Self-Assessment
Intro
Over the course of semester, I have learned a lot of techniques and improved a lot in engineering writing. I could see the difference between technical writing (early work) and engineering proposal (recent work). I am able to write more like an engineer article instead like a high school argumentative essay. Also,the feedback from professor Brown and my classmate point out some errors I made or a description that is not detailed enough, and these feedback help me to improve my writing. The improvement is demonstrated in the assignment from week 1 to week 16.
Technical writing
During week 2, I have an assignment call baffling description. I read the article on rhetorical situations and practice it into my writing of baffling description part 2. I define purpose as a guide to competitive pokemon games (inform), audience as gamers that are new to pokemon games and want to play competitive pokemon (lay people). As a result, I explain every terminology precisely. For example, I only use the word “stats” in part baffling description 1. This sentence“stats refer to the information of a Pokemon hp, attack, defense, special attack, special defense ,and speed value.” is a well explained sentence in part 2 of my assignment.
Lab report
During week 3 to 6, I am required to write a lab report based on an experiment we found online. It teaches me how to write a lab report. We need to have the abstract as a summary of the lab report, introduction to state hypothesis, method and material to let others duplicate this experiment, result to let people know what data we got after the experiment, and discussion to describe why we got this data. My draft of one of the lab reports is not clear on the material and result. Then I do the revision on my draft one to add a more detailed description on the result and material. From “ We prepare a cup of Liquid Nitrogen and throw it at someone’s face.” to more detail description with steps. I have also used the information I found on the internet to write my discussion. It includes the boiling point of liquid nitrogen, Leidenfrost effect, and air as an insulation of heat. The revision I made improved this draft significantly.
Technical description
During week 7 to 9, I am required to write a technical description on digital cameras. I first created an outline of my technical description which formulated my writing. The outline in this case helps a lot during drafting. I first did my research on the digital camera. The digital camera is very complex and there often times that I confuse where should the note I take during researching go in my technical description. The outline helps to organize my thoughts.
The article is written to someone that does not know digital cameras at all, so I need to write it in a very detailed manner. In my draft, I structure my writing with definitions which give the definition of the term, overview which describe the appearance of a digital camera, components which list all the components that a digital camera has, explanations which explain how these components work together to take a photo, and visuals to show where each component is located. After finishing all the sections, I try to forget the information I have with the digital camera and read my technical description again. Then I add more information if the paragraph is not detailed enough or remove information that may cause confusion. My technical description becomes very descriptive, especially on the component part. I have researched the use of each component and summarized it in the explanation part with steps. I improved a lot in the structure and descriptive writing skill in this assignment. For example, in the component section, I categorized camera body and lens then further categorized the camera body with inside and outside components. Also, I have added their functionality under each component. Compared to the baffling description this assignment demonstrates the improvement of my descriptive writing skill.
Engineering writing
During week 10 to 15, me and my group have an engineering proposal. I first read collaborative writing to know how we should distribute jobs. We create a group contract that makes sure we all know what we are doing, like how we meet and where we upload our work. Then we create a Gantt chart and start to distribute work. We use parallel writing: stratified division to assign work. For example, I am good at researching and graph making, so my work is to figure out the summary and budget. One of my groupmate knows how to render 3D objects, so his work is to design and describe the product.
In the first draft, my summary describes our topic of proposal, which is to solve the issue of raccoons stealing food from trash cans. Then I give the solution which is the product name called raccoon proof trash can. These two points are pretty clear for the audience to know our motivation for designing this product. I could list out some qualifications we need if we hire people, and experience related to keeping away the animal. Finally, I am providing some potential obstacles we may have. This summary gives an idea of our solution to the issue.
For revision, everyone in the group is required to review other people’s work and give feedback. Then I fix our work or debate if I think mine work should stay the way it is. I did a lot of research on the budget. What I did first is just find the price on home depot and calculate the overall price for one unit of product. My groupmate said this way is too expensive to produce one unit of goods, so I found a wholesale website to check for the material price. The cost to produce our product is significantly lower than the previous cost. I then gather the price of metal in WTO and estimate the cost for the long run, and make a graph to show the change of cost.
We have not changed the structure of our final draft. We add a little more information and a 3D picture of our product. At this assignment, I am able to communicate well with my groupmate to finish the job on time. For example, we create a group chat. We share our ideas and feedback in the chat. We could react to the feedback very fast compared to using blackboard to communicate. When we finished our part, we shared the work, so we could fix the writing as soon as possible.
The presentation also demonstrates that our communication has been improved. For example, everyone will record their own video and send the video to the video editor. The video editor will cut all the video into a single video. This way of presenting is efficient since we do not need to create a zoom and record the presentation together. Also, when we make a mistake we can just refilm the video individually.
Conclusion
When I review the first assignment I send and the engineering proposal. I improved a lot in my writing. I learn the structure of writing, the purpose of outline, the rhetorical situation in writing, how to do the revision, and collaborate writing over the course of the semester. I think reading the material form profesor is helpful, and I am proud of myself for practicing the knowledge in my assignment.
Writting Samples
Engineering Proposal Presentation
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KxVGAX1dRiTyosIjaQOldolKeVW4_78p/view?usp=sharing
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