This section explores my reflections on the large essays and projects I wrote this semester, while considering how all of these assignments led to my development as a writer. I reflected on the letter of introduction, Technical Description, the Memorandum, the Lab Report Analysis, and the Proposal. Each of these pieces pushed my understanding of audience and genre, and prepared me to embrace the circularity of writing that moves from drafts, to revisions, to drafts, and back again.

Reflection: Letter of Introduction

Yes, I have done similar type of writing in the past.
Yes, somewhere in my writing a told a story of mine, the time when I used to be extremely shy and the consequences it had on my development and surrounding.
Yes, in this writing, I explained how I overcame my shyness and how I benefit from it.
I think my classmate/reviewer will notice the message I was trying to convey as it is very clear and well explained.
Whenever I do something, I do it to the fullest. I believe that I wrote the best piece I could. Thus, I believe there is nothing to change in this piece unless my reviewer think otherwise.

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Reflection: Memorandum

Yes, I’ve done similar types of writing before, like reports and proposals for school projects, but this was my first time writing a formal memorandum. While working on this assignment, I ran into a couple of problems, like figuring out how to organize the information clearly and making sure I didn’t sound too casual. I solved these by looking at examples and breaking the memorandum into sections, which made it easier to structure my thoughts.

This assignment actually revealed a lot about me as a learner—I realized I’m better at coming up with ideas and solutions than I thought, but I still need to work on making my writing more concise and professional. Compared to what I imagine my classmates will write, I think my memorandum is decent—it’s clear, organized, and offers practical solutions. While it might not be the most polished or creative, I’m happy with how it turned out and think it holds up well. If I could do this over, I’d probably spend more time editing to make it sharper and maybe add more specific details to strengthen my argument. Overall, though, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!

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Reflection: Technical Description

Before starting this assignment, I had a vague idea of how the first phone calls worked, but I did not fully understand the technical aspects behind them. To research the topic, I started by looking for credible sources that explained the mechanics of early telephone systems, including how sound was converted into electrical signals and transmitted through wires. I also examined historical accounts of Alexander Graham Bell’s invention and the evolution of telephone exchanges. If I were to do this research again, I would use a more structured approach by outlining key aspects I wanted to cover before diving into research. One challenge I encountered was finding detailed but at the same time accessible explanations of the early telephone’s working mechanism. Some sources were too complex, while others lacked depth. I overcame this by cross-referencing multiple sources and breaking down technical terms into simpler terms. The in-class activities helped me by providing a framework for analyzing technical descriptions and guiding my thought process. Initially, I expected the assignment to be straightforward, but I realized that explaining the technical aspects clearly required more effort. I believe I met my expectations because I was able to provide a thorough explanation, though I would improve the organization of my ideas if I had the chance to do this piece over again.

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Reflection: Lab Report Analysis

I had never done a rhetorical analysis of lab reports prior to this assignment, but I had written research papers in which I compared different sources. I knew a little about quantum computing from my previous studies, but I did not have much knowledge about its physics and usage in terms of fraud detection or biology. A major issue I faced was that many of the lab reports were either not long enough or did not all have all eight elements expected by your textbook, so I had to look at a lot of reports in order to find two that matched the criteria best. I was a little confused at first by how to access the library’s databases, but I followed the librarian’s advice to search by keywords and make sure to filter for full-text scholarly articles, which definitely helped. I followed slightly different methods than what the librarian suggested, but I was close, except, I spent a little extra time skimming through the lab reports to check for matches to the assignment guidelines. I had some trouble recognizing the rhetorical situations, at first, since the lab reports were more intricate and audience-specific than the general kind of formats as described in your textbook. The lab reports worked more with practical results and complex data than the straightforward examples in Technical Communication Today. If I could do this piece over again, I would select lab reports from the same scientific fields rather than different fields, to strengthen the direct comparison even further.

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Reflection: Proposal

To create this proposal I started by focusing on researching and then writing my selected sections, using valid sources and the rubric as a guide. Unfortunately, my group and I weren’t fully in sync and we didn’t have the chance to finish or refine any part of the proposal as a whole. We worked at different times and sometimes independently so it didn’t lend itself to cohesion. I considered my goal to be to produce content that had clarity and good research, and while I think I developed my sections to achieve this level of quality, I can’t shake the feeling as if we were somehow short-changed as a group set of writers. Therefore I would rate the proposal as a B+, or at most an A- grade; including strong intent and valuable information, but the level of coordination made it difficult to achieve the entirety of the group’s potential. One thing we identified as an impediment was time management, and communication. For next time, I’d want to set the goal to create group deadlines in advance, and work in a collaborative workspace to track progress and keep each other updated.

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