Self-Assessment

Throughout this course, we have observed the many different genres of writing present in engineering fields. Coming into this class, I had already taken freshman composition, in which we analyzed how writing is dictated by the conventions of different genres and rhetorical situations. However, we had never analyzed writing conventions through the lens of engineers. At the beginning of this course, I believed that I had a strong foundation as a writer, but I was not accustomed to technical writing. Now at the end of this course, I’ve successfully learned how to apply my writing skills to several different professional formats. Of the expected course learning outcomes, the ones that have applied to me the most would have been enhancing strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and assessing, engaging in the collaborative/social aspects of writing, and negotiating my own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre and medium. Drafting, editing, and revising were present in almost every assignment this semester. Barring discussion posts, I’d say that almost all the writing in this course involved some sort of iterative process. Regarding my work, I believe that is best showcased by both the engineering proposal and the technical description. The best showcase of the collaborative writing process would be the engineering proposal for obvious reasons. And finally, the discussion post on the PB and J video would, in my opinion, be the best way to explain how I’ve had to negotiate my own writing goals.

The most intensive example of drafting, editing, and revising would have to be the engineering proposal. It’s evident from the contrast between the first and final drafts that this proposal was heavily revised. Even the first draft alone came after many hours of deliberation from my group members and myself. But the final draft has significantly more content than our first. My group analyzed every component of the first draft to see what works and what doesn’t, as well as where more information could be added. One of the biggest changes is the addition of an entirely new section on our project timeline that wasn’t there originally. In my experience, I’d never seen significant changes between my first and final drafts. Of course, I’d made changes here and there, but nothing to the extent that we did for this assignment. Usually, I would edit the grammar in my writing, or reword components to make it sound smoother, but for the most part my rough drafts include all the major details. Seeing how my peers edit their work was very eye opening for me and made me realize that my own writing process could be improved significantly. To elaborate on the point of how I edit my work, the technical description is a good example. While I am proud of that assignment, I’d tried to essentially get everything I needed in one go. For revising, the only thing left was checking my language, tone, and word choice to see if it could be improved. The changes from the first to final drafts of my description are minimal since I only focused on getting everything on the page. But now I realize that I need to look at my work much more critically if I want to be a better writer.

Regarding the social and collaborative writing process, the engineering proposal would once again have to be the best example. While our class had to frequently give each other feedback, this was the only truly collaborative assignment, as we had to work closely with our peers every step of the way. I was nervous going into this assignment because I am not a fan of group assignments. I work at my own pace, and I always found it frustrating in the past when I was forced to have to run ideas through multiple other people, and we all had to work around each other’s schedules and make sure we were on the same page regarding an assignment. However, my experience with this group was completely different. We were able to frequently communicate with each other, and it was fantastic to be able to delegate the work to each group member in manageable ways. If one person struggles in a certain aspect, another person can pick up the slack. Everyone has their own strengths to be utilized, and it can make large scale writing much easier. For example, I struggled with the research for the proposal, so our budget section was largely handled by one person, while I did the conclusion and editing, while someone else would write the other components. This assignment was a very eye-opening experience for me, as I was able to see the benefits of collaborative writing. Professional writing in general is always a collaborative experience, no report or proposal should only be seen with one set of eyes.

The final learning outcome that I achieved was negotiating my own writing goals and audience expectations regarding genre conventions. To elaborate, I want to discuss the PB and J video discussion board post. The point of watching that video was to understand the principles behind the technical description. As I say in the discussion post, the description requires precise language that doesn’t leave room for interpretation. I also mention that this is the kind of language required in professional engineering settings. This is where a disconnect lies with me. Up to this point, the kind of language that I used in my writing, and the kind of language that I preferred to read was in the context of literature. But now, I had to accept that even though I may like to write as if I’m speaking to someone and make my writing sound “fancy” for lack of a better term, in these writing genres, less is more. People reading technical descriptions don’t want to feel a writer’s voice coming through their writing, they simply want a concise and detailed description. I had to accept that this, while not what I was accustomed to, is what’s effective in engineering writing.

In conclusion, I believe I got everything I could have out of this class. My portfolio is a great representation of the work we did in this class, and I think it shows my growth as a writer. Not because my writing improved, but more so because I was able to become an effective writer in many different mediums and genres.