With the course coming to a close, it is a great opportunity to provide some self-reflection on the work I have done this term and everything that I have learned. This course was appealing to me right away, as I wanted to develop my technical writing skills to help prepare me for the professional world. I believed that I had already gained some experience in technical writing, but during English 301 I felt was able to learn how to write in a truly professional manner. I was able to practice these skills through a variety of methods; including memos, formal reports, peer reviews, etc.
In order to do a proper reflection, it is important to acknowledge the areas where I found that I struggled. One of my greatest weaknesses during this course was the proper utilization of the textbook, Technical Communications 13Ed. I did not always follow the instructions and guidelines as accurately as it should be. The second flaw was my organization for the course, the structure of the course and very frequent due dates required a large amount of organization and discipline that was not always present.
The peer review aspect of this course was a very rewarding and effective aspect of this class. I believe I was able to excel in this portion of the course as I was able to provide my group members with comments and suggestions for their works, helping them to submit the best possible work. This process was also very helpful for myself, although reviewing other people’s work it helped me to realize similar mistakes that I had made, but also to be able to look at the project from a different perspective. This change of perspective allowed for me to then take a more critical look at my own writing and ways to best improve it.
Already I am putting my skills to use whenever writing in a setting that required a high degree of professionalism. It does not matter the ideas that you have unless they can be properly communicated, I believe that the skills I have gained from this class will help me to do so. The work that this course took by my group members, Jasmine and Dr. Patterson cannot be understated, and it is greatly appreciated.