Since the beginning of the semester, I’ve encountered various new forms of writing such as the egg description, summary response essay, informational essay, persuasive email, and lab report.  Even though at first glance these assignments seemed difficult with the help of an introduction and what was expected of us for the assignment, it wasn’t too hard to complete. Moreover, although it was my first encounter with these types of writing, I think that Writing for Engineering has prepared me for the future. It has introduced me to the forms of writing that are most common in the engineering field, it’s also breached the gap between what I know and what I it’s expected for each form of writing.

The first assignment was to describe an egg, when I saw this assignment, I started thinking that it would be a simple question to answer. As I began the assignment, I realized that I underestimated the assignment, I was stuck trying to describe the egg and ended up with no writing at all. In the midst of the confusion and stress of how to start the assignment, I sought help on the internet. But ended up unsuccessful, with no clue in mind and an assignment to submit, I started different ways that an egg could be cooked. After having a long list of various ways to cook an egg I started the assignment and what was supposed to be an easy task to finish ended up being a time-consuming assignment. In my opinion, the purpose of this assignment was to think outside the box. It was not to describe an egg because an egg is such a simple thing used in various ways through different fields of work. As an engineer one of the skills that you must master is thinking outside the box, if you are working in the field and something does not go to plan it is important for you as the engineer to think of different ways to solve the problem that you’ve encountered. Thinking outside the box is not only used to solve problems but also to prevent them before you encounter them. You see the flaws that could affect the outcome of your work.

For the second assignment, we had to write a summary response about Distant Waves by Suzanne Weyn. The assignment consisted of two parts which were a short summary of the text and your response on Nikola Tesla. The assignment wasn’t a regular summarize-the-text one, it was like it but much different, since we had to summarize the text in the intro and then talk about Tesla for the rest of the paper. Although the second part was the longest it was also the easiest since the text focused on Nikola Tesla. The hardest part was the introduction since we had to summarize the text and present the idea that the paper would revolve around. It was important to include the best information from the text but also not to miss any important information about the text. Keep in mind this was supposed to be included in the first paragraph of the paper. It would be easy to mess up by including too much information or too little information, as well as not including the idea of the paper. Although the second part was the easier one, it did require the most work since it talked about Nikola Tesla, it had to include quotes that supported the idea about Nikola Tesla. In the end, both parts were important to complete the assignment. In my opinion, the purpose of the assignment is to know what information is important to include and what information could be excluded. Overall, it’s an important skill to have, when making reports it’s vital to know what you’re talking about and how to support it.

The third assignment consisted of writing an informational essay about “The Brooklyn Bridge” by Elizabeth Mann. Similar to the previous there were two parts for the assignment. The first part was to summarize the text and then develop an idea to revolve the paper around. The summarizing part was easier this time since I had practice from the previous assignment, it was much easier to choose what information to include and what information to exclude. The hardest part was the second part because I had to write about components of the Brooklyn Bridge, this was the hardest part because it wasn’t an opinion-based part. I had to stay neutral whilst writing about a thing. It was a difficult obstacle to overcome since the first part only made up the introduction and I still had the rest of the paper to develop about a part of the Brooklyn Bridge. Although the task seemed impossible to finish, with the help of research it was made much easier. In the future, when I take an engineering class, I know that many assignments will seem nearly impossible to finish but when you set your mind to something anything could be accomplished. In the end, the assignment was easier than I imagined, it only required more information from the text and other outside sources. Overall, when working in the engineering field you never know everything especially when you are new and your best bet is to learn it from the internet to make your life and job easier for yourself.

Finally, the last assignment consisted of two parts which were a persuasive email and a lab report. For the persuasive email, we were supposed to pitch an idea to a billionaire. This was a difficult one to complete since I’ve never been in such a position to pitch an idea to anyone, I sort of had to sell the idea so I could get funded. It was difficult, but it was such a fun part to do since I could use this in the future not only to get funded but also to apply for jobs. The second part was the hardest part since it was my first time doing a lab report. Since my field of interest is engineering, reports are vital to my work. It did not only require a different outline from the previous assignments, but it also required formulas and graphs which is something that I had never used when writing. The assignment gave me so much background information on how to write a good report and what to include in a report, which will come with my future classes requiring such reports. For the most part, this assignment was a game changer since it’s something that I will do daily in a few years and even still use in jobs that I may work in. Overall, this assignment really required new skills that are important for the field of engineering, not only for reports but also for work.

In closing, all the assignments that have been done throughout the semester have provided a new skill that was vital in order to complete the assignments. These skills will be important in the future when taking other classes and when working in the real world.

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