Antonio Johnson

Writing For Engineering

5/19/25

Self-Assessment

Throughout this course there were many different objectives I learned about. These objectives lead me to become more mindful of how the audience would view my work and how organized my writing should be.

One learning objective that I have used in particular was to explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations. I learned that when doing research and finding articles I should focus more than just the summary of the article. I should also pay attention to how the author presents the article and the impact it has on the audience, whether they are trying to persuade or inform. Every article or source the author has a purpose which depends on how they present information to the audience.

I learned more about the importance of making revisions or edits to improve the quality of writing. When writing a paper there would likely be mistakes that could potentially disrupt the flow of the paper. Rereading after finishing the paper is good for finding any repeated words or phrases and any grammatical errors or misspellings. The writer would also be able to notice if certain sentences don’t fit well in some parts of the paragraph. Proof reading helps ensure the flow and organization of the paper. Collaborative work is also beneficial when writing a paper because each person in the group can be assigned different roles and work on different parts of the paper. When finished, each member of the group can proof read and make corrections and edits to improve the style and flow of the paper to make it seem like it was only one person writing. Another benefit of collaborative work is that peers can learn from each other and gain new ideas that they haven’t thought of previously and implement them to the paper.

I also learned more about understanding and using print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences. It is important for the author to know their audience in order to keep them engaged. For example, on Wikipedia to the left side, there are different headings such as main page, contents and current events. When pressing on either of those headings, the audience would be directed to that particular section. If the audience are looking for certain information in the text and they struggle to find it, they could become bored and less engaged. Adding headings or visuals instead of having all the information clustered would make the source more organized and the audience would be more likely to find what they are looking for.

When locating sources, it is important to notice the credibility of the author. The audience would be able to trust the source if the author has credible information. Also, the audience would likely search for more recent sources by looking at the time they were published. For example, if they want information about current events they would search for sources from this year because they are more relevant.

Another learning objective I experienced was to compose texts that integrate a stance with appropriate sources, using numerous strategies. One important strategy is summarizing the source which means to know the main subject of this source and why it is important. Then, finding evidence that supports those arguments being made. After applying evidence there should be an analysis to interpret the information found which supports the claim. This will make the writing more convincing to the readers and some would likely agree with the argument.

Finally, a learning objective I learned more of was practicing systematic application of citation conventions. Citations are highly important because when writing a paper, there could be information from other sources and the writer should credit the original source. For instance, the writer should put citations after using quotes from another source which ensures that it wasn’t their own work and avoid plagiarizing. Furthermore, the style of citations depends on the format of the paper as well whether it is MLA which is mainly used for literature, APA which is more commonly used in social sciences, or Chicago which is more commonly used in history. There can only be one format used in order to keep the consistency of the writing.