Having almost complete another semester is such an accomplishment for me. I am unofficially done with my first year in college. As this semester has proceeded, I feel like my writing has changed a bit, not drastically but I see myself doing things different. Last semester I wrote about how I finally adopted a system that works for me when it comes to writing. Last semester made me realize I had to calm down and break down all my writing assignments before I even start them. Enrolling in the class Writing for Engineers was such a beneficial experience. I got to open my eyes to see that engineers put a lot of work into their projects. Not only the projects that everyone else see but the things that the tiny things that= eventually lead to those project that get presented to the world. I did not know what to expect from this class towards the beginning but throughout all the constant reading and discussion in groups gave me an understanding that it’s a group effort. I got the feeling that if there was any way which you going to get your invention out to the world is through help from your peers which involves collogues, mentors, and even outside console.
During the first week of school my professor asked students to introduce ourselves and it was rather a shocking experience. I did not know how many people are looking into almost the same type of field such as robotics, programming and structural. This class lead to many new friendships being made. This class is not your regular English class, well at least with my professor it did not feel like that. This class involves a lot of sharing which personally I liked because I got to hear what other people think about any situation. I am not going to sugar coated it but this class did consist of a lot of work but that is regular when you are in 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. How would you want a letter to be address to you? This I the same way you should write a letter to your colleagues. This is because you don’t want to write a letter which you would not like to receive and read. This little tip helps me understand that editing your work is rather very important. Especially when you can email or writing a letter to a person that is higher rank then you.
Writing this 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. They have made these creations fit our daily lives, but Apple did an outstanding job by releasing the AirPods.” (Alex Guerrero, Technical Description Rough Draft). After reading this and reading my peers comments I felt it was a week 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 bring in the company Apple into it as well. For my final draft I stated, “AppleInc is an American multinational technology company which was founded on April 1, 1976 in California. Over the span of 43 years, Apple has been one of the top 4 companies leading the race in technology among with Microsoft and Google. The AirPods first went on sale on December 2016, yet there were many challenges along the way. 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. It took about two years until it was finally published on October 3, 2012.” (Alex Guerrero, Technical Description Final Draft). The difference makes a huge impact as I feel it introduces the product and where it came from. It leaves a better impact on the reader as now they are provided with more information about the company and how this innovation was started.
In addition, another example of where lack of evidence was clear was in my conclusion. 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. The price different is huge as Apple EarPods are only about $30 compare to $170, with taxes included.” (Alex Guerrero, Technical Description Rough Draft). One thing that it lacks was where is the company or this innovation heading next. That’s when I decided to add some evidence I found in a blog to 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. Overall, I saw that tiny pieces of information can benefit my writing in such a tremendous level.
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 what I have to say about a piece of writing, support it somehow. When it came to write the final, I added some evidence which supported my point. “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 can say that my writing has now been broken down. I realize I had to calm down and break down all my writing assignments before I even start them. Same mindset from last semester has still been in my mind as now I am trying to master this way of working.
