Finally, a long hard-worked semester is coming to an end. This semester has been an experience that has led me to grow academically. In school I suffer the most when it comes to writing because my grammar and writing skills are not at the level they supposed to be.Lately, I feel like my writing has improved a bit throughout the course of this semester. Of course, not drastically but I see myself doing things differently now. Such as creating outlines before the first draft, gathering research/evidence from many sources, and revising drafts before submitting them.Last semester I wrote about how I finally adopted to a system that works for me when it comes to writing. I started to break down all my writing assignments as soon as I got the assigned. Enrolling in the class Writing for Engineers was a beneficial experience. I got to explore and see how engineers put a lot of effort into their projects. Not only the projects that everyone see but the tiny steps that are required to eventually lead to those projects getting designed and constructed. Going into this class I did not know what to expect. As the class advanced though the semester and all the constant reading and discussion in groups gave me an understanding that it’s all about group effort. Being professional in your jobsite is important as it represents the person you are and shows your motivation towards the job. I used the sources provided to me by the Technical Communication 11thedition textbook to get a better understanding on how to meet my audience expectations.
During the first week of school my instructor asked students to introduce ourselves and it was rather a shocking experience. The shocking part was realizing that many of your peers are looking into the almost the same type of field as others such as robotics, programming and structural. This class led me expand my network within City College of New York. This class is not your regular English class, well at least in my perspective it did not feel like it. This class involves a lot of sharing which personally I liked, because I got to hear what my peers think about a certain situation. I am not going to sugar coated it, but this class did consist of a lot of work. At the same time this is normal when you are attending college. The thing about the work is that it didn’t bother me because it talked about the skills which most professionals use on the daily. It opened my eyes in a huge way as I got to see how one thing can be taken into so many different ways. For example, when writing a letter there are things which got to be considered. For example, in the textbook it said something about writing a letter like if it was address to you. “Correspondence should convey a courteous, positive tone. The key to accomplishing this task is using the you attitude’ – looking at the situation from the reader’s point of view and adjusting the content, structure, and tone to meet his or her needs.” (Page 361 ,Technical-Communication 11th). Let this idea sink in for a bit, as it’s the key to becoming more professional as a person and student. When it comes to writing letters or memos it is important to think about the people you are writing to. For example, each audience which you may have needs to be address differently. Writing to your boss you going to be more formal and respectful as you writing to a friend you going to be more informal. The key fact is that you want to write to others as if they were writing to you, with respect and formal as possible. This little tip helps me understand that editing your work is rather very important. For example, in my letter of introduction I stated where I see myself professionally in the future. “When I hear of NASA, I think of the most intellectual minds which society have to offer. Various types of engineers gather around trying to solve a big puzzle of what is next for human kind and space” (Guerrero, Letter of Introduction). I tried to be as professional as I could, before this statement I had a run-on sentence which did not even make sense. This sentences not only shows that I value the work which engineers do to figure out the next mission for human kind and space, but that I want to be part of that too. Being part of this prestige group would be an accomplishment as not many can say that they made it. I took the you attitude and thought about how I can express the most gratitude for this career but also be informative of where is my stance. To conclude, I got to develop and enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, and self-assessment.
Writing this self-assessment essay made me realize that I tend to leave out a lot of important information. This semester my class got assign an assignment to write a technical description on a piece of technology. I wrote about the AirPods and how they work, but in my draft, I forgot to introduce them properly. For example, in my draft I stated, “AirPods by Apple is an innovation that changed the way people used headphones. Headphones are used daily by every commuter from coast to coast.”(Alex Guerrero, Technical Description Rough Draft). After reading this and reading my peers comments I felt it was a weak introduction, especially when you it comes to write about a big company. After a couple of tries I finally got to write a decent intro for the AirPods and introduce Apple.Inc. For my final draft I stated, “Apple.Inc is an American multinational technology company which was founded on April 1, 1976 in California … This innovation was first mention five years before in 2011, as Jorge S Fino filed for a patent for EarPods-like headphones that could work with or without wires.” (Alex Guerrero, Technical Description Final Draft). There is a massive difference with the two introductions which I have presented. The first one does not feel professional at all, meanwhile the final introduction shows that I did research and introduced the company properly and professionally. When introducing a product its key to introduce the company which develops it and a bit about it history. Having this background evidence makes it clear to the readers that I did research and know what I am talking about. My revising strategies have changed as now I see where key evidence is needed and where it is not.
