During the period of this semester, I have produced essays that are in my opinion, not up to the standard that I expected, however I have gained experience in writing different types of essays that will help me achieve more in my future career. This semester in ENGL 21007 (Writing for engineers), I wrote a total of three big projects, each in regards to a different topic. These projects were very analytical,  I wrote a letter of introduction, lab report and a technical description, towards the end of the semester, we were given a project, Engineering proposal (Inventing a new device). All of the information I mentioned  in these essays were based on topics I was really fascinated with, it made the essays slightly easier to write than I had expected, but as usual,  they were still extremely difficult.  I will give a general description of the essays I wrote, along with some details on what I felt could have been done better and what I felt I did well.

                   The first essay was a letter of introduction In this essay we were to give a brief information about ourself. We were asked to introduce ourselves,  talk more about our life, our experiences, our achievements, our talents, our major in college and how our major connects to our professional goal(s).   In my opinion, this essay was a little rough around the edges, my ideas were quite repetitive and vague to the ideas I was attempting to express. The way I introduced myself was effective but they were not the best I could have used. The way I connected my paragraph was off point, but after my professor graded my draft and made some suggestions, I was able to learn new ideas and I applied it toward the final version of  my letter of introduction. 

                  The second and third assignment of the semester actually helped me  practice a lot using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to your writing projects. The second assignment was a Technical Description and the third assignment was a Lab report. This essay seemed very straightforward and easy to write, but I was proven quite wrong, the second assignment required me to actually analyze a simple technological item and the third assignment involved analyzing and comparing and  two lab reports just to see if both labs have the eight elements of a good lab report. These particular assignments improved my ability to look for information online using the library resources and other online databases as a writer.  Prior to the start of these assignments or better still this semester, I had little or no experience on how to locate information using the school library or any online database. During the process of completing this second essay, I looked for information about the technical item, I literally spent two to three days going looking for  information in the library resources and other online databases. As a result of spending quite some days looking for information using the library resource and some online databases, I was able to familiarize myself with the process of looking for information online.  The third assignment also improved my ability to read,understand and write a good lab report . These assignments were probably the best essay (assignment) I wrote this semester. My examples were clear and precise, creating a sound argument on my part. I thoroughly analyzed every aspect of the lab report and technical description, all the way down to the nitty gritty. The only thing I should have done better was make an actual works cited page. I forgot to make the works cited page in APA format, so I hastily crossed out the website and hand wrote my own, which was very unprofessional of me and I definitely got some points deducted because of the mistake. Overall, I felt these assignments were well developed and concise, besides my choppy letter and messy works cited page.

           The fourth assignment of the semester was actually a group project. It involves the group  identifying a void or a need for a specific engineering innovation, the group will have to think critically about inventing a new device or modifying an already existing technology and making it better. This project was kind of easy compared to the previous assignment because doing the prior assignment I gained valuable experience on how to use library resources online databases, and the Internet to locate sources that are connected to my assignment and project. This project allowed me to interact more with my colleague virtually unlike the regular way of doing projects. This project improved my skill of communication virtually and also allowed me to know more about writing a good proposal.  Taking into consideration all of my failures and successes within my writing during the semester, I felt that my weaknesses outweighed my strengths. I realize that writing is a continuous process and every piece can continue to be worked on and improved, it is just a very tedious and time consuming process. This semester I have learned to constantly reevaluate my writing before submitting so I do not make careless mistakes similar to the ones I made when writing the second and third assignment. Each of the assignments (essays) I wrote had their positives and negatives, sometimes the negatives outweighing the positives. I also made personal connections in every single essay I wrote this semester, I either used personal examples or discussed issues that I am passionate about and that are important to me. I know I could do much better than what I have turned in. Comparing the  essays I wrote in previous semesters, I see tremendous amounts of improvement  in my word choice and all around style of writing. However, I feel that I still have a lot of areas to improve, I hope to take what I have learned this year and apply it to my writing next year.

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