Artem Sokol

05/24/2021

Self-Assessment

Before this course I was oblivious to how important good writing skills are for being a good engineer. From describing a product or design to proposing the implementation of that product/design, composition is involved in almost all aspects of engineering. Furthermore, during this course I learned that writing for engineering is very nuanced and complicated. There are many factors that you must take into consideration while writing an engineering document, such as the genre of the document you are writing, the audience you are addressing, and the purpose of the document. Each of the 4 major assignments introduced me to a new genre and type of engineering document. Every genre had a specific purpose and goal that had to be considered before and during the writing process. For example, during the engineering proposal assignment I knew that my main goal was to persuade my audience; therefore, I made sure to use persuasive language and address the audience directly to create a connection between the writing and the reader and encourage them to support my proposal.

Reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment were integral parts of this course. Reading the course book allowed for me to further learn about the various genres of engineering documents and the factors that one must consider when composing an engineering document. Furthermore, reading my peers drafts and their comments about my work allowed for me to improve my drafts and ultimately produce a better final assignment. Drafting and revising were the most important aspects of this course. Every assignment began with a draft and every draft was transformed into a final through revision. Peer review was crucial to providing valuable feedback and turning a draft into a final. During this course I saw a major improvement in my editing of my composition. In high school I would often write my drafts with the intention of submitting them as my final. I would only make a few slight revisions and fix whatever grammatical errors I could find, but I never took the time to thoroughly self-assess and edit my work. However, during this course I spent a significant amount of time editing my drafts to produce a better final paper. I would omit unnecessary information, add new sources and details, and reorganize my paragraphs to allow for a better flow of information.

A major aspect of writing engineering documents is understanding the purpose and goal of your writing and the expectations that your audience will have. For example, when writing my technical description assignment my goal was to describe a mechanism and therefore my audience’s expectations was to receive a thorough and understandable description of my mechanism. Because I knew the goals of my engineering document and the expectations of the audience, I was able to organize and compose my assignment in a way that satisfied both my purpose and the audience’s expectation.

Despite the challenges of remote learning, we were still able to engage in a collaborative writing process with our peers in the form of our second major assignment the “memo”. During this assignment two of my peers and I were given specific roles and responsibilities that we had to follow. The roles and responsibilities we were given were crucial to ensuring that everyone carried their own weight and that all requirements of the assignment were satisfied. To cope with the challenges of distance learning and conflicting schedules, we used google docs and a messaging app. Through the messaging app we were able to share our ideas and any concerns or issues we were running into. Since we could not find a time when all of us could work on the assignment simultaneously, we used google docs as a way for everyone to add information and content to the assignment whenever they had the time and ability. Despite the challenges my group was able to complete this assignment and received a wonderful grade of A plus.

Analyzing and understanding the purpose of an engineering genre was essential for every major assignment I composed during this course. Of the four major assignments each one had a specific genre and thus a specific purpose. As a result, every assignment required a different approach, organization, and language choice. For example, when composing my technical description assignment whose purpose was to describe a mechanism, I did not use any opinions or any persuasive language because that would contradict the purpose of my assignment and ultimately damage its effectiveness. On the other hand, when writing my engineering proposal to satisfy the purpose of persuading my audience I used a lot of opinions and persuasive language. Understanding the genre and its purpose allowed for me to properly organize my composition, select an appropriate approach and word choice, and satisfy the expectations of my audience.

Before every assignment I would determine the purpose of the genre, the topic I would like to write about, and the stance that I am going to take. The stance I chose to take for my writing was essentially the “main idea” of my assignment. I would organize my composition and incorporate information/sources that supported my stance. To properly express my stance through my writing I would use evidence and sources that supported and were consistent with the stance I chose to take. Making sure that my stance was clear and understandable was essential to ensuring that my engineering document had achieved its purpose. For example, the stance I chose to take for my engineering proposal was that we must transition away from fossil fuels to green and reusable energy. If I then incorporated facts and details that emphasize the effectiveness of fossil fuels and their superiority to reusable energy, I would be contradicting my own stance and ultimately destroying the effectiveness of my composition.

During this course I found and used more sources than I ever did in all my years of high school combined. Every one of assignments had no less then 7 sources with my lab report incorporating 13 sources. I had almost zero knowledge about solar panels, the topic which I chose to write about throughout this course, when the semester started. All the knowledge and information that I have gained about the topic has come from reading my sources. My sources were not just pieces of evidence with a means of supporting my information; for the most part they were my information. Most of the sources I found were independent articles that I located through google and google scholar. I used the data base on the website of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the majority of my fossil fuel related data and statistics. I also incorporated several articles from ScienceDirect which is a very interesting forum that I landed on during my research. I really like the website because it has a variety of very interesting articles from a variety of scientists, engineers, and other professionals. I used a combination of quoting, summarizing, and synthesizing my sources. There was too much information to just quote everything, so I had to rely heavily on summarizing information that I found in sources as well as synthesizing multiple sources. I always made sure to cite all my sources whenever they were incorporated in my writing and included a reference page with a bibliography of all of my sources.

I have grown as a writer throughout this semester; improving in almost all aspects of composition. But more importantly I have been able to understand the importance of writing in the professional world. Through all of high school writing essays just seemed like a tedious way to make sure that students understood information, there was never any real purpose, and the expectations were never high. Writing a couple of pages about the plot and main idea of a book never really seemed important or valuable for a STEM profession. However, during this course I have learned that writing is a fundamental part of engineering. Despite all the math and science involved, writing holds an important role. Without proper composition an engineer will never be able to accomplish his project or goals. Every engineering document has a purpose and properly expressing and supporting that purpose is essential for any engineer. Engineering documents allow for an engineer to convey his ideas and plans to a large group of people in a simple and accessible manner. Engineers rely on composition for approval, funding, recognition, and more. Without proper composition the engineering world would stand still.