Writing My Story: How ‘Writing for Engineers’ Prepared Me for the World

Walking into “Writing for Engineers” on a Monday morning as a freshman, I expected it to be another class where no students talked to each other, and it was quiet. I saw this old man looking through everyone’s pictures that he gathered from who knows where. However, the energy of the room shifted when he started speaking. Mr. B made a writing course, which I hated growing up, into something I genuinely enjoyed. Reflecting on my experiences, I realized that each assignment was a step towards discovering more about myself, my strengths, my weaknesses, and my capabilities.

Although my two-part title might seem clichéd, it perfectly captures my story for this class. Looking at the big assignments and their requirements, they seemed quite difficult, but doing them helped me understand who I am and what I am capable of achieving. Whether it was personal growth or professional development, this course played a crucial role in preparing me for the world beyond the classroom.

Major assignments

The first big assignment we did was the Resume and Cover Letter. At first, making a resume and cover letter seemed straightforward considering I already had a basic resume before, but I soon realized my current resume wouldn’t even land me a janitor position at McDonald’s. Mr. B’s emphasis on using templates and power verbs made it easier to write my resume as I learned how to target the reader, but most of the time it’s the machine that I’m targeting with the power verbs. Writing the summary statement at the top of my resume allowed me to highlight my strengths and career objectives clearly. A completely new experience was writing the cover letter, which I had never done or knew before. This part was challenging because I had to pretty much sell myself to the company, but now I know how to do that effectively.

Next came the Lab Report assignment, which involved rolling a pair of dice multiple times and analyzing the outcomes. This experience was a first as it was my first college lab report ever, and although it seemed quite simple because all I had to do was formulate a hypothesis, record the data, create charts and graphs, and write a conclusion about it, the crucial and hard part I learned was researching. I didn’t even know what scholarly articles meant, but this assignment taught me the critical aspects of scientific writing and research using academic journals.

Working on the Proposal Writing project was probably the most challenging assignment. Working with classmates to design a new student center required a high level of teamwork and effective communication. Since the group project is now done, I want to say the division of work in my group sucked. Although Mr. B had warned us of slackers and having teammates who might not contribute as much, I didn’t really think that would be the case with me. But it was; my group kept delaying our work despite me constantly telling them to get started. Regardless, in the end, we all came together last minute to make sure we got our work done. This project required a lot of research, as we conducted real-world research to estimate costs and benefits. We had to make a realistic plan for a new student center while trying to make our proposal interesting enough to be persuasive. Presenting our proposal to the class improved my public speaking skills, as Mr. B pointed out that my body language could be much better.

The last big assignment we did was the Technical Description assignment, which was quite fun because I got to dig into my interests more. I researched virtual reality and presented my findings on a poster, requiring a blend of text and visuals. This assignment taught me to simplify complex scientific material and make it accessible to a broader audience. Mr. B’s feedback helped me understand the importance of breaking down information into digestible chunks and developing layout skills. Not to mention, my body language was much better this time as well since I had to do the same presentation multiple times.

Course Objectives and Personal Growth

Aside from the major assignments, Mr. B emphasized many other skills throughout the semester. One of them was teaching us to navigate CCNY’s online library for credible sources. This skill enhanced my ability to gather information effectively, which was useful for assignments like the lab report and technical description. Understanding the difference between primary and secondary data collection was also important. However, all that research and data didn’t mean anything unless we cited it properly, so citing our research in APA format was another big part of our class. Drafting and revising were crucial components of our writing process. Mr. B encouraged us to draft our work and rewrite it. This approach was particularly beneficial in improving my technical writing skills, teaching me to pay attention to details and refine my arguments.

The course also emphasized working with other engineers. As I mentioned before, the group proposal project required us to work closely with peers, teaching me the value of effective communication and teamwork. Although my group had issues dividing up work and slacking, this experience gave me a realistic view of professional settings. Understanding the audience for my writing was another critical lesson. Mr. B emphasized making my writing to meet the needs and expectations of different audiences, making my work more effective and persuasive. Finally, the use of technology was surprisingly relevant to our coursework. Other than submitting assignments and researching, we had to use Blackboard to attend a couple of remote sessions due to protests at our school. It felt like a pandemic all over again, but I still enjoyed participating through the chat during online class. Additionally, we learned to use grammar properly, knowing when to use commas, semicolons, colons, and how to avoid sentence fragments. This comprehensive understanding of writing mechanics has significantly improved my overall communication skills.

In conclusion, “Writing for Engineers” was more than just a writing course. It was a journey of self-discovery and professional development. Each assignment, whether it was writing a resume, writing a lab report, working on a proposal, or creating a technical description, helped me understand myself better and prepared me for the world beyond the classroom. Mr. B’s unique approach and emphasis on practical skills not only made this class very enjoyable and valuable, but also gave me tools I needed to succeed as both a student and a future engineer out there in THE WORLD!