About me: 

My name is Liberty Abordo, a first year college student in the City College of New York (CCNY) pursuing a profession in Civil Engineering. 

Prior Experiences in relation Spring 2020

• High School Level Writing 

All throughout my high school years, writing had a very strict audience, purpose and format given by the teachers for students to follow. I’ve been taught and expected to master the general way of writing persuasive and informative essays based on a given topic. With this prior experience I was able to familiarize myself in organizing ideas, composing strong claims and providing supporting claims. 

• College Level: English Composition I

During my English Composition I during Fall 2019, I was heavily introduced to the importance of identifying the purpose and audience in writing an effective written composition. In addition I also learned many different genres that have unique features to accommodate specific audiences and purposes. 

Writing for Engineers is a college level English Composition II course that is specific to the engineering profession. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate my development and success in regards to the course learning outcomes of English Composition II or Writing for Engineers. I will assess my personal level of accomplishment based on the course learning outcomes by using one of the three symbols —  “✅” achieved, “📈” in progress or ”❌” not accomplished. These will be supported by the writing assignments and projects I accomplished in the Spring 2020 semester.

 

Course Learning Outcomes:

1.Acknowledge your and others’ range of linguistic differences as resources, and draw on those resources to develop rhetorical sensibility. ✅

Throughout my writings this semester, I learned to better acknowledge the range of linguistic differences amongst my audience. In writing a technical description, I have shown my ability to accommodate a type of audience that requires an transparent and detailed language. For instance in writing the technical description on a VHF-R handheld radio:  

As hinted earlier, VHF radios can transmit information from one person to another within line of sight. Meaning that, if a person is trying to reach another person on the other side of a hill (NOT in their line of sight) the transmission might not be received, as shown in Image 1 “shadow zone”. Although, if the receiver is located on the top of the mountain, the transmission will be received better since it will be within its line of sight.  (Technical Description)

I acknowledge that my audience will most likely know little to nothing about VHF radios, therefore throughout the technical description I made sure to define and elaborate terms such as “line of sight” by using much simpler terms and visuals for my intended audience to understand and follow the next instructions properly.

In contrast, when writing my memo concerning the North Academic Center’s wall colors, I used words such as “NAC” and “CCNY” because I acknowledged the fact that my audience, being the Assistant Director of Student Life and Leadership Development in the campus