This course was interesting and fun overall. Throughout this course I had to complete a variety of writing assignments related engineering. This class was very different from a traditional English class as the grading was very strict. To receive a good grade on an assignment I had to go above and beyond the assignment’s normal requirements. However, this strict format of grading was beneficial because it opened my eyes to the fact that my writing could always be improved. The difficulty of the assignments contributed to my accomplishment of fulfilling the course’s learning outcomes. The assignments which contributed the most to my success were the memo, the lab report analysis essay, the technical description essay and finally the group proposal.

     The memo allowed to me to accomplish the course learning outcome of formulating and articulating a stance through in my writing. This assignment required me to write a letter to the president of City College in which I discuss a problem on campus. I chose the issue of parking on and around campus. In my essay, I had to make a specific claim and support it with evidence. This assignment was complex to me at first because I had to support a claim which I personally felt to be a problem. I knew that my claim would seem biased if I reflected solely on personal experiences. This required me to dig deeper into the problem and see if other people had the same perspective. After talking to several students who have been at the school for several years I concluded that my claim was valid. Every student I spoke to seemed to have the same perspective as I did. With this in mind I compiled all the ideas and thoughts of my peers. I had finally found my evidence to support my stance. When writing the essay, I found it easy to take a stance when there were facts to support my claim.

     The lab report analysis essay allowed me to accomplish the course learning outcome of practicing using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources which were relevant to the topic. Additionally, the lab report essay allowed me to accomplish the course learning outcome of strengthening my source use practices (including evaluating, integrating, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources). This assignment was very difficult to me because I had to write about lab reports related to civil engineering. Even though civil engineering is my major I had not taken the classes which would require me to fully comprehend the lab reports. I also had to find civil engineering lab reports using the CUNY database. This assignment required complete comprehension of the lab reports in which I was discussing. However, when analyzing the lab reports I noticed that there was a lot of vocabulary and formulas which I had never learned before. As a result, I had to use many different websites to truly understand what was being discussed in these reports. After analyzing the reports, I had to write an essay discussing all of them and comparing them with each other. I had to cite information in this essay frequently as I was often comparing different lab reports. After the completion of this essay I felt as if I was adept at using various resources as well as citing these sources in my paper.

     The technical description essay allowed me to accomplish the learning outcome of negotiating my own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and rhetorical situation. In addition, I was able to accomplish the course learning outcome of acknowledging my own and others’ range of linguistic differences as resources, and draw on those resources to develop rhetorical sensibility. The technical description required me to be both persuasive and informative to my audience. I had to advertise a product and give a complete analysis of the product. In my analysis I had to explain every part and sub-part in my product. This required me to present my information simply so that anybody reading my essay would be able to understand all aspects of my product. When writing my essay, I would complete a section and then read the section again to make sure it was easy for anyone to understand. By following this format, I was able to create a piece which included important information as well as information which wasn’t overwhelming to someone unfamiliar with my product.

     The group proposal allowed to me to accomplish the course learning outcome of developing and engaging in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes. Additionally, I was able to accomplish the course learning outcome of engaging in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing across disciplinary contexts and beyond.  Finally, I accomplished the course learning outcome of enhancing strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment. In the group proposal, I had to work with other students collaboratively to create a technological innovation. When completing this project, I would take note of all of my group members’ writing processes and how they were similar or different to mine. This project helped me grow overall as a writer because I was exposed to new ways of writing. After this project, I implemented the writing processes of my peers into my own writing process. Furthermore, I had to be very specific in my writing because I had to completely explain my technological innovation and all aspects of my design. This project also required a lot of revision. My group members and I wanted to make sure our proposal was perfect which meant we were often adding new parts and working on parts we had already completed.

     As you can see, this class was challenging but also very beneficial. This class taught me a lot about digging deeper into my writing and always looking for improvements that could be made. The grading in this class was tough but this was helpful because a bad grade provided motivation to do better on the next assignment. All in all this class helped me grow overall as a writer.