Final Reflection

English 2311:

Intro to Technical Writing

By Nicole Keller

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LEARNING OBJECTIVESThroughout the course of English 2311 we focused on six learning objectives that increased our communication skills and taught us about our strengths and weaknesses.

Ethics

Applied Technology

Rhetoric

Design

Writing Cultural Considerations

Learning Objectives

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RHETORICRhetoric was introduced as a learning objective that would teach us how to use rhetorical situation to solve problems by assessing the situation and making decisions based on that situation and its audience.

Within this course I learned how to use “rhetorical situation” to determine how different assignments should be written based on the audience they were being presented to.

We applied rhetoric in every individual assignment: the technical editing project, the proposal, our own repair guide, the poster presentation and the job letter/resume.

This learning outcome allowed me to strengthen my writing skills in that it taught me how to make my writing applicable and understandable by a variety of audiences.

This skill will help me throughout the rest of my years as a student as well as my future career in the health field. I will constantly have to adapt my writing to different audiences both personal and professional.

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WRITING

More specifically within my writing I was able to improve my grammar, spelling and style techniques throughout the variety of assignments.

We focused on grammar, spelling and writing within the Editing Project and the Online Repair Guide that we made ourselves, although it was an important factor in every assignment that we completed.

I was able to work on my own ability to search for and improve grammar, spelling and style issues mostly within the Editing Project. We then took what we learned in editing others’ guides and applied those skills to creating our own repair guide.

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DESIGNI learned a lot about aesthetic appeal and the various design choices that are appropriate or inappropriate in different situations. This is a skill that will be helpful throughout my time as a student and in my future career in the health industry.

Slidedoc

Online Repair Guide When creating our online repair guide, it

was very important to consider visual appeal in both the pictures that we took

as well as the written material. This class allowed me to learn a lot about design

principles and the contrast between visual appeal and professionalism.

Job Letter/Visual ResumeLastly, in creating a job letter and visual resume I practiced a much more professional visual appeal and created a job letter and resume that could greatly help me in applying for future positions.

Poster PresentationDesign was a very important aspect within our poster presentation because the visual appeal was one of the most important aspects of the

presentation. I learned a lot about the specifics that make a virtual poster appeal to its audience

e.g. font style, header style/size, bullets, etc.

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COLLABORATION

This class involved a lot of group work, which I generally choose to stray from, but I learned so much about effective group work and the importance of communication. It actually taught me to enjoy the collaboration involved in such projects.

Every assignment that was completed in this class was considered a group assignment except for the last, the job letter and resume assignment were individual for obvious reasons.

I enjoyed working in a group specifically when creating our repair guide. I learned a lot about the appropriate way to delegate tasks and I also learned about the benefits of putting two heads together instead of just one.

My partner and I learned to split the work in half and put our heads together to come up with much better ideas than I could have come up with on my own.

We also practiced professional communication when working on the editing project and the online repair guide because we had to communicate with the professionals within the “iFixit team”.

I improved my knowledge and skills in terms of communication and working with others.

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CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS AND ETHICSWe learned the importance of writing in a way that is easily adaptable, relatable and culturally sound among any group of people that might be reading it.

Cultural Considerations Ethics

Within our writing we made sure that it could identify with all ages, genders, cultures, social status, etc.

We practiced ethics in our writing by making sure that all our work was properly documented and cited.

It was important to address applied technology in that we adapted our technical writing to all users in all

cultural contexts.

We practiced ethical responsibility within our assignments by considering our audience in specific situations.

We also used rhetorical situation to address the various situations and audiences.

We made sure to avoid plagiarizing because it is considered unethical.

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RhetoricI learned how to use rhetorical situation to resolve problems and

relate to the given audience

WritingI used and improved

my grammar and style skills in the editing project and online

repair guide

DesignI learned a lot about

visual appeal and the appropriateness and

professional importance of design

CollaborationI learned about the

most efficient ways to work in groups and

communicate efficiently and professionally

Cultural Considerations and

EthicsI learned about how to ensure that my writing applies to all different users in all different cultural contexts.

Conclusion