The document reflects on Paul Hernandez's experience in an Introduction to Technical Writing course. At first, he was upset to have to take the course since he felt he had already learned technical writing skills. However, by the end of the semester his perspective changed - he gained more respect for technical writing and felt his skills improved greatly. The course provided valuable lessons on documents like resumes, cover letters, proposals and presentations that will be useful for his future career in business management and legal studies. It also taught important skills for team-based work and communication. Overall, Paul feels the practical skills taught will serve him well in his future roles and recommends other students pay attention in the course.
2. Course Outcomes
To be completely honest when
I realized I had to register for
an Introduction to Technical
Writing course I was very
upset.
I have already taken many
other courses that taught me
or that made me exercise skills
in technical writing.
My perspective on this
course turned a complete
180 degrees at the end of
the semester.
I gained more respect for
technical writing and I also
believe my skills were
greatly improved as well.
3. Growth
My major is in Business
Management with a
minor in Legal Studies.
In my business
courses I have made
several proposals,
resumes,
presentations, and
cover letters
throughout the years.
This course was able to
not only go deeper into
details in some
documents, but also
added more aspects that
I was not aware of
before.
This course definitely
made me a better
technical writer in the
areas that will be useful
to me.
It was without a
doubt in my mind a
course that I will
keep referring to in
the future, when
sending in
applications or
creating
presentations.
4. Practicality
The content in
this unit one will
be extremely
beneficial when I
graduate from
school and begin
looking for a job.
Not only are resumes and
cover letters extremely
important when applying
for jobs but the
formalities on how to
respond a job ad and
how to thank an
interviewer or potential
employer for taking the
time to look at your
application are also
crucial.
The information in unit
two will be very useful
for a person in a leader
position.
Being able to create
proposals, sets of
instructions, and
documents of
governance are crucial
skills for presentations
and to try to implement
new ideas.
5. Practicality Continued
The following units
we were lectured on
build on the previous
information we were
taught.
In the future I plan
on taking on a
leading role in
whatever company
or body of
government I get in
to.
If a proposal I submit
or present gets
accepted my ideas
will be carried out
and they will have to
be tested, and then
analyzed by creating
a usability report.
Creating a usability
script, and proposal
of action will in
some cases require
me to work in a
group/team setting.
Keeping track of the
group’s progress
and being able to
communicate
feedback to one
another will be key
to create a
successful project.
6. Practicality Continued
From experience
creating a
presentation with a
team will require a
lot of organization
and clear
communication.
Creating a schedule
and keeping track
of the amount of
time used during
meetings helped
my group with our
organization.
Having a clear
communication
stream with the
team members
made sure the team
was focused on the
goals and objectives
throughout our
project.
Sending memos out to
the team was extremely
beneficial and probably
the best way to
communicate ideas with
the rest of the team.
They were saved in the
inbox folders of emails
and were easily
accessible to be able to
reference back to them
when needed.
7. Practicality Continued
I’ve worked on many
group presentations,
probably since I was in
sixth grade and I
always learn something
new.
I believe my
presentation skills
greatly improved
throughout the time
we worked on our
project during this
course.
Usually sections are
divided amongst
members and then
they are all brought
together at the end for
the final project. In this
course that was not
possible.
As a group we had to
make an effort to make
time to meet with each
other to bounce ideas
and create the content
need for our project.
In my opinion our
presentation and overall
project came out very
well because we
practiced the ideas that
we were lectured on .
Our communication and
organization helped us
create a the video we
needed to present for
our project.
8. Tips
If you have taken
similar courses
before, do not roll
eyes and
disconnect
yourself from the
course.
A lot of useful
information was
given throughout
semester.
Most of the
assignments created
can easily be used
again for future
purposes or as a
guideline.
Do not
buy the
book.
