In the migration of my personal writing blog’s reflection posts to this webfolio site, I landed on the original home page which outlined my course expectations. In that, I said I was hoping to create a “formulaic checklist” that enables me to respond to my audience’s expectations.
Having completed the course now, I do not believe I accomplished that goal. Rather, I have developed an intuitive sense for writing with ‘YOU-attitude’. In my writing, I now take into consideration the little details such as beginning suggestions with ‘ing’ words and avoiding pronoun usage wherever possible. Prior to the course and that lesson, I did not realize that using those two constructs could come across as accusatory. As simple as it may be, I believe this was one of the most valuable lessons I learned in the course, as it was used in peer reviews, some email memorandums, as well as the formal report.
An area of improvement I still need to practice is using an active voice. While I have tried to cut down on the use of passive voice, when caught in a ‘writing flow’ it seems that is the natural way my mind expresses itself. However, as we have learned throughout the course, while perfection is a lofty goal, with every revision you can get ever closer.
Another area I initially struggled in was writing scientific styled reports. I am referring to the formal report, where we were tasked with conducting primary research. To be quite honest, at first I did not understand the value of gathering primary data for an English class. However, in reaching out to survey people and conducting interviews, I realized that this too was an extension of the technical communication goals set out in the course objectives.
While I believe I have sufficient communication skills from a business perspective given my background and experience, now that I am pivoting towards the field of Computing Science, this course has provided a foundation I can build upon. For instance, there are roles in the Computing Science industry that relies on presenting data as to why one algorithm or approach is more suitable than another. Although it may not call for a report on the same level as the formal report delivered in this class, I now have a better idea of how that data can be communicated in an effective manner.