Amrin Ahmed

Writing for Engineering

Julianne Davidow

My Theory of Writing

This class changed the way I view writing and my theory of writing. Coming into the class, I was still determining what the class meant by writing for engineering. I was excited and confused about this class since I did not associate writing with engineering. Therefore, I came into this class with an open mind and determination to sharpen my writing skills. Usually, I associate writing with telling a story or persuading and arguing a side. This was evident in my first assignment, in which we had to write a letter of introduction. We needed to introduce ourselves and where we are from. Nevertheless, I wrote my story of when and from where I loved introducing myself. However, this class taught me that writing is beyond stories and argumentation. Writing is a crucial part of our everyday life and the products we use.

In this class, I understood the difference between regular writing classes and writing for engineering. It changed my perspective on writing and the different ways we write. Writing for engineering has more to do with describing a product thoroughly. This class has taught me to break a product apart to be able to tell each part in immense detail. Writing for engineering is like writing a manual for a product. It requires you to research and know the product.

 I grasped the topic more with our second assignment, the Technical Description. For the Technical Description, I worked on describing an Airpod. Researching this innovation in depth opened my eyes to the history behind a product and how the product design came to be. So, it was very crucial to break the product down and describe each part thoroughly. But this task is made much easier by using images. In my previous English courses, it was advised not to use images in essays. While writing for engineering, images are a crucial part of the assignment. It is easier to describe a product by providing an image to reference. Although we did learn about citations in previous classes, I was unaware that we needed to add citations for images. This class has taught me how to add images in technical writing and cite them. 

The Informational Report brought our attention to our city’s need for sustainability. I studied the steps Copenhagen, Denmark, takes towards sustainability that has made them one of the most sustainable cities in the world. This assignment has opened my mind to how we can become more sustainable to help our environment. I explored many Copenhagen sustainability techniques, such as bicycle infrastructure in the city, to promote sustainability. I also researched how we can apply their strategies in New York City to help the environment. We were also introduced to the CCNY library for this project. I was aware of the CCNY library, but this project was the first time I used articles from there. Using the CCNY library for this project has taught me how to get more relevant searches. It also opened us to new scholarly articles to provide a fresh approach. 

Lastly, the Technical Innovation project has affected my theory of writing significantly. This assignment was a collaboration of all that we learned. Even in engineering, we had to use our creativity to think of an innovation. Since this was a group project, we had to work collaboratively with others and feel like an innovation. This has evolved my theory of writing as it showed the importance of being able to work collaboratively, primarily online. We built on each other’s ideas to decide what innovation we were going to work on. With this assignment, I also became aware of the many issues with our subway system. We were able to use everything we learned about technical innovation throughout this class. We used images and made sure to cite them properly. This class has also taught me to transition from MLA to APA. Another thing about this course is how we label each topic into sections. For this assignment, we also wrote an individual reflection. Writing a reflection is an excellent way to look back and see what you learned and did. It allows you to glimpse back and see how you have contributed to the project.

Writing for Engineering has extensively evolved my understanding of the theory of writing. There are things I still need to work on, skills that need honing. But I am taking new knowledge along with me. My theory of writing is that I understand technical writing as well now. Now, I know writing means more than newspapers and storybooks. Writing includes engineering manuals and product details. I have understood the importance of writing and working collaboratively in tech. Engineering is complete with writing. Lastly, I enjoyed this class and will carry the knowledge from this class with me.