Reflection on the Semester:
Writing for Engineers Portfolio Essay
When I registered for English 21007, I expected it to be just another boring writing course. I was pleasantly surprised about the insight I had gained about my field. I also found the grammar exercise we did to be very helpful. I also found the writing assignments we did to be invaluable as I was exposed to new types of writing that I will almost certainly need to use in my professional and academic career. Although the course was not centered around presentations, I found the exposure to presenting useful as well, as it allowed me to thoroughly observe what makes a good or bad presentation. The knowledge I have gained here is something that I will employ in the future.
The first assignment we had to submit was the Resume and Cover Letter assignment. I personally did not find this assignment all that helpful since I already had a resume and cover letter that fit the requirements for the assignment. Admittedly, I there were some grammatical errors on my cover letter, however, in terms of content and format, the documents were fine, although I was asked to make a minor format change for my resume.
The next assignment we had to submit was the interview assignment. In my opinion, this was the most valuable and interesting assignment we had, since it gave us valuable insight into the professional world. Through my own interview, I was solidified on the career path I wanted to follow. By the time we were done with the presentations for this assignment, I felt as though I had a pool of knowledge for how to prepare for the professional world. While most of this knowledge was regarding what programs or programming languages to familiarize myself with, my interviewee had given me different and, in my opinion, more valuable advice. He had told me to focus more on theoretically topics and to ground myself in one difficult programming language such that I can be more flexible and apply myself to a wider variety of work. He also reaffirmed the importance writing in the professional world and told me how essential this course was for me.
The lab report assignment was not particularly intriguing for me either. I found the experiment to be too simple and overall boring, although I understand the importance of using a simple experiment as the focus of the assignment is the writing itself. Regardless, I feel the assignment would be more intriguing and interesting if the topic allowed for more room for research or allowed students to perform an experiment of their choice.
After the lab report, we had the proposal writing assignment. For this assignment, we had to work together to address an issue at our college. In my opinion, the most difficult part of this assignment was making sure the entire paper was consistent. This was my main role in the assignment and I found it rather time consuming. Each member had their own unique writing style. One had a light, comedic style, another had a very serious, stone-cold style, while another had a convoluted way of writing that made most sentences incoherent. I also had to accommodate for the fact that one member was making edits to the paper and presentation after I had revised it. There was also the matter that another member had pulled statistics and projections out of nowhere and had trusted her to add the missing information. In hindsight I should have made changes to that section myself. I think this assignment could have been much better if we had a dedicated leader who was keeping track of everyone’s progress.
The final assignment was the Technical Description. This assignment was also fun and informative. I was able to use it as an opportunity to research a topic I had always found interesting, bitcoin. The final product came out much sloppier than it should have, largely because of how much work I had at that point in the semester. I had overlooked errors that I should not have, and my presentation was very sloppy since I did not have enough time to practice enough. Even still, I think the final product looked and read well, especially when compared to other submissions.
Regarding the course objectives, I do not think they were too impactful. Although Professor Bubrow put some stress on them, I do not think they played a crucial part in any of the assignments. I had pre-existing knowledge on information literacy in terms of CCNY’s online library, technology such as Blackboard, PowerPoint, excel, etc., and being able to synthesize different sources and works. I personally was not a fan of APA style citation and drafting was not a large part of any of my assignments. While I did subconsciously consider the audience for my writing, it also did not directly influence my writing. Similarly, the reading that I had to do for my assignments was nothing that drastically changed he way that the assignments shaped out. I do, however, feel as though my collaborative skills were improved through the proposal project.
All in all, I am glad I took this course. My grammatical skills have been improved, as well my collaborative abilities. The insight into the professional world I have gained throughout the semester was worth the time. The exposure to forms of writing besides essays are also invaluable in my opinion, as I now will not be going in blind if I am asked to write something of the sort for work. The high volume of presentations also allowed me to dissect what a good presentation is so that I can improve my own. Given everything we have done this semester, I sincerely feel more prepared for the professional world. I would never have assumed how much writing is needed for my intended career path, and I am honestly glad I put in the time in effort for this class.
This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
