Writing for Engineers:
A Scope About Writing
Writing is an important component of our everyday necessities; it is involved in anything we do. Some have to do more writing than others depending on their chose work field but writing is still a big part of our everyday life. In this course the most important aspect is realizing how diversified writing can be. Throughout the semester there were various projects that required key elements and ideas that we will have to use in our future jobs. These assignments include: an interview report, a lab report, proposal project, and a technical description project. The course also had smaller sections of development that were learned and used on every assignment. All of the projects were assigned to further instruct us about different forms and techniques of writing that can be implemented in other courses as well as future jobs.
The assignment that opened the semester was the writing of a cover letter and resume both, which are extremely necessary for an internship and a job. Every job requires a resume and a cover letter. I personally have always had trouble with writing a cover letter but after the explanations made in class and on the textbook, I no longer had that problem. The resume and cover letter allowed students to be prepared for when they are called in for an interview. This project was helpful as well as unique.
The assignment that opened the semester was the interview report. This report targeted not only writing techniques but also researching and verbal communication skills on our end. As part of the instructions we had to find person already working in our chosen careers and interview them with questions regarding their current experience in the work field. This assignment allowed each student to be persistent about getting a hold of someone to contact, being able to talk to the interviewee, and find a central theme that will tie the interview together. Besides allowing students to develop communication and writing skills this assignment also served as a way to create contacts and network with people that might be able to help when we are applying for a job. Specifically from my experience, I received three contacts as well as a summer internship. This experience has allowed me to build my confidence, writing skills, and attain an internship.
Lab reports are an essential part of most science majors. The format of each lab report might be different regarding what type of research was done as well as the audience that the report is trying to reach. Being able to write a lab report is important because when preforming an experiment if it’s testing an important concept/hypothesis that worked the experiment would want to be repeated and having a report that outlines the methodology, analysis, and results would be crucial to build on each concept. Although the lab report was not made for a thorough experiment, getting the structure of the report made this project extremely helpful.
Pitching an idea to a company and calculating every method to execute such idea is a skill that is utilized in most jobs. The third project we had was a proposal project that made us comprehend and research about a problem that is currently occurring on campus and plan a way to fix the issue. This project in particular allowed for students to build team-working skills that are going to be helpful in the future. Besides teaching us how to work in a team it allowed us to develop cognitive reasoning that emphasized every part of the proposal. Everything from the idea to the cost/benefits was a process that required in depth research and collaboration from staff and professional companies. The accuracy of execution of this project depended on thorough research and presentation techniques.
The last project was a technical description of a device/method used for our chosen field of work, for which I decided to research and talk about car engines. This project, helped students learn more about the composition of their chosen major and the tools that might be used in such. This project required presentations skills and research. Similar to the proposal project this assignment helped students share and present their desired topics. The presentation definitely played a role in helping students realize more about engineering and what it consists of.
Besides having major projects that enhanced different components of our writing, speaking, and learning abilities the class also had specific grammar lessons that only made each project better. One of the major components that was helpful to me in the class and I will used for other classes is learning about the library peer reviewed articles (database) that made researching a lot easier. Leaning how to have a purpose in your writing for a specific audience was also helpful. Citing these articles was also important because it made each project more credible and better to read.
Having a variation of projects that make each student develop skills is helpful because most of the skills developed will be used for future jobs. Each project was unique and was relevant to a chosen field of engineering. The class overall helped me land a summer internship and work on my cover letter and resume for which I needed a lot of help. Having this space to reflect on the class, I really appreciate each project and the course outline for helping me develop new skills.
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