Chemical Engineering

Co-op Work Term Report Guidelines

Introduction
Co-op employments are not just jobs with which students pay their way through
University. They are integral parts of the students learning. By alternating co-op
employments with academic terms, students get the opportunity not only to apply what
they have learned in the classroom to real-life situations, but also to bring real-life
problems and solutions back into the classroom.
Every good employment should leave students feeling that they have learned new
useful skills and fleshed out some of their existing skills. Truly successful employments
should also bring students face to face with their limitations, giving them an opportunity
to reflect on what skills they still need to develop to be effective professionals. It is
hoped that this heightened confidence coupled with a clearer understanding of gaps in
their skills and knowledge, will help returning co-op students select courses and
possibly other co-op employments that they feel will help them become more
successful.
Work term reports are the means with which students can reflect on these issues. At
the end of every co-op term, students have to write a report describing what they have
accomplished during their co-op term and what they have learned in the process.
Ideally, students should be writing their reports during their work term as they progress
through their tasks and encounter challenges. At the very least, it is a good idea to
keep a log of the work they have done and the problems they have encountered and
possibly resolved.
It is recommended that sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the work term report are checked for
accuracy by the students supervisor in the workplace prior to submission to Ryerson.

Work Term Report Format

Work term reports are 10 to 15 pages long, typed, double-spaced, with 1" margins (top,
bottom, and sides). They consist of 5 sections:
1. Cover Page
Use sample enclosed below.

2. Detailed Job Description

This should describe the main business of the organization (you may also include some
background about the organization, its history, number of employees, sales volume,
future plans, etc.) and department employing you, list your duties and responsibilities
during the co-op term, and briefly describe what was accomplished.
3. Challenges Encountered
This should describe three main challenges you encountered in the employment and
how you tackled them. This should include a description of:

what problems needed to be solved

what approaches could have been tried to solve them
what approaches would work, or were tried and worked, and why
what approaches wouldnt work, or were tried and didnt work, and why
what was actually done, and what was (were) the outcome(s)

4. Learning Objectives
This should describe:

what you learned during the co-op term, especially while tackling the challenges
described in the previous section. The skills acquired need not necessarily be
technical. They could also be interpersonal, political, organizational, attitudinal, etc.
what you still need to learn, or could have learned that would have helped with the
challenges. Again, the skills are not necessarily technical.
what you intend to do to accomplish this learning. This does not necessarily entail
taking courses at Ryerson, as learning can take many forms. It is up to you to
determine what will be the most effective way to acquire the missing knowledge.

5. Applying What You Learned

This should describe what part(s) of your Ryerson courses you applied in your work.
For example, how did what you learned in CHE-XXX, CHY-XXX, MTH-XXX, etc., help
you do your job, or do it better, faster?
6. Comments
This section is optional. You can write any additional comments and/or suggestions on
the co-op employment process, the employment itself, the specific courses taken at
Ryerson, or the relationship between any of these elements. Comments on what works
particularly well (or not) are appreciated, especially if they include constructive
suggestions.

Submitting Work Term Reports

Every student must write a work term report at the end of every 4-month or 8-month
employment. To pass the term, a pass mark on this report and a minimum
satisfactory on the Employer Evaluation Form are required.
Once received, your report will first be proof-read to check for completeness, formatting,
logic, answering of questions, spelling and grammar, etc., then submitted for formal
evaluation. Marks will be available by the end of the semester, at the latest.
The work term report should be submitted to the Chemical Engineering DropBox:
Attn:

Department of Chemical Engineering

50 Gould Street, 2nd floor, Kerr Hall South KHS-241-D
Or by Fax to: (416) 979-5083

Deadline for submission

Co-op employer evaluations along with work term reports should be submitted to the Chemical
Engineering Department Drop-box no later than the Friday of the second week of classes after
completion of the work term - LATE REPORTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED:
i) for a 4-month Summer work term: the report and evaluation are due the second
Friday in September.
ii) for an 8-month work term (i.e. a double back-to-back work term in the same company
an position and with same supervisor) - one report and one evaluation are due the
Friday of the second week of classes.
iii) for a 12-month work term (i.e. three back-to-back work terms in the same company
and position and with same supervisor) TWO reports and two evaluations are due.
The first report and evaluation are due after 8-months of employment (same as ii)
above); the second report and evaluation are due two weeks after the last 12-months.
Important note: If your work term report and employer evaluation are not received by the
deadline, you will receive a Fail grade for your work term.

__________________________________________________________________________________
350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3 Tel: 416-979-5068 Fax: 416-979-5069 E-mail: ryecoop@ryerson.ca www.ryerson.ca/co-op

CO-OP WORK TERM R E P O R T

Cover Sheet

Student Name:
Student Number:

Program:

Work Term #(s):

Term(s):

Chemical Engineering

Code(s):

For co-op term #(s), term(s) and code(s) please refer to chart below:
Work Term #:
1
2
3
4
5

Term:
Summer
Fall
Summer
Winter
Summer

Code:
WKT 401
WKT 500
WKT 501
WKT 601
WKT 602

Employer:
Division/Department/Unit:
Your Job Title:
Supervisor's Name:
Supervisors Title:
Telephone #:
Dates of Employment

Email:
From:

Total Actual Hours Worked in this Period:

Date of Report Submission:

To: