In this course I have learned more about what good writing is and what it takes to be a good writer. It was in this course that I was really challenged in my ability to produce a good piece of writing. I was tasked with writing different types of essays in each assignment, which I was not used to doing. I am familiar with writing traditional essays that have a structure of an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. However, in this course, I was also tasked with essays such as the technical description essay and the product review essay, where I provided descriptions of the factors of a product. I would consider myself a curious person. I always like to find out about how and why different things are the way they are. I think this characteristic of my personality contributed a lot to this course. This is because this course focuses a lot on the inner workings of products and machines. This is especially seen in essays such as the product review essay and technical description essay.
It was in my Product Review essay that I first got experience in making descriptions of different materials. In this essay, I described different factors of a thermos flask. This was a useful experience before moving on to other assignments such as the technical description. In the technical description, I was tasked with finding the parts of a product and discussing its function for the product. This assignment helped me to know how to do research on a product and its components. I was able to explore effective writing across disciplinary contexts as I was able to go into depth in describing a product and its parts. These two assignment were in a format which I did not really encounter in previous english courses
The Formal Letter of Introduction however, in its structure, was similar to the kinds of writings I had written in the past. This is a reason why this essay was a good assignment to start off the semester. It helped me to dive into what my major is and what my career may look like. It also gave me an opportunity to introduce myself and what my major means to me. This essay helped me to practice evaluating a statement and making an argument. In this essay, this was in explaining engineering and its significance.
In the Lab Report Analysis Essay, I was tasked with making an analysis of 3 Lab reports. This format of writing was another format of an essay I was not too familiar with. In the essay, I analyzed three lab reports based on the author’s choice in writing the report as well as the content of the report. In this analysis, I analyzed each lab report by section. This assignment caused me to do some research with good sources and reading these information on these sources
After each essay, we were tasked with writing a reflective memo on the work we just composed. This helped me to reflect on my writing and to know where I had mistakes. This also helped to find where I could improve in future writings. I was able to focus on where I succeeded in composition and also where there is room to improve. The semi weekly reflections were also to help to reflect on my work throughout the semester. I was able to reflect on strategies I used to write. I was also able to describe my experiences throughout this course.
My experience with this course was both difficult and rewarding at times. The great workload and lengthy assignments challenged my time management skills and ability to stay focused. However, I was able to get work done, which was rewarding. This is because of the relief of being able to finish the work, as well as what I learned and how I grew in the process of doing the work. For example, in the collaborative project of the Toasty Toes heated soles, I had to take care of my responsibility of completing group work. In this assignment, I got to work with others to realistically design a product that could be pitched to investors. We created a product of a heat insole for cold and wet feet. There also was a lot to learn from this project, such as the science behind how the heating works and also the cost behind manufacturing such a product.
One way that I have learned through my writing is the feedback others have given me based on my outlines and essays. This allowed me to see mistakes in my work that I could not see beforehand. The discussion board was one way that I was able to receive feedback. This helped me to interact with others and give feedback on their work as well as receive feedback from others on my work. I was able to receive some comments for some of my outlines,which allowed me to realize some mistakes in my work. I also was able to see how others write differently than me by seeing the work they had posted.
In this course, there were times that I also had to approach my work in a different way. One example of this is with the outlines for the writings. I usually do not have much of an order for when I am making outlines. However, in this course I was tasked with making detailed outlines, for essays of the product review essay and Lab Report Analysis. These outlines were based on the structure of the writings, with details for each part of the essay. This way of outlining made it easy and clear for me to refer to when it came time to write my essay. In conclusion, I have learned about the different ways I can write related to the field of engineering, such as technical descriptions and lab report analysis. This was important for me as it allowed me to compose a different kind of writing than I am used to. In this course, I had to reflect more than usual on my compositions compared to my previous English courses. In these reflections, I discussed my weakness and strength in my compositions and how I can do better in the future. The many writings and assignments in this course have allowed me to learn as well as take on new challenges.
