This is a reflection over the skills I learned throughout my semester in ENGL 2351: Technical Writing

1. COURSE
REFLECTIVE
TechnicalWriting-KatieWhite

2. Unit One: Communicating with
Employers
I was decent at creating the
resume/cover letter. My formatting
was a little off, but I learned from it
and fixed the errors for future
employers.Googling myself, on the
other hand, was very insightful and I
found there is one girl with
extremely inappropriate social
media with my same name.
However, since she is from
California, I am confident employers
will not confuse us considering I do
not have any association with the
state.
I felt like I performed
decently throughout this
unit.This unit consisted of
learning what technical
writing was all about, the
waterfall method, creating a
resume and cover letter,
creating a thank you note for
potential employers, and
googling yourself to make
sure your name comes up
clean online.
Considering how critical
communicating with
employers is to obtaining a
dream job, this unit will be
very beneficial in the future.

3. UnitTwo: Formal Proposals
This unit consisted of learning
the methods and functions of a
team, the different roles one
could play in a technical writing
team, and working with a team
to draw up a proposal for a need
on campus. I felt like this
particular unit was the most
insightful. I learned that within a
team, I am most successful in a
Record Keeper’s role, in which I
kept note of what we
accomplished at each meeting
and determined an agenda for
later ones.
I also learned that I would
not be successful as a
project manager because I
am not very good at voicing
my opinion and telling
other’s what to do. In that
sense, I am not a
leader/manager type
person.
Overall, this unit helped me with
knowing where I would fit in
best when working with a team.
Whether in the work place or in
other classes with group project,
I now know what I can bring to
the table and what I should and
should not do in order to further
advance my team and not set
them back.

4. Unit 3: Usability
This unit consisted of creating a
usability test and script, creating a
memo report, and submitting a
progress report to a higher
authority. I performed very well in
this unit.Writing the progress
report was a very helpful part of
the course because in my hopeful
future profession in marketing, I
believe I will utilize that skill often.
The usability test and script,
on the other hand, was
tricky.To meet the five “E”
requirements of making the
test effective, efficient,
engaging, error tolerant,
and easy to learn, there was
a lot of push and pull with
our word choices. In the
end, however, I believe my
team and I pulled off a great
test, and I will be very
prepared if I ever have to
form another one of these in
the future.
All in all, this unit was challenging,
but the challenges were overcome
and I developed skills that I can
utilize in the workplace.Though I will
most likely not be needing to create
a usability test in marketing, I more
than likely will be needing to
compose some sort of progress
report and thanks to this course, I
now know how to effectively do so.

5. Unit Four: Instructional Documents
This unit consisted
of creating
instructions for our
application,
developing a
cultural memo to be
considerate of other
cultures, writing
meeting minutes,
and learning what
parts make up an
instruction set. .
I was very successful with my
team when writing the
instructional set. I think we
did a great job of making
them clear and concise, while
keeping them short and
sweet as well.
On the other hand, with my lack of
knowledge of German culture, writing up a
memo for them was challenging.After much
research we accomplished it and I learned a
lot about a culture other than my own. I feel
like this particular assignment helped my
team and I to be considerate of not only all
cultures, but also all types of people when
constructing any form a document. I can see
this particular skill being very helpful in my
future marketing profession by being
considerate of everyone when creating
marketing techniques.

6. Unit Five: Presenting Proposed Actions
This unit consisted of
delivering a group presentation
with a visual aid, and what to
and what not to do when
creating a visual aid.
Visual aids are a crucial aspect of any
good presentation and it needs to be as
effective as possible.We learned many
helpful hints throughout the unit such
as choosing appropriate backgrounds
and pictures, focusing more on content
than appearance, and not putting too
much information on the slides that
won’t be read. I think my team followed
all of these pointer and more and had a
very effective power point with our
presentation.This will be extremely
helpful when explaining marketing
ideas in my future presentation.
Also, we were given pointers
about how to act when
presenting in a group and I feel
like my team and I executed this
to near perfection and that I will
be able to give team
presentations in my future job
with ease.

7. Unit Six: Reflecting on yourWork
Finally, this unit consisted of
creating this power point in
order for me to better see the
skills I have obtained through
this course and how they will
help me later in my life.
I believe this assignment
was the most beneficial
from this course because it
allowed me to take note of
the skills I can now utilize
when communicating with
an employer or presenting
ideas.This curriculum is
usable in many different
fields including the one I am
planning to go into,
marketing.
It is always important to
reflect on your work to see the
progress you have made,
figure out the skills to perform
well, and determine things
you need to work on in the
future.

8. Conclusion
In conclusion, this course
taught me many skills and
procedures that will benefit
my down the road in my
professional life. Even though
I will not be pursuing a career
in the technical writing field,
the curriculum that was given
in this course will help my in
my hopeful future career in
the marketing field.
I learned skills that will not only
help me obtain a job, but also
conduct my self in a professional
manner through communication
with authority figures, when
presenting ideas, and when
creating documents to be read,
understood, and interpreted by
not only my own culture, but all
others as well.
I believe I will carry the skills
learned here throughout my
entire professional life from here
on out. If I could give one piece
of advise to an incoming student
to this particular course, It
would be to apply yourself. No
matter how silly the activity, if
you take is seriously, you will
understand the real reasons and
lessons behind the assignments
like I have.