My writing skills have shown immense growth from this course. From assignments to peer reviews, all components in this course had something to teach me. Before this course, I already had some knowledge of writing professionally as I work in an office. However, I did not know that there would be so much more to learn.
From the first assignment to the formal report, I have learned to better write in consideration to a specific audience, to omit unnecessary information and to write concisely with the YOU attitude when necessary. Through peer reviews, I have noticed that some of my weaknesses include being careless, writing in the positive and writing with consideration to a specific audience. Although I may still be weak in these areas, my formal report demonstrates my improvement.
My learning philosophy is to do assignments early, so I can self-edit to perfection. It has aided me in doing well on assignments and making fewer errors. Through peer reviews, I have noticed that although I make multiple edits before submitting my assignments, I would still have some careless mistakes. This has led me to focus on areas that I tend to make mistakes on such as not writing with enough detail when self-editing.
Peer reviews have been incredibly helpful in aiding my growth in writing. From peer reviews, I am shown my strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, they aided me in developing a critical eye for weaknesses in clarity. I noticed that sometimes when writing peer reviews, I can be a bit harsh. Throughout the course, I managed to control my tone and be more encouraging.
The writing skills I have gained in this course are invaluable to me as being able to write professionally is an essential skill as a software developer. Software developers need to communicate with many departments and sometimes even clients. Being able to write in the positive, applying the YOU attitude and writing with consideration to a specific audience, I can better communicate with coworkers and clients as a professional. I am happy to have taken this course, as the writing skills that I have developed here will benefit me for the rest of my academic and professional endeavors.