Tristan Chong
Self-Reflection Essay
At the start of the semester before the class began I had very few expectations for this class as I just presumed that it would be very similar to Freshman Composition, the English class I had taken last semester. However, as the semester progressed, I had come to realize that although the projects were similar, they were drastically different as well. The writing assignments are much more formal, organized, technical, and professional in comparison to the assignments I had done last semester. What challenged me most during this class was work and time management as I have bad tendencies to procrastinate in the past, but this class was like a wake-up call since it forces you to work on different assignments at once and to solve this problem I needed to have all my work organized and done at a certain date. I rarely procrastinated and I managed my time well. There were many assignments that I had to complete, and the main ones were the formal letter of introduction, the product review essay, the lab report analysis, the technical description, a collaborative proposal with a group, and reflection memos
The formal letter of introduction was the very first main assignment that I needed to complete and in doing so I accomplished the course learning outcome of developing rhetorical sensibility. This assignment was a formal letter to Professor Rodwell detailing information about myself. During this assignment, I realized that my tone and who I was writing to was extremely important and that I needed to maintain a consistent and professional tone when constructing this letter. I analyzed the rhetorical situation and identified the purpose of this letter, the audience, as well as the language that I needed to use. I also followed instructions clearly and formatted really well however I fell short when I needed to discuss my place in the future and how I would fit into the ever-changing world of technology, especially in the field of AI.
The second assignment was the product review essay in which I needed to choose a product and evaluate it based on three criteria and how well it accomplishes its purpose as a product. I chose to do my product review essay on the Muji Polypropylene Pencil Case which was a relatively simple yet effective product. What helped me the most during the writing process for this assignment was my outline of the essay in which I accomplished the course learning outcome of enhancing strategies for drafting. This outline was extremely helpful as I was able to brainstorm ideas as well as formulate a plan and organize the sections that I wanted to write. After filling out the outline I had a concrete plan and when it was time to construct a draft, I was able to easily make a draft just by following the outline. The effectiveness of the first outline made it a habit to create an outline in all future assignments.
The third assignment was the lab report analysis essay and for me, this was by far the hardest assignment. For this assignment, I needed to find 3 lab reports that share a similar theme analyze them rhetorically, and then compare them to each other based on the rhetorical choices that the author made. This assignment was extremely stressful for me since even finding the 3 lab reports was tough because I didn’t know what to look for and what actually helped me was the discussion board where I submitted my 3 lab reports to be approved. I accomplished the course learning outcome of engaging in the social aspects of the writing process because the response from the professor really helped me know what I needed to even look for. I really struggled in writing this essay because I didn’t know if I had all the information required, if I was analyzing it properly, and overall, I was overthinking way too much. Even with the outline I had created, it was almost 3000 words. What saved me for this assignment was the “Writers Checklist” that was provided on Blackboard as an additional resource and using this I accomplished the course learning outcome of practice using various library sources and the internet to find something that could help me when I’m struggling. I searched around and looked through all the links posted on Blackboard and I found this checklist that was extremely helpful in providing all the necessary information for each section of the lab report as I went on I used the checklist to compare the lab reports to and analyzed them based off of it. Another problem that was solved was writing way too much for my essay and I found that out through Michael Dobosh’s peer review of my best draft which allowed me to accomplish the course learning outcome of enhancing strategies for revising and editing. While reading through the peer review I quickly analyzed the flaws of my writing and that I could easily shorten my paragraphs and only contain the important information. I was able to cut down around 5 pages worth of writing from my lab report analysis essay with the help of peer review.
The fourth main assignment was the technical description which I really enjoyed doing. The purpose of this assignment is to select a product and separate it into parts and subparts and to describe each part in great detail including measurements, color, shape, texture, etc as well as how they interact with other parts. I chose to do my technical description on the GMMK Pro Mechanical Keyboard and since I am fairly interested in mechanical keyboards this assignment wasn’t too difficult. The only difficulty I had was providing figures, the placement for them, and overall what a figure should provide. To help me I went back to the blackboard and found a really helpful link which was Tech Comm Creating Graphics which was essentially a checklist on how to properly create a figure including where to put it, what information it should have etc. This checklist allowed me to accomplish the course learning outcome of engaging in genre analysis and multimodal composing as I was focusing on a different style of writing which is combining text and visuals effectively in my writing. Overall this assignment was the most enjoyable to me.
The fifth and last main assignment was the collaborative project and this was difficult in its own way. So this project was a group assignment and as a group, we needed to come up with a product idea/invention to propose that would solve a problem. The hardest part was creating an idea and eventually, we figured to make a product called EraseSlide that would erase a white/chalkboard in one go as it is a long eraser spanning vertically on the board and can move horizontally on the board. This assignment allowed me to accomplish the course learning outcome of engaging in collaborative and social aspects of the writing process. Since our class is fully remote at times it was hard to contact the other group members and work together. We definitely had a slow start but as we got our roles settled in the pace began to pick up and we started to work cohesively. I was responsible for the physical creation of the product which I enjoyed drawing. The presentation part of this project was quite stressful however our group was passionate about the project and it was not difficult to present since we all knew what we were doing.
The last significant assignments that I did were reflection memos for the product review essay, lab report analysis, and technical descriptions. These reflection memos were really helpful because I was able to sit down and carefully analyze my writing after submission and really analyze what I had done wrong. These memos accomplished the course learning outcome of enhancing strategies for self-assessment. The first reflection memo was quite difficult because I didn’t know how to structure it and drew blanks when writing. After rhetorically analyzing my writing I was able to point out major flaws in things that I hadn’t seen before. These memos greatly helped in recognizing flaws and fixing them for future assignments. After the first one writing these memos became easier and I was able to point out even more flaws in my writing.
In conclusion, this course really helped me improve as a writer as I was able to improve on many different skills such as finding sources, outlining, drafting, and more. I was truly able to learn a lot as well as experience a different type of writing in its entirety