There have been moments where I got to develop and enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, and self-assessment. In my rough draft, I wrote, “In conclusion, we can see how AirPods took over the headphones industry. Compare to Apple EarPods which connect to a phone by lighting adaptor.” (Alex Guerrero, Technical Description Rough Draft). One thing that it lacks is information on where is the company or this innovation is heading in the future. That’s when I decided to revise and find some evidence to add in my conclusion. “In conclusion, we can see how AirPods took over the headphones industry. According to a blog, “Last year, Apple sold 14 to 16 million pairs of AirPods, Kuo said, but that number will reach 50 to 55 million next year and jump to 100 to 110 million by 2021, the news source reports” (Fortune).” (Alex Guerrero, Technical Description Final Draft). This piece of information closes off the technical description perfectly as I not only establish and describe the innovation, but I showed where it was heading in the next years. We get to observe and concluded that sells have been outstanding in recent years and its keep increasing. Without revision I would have had a conclusion with information that did not describe the innovation’s success. Revision has not only helped me establish the fact that AirPods are successful, but they will keep being successful in the future.
When it comes to comparing two different types of writing it is important to share both sides. When we got assign to analyze two lab reports I saw my mistakes. In my writing I was comparing both of lab reports but only showed evidence for one. “Within the first report the procedures are average in general. They can be more descriptive and more detailed about the steps taken. Furthermore, the second the report has outstanding procedures as they are very descriptive and full of details. For example, “Tests were performed when the bugs are normally active (1300 to 1430 hours) …”” (Alex Guerrero, Lab Report Analysis Rough Draft). This was such a bad paragraph in my opinion because I can’t just say something without supporting it. This class thought me that no matter how good you think your work is, to still try different revision strategy to make your work unique and professional. Not only to try different strategies for reading, drafting, revising, and self-assessment, but to actually apply them to your writing.I was the type of writer that made one draft and would change the first paragraph and then submit it. Now I have changed as I learned that revising all my works lets me establish myself as a professional and makes my work clear and straightforward. “The first report has an outstanding procedure as its very descriptive and full of details. For example, “Tests were performed when the bugs are normally active (1300 to 1430 hours)” (report #1). The truth is that tiny details like that give readers a sense that the author knows their stuff and what they are talking about. Within the second report the procedures are simple and straight forward. “In this experiment, air (an ideal gas) was heated in a pressure in a pressure vessel with a volume of 1 liter” (report #2).” (Alex Guerrero, Lab Report Analysis Final Draft). My writing got much stronger as now, I revise my writing in a higher level. I tend to read my writing as if someone was writing this report to me. Before I used to revise my work just to be submitted. Now that I see that professionals are hold to such a standard; I try to change my habits a bit.
This class has rather thought me a lot throughout the semester from seeing different ways to present a presentation to different ways how to improve my writing. As the semester comes to an end, I was grateful for taking this class because believe it or not I learned something new that will help me throughout the years. I am going to be attending college for approximately four more years so the skills talked throughout the semester would definitely be a good thing to have in my background as I continue my college experience. I realize I had to attack my revision more strongly with an open mind.The best work comes out when a person has put time and effort into it. Now I am trying to change some habits and revise my work as much as I can so they can be outstanding. I did not just learn about revision, as well I should self-assess my work to see if I put all I could into my work. Same mindset from last semester has still been in my mind as now I am trying to master this way of working. It’s a working progress which takes time to master, but that is why I am in school to learn how to be my best and produce efficient writing pieces.
