Writing for engineering is a class that stimulated me to thinking in the engineering mindset, and I can testify that it is not just another English class. Being taught in my previous English classes that it was best to decorate my essays with flowery language, I found it challenging to adopt the formal writing used by professionals at the beginning of the course. This issue, along with punctuation errors and lengthy sentences, caused my essays to lack professional structure. At first, I felt a bit frustrated. However, the readings, the professor’s informative feedback, and the peer reviews all allowed me to better understand the writing required. I also now realize that writing is a recursive process that requires practice, revision, and collaboration to get better at it.
During the semester, we were required to write six assignments which helped us practice the recursive process of writing, while at the same time incorporating the learning outcomes of our course. The assignments consisted of a formal letter of introduction, product review essay, leadership presentation, lab report analysis, technical description essay, and proposal and presentation collaborative project. Three of these assignments also required us to write a self-reflection memo that asked us to describe the rhetorical situation, the course learning outcome, and the improvement we would adopt for future writing. In addition to these writing assignments a presentation made by one of my classmates, a story written by Kim Church and a meme I read also aided in my writing growth.
For formal letter of introduction, I utilized the course learning outcomes of articulating and formulating a stance through my writing. Due to the assignment being about myself and my plans, I could write in an optimistic tone and provide the content needed for the assignment. On the other hand, my assignment lacked formality and had punctuation errors. With the help of the professor’s feedback, I was able to identify and learn from my errors.
The product review essay required me to write on an object of my choice and was evaluated based on ease of transportation, maneuverability, aesthetics, the assortment of pieces, and ease of use. While this assignment helped me to practice the course learning outcome of revising and drafting, the reflection memo allowed me to practice self-assessment. This taught me that formal writing could be descriptive without being decorative. I was also able to participate in the social aspect of the writing project by taking part in the peer review before we turned in our best draft.
In the leadership presentation, I presented the topic of arguments. Doing this assignment was very helpful in acknowledging the linguistic differences between myself and others’ in developing my rhetorical sensibility. Also, I negotiated my writing goals and audience expectations; this was achieved by thinking about how I wanted my audience to interpret my presentation. With bullet points and appropriate visual cues, the audience was provided with two ways of understanding the information presented.
Writing the lab report analysis was quite time-consuming as it required me to research a topic that interested me. It required me to look through libraries and databases to find the information I needed to write about my chosen topic, Vitamin D deficiency. Writing this essay allowed me to practice the course learning outcomes of using various library and online databases, which I had never done before. I was also able to strengthen my source use practices of summarizing, paraphrasing, and citing. The associated reflection memo for the lab report analysis allowed me to practice and improve on the structure that I should uses when written a memo.
The technical description essay required me to pick a toy that the professor approved and describe its inner workings in detail. I was able to use a toy penguin I had bought for another course and dismantled it into its various components. Then I wrote in detail how these parts came together to make up the entire toy. I was very excited about this process as I know writing in detail about how something functions will be an integral part of becoming a mechanical engineer. Writing the technical descriptive essay allowed me to practice the course learning outcome of engaging in genre analysis, as I was able to write in a formal format like a product manual. I also enhanced my strategy for drafting and self-assessment via the reflection memo.
I was not keen in partaking in the proposal and presentation collaborative project as I had a bad experience working collaboratively in the past. Nevertheless, I decided to put my grievances aside and apply myself. Although things started slowly in the brainstorming process with ideas being rejected, I can say that everything worked out. Most of the team members did their part and collaborated well together, helping in different aspects according to their abilities. In writing this assignment, I participated in the course learning outcome of developing and engaging in the writing process’s collaborative and social aspects. I now realize that a joint project can be an excellent writing experience with every member doing their part.
Although there were lots of presentations conducted in class, the main one that stood out to me was Aliaksei Bogdanet’s presentation on APA and Citations. Most of the essays written in the writing for engineering class required me to do prior research to gather information needed to complete them. Upon conducting this research, I was required to cite the sources of my information, which I struggled with. Citing in the appropriate APA format, along with in-text citations was unclear to me. After Aliaksei’s presentation, I better understood APA formatting and citation and the appropriate format used when quoting. This allowed me to strengthen my source use practices of quoting and citing for writing that required information gathered from research.
Before writing the technical description essay, the professor provided us with two descriptive stories to read of which Kim Church’s “Bullet” appealed to me the most. This story was integral in revealing the art of descriptive writing to me. I learned that a descriptive essay discards excess details and only states essential facts. This allowed me to clearly explain and describe my product in my technical description essay in a formal manner. I was able to negotiate my own writing goals regarding the convention of genre. I drew from what I learned in reading the story and adapted it to my descriptive writing.
Searching for ways to improve how I conveyed information in my writing, I read a meme that caused me to question myself about my reading habits. This questioning helped me to grow in assessing my reading habits. I no longer read because of requirements, but to evaluate and adopt others’ writing techniques. I engaged in genre analysis through reading the meme while negotiating my own writing goals. I assessed the techniques I have learned through reading and identified those that would improve my writing.
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