English 301 has taught me a lot about my personal writing style and my strengths and weaknesses. It has allowed me to look deeper into my writing and analyze it with a more objective point of view. These skills were developed primarily through the peer review process. Having a colleague assess my work critically through their own lense pointed out some flaws in my writing. I have realized that often I use jargon in my writing that not everyone may be familiar with. I have learned that my writing often needs to be simplified depending on the audience of the writing piece and may even convey a point more clearly if the language is simplified. I have also learned that I need to be more careful with the tone of my writing and keep the audience in mind. If i am demanding something from the reader than using the “you attitude” is very important. The “you attitude” was not something I was familiar with until taking this course but was a valuable skill to learn. I believe that learning how to properly use this attitude in my writing will be very helpful to me in the future for communicating with employers. Weaknesses in my learning process have also been brought to light by the assignments in this course. I have realized that I need to look at assignments with a more open mind and allow myself to be more creative with my writing. I am often too narrow minded and technical with assignments and they may lack that “flare” that makes them unique. Looking at tasks more open- mindedly will allow my writing to stand out from others in the future.
Through English 301 I have also determined some of the strengths of my writing. Through feedback from the Professors and the peer review process I have learned that my writing is often very effective at conveying a specific point that I would like to make, something that I believe is very important for a technical writing course. I have also improved my professional communication skills through the emails written in this course. My professional communication has become much stronger as a result of these assignments and I am now more confident communicating in the workplace. Throughout the learning process I have excelled at following specific instructions and fulfilling the objectives of various assignments with precision. The learning process has made me a more accurate writer and overall has bettered my writing style.
The strengths and skills developed throughout this course will aid me in the transition into the workforce upon graduation in the spring of 2018. Learning to self edit my writing and communicate professionally will be very important in the near future when applying for jobs. My short-term career goals in the mining industry will demand a high level of accuracy in my work and the need for careful editing of reports that I submit. Learning to communicate with precision through my writing is a very important skill in the field of science and will be very valuable to me outside of English 301. I will take with me from this course a number of useful skills and apply them in the everyday professional communication in which I am involved in.