My name is Sadia Zabin, and this semester in Writing for Engineering, I’ve learned many skills I can’t even describe fully. At the beginning of the course, I was unsure how to structure my thoughts and adapt my writing for different academic purposes. However, over time, I worked on different kinds of assignments, peer feedback, and writing exercises. I have improved so much in figuring out how to write papers technically with purpose, clarity, and audience in mind.

During this semester, I learned to value different ways of writing and expressing ideas. In class, I noticed how students brought their voice and background into their writing. When we shared work, I saw how different language styles and tones could still be effective depending on the purpose. I learned that I could use my natural voice while still writing academically. For example, in my Technical Description assignment, I wrote, “Making a bouquet is not only a beautiful way to express creativity, but also a thoughtful gift that can be customized for any occasion.” This shows how I used my voice while staying academic. This helped me feel more confident and flexible in how I write, and it taught me to be more open to other people’s writing styles, too. This experience helped me fulfill the learning outcome of acknowledging mine and others’ linguistic differences as resources.

In this course, I practiced this skill during the research paper assignment. Throughout the semester, we mainly used APA instead of MLA. This helped me learn how to cite in APA, which I had never done before. I learned how to find good sources, quote properly, and use APA format for both in-text citations and the references page. This helped me avoid plagiarism and give credit to the authors I used. I struggled at first, as I used to use MLA much more than APA, but after feedback, revision, and practice, I now understand how to use the APA format. We used APA basically throughout the whole semester, a few of the assignments being the “Lab Report” and “Technical Description writing,” etc. MLA was easier to use because, as high school students, we were taught to use MLA rather than APA because MLA is much easier to use with less formatting and making things simpler, and just ok. However, I believe APA is more like a stronger version of formatting and it requires more steps than MLA. This learning contributed to the CLO about strengthening source use and citation practices.

In this course, the process of receiving feedback from both my peers and instructor was incredibly helpful. The first draft of our assignments had to be submitted, and then later we would be given feedback from classmates and sometimes the instructor, and then we were required to revise it into a second draft. This revision process was key in improving my writing. The feedback I received allowed me to rewrite certain parts that needed improvement or, in general, just fix certain parts of my writing that were not addressed before, for example, where my writing was unclear or lacked detail. By working on the second draft and making improvements based on this feedback, I learned how to refine my ideas and present them more clearly. For example, in the Lab Report, I revised one sentence to say, “We counted the number of men and women, different racial features, and age groups in each job category to see if there was a pattern in the images.” This peer-driven feedback process helped me improve my writing as much as possible based on the assignment requirements. This connects with the course goal of engaging in collaborative and social aspects of writing.
In our lab report, we had to write it with a different mindset because it is a report, not an essay or usual writing. The assignment required us to use valid sources, like a library or scholarly resources, so we could provide solid evidence for our arguments and predictions about whether AI image generators are biased or not. For example, we examined whether AI-generated images were biased in representing certain jobs (e.g., babysitters, engineers) by using 100 images from an AI generator and analyzing their age, race, and gender distribution. We then added the results in a chart to make the data clearer. This assignment taught me how to use scholarly resources, use data accurately and most effectively, and write in a technical style—all of which are important skills for future technical writing. This met the course objective of exploring genre and multimodal composing across disciplinary contexts.

In the technical description assignment, we had to explain how to do a process step by step, as if we were teaching someone with no experience or someone who already knows how to make something but needs ideas. I chose to write about how to make a flower bouquet, and I realized how important it was to think about the audience, who was going to read it. That was part of the assignment’s main requirements: we were supposed to follow who we were writing it for. If it were meant for kids, I would need to use simple words and more pictures. If it were for adults, I could go into more detail and use more technical language. I also learned how to organize the writing clearly by listing out every section, like Introduction, Overview, Materials, and Steps, and making the most important parts bold or easy to see. This helped me understand how to write based on what the audience needs, or who is being helped by reading the paper, or who I am writing the paper for, based on their perspective. This helped fulfill the course learning goal of negotiating writing goals and audience expectations.

One way I achieved this objective was by doing the assigned readings before class. The articles we read were directly connected to the assignments we did later, so they helped make my writing better and easier to start. By reading first, I had ideas and examples when it came time to do certain assignments. For example, I remember at the beginning of the semester we read about how to write a technical description. That reading was about how to gather audience attention, which later I realized helped me when writing the technical description assignment. We also used strategies like rhetorical analysis and the CRAAP test. These strategies helped me when finding sources for the literature review because I knew how to check if the source was relevant and accurate. So, understanding the assignment was easier. I used those examples to improve my work. They also gave me a stronger base for revision because I knew what to focus on and how to make my writing clearer. This connects to the course learning outcome of enhancing strategies for reading, revising, editing, and self-assessment.

Looking ahead to next semester, I feel much better and more confident as I have now improved my writing, learned new techniques, skills, and ways to write based on the audience. I now have a clearer understanding of how to plan, revise, and adapt my writing for different purposes and audiences. I am grateful to have taken this class because I know that my writing now sounds and looks more professional, revised, and as perfect as possible with me trying my best, and I’ll continue trying my best in the future as well.