Ten years of first-year engineering literature (2005–2014): a systematic literature review of four engineering education journals

First-Year Engineering (FYE) education, while arguably established, is changing within a field that is evolving. To ensure thatresearch is informing FYE change, there is a need for an overview of existing FYE research, which both summarizes what isknown and provides direction for future research. The purpose of the review is to answer (1) What is the general landscape of FYEliterature? and (2) What FYE practices are recommended or supported by the literature? Four journals were used as the source ofarticles. Through a three-step process, we identified 156 articles that focused on FYE that were included in the analysis. Of these,73 were identified as research articles and both their methods and findings were explored in the study. FYE literature spans bothinnovative practice and research, and covers a wide-range of topics, such asDesign,Pedagogy & Learning Theories, andSkills.Though, numerous studies document individual FYE programs, courses, or projects, many findings were limited to evaluating theactivity in isolation. We did not find substantial literature examining the impact of FYE program design (e.g., matriculationdecisions, course focus) on achieving engineering program outcomes. Future FYE research should more fully consider the theoryand research designs used to promote generalizability and transferability of study findings beyond a single FYE experience oruniversity.