After finishing all the assignments by the end of the term, when I look back now, I have to say it is a really intensive course, we have two assignments to finish each week and many readings to finish before starting the assignment, this course is more intensive than I expected at first, but I do learn a lot, such as how to write a memo, give feedbacks, generate report proposal and formal report, and writing-with-YOU-attitude. I like it practicality of the course content!
Strength: During many years of my student life, I found myself always fascinated by new knowledge and concepts. In ENGL 301, I am really interested in learning so much knowledge in technical writing which not only enable me to achieve higher writing standards but also lay the foundation for my future career development. Also, I am really glad that now I can write more constructive feedback for my peers. I was not comfortable giving others advice but gradually I find it very interesting and I enjoy that my suggestions can be helpful to someone else. Besides, I was able to perform creatively in some work yet still in an intuitive way, such as when I was writing the complaint letter, it feels very intuitive but yet I still corporate some skills learned on readings, which is really satisfying to apply knowledge on the book to real life. Lastly, I found myself enjoying the self-paced learning method as I am good at time management, which largely increases my study efficiency.
Weakness: Even though I enjoy learning new material but I had difficulties in finishing assignments with excellence, my marks were often deducted due to grammar or typo mistakes, even though I double-check my work I still miss some mistakes which are caused by my weak English grammar knowledge. Besides, I am too fixated on assignments and do not want to turn them in until the last minute even though I finished them early, I think that is because I am not confident in my work, so I feel reluctant to turn it in early. Another weakness in technical writing that I have is that I used to write a research paper, and turned out my formal report looks a bit like a research paper instead of a report, which is not ideal. I was also having some trouble with writing-with-you-attitude, I find it hard to situate myself in one side of the story thus I always gave a neutral tone when I was writing, but I am aware that is not what we should do in technical writing.
Overall, I find myself more comfortable writing in a professional style with more skills involved, also, which is also what I want to achieve when I joined the course.