Introduction

As this Technical Writing course concludes, I wish to take some time to provide a self-assessment reflection. In this reflection, I aim to comment on my strengths and weaknesses with relation to my learning process and assignments.

Strengths

Completing assignments in this course, I have typically felt that my strengths were a product of my past career as a consultant at Copperleaf Technologies. While at Copperleaf, I was responsible for drawing up software requirements documentation and communicating with clients in a professional and courteous manner. Requirements documentation demands specificity. There is no room for ambiguous wording or phrasing. Consequently, I have felt that my experience writing this type of documentation has prepared me well for this course in technical writing. Looking back on previous assignments this semester, I have received several comments surrounding the amount of detail in my assignments. For example, in the Unit Two Reflection Blog, Unit Three Reflection Blog, and Formal Report Peer Review assignments, I received positive comments about the level of detail provided. Similarly, I think that my experience communicating with clients in the workplace has prepared me well for the assignments requiring the incorporation of the “YOU” attitude. I received a positive comment in my peer-review of the Formal Report surrounding this.

With respect to the learning process, I believe that my strengths lie in my ability to learn through examples. I am always able to internalize new concepts taught in the textbook if there is an accompanying example. Examples help to put pieces together in my mind, and fill in gaps in my understanding. In the same vein, I tend to learn better when receiving feedback for my work. If I have mistakes in my work pointed out to me, or if I am offered suggestions for improvement, I find that I am much less likely to make the same mistakes moving forward. This has been especially helpful throughout this course, as we have been able to apply the peer review process to several large assignments. Receiving constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement from my peers has allowed me to address weak points in my writing, and carry those same suggestions forward in future work. For example, on of the earliest pieces of feedback I was offered through a peer review was to be careful of including acronyms or industry-specific language. In this case, I used some terminology that I was very familiar with in my work, and had not considered that anyone outside of the Tech industry may not be familiar with it. After internalizing this feedback, I made some corrections to the assignment, and have been much more careful around my use of this type of terminology since.

Weaknesses

While I recognize there are some areas where I excel, I also recognize there are several weak points with respect to my learning process, and in my writing. In my writing, I understand that I have a tendency to make sentences very wordy. Although I feel I have made improvements in this area, it is still a weak point of mine, and one that I will need to continue working at following the completion of this course. Another weak point of mine has been occasionally making statements without backing them up. In the peer review of the Definitions assignment, for example, I made a comment about the reading situation being interesting without specifying why I found it was interesting. This was not an isolated incident, and I have certainly had issues with this in my writing in previous courses. However, this is also one of the reasons I have found this course in particular to be so beneficial to my writing. Getting feedback from both my peers and the course instructor has helped me to start recognizing when I am doing this, so I can course-correct before submitting my work.

Moving Forward

I believe that being aware of my strengths and weaknesses will benefit me a great deal moving forward in my career. If there is documentation or examples to refer to, I know I will be able to apply new concepts without issue. I can also be confident in my ability to communicate in a professional manner with coworkers and clients. When drafting new documentation to submit, I know that I should solicit feedback from my peers to address any weak points in my writing.

Conclusion

It has certainly been a pleasure to have participated in this Technical Writing course, and I know that the material I have learned will serve me well going forward.