Fuat Mondal
ENGL 21007
Writing for Engineers
May 22nd, 2020
Self-Assessment
From the beginning of the semester to the end, I had no idea what obstacles I had to go through. I would fairly say that this is one of the hardest lifestyles I have had in my life not only what is going on, but how it impacted me. This course reminded me of a sense of enjoyment and rejoice, and I learned a lot before the pandemic began. I successfully learned and have completed the overall course learning objectives that were in place at the beginning of the semester. I would even say my writing is far more different than now throughout the semester.
The first bullet point on the course learning objectives is “Acknowledge your and others’ range of linguistic differences as resources, and draw on those resources to develop rhetorical sensibility”. I did accomplish this goal by educating myself and hear others on language differences. In this class I became independent, persistent, and confident about my writing. This class helped me to develop interpersonal skills and independent writing such as how to edit by myself and how to start an outline. I have collaborated with my group during the Engineering Proposal and talked about ideas on how to develop ideas and strategies on coordinating with the idea. I have effectively cohered to share my knowledge and always attempt to participate in discussions throughout the semester.
The second bullet point of the course learning objectives is to “Enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment”. I have completed this objective by doing peer reviews to my colleagues and by yourself. I also have used this when I was in the group when working with the Engineering Proposal and the presentation for the idea proposed. I always allow anyone to critique my work and always want to be the best possible writer as much as I can. For example, in the Lab Report, one of my classmates Baishaki said on the second question of my lab report draft, saying
“Not sure how relevant the pictures you have of the shuttle buses are to your research. But if you had pictures showing how crowded the buses were or a video showing the growing number of students waiting for the shuttle buses as time goes on, they would really help persuade the reader that what you’re saying is a real issue that needs to be addressed.” (Baishaki, 2020)
After reading his comment and looking at my paper, I did make some changes to make the paper easier to understand. Using his suggestion helped my final draft of the lab report and it showed how much criticism is taken in a good way. I love your feedback since you shape my writing to a more elegant way that shapes my writing to a new level. This demonstrates how effectively I have revised, edit, and assess my works to learn what not to do previously and do it the next time if I stumble across writing this paper again.
The third objective was to “Negotiate your own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and rhetorical situation”. I had completed this objective throughout the semester by always knowing what to write and having resources like textbooks, classroom discussions, and classroom activities, I had lots of time to think and plan out my work. I always attempt to write in a neutral stance when doing papers in a formal tone and this is shown in my technical description of what I was describing. For example, in my first paper of this class, I have written about the features and mechanics of a Fossil watch. Since I tried to describe what its main purpose is, I had to keep in mind that I am writing for people who are trying to understand what I am saying, and below is my attempt of explaining how it works.
“The item operates with one dial, with batteries inside the object, and can be charged by solar power. The item has two hands, the larger one is to set the exact minute and the smaller one is to set the hour of the time… the main parts/components to make the object work are the batteries engraved in it and the three dials moving as the time goes. It can also be used by being charged by solar so the batteries will not be used all the time.”
(Mondal, 2020)
This describes how I tried to explain the device by using its components in a neutral, general audience. I did not describe any negativity or positivity of the device, but rather showing the lens of what I see when I describe the device. I have negotiated my writing goals of this paper and described what the device is in my own words. This additionally explains how I “develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes” and to “engage in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing across disciplinary contexts and beyond” by having people’s views and opinions about the things the people write and to engage it in a formal way that is not directive. Discussing the writing in a neutral stance shows how I was communicating with others on a general tone for everyone to understand and using easier words for people to understand. The people I am writing to have a certain audience and sometimes different. To demonstrate, if I was writing an email to children versus adults, the words I am going to use is shorter and simpler versus explanatory and detailed. The vocabulary is going to be simpler than adults since they know the meaning of more words than children.
Another objective that was completed was to “Formulate and articulate a stance through and in your writing” and I did show that throughout my essays about issues throughout the semester. I am sometimes one-sided on issues I did care about and use evidence to show what I believe is true. In my Memo, I write why CCNY Shuttle Buses should be updated and faster for people to use by discussing what I already tell the audience what is wrong with the CCNY Buses already. Here is an example I have used to demonstrate why CCNY Shuttle Buses should be improved:
“The people who relies upon this service need to wait up to 15 minutes every time they go from either 125th street stop or 145th street stop. There are already buses not being used in the CCNY campus and it should be used to upgrade the times needed to wait for students to get to City College…the CCNY shuttle bus app is great for telling the time on when the bus is going to arrive but is not accurate enough. This app should have more features like tracking the bus and where it is now, or a GPS tracker on the bus to tell what route it is going and where it can be next.” (Mondal, 2020)
This evidence shows how I took a stance on issues and CCNY with their shuttle buses. I have said that they are needed to be worked on and what issues I and others had in mind with the CCNY Shuttle Buses. I took a stance that I believed was right and I have supported it with various pieces of evidence in my writing.
These last two objectives on the course, to “practice using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to your writing projects” and “strengthen your source use practices”. I have used this throughout the course when researching my topics. I have used this in my engineering proposal and in my lab report to look up various resources and properly citing and showing relevant information about the topic. Even though the libraries are closed due to the pandemic, I always learned how to look up information and quote accurately to the most important information. Using J-Stor and other various resources helped me look up more information on a particular topic.
To summarize, I have used all the course learning objectives of this class. I have used this to shape my writing like never before and I learned how people express their thoughts. I will consider these and will use them throughout my career. I will use these course objectives to help my writing skills get stronger and learn from various writing styles.
