Key Takeaways from ENGL 301
ENGL 301 was an excellent course for developing technical writing skills. Through this course, I became proficient in preparing succinct professional documents following particular formats. I also became aware of the importance of considering the audience in writing. Keeping the audience in mind has become one of the first aspects I think of when I start to write. This has helped me write many drafts for different assignments as I gain a better sense of who my reader is. There are many genres of technical writing and recognizing the different formatting styles for each genre is an important part of learning how to become a professional technical writer.
Learning how to write emails, memorandums and business letters was helpful. Before ENGL 301, I had experience writing emails and business letters for my role as a sponsorship coordinator for non-profit organizations. However, I had never written any memorandums prior to taking this course. In the beginning, it was definitely a challenge to adjust to the writing style of memorandums. I felt that the first memorandums I prepared for this course needed improvements. I was not sure if I the memorandums were written in the correct format. In addition, I was slightly confused about the differences between emails and memorandums. Nonetheless, as I read more about memorandums in the Technical Communications textbook and the Instructor’s blog, I began to recognize the differences between emails and memorandums. It was helpful to learn that memorandum is a distinct genre of communication with the purpose of communicating official “in house” information using a clear and brief writing style. I have definitely gained a deeper appreciation for this genre of writing.
Incorporating the process of reviewing, refining and reflecting into my writing routine has always been a challenge for me. Often times, I would review and refine my writing and stop after these two steps. I always find the process of reflecting to be the most time consuming. Before this course, I admit that I never thoroughly went over these steps of the writing process. However, through ENGL 301, I began to spend more time in these processes of writing. The reflection blogs of this course have forced me to slow down and pause to think about the writing I just completed. In fact, the reflections blogs were crucial to improving my writing skills throughout the course. Additionally, the peer review assignments have allowed me to critically review others’ writing. This helped me in recognizing common problems that can occur in technical writing. As such, after reviewing my peers’ work, I found myself reviewing my own work again to refine areas that I came to realize needs improvement. Now, I believe that trusting the process of reviewing, refining and reflecting is essential to writing.
Beyond ENGL 301
Writing skills are crucial for any position requiring communication. As a scientist, strong technical writing skills can be particularly beneficial for preparing manuscripts and writing grants and applications. These documents often have word limits and strict format guidelines. Thus, my ability to write in a clear, organized and professional manner is important. Additionally, skills in reviewing, refining and reflecting are also critical for ensuring documents are prepared according to guidelines. Furthermore, my strengths in writing with an audience in mind may be useful when needing to communicate science to an audience with varying levels of scientific knowledge. I look forward to transferring the technical writing skills I acquired through ENGL 301 to my scientific career.