The engineering notebook is where teams document their journey throughout the season, capturing their design process, decisions, testing, and improvements along the way. The Engineering Notebook Rubric is the tool judges use to evaluate how well a team records and reflects on their work across categories such as the engineering design process, documentation, and project management. Whether you're a judge preparing to evaluate notebooks or a team getting ready to submit yours, the rubric helps everyone understand what's being assessed and how points are awarded.
The rubric is available in two versions. The standard Engineering Notebook Rubric is the official scoring tool used by judges, with detailed criteria and point ranges for each category. The student-friendly version presents the same categories in clear, approachable language so teams can understand expectations and prepare their notebooks. Download a PDF below to get started.
Engineering Notebook Rubric
This is the official rubric that will be used by judges to evaluate engineering notebooks at a competition.
Engineering Notebook Rubric – Letter Size
Engineering Notebook Rubric – A4 Size
Student-Friendly Engineering Notebook Rubric
This version of the rubric is designed to be a teaching tool to help students understand how their notebooks will be evaluated so that they can learn how to document and prepare their engineering notebooks effectively. This is not the official rubric, and will not be used by judges at events.
Student-Friendly Engineering Notebook Rubric – Letter Size
Student-Friendly Engineering Notebook Rubric – A4 Size
Version History
| Version | Changes |
| 1.2 | Updated "Pagination and Chronology" criteria to account for organization by sections, not only chronological order. |
| 1.1 | Improved formatting and wording edits. |
| 1.0 | Initial release. |