Throughout the course, I was not confident in myself as a writer and believed that it was a skill I would never be able to get better at. However, looking back at all my previous works and comparing it to my more current works proves that I was able to polish my writing skills and become a professional writer with technical writing skills.
Strengths
Some strengths I had going into this course would be my desire to learn. Due to the rise of social media platforms and working online, being able to write as in a professional tone is an asset when acquiring a job. I believe that my desire to learn to become a professional writer allowed me to absorb all the information of technical writing that I’ve learned throughout this course. Another strength I’ve gained is looking at my work from a different perspective. I got to do this from peer reviewing and applying these different skills I learned from my peers to my own work. I got to reflect this through my writing in the required assignments. Overall, I’ve gained many strengths as a professional writer.
Weaknesses
A weakness that I’ve always had as a writer was adding unnecessary words to my writing, which in turn makes my writings longer than they should be. This is not a good habit because it can cause readers to find the writing too long and boring and possibly repetitive. In this course, I’ve been able to receive constructive criticism in my work that allowed me to learn from my mistakes. Through constant reminders that I repeatedly add unnecessary wording to my writing, I’ve been able to catch myself when continuing to reinforce this habit and stop myself from doing it again.
Future Goals
The skills and techniques that I’ve gained in this course will become a staple in my future works. The information that I’ve gathered will allow me to excel in further education and my future career goals. The skills I’ve acquired will be put to good use. I also am grateful for all the assignments that required writing an email memo to a classmate or the professor. Before this course, I was not able to write a proper email memo due to the fact that I didn’t know what a proper email should look like! After consistent email writing in this course, I am now able to write email memos with ease, which will be the best asset I can have in my future career and educational goals. Thank you to my ENGL 301 writing team for an amazing time in this course and Professor Erika Paterson!