Md Islam.

Writing for Engineers

Self- Assessment:

As a writer, it is very important that we strive for improvements and growth. I believe that the writing process is just as growing up from childhood to adulthood. It is a series of observation and learning. As in life, we learn from our experience and we grow and become the better version of ourselves. This can also be applied to the process of writing, the more we write, the more we become familiar with it and we observe new techniques which let us for growth in our writing. I believe that I achieved that growth as a writer during this semester. My experience with writing and proper techniques and methods has helped me to become a better writer and improve as a writer overall.

Through my writing, I have acknowledged mine and other range of linguistic differences as resources, and have successfully drawn on those resources to develop rhetorical sensibility. Through my assignments over the course of this semester, I have communicated to my audiences in very different ways. I have acknowledged my use of language and choice of words for each assignment. For example, my choice of language is very different from my cover letter comparing to my lab report(Please refer to the cover letter, and the lab report page). In the cover letter, it is more of persuasive writing, whether it be a cover letter for a job or internship. My choices of words are persuasive and compelling. On the other hand, the lab report is very different, unlike the cover letter, this is more of an informative document. My audiences here are other scientists that may be interested in doing similar experiments. Therefore, my choice of language here is very different, very formal and being honest as possible with proving on the lab report. Based on the choice of language, I build a very different rhetorical sensibility as well. On the cover letter, I am asking my audience for such, therefore my purpose here to persuade the audience and get something in return, such as the letter of recommendation. On the other hand, on the lab report, my main purpose is to inform my audience and being as honest as possible with my findings.

Over the course of this semester, I have enhanced strategies for reading, drafting, edit, and self-assessment. The writing process of writing a first draft, peer review, and the final draft in which we have done in class has definitely helped me enhance in this category. For example, though all my assignment, I have tremendously improved from the first draft. This was very crucial to my final draft because I get suggestion from my peers to improve my draft. (Please refer to other documents/ draft and compare it to Process description). On the draft file, it is shown of my very first draft of process description, and the process description shows the final draft. There is a tremendous amount of improvements. Some of which may include: the IEEE tags are in order and more information/well-organized sentences.

 

I have successfully negotiated my own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium and rhetorical situation. While I am writing, I keep in mind my purpose, and I make sure that I address that throughout my writing. I believe I accomplished that purpose on all my writing assignments. For example, the cover letter assignment( Please refer to the cover letter page). In my cover letter, my purpose was to get a letter of recommendation from my English teacher. As I stated in the letter, “ I am contacting you to ask if you would be willing to write a letter of recommendation for me”(cover letter). This shows my purpose in writing the cover letter. My purpose in writing the cover letter is very different from my other writing assignments. For example, my purpose for writing the lab report wasn’t to persuade anyone, but rather it’s more informative and my purpose to state my finding and share with others that may be interested in doing the same experiment.

I have successfully developed and engaged in the collaborative and social aspects of the writing process. Throughout the course of this semester, in all my assignment, we have done peer review in class in which we get to see each other’s work and give our thoughts on it. This was really helpful considering that my classmate’s ideas help me to reach that final draft and helped to submit the best version of the paper. Also, the proposal assignment was a group project in which teamwork is heavily valued. Our group met about twice a week outside of class to do the assignment together. This definitely helped me share ideas and accomplish the social aspects of the writing process. (Please refer the proposal page).

I believe I have successfully engaged in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing across a disciplinary context and beyond. Throughout my writing over this semester, all the assignments were unique in its own ways. One of those things includes the genre of each of the paper. Each assignment had different genres which lead to each having a different structure of writing. For example, my lab report and resume were different genres of writing, and so when you take a look at it, the structure of the writing is very different as well. (Please refer to the lab report page and the resume page). The lab report is longer, it has more information, and describes a series of an experiment that has been done with pictures and other technical details. On the other hand, the resume is very short. It is only a page long. It is organized differently as I include bullet points and a very simple and short line to read faster.

I also have engaged in the multimodal composing as on the proposal assignment, there are two separate parts to it. One of which is to write the actual proposal in a document form and other is the presentation that took place toward the end of the semester. This assignment allowed us to deliver the same message in two different ways, one by presenting and verbally and the other through writing.

I believe I have formulated and articulated a stance through and in my writing. I believe I have always taken a stance in my writing for most of the assignments. For example, when comparing the proposal to my lab report, there is a clear difference between the stance (please refer to the proposal and the lab report page). In my proposal, I am persuasive, I am trying to persuade and sell myself to my audience about the need for our project. Therefore, through writing that I want something in return.  On the other hand, the lab report is very different. I have a neutral tone there. I do not feel sympathetic toward the issue. I am just being honest throughout my writing and trying to give the best information about the performed lab to my audience.

I have successfully used various library resources, online databases, and the internet to locate sources appropriate to my writing project. Based on the requirement of the assignment, whether I had some background information on the topic, I have always used the google search engine to make sure I am getting the correct information on my paper. For example, the technical description on the topic of ‘how to succeed in a job interview’. I have done a tremendous amount of research on the topic, even though I had some previous knowledge about the topic. I have used google search also for picture and other figures that would help the audience to understand the topic better.

Lastly, I have also successfully strengthened my source use practices (including evaluating, integrating, quoting, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources). After I do my research on any given topic of the need for the assignment. I usually read it and write it in my own words. I do so by also giving credit to the source, I use the IEEE tags next to the information to show the source of it. I also sometimes take exact information and quote it, and also use IEEE tags. Toward the end of the assignment, usually the last page, I include a reference list, here I include all the sources used throughout the essay with its link and source information in IEEE format.