As the semester comes to an end, I want to go over everything I have accomplished in Writing for Engineering. This includes the assignments, learning objectives and my perception on the evolution of the purpose of writing. Professor Otte assigned us four assignments of the utmost importance. They are the Technical Description, Memo (group assignment), Lab Report and Engineering Proposal. These assignments helped me prepare for the future as an engineering student.
If we look at everything in general, I used a lot of resources to provide a solid base for my works. Everything I wrote for the assignments was derived from some form of research resource. It helped me practice using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to my writing projects. This will help improve my credibility as the writer in the field of engineering. My works have strengthened my source use practices. I searched for various resources all over the internet, libraries, and books. This means evaluating, integrating, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources. All my assignments have all of these incorporated in them.
The class also taught me to acknowledge my and others’ range of linguistic differences as resources and draw on those resources to develop rhetorical sensibility. I got familiar with knowing who my audience is and how to write in a manner they can comprehend. If we look at my Technical Description, I broke down everything about Airpods in such a way that the common consumer can understand if they are worth of buying. The same thing could be said for my Engineering Proposal, which was written to persuade the NY government to approve the production of my cheap ventilator the solve the ventilator crisis during the peak of the pandemic. Professor Otte provided us with a book, which gave us all the information we need to write the assignments. It gave us the outline and criteria which we used to enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment. The book also has sample writings which we can use as a reference while writing our own. We also use it while doing peer review. Peer review sessions are the best part of this class. It allows everyone in the class to have someone give them valuable feedback on their work but at the same time learning from them. It sharpened my revising and editing skills along with self -assessing my work.
The class also develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes. In the field of engineering, teamwork is key to accomplish tasks. The memo that I submitted was a group assignment. We assigned different roles to each of the members. This made for a very organized and efficient team. The topic supervisor made a schedule lists and provided the summary of the issue in the city. We used them to build on the writing. The research leader is had to control every aspects of research needed to write a well- rounded memo. Finally, the submission manager did the proof reading and submitted the final paper on time.
Professor Otte always reminded us to negotiate between our writing goals and audience expectations. I learned that we must come to a compromise when we write. We cannot simply accomplish our goals while ignoring the audience expectations. My lab report was about how the pandemic impacted the mental and physical health of people throughout the city. My goal was to simply state the various changes in daily life due to the lockdowns. However, my audience expected a much detailed yet simple report. That is why I included the graphs of my surveys of New Yorkers. I kept the language simple so that anyone would be able to understand my research. I broke down everything I used to conclude.
During peer reviews and reading the book, I examined various other assignments and provided commentary concerning the writing style and tone of the studies. This allowed me to learn genre analysis and multimodal composing. Every assignment I worked on, has my integrity and draws parallels to my own experiences. In technical description, when I talk about Airpods, I add my experience while using the machines. In the lab report, I write about the impact of COVID-19 because I have been affected by it too. The memo is about stopping fair evasion and I wrote about it because I use the MTA myself. The Engineering proposal about solving the ventilator shortage is because I have many relatives who suffered because of it. In general, I have made writing a part of my personal life. This helps me formulate and a stance through and in my writings. If I do not do this, my works are pointless and would have no basis to build upon.
Before this course, I always thought of writing as nothing more than assignments I have to complete to receive a good grade. As I progressed through it, I started to realize how much more it has to offer. I learned how to accomplish my goals while keeping my audience in mind. Writing with complex language is not always the best method because the average reader cannot comprehend it at times. Writing is to persuade the audience in such a way that they feel that the writer is part of it. This means writing should incorporate personal experiences as well. I must always take a stance in certain topics to make myself credible. Along with that, I must provide research to further its validity. I see writing in a different light now.
