. Nothing will be released publicly until all necessary approvals have been obtained from you and your employer, and the case has been formally released. Since company approval will be required prior to release, confidential work reports will not normally be considered.

WCDE does not claim any intellectual property rights regarding material submitted for cases. WCDE will require that an appropriate company representative sign a release document certifying their agreement to publish the final case for educational use. This will represent public disclosure of all material contained in the final case.

The copyright for the case will remain with the author(s). However, WCDE will require that the author(s) provide a license to permit the University of Waterloo to use the case.

Submissions

All submissions should be emailed to david.effa@uwaterloo.ca, cheryl.newton@uwaterloo.ca or lestacey@uwaterloo.ca

Payment

Students who successfully complete the case plan will be eligible for $200. Students who go on to successfully complete the case study will be eligible for an additional $800. Students may choose to receive both payments together at the end for a total of $1000.

Students must provide their payment information, and will be given instructions on receiving their money.