Abstract: In this essay, I wrote about my course objectives and at what extent did I achieve them. The importance of this essay is how good I understand the class and whether I achieve each course objective or not. My development as a writer when writing this essay, is that I summarize everything I did from every course objective since the beginning of the semester and what obstacles have I faced in each one of them. Finally, I mention whether I achieve it or not, or if I need to improve more in that said objective.
During the semester I have learned to acknowledge others’ range of linguistic differences. During the group project, “Engineering Proposal” where most of my group members were writing their own ideas in their respective section. I was able to adapt from their words to my words, we also shared our ideas for our proposal about what kind of object we wanted to present. We were able to draw a conclusion about how we decided how to start our project and come up with more additional ideas to add to that object. During the beginning of our proposal, we decided to technologically improve a closet and implement A.I technology, cleaning machines, folding mechanisms and more. During the project, we reviewed each other’s sections and improved on what they wrote in their section to make it better and with that we enhanced our work, reading, and writing. When working on the essay, I always checked that one of my peers was writing their own parts and came up with ideas to improve on their paragraphs. My collaborative skills have evolved after completing this project, because I now understand and accept other people’s ideas and as well as their point of view as an audience. I also learned how to help others by improving their written paragraphs, by giving them suggestions and advising them how to improve their paragraphs. Some obstacles I have encountered when creating this collaborative project are trying to figure out what I should write for my section in the project, especially when I’m not sure how I can write it. In conclusion, I have achieved this course objective and this experience would be useful to me in other collaborative projects from other classes for the rest of my college career.
During the semester, my skills for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment have improved from last year. In the first assignment, which was the “Lab Report Analysis” I chose what lab reports I wanted to analyze and that are focused on the same topic. I read them to analyze their structure, information, and elements to make sure that they have differences that I can talk about. I also applied my reading skills when completing my technical description to make sure that each part corresponds to each part I’m referring to. When drafting my essays for this class, I always must acknowledge that this is a draft I’m writing, and I must write it not just perfect but also making sure that what I’m writing is part of my essay. When writing my lab report analysis, I wrote many differences during my analysis, and in my technical description, I wrote and include every part and describing them. Before I turn in any written assignment I always want to revise before doing it, and I need to learn how to do it correctly, because I don’t revise it properly and I always skim through my essay. After I reviewed my essay for the lab report analysis, I saw that I haven’t written information that is related to what I’m saying and that my document wasn’t APA formatted. I edit my essays before submitting it, but I should try not to skim the whole essay because I could miss a word that is misspelled. In conclusion, my skills for reading, drafting, revising, and editing have improved, but I think I need to improve more on these skills. I have also used the notes from the class to help me use this steps to improve my essays.
In this course, I improved and developed in collaborative and social aspects of writing. In the engineering proposal essay, I worked with my peers, and I revised and edited some of my peer’s sections to improve their writing and remove any errors. For example, I talked to one of my peers who was working on the materials, I told them to arrange them in order and provide enough description for each material that would work on our technological item. I also wrote the introduction section in the essay, where I presented it in the presentation and introduced the class about our technological item. I didn’t face any difficulties in this objective, because I was motivated to improve my collaborative and social aspects of writing. I have achieved this course objective and I’ll keep improving on collaborative and social aspects of writing.
I improved on using various library databases, online databases and the internet to locate sources for my assignments. When I worked on the lab report analysis, I used an online database called “Academic OneFile” to look for 2 lab reports for my analysis. When using this database, I filtered my results in order to look for the lab reports of my choice. I then cite the source of the lab reports I chose, which include everything I analyzed in each of them. In the technical description, I used the internet to look for the sources of the technical item, pictures, and descriptions. When I find a source that matches with the information I’m writing in my essay, I copy and paste it in the document on the sources page. I also look up the sources of the pictures I copy and pasted from. In the engineering proposal, my team and I used the internet to research information about our technological item for our proposal and check if there are any existing technological items that are like our idea and include them on our essay and presentation.
I have used source use practices to improve on my essays from this class. I started using source use practices in the lab report analysis, where I analyzed the two lab reports based on their structure and evaluated why they decided to make their lab report differently. On the same essay, I paraphrased some passages of the two lab reports from their abstract to the conclusion. For example, I wrote about what their lab report is about in my own words and analyzed any differences. On the technical description, I cited sources for my technological item and cited sources about its design, innovation, and internal design. I also used pictures in my essay and included their sources below them. On the engineering proposal, me and my peers were citing for images that best fit our technological item, and included each material that would be used to create that such item. In conclusion, my source use practices have improved, and I believe that I excel when citing any sources for an essay.
I have learned to articulate stance through my writing during the semester. Since the first assignment, the lab report analysis, I learned how to analyze with detail two lab reports and explain how different they were written, as well as the topic of each report. For instance, one of the important points that I analyze in both lab reports is how one was structure different from the other, and how one was focused on a more complex topic about engineering. In the technical description, I described the innovation of my selected technological object, and its functionality with other devices that are compatible with it. When I wrote the introduction of the engineering proposal, I was focused on introducing an innovative invention that could improve people’s lives. When my group chose to technologically improve a closet, I wrote how it would work and how it would be designed. In conclusion, I wrote what the purpose of the invention was, and described the outcomes of the invention. At the end of the conclusion, I closed the essay by writing “In conclusion, we have focused on creating this innovation for household use and innovate the concept of A.I technology to another level.” Some obstacles I faced when achieving this objective are my ideas of writing sentences that stand out in an essay depending on the topic. In conclusion, I improved on this objective, but I need to strengthen my writing skills even more, especially when it’s an important paper I’m writing.
I learned to negotiate my writing goals and audience expectations during this semester. In the engineering proposal, my peers and I met our writing goals when completing the essay and transitioning it into a presentation. Some objectives we accomplished when creating our essay is describing our innovation, demonstrating how it functions, and what we hope to accomplish with our innovation. When my group presented the innovation, many people in the class found it interesting that our innovation could improve people’s lives and that it had features that were never seen before. Our innovation included an improved existing concept, safety mechanisms, and A.I technology which we thought would be great additions to present. In the lab report, when I analyzed two lab reports, I met my writing goals which were analyzing every section of each report and pointing out any key differences. In general, I somewhat achieved this objective, though I need to be more aware of what my goals are when writing an essay and write as intended.
During the semester, I learned to engage in genre analysis and multimodal composing in all the assignments in this class. In the letter of introduction, I was able to describe my personal life, accomplishments and challenges. For instance, I wrote that during my early years my parents were raising me to become a better person in the future, and that my skills make me unique in many ways. In the lab report, I learned how to write in an analytical way in my essay. For example, I analyzed every difference I could find in the lab reports and then described how they are different and why did the authors choose to present their information in that way. In the technical description, I analyzed and annotated every piece of information for my technological item and described it from its innovation to its functionality. For example, I wrote what apps the Apple Pencil 2 is compatible with and how its design makes it work. I also included every internal part the apple pencil has and how does every part make the apple pencil function technologically. In the engineering proposal, me and my peers were writing in a technical way, and we were annotating information for our essay. For example, my peers were writing every component that our technological item would have and we even created a concept design from AutoCad which shows how would the magic closet would look like. We effectively wrote in a technical way and we describe our technological item starting from its concept to its function and impact in the real world. So far I was able to write in different contexts depending on the essay and its instructions. I might want to improve even more on this objective even if I did not fully understand it.
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