The transition from fixing planes to sitting in a classroom analyzing essays was undoubtedly a change. When I decided to pursue another career I was excited to learn new things to dive deep not only into engineering but potentially explore literature and the arts. Starting my undergraduate mechanical engineering degree last fall I looked forward to taking writing for engineering. This class was appealing to me since it was designed to help develop and strengthen skills that are critical for beginner engineers. At the beginning of the semester, I found the first assignment to be familiar, I had previously done reports on aircraft parts so I had an idea of where to start with. In the technical description, I chose to write about auxiliary power units (APU) since I had prior knowledge of this topic this assignment helped reinforce my research skills. For the technical report, I chose to write about aircraft electrical systems, this assignment taught me the importance of the different ways to present technical information and how to tailor my research according to a specific audience. Writing the technical description and technical report was a different experience than I would have thought, although I was able to pick the topic and I decided to write about something I was comfortable with I did run into some challenges when writing. One of the main challenges was narrowing down these topics to a specific aircraft, the B737 was an aircraft in which I have prior experience working with its aircraft system and components. Thus in conducting my research on the topics my prior knowledge facilitated the process. However, I did encounter what some may call “writer’s block” when it came to actual writing. I found myself getting stuck on how to approach the report, oversimplifying the information and skipping over technical words that were fundamentally important to the paper and the knowledge of the audience. However, something that was extremely helpful was the peer reviews that were conducted. The peer reviews helped keep me on track while also identifying inconsistencies in my writing such as further explaining technical terms used in my papers. Through my peer’s edits and suggestions, I added the definitions of the technical terms at the bottom of each page with a notation to a superscript of the word to help my intended audience understand my report.

Looking back at the start of the semester I was familiar with but not comfortable writing a report, this course helped strengthen my writing skills not only within the classroom but also serve as a basis for developing my engineering skills. The class discussions were helpful I was able to voice my opinion and sharing our experiences with each other was helpful. Both class discussions and blackboard posts enhanced my learning in this course. Peer reviews and student conferences were especially helpful I personally felt that after the student conferences I was better prepared for the assignment. Also typically after assignments we reflect on our work, writing a formal reflection wasn’t something I had done before but it has proven to be helpful. After the group assignment reflecting on my role in the group, I was able to gauge how I work with my group. Overall my class expectations were to build a good foundation for developing my writing skills and I feel comfortable saying these expectations were met and I feel more confident in my writing skills.