After taking this class I have learned many things about writing in general and specifically what technical writing means. When the semester began, I did not even know what technical writing was. Through the assignments I have learned how to create many different types of documents. Although the assignments have been very beneficial, they were also challenging at times. Before I began a document I had to determine who my audience was and what the purpose of the document was. I now understand that these two things are very important. I never really thought about who I was writing to before but it makes a huge difference in the way the reader interprets your document. I have learned something new from every assignment I have completed in this class. I am very glad I took this class, as I think it will be very beneficial to me in the future. The knowledge I have attained will be useful in the work place and other settings.

            Our first assignment was to write a job letter and resume. I enjoyed writing these documents because they are something I will be using in the near future, as I graduate in May. We had to direct our job letter and resume to a specific company and person as if we were really applying for the job. Through this assignment I learned the purpose of these documents is to get an interview. I kept that in mind when writing these because word choice and the details you include are very important and can impact the reader.  This was not my first time writing resumes and job letters. I have written several for other courses I have taken, but I don’t feel I actually learned the correct way to write these documents until I took this class. I never realized that it was necessary to change up the resume and job letter for the position and company you were applying to. Even when I have applied for part time jobs in the past I would normally use the exact same resume for each job. But now I know how important it is to direct these documents to a specific person and company. For example, I wrote my job letter and resume to the Human Resource Director for the organization CASA, in Dallas. I believe this assignment is one of the most relevant ones for me because I will be using everything I have learned when creating my own job letter and resume.

            The next assignment I completed was the correspondence package. With this assignment I had to create a claim letter, bad news memo and a solicitation email. These assignments were useful because we will encounter these kinds of documents in the workplace. I had never created these documents before so this was all new to me. I feel like the claim letter is also a very useful document as it can be used often in the real world when you have problems with products or services. I am glad I now have the knowledge of how to write one because there have been times when I was not satisfied with a product or service but I didn’t know what to do to about it. Now I realize I can write a letter and explain the problem and how I need it fixed. It is important to establish good will and end with good will in order to let the company know they are appreciated. At the same time it must be communicated that I was not satisfied with their services.  I had a more difficult time writing the bad news memo. I found this more challenging because we had to be indirect but also persuasive at the same time. It was hard for me to make sense of what I was trying to convey. The solicitation email was much easier for me to write. I enjoyed this assignment because this is very relevant to my life because I am involved in organizations and I think this kind of document will come in handy in the workplace. After doing the correspondence package I feel that I am better prepared as a writer and I feel more confident in creating these documents.

            The next assignment was the multicultural assignment. This document was challenging to me because I had to rewrite my claim letter to someone who lives in India. From this assignment I realized that people in other cultures can interpret work very differently than Americans. It is very important to think about this because someone in another country may not understand the language you use therefore they may not understand the message you are trying to convey. I used Hofstede’s dimensions when rewriting this claim letter. These dimensions guided me as I learned how to communicate with someone in India.

            The next assignment was the instruction set/process description. This assignment wasn’t as difficult as I was expecting it to be. I had never written an instructions set or process explanation before so I didn’t really know what to expect when I began this assignment. I decided to do a process description. The process description is very similar to the instructions set. In a process description you are describing a process of how to do something or explaining a specific procedure. Before I started this document I began thinking about many of the instruction sets I have seen. For example, almost always appliances and furniture will come with a set of instructions. However, I am the kind of person that doesn’t really refer to instruction sets unless I run into a problem while putting something together. When this happens I have often realized that the instruction sets are normally not very helpful because they are not labeled clearly and the language used is not easy to understand by the reader. These same rules apply to a process description. I kept this in mind when writing my description because I know how frustrating it can be when you don’t understand what to do.  The first thing I did was to consider who my audience was just as in the other assignments. It is important to take into consideration if you are writing to children or to adults or the combination of both. If writing to children the instructions need to be very simple and easy to understand. Step by step instructions and using pictures might be an easier way to get the message across to children. While with adults you can be more detailed and explain things in a different way but you still need to be sure that the instructions flow in a way that makes sense.

            The next assignment I prepared was the proposal. I believe this assignment to be the most challenging of the course. I had never written one before and I had no idea where to begin. I was nervous when I first realized we had to write a proposal, but I was thankful we were able to work in a group setting. My group consisted of Autumn, Cody, Vince and myself. I really enjoyed working with my group members. It made the assignment fun and we all got a lot very well. I think it was beneficial to do this assignment in groups because in the work place I will have to work in groups and collaborate ideas and it is something I need to get used to doing. My only problem with working in the group was that I wish Cody, Vince and I had more knowledge on our topic. The topic of our proposal was Autumn’s idea and although we all worked extremely hard and each brought different ideas and ways of doing things to the group, I felt Autumn knew more about the topic because she has first hand experience with it. But I have learned that when collaborating in a group, there is normally someone who is the decision maker and that person is able to help guide the group in what needs to be done.  Autumn did a great job as our decision maker and I’m very grateful to her for all of her input on this project. The proposal is a long and detailed process. I think our proposal was very feasible and we were able to create an effective document.

            We also had to do reader responses and reflections throughout the semester. The first reader response was related to genre. In this response we had to figure out what our preferred genre was how to relate it to a specific audience. I now understand how to recognize the different types of genres that I come across every day. The second reader response assigned was about ethics. In this assignment I learned that ethics play a big role in how you construct a document and the wording choice that is used. It also made me think about ethical situations that I have experienced and the responsibility I have to try and make sure everything is done ethically and fairly. The third reader response had to do with design elements. In this response we had to critique a bulletin according to Gestalt’s five design principles. The principles are balance, alignment, grouping, consistency and contrast. This response made me understand how important it is for a document to go together and be easy to follow. The fourth reader response allowed us to look at three different proposals that other students had written and critique the strengths and weaknesses of each proposed plan. This assignment helped prepare me for when we did our own proposal plan. It made it easier to understand how to create an effective plan. The last reader response we did was a reflection on the entire course.

            While reflecting on this past semester and every assignment I have completed, I realize that I have accomplished many things and that my writing has improved a great deal. I believe I have accomplished every course goal throughout the class. In every assignment we have written I have learned how to understand audience, purpose and situation and why it is important to consider each of these things when creating a document. While writing the correspondence package I learned how to create technical documents that solve problems and improve situations through communication. I also think I learned how to create effective technical prose with each assignment. In the reader response on the five design principles I feel I learned how to design a convincing and useable document.  In the reader response about ethics I now have a better understanding of how to analyze the different responsibilities in communication. In the multicultural assignment I was able to learn how to relate to different cultures and how to communicate with diverse audiences. I think this is a very valuable thing to remember when I am creating a document. With our group work in class and especially the proposal I think I accomplished the course goal of learning how to collaborate on communication projects. I found the job letter and resume assignment to be the most beneficial to me since I know I will be creating these documents in a few short months. This assignment is also the one I liked the best. I am very confident that I will be able to create an effective resume and job letter after taking this class. The most challenging document I created was the proposal. I am glad I have learned how to create one in case I have to prepare one in the future. My least favorite assignment was the multicultural assignment. While preparing this assignment, I found it difficult to relate to another culture. But I do understand how important it is and I am grateful that I know how to write to all different types of people and different cultures.

This class has been very challenging but also rewarding. I feel that I have accomplished many things and am now a much more confident writer. I was required to take this class in order to graduate, and to be honest I was dreading it. I waited until my last year to take it because the even course title was intimidating to me. After completing the course I am proud to say that it is one of the most beneficial courses I have taken at Tech. It has taught me many valuable skills that I will use in the workplace and in my daily life.

For this assignment I was placed in a group with Cody, Autumn and Vince. We named our group CAVA2311. When our group began the proposal process we each came up with different possible topics to choose from. As a group we evaluated each of our RFP’s by determining which one we thought would be the most available to research. We chose Autumn’s RFP which was to research the current training program at the Texas Tech Physical Plant. Our next step was to determine the main problems of the current training program. The major complexity with the current training program is that the Physical Plant is losing many man hours to trivial and costly training. The employees at the Physical Plant do not like the way the training is set up.  After determining the problems, we began research on developing a new training program. First, we interviewed several employees, allowing them to express their opinions about the current program. Then we researched files that explained the training program held at the Physical Plant. The next step in conducting our research was to compare the training program at the Texas Tech Physical Plant to the training programs at other Big 12 schools. We also took into consideration the state mandated courses the employees are required to take annually to continue working at the Physical Plant.            After our research was complete we were ready to begin our draft. We thought it would be best if we each split of the sections of the proposal evenly and worked on them individually. After we each finished our sections we met at the library two different times to collaborate our work and put our proposal together.            We determined Autumn to be our decision maker. We chose her because the proposal topic was her idea and because she also works in the office of the Texas Tech Physical Plant. We found that the research for this proposal was not too difficult because Autumn was well organized and knew exactly what we needed to do in order to find the information we needed to implement the new training program.            I am glad we got to do our proposal as a group project. I enjoyed working with Autumn, Vince and Cody. We all got along extremely well and had fun getting to know each other. I also think it was a good idea that we split the proposal into sections. That way we were not too overwhelmed when we got together at the library. We were able to use our time very wisely and finished our proposal much faster than we would have if it had been an individual project.            I believe we were able to accomplish every course goal throughout our proposal process. We determined that our audience was the Director of the Texas Tech Physical Plant. We were also able to create an effective and convincing document. The purpose was clear and easy to understand. Our proposal is easy to read and user friendly because the style is consistent throughout the document. Upon the completion of this proposal we were able to develop an effective business document. Although the proposal was challenging, I thought it was a very relevant assignment and I learned a lot. 

My views on technical writing have changed a lot since the beginning of the semester. Before I began this class I was not sure what kinds of documents were considered technical writing. The word technical gave me a fear of the class. My thinking of the class was very limited – I thought only of instruction manuals or written procedures. It did not take long to realize that technical writing included much more than that.

After taking this class I now realize that technical writing is a part of many different types of documents that I encounter on a daily basis. Technical writing can be included in documents including memos, e-mails, letters, resumes, and instruction sets and many others. This semester we have been given the opportunity to write many different types of documents. On a personal note, following the recent death of my grandfather, my grandmother asked me to help her write the obituary. This class helped me in putting the information together in an orderly manner.

In my career I think I will be preparing many different types of documents such as memos and emails. One career I am very interested in is early childhood intervention specialist. An ECI specialist visits families and pre-school children who need special help before entering the public school system. In this career I would be writing observations, evaluations and many other types of reports in addition to letters and emails. These reports and evaluations will be presented to my supervisor who coordinates the care for each child and family I am assigned. My supervisor will use these documents in working alongside of physical therapists, occupational therapists and others who are working with the client family.

I expect to encounter many types of multicultural audiences in my career. The United States is truly a melting pot of many nationalities and cultures. Families from every part of the world can now be found living in Texas. The families will require care and intervention for their children with special needs. This course has given me the tools to effectively communicate in writing to people of different cultures, races and nationalities.

As I near graduation in May of 2007 I will be sending out many resumes and filling out job applications. I am grateful to this class for demonstrating how to write a good resume and how to sell yourself in your resume. I am certain I will use this particular type of technical writing throughout my working career.

With the knowledge I’ve learned in this class I will be able to write technical documents which will be clear, concise and understandable. I will always take into consideration the audience to whom I am writing and the multi-cultural aspect of the audience. I no longer fear technical writing and I appreciate very much the knowledge you have shared with me this semester.

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