As a future engineer writing is a very important skill for me. Although my writing was never worthy of being at the top of the class, I believe this class really inched me towards that top spot. Without being able to write, an individual would not be able to express themselves properly. Professor Crystal Rodwell was an amazing teacher. Her grading was rigorous but had a meaningful intent. She always wanted to push her students to their next level of writing.

The greatest achievements that I am proudest of in this class is refining my grammar skills and learning how to develop and engage in the social aspects of writing. Before this class I never focused on who the audience I was writing to was. Now I have learned that who an author is writing to is one of the most important parts of an essay or paper. Without knowing if you are writing to the general public or another engineer, you might write too complexly.

Over the past several months that I took this course, I was able to learn and integrate most if not all of the course learning outcomes into my writing. I became more enlightened in using different strategies for multiple different aspects of the writing process such as reading, drafting, editing and self-assessment. I learned how to do intensive research so I would be able to back up my claims in an essay while also being able to persuade my opinions.

Starting with the first assignment in this class which was the formal letter of introduction I quickly realized that my writing was not up to par with what was expected from Professor Rodwell. I was lucky enough to sit down and speak to her about what mistakes I should focus on primarily. I loved this assignment because not many times in an individual’s school writing career are they able to talk about themselves and their life goals and aspirations. This assignment refined my skills in formulating my stance by making me reflect on my writing and life. I needed to explain myself in a way that related my life to this writing course but also portrayed myself as being capable and competent of completing this course.

The second assignment was the memo. Each student was supposed to formulate a memo to give to the president of the school that addressed an issue at hand. This was my first time consciously thinking about who I am writing to rather than what I am writing about. Although the beginning of the process was difficult, I soon wrapped my mind around the idea. The reflection essay for the memo was very interesting for me due to the fact that I never criticized myself in such an intense manner. These two assignments helped me enhanced my strategies for drafting and self-assessment. This assignment took several drafts to complete with the help of Professor Rodwells insightful comments on each draft. Not only did these comments help my paper increase in quality but also taught me about certain parts of English writing that I did not know. Writing the self-assessment helped me learn how to think critically about a piece of writing even though it might be my own. I used to think that my papers were fine when I wrote them but I learned that everyone has errors including myself which is why revisions are necessary.

The third assignment was the Lab Report Analysis. This had to be the most difficult writing assignment for me. From day one I did not fully understand the task at hand even though I was explained it multiple times. The assignment had me research three separate lab reports based around the same topic and compare the format of the writing. The idea of writing about the format is the part that confused me most since when I first completed the assignment I focused on the physical experiments rather than the writing styles. I believe this confused me since I never wrote a paper focusing on the writing styles rather than the content. The outcome was many drafts of the paper that had to be completely rewritten since they were incorrect. This assignment taught me how to use enhanced strategies for reading so I could come to a conclusion on the similarities and differences between multiple sources and their writing styles. By using
stronger reading techniques it is possible to infer new ideas that would’ve not been recognizable before. This assignment also developed my ability to use various library sources and online databases. To find the papers that were necessary to complete this assignment, I needed to complete intense research. Without the use of these libraries and databases it would have been much more difficult for me to find lab reports to use for this paper. After multiple attempted and revisions, I was able to increased my reading and writing capabilities with the patient help of Professor Rodwell.

The fourth assignment was the technical description. This assignment was by far the essay I felt most confident in submitting. I understood the assignments guidelines and I executed exquisitely. Being an assignment that was later in the semester, I had the advantage of having learned all of the writing strategies from the previous assignments. The technical description assignment taught me how to explain every detail even if that detail seemed like common sense to me. Explaining every detail is an important skill because when specializing in a field, an individual becomes involved with very complex ideas. Once involved in such complex practices, simple things to the author might not be known by the reader. This assignment taught me how to formulate and articulate a stance such that the reader would be persuade to agree with me. For example, in this assignment I wrote about Bone REDS skateboard bearings and how they are better compared to similarly priced bearings. I wrote as if I was the owner or salesman of this company and was trying to persuade a consumer to use my product over a competitor.

The fifth assignment in this class was the group proposal and presentation. This assignment was especially interesting to me since I primarily work on projects on my own. Although I do like to work alone on project I am a very good team member and this became apparent when I became the unspoken leader of my group. I was leading everyone while organizing workloads and revising team members writing. I found myself being the one that took the rough copy of the paper and molding the assignment so the transitions between members writing would be smooth. This assignment taught me a valuable lesson in team management and group-work. This assignment took all the skills we learned as a class and focused them into one assignment. The technical description assignment helped us know how to describe our jacket as if we were sending it to a manufacturer. The memo project taught me how to write as if I was talking to a higher ranking individual such as an investor. Everything taught in this class helped me complete this assignment and become a better writer in general. The assignment taught me how to acknowledge others skills in the writing and creative process and organize a project so that all member would be working on a part that they could excel at. The group proposal also enhanced my skills in the social aspect of writing since I needed to work with group members.

Lastly the final self-reflection assignment. This assignment helped me completely enhance my skills of self-reflection. I am now thinking very critically about my work and how it has helped me become a better writer. As I am writing this assignment I am in awe at how I can look back at my semester and critique myself so thoroughly. Before coming into this class I never realized how multiple assignments taught different aspects of the writing process. After taking this course I feel that I am a complete writer. I am ready to complete a report on what I built, invented or fix as an engineer. This class helped me close loose ends that were never connected before. The assignment enhanced my skills in self-reflection and the reading process by making me reflect on all of the assignments over the entire semester.

As I mature and am able to reflect on my past experiences, I will dwell on the memories of this class. This has by far been my most productive English/writing course that I have ever taken. By taking this class I feel confident in the writing that I am submitting in my technical
engineering classes. I am able to think critically about my work and revise my writing efficiently. I am now ready to become an engineer.

-Jacob Livianu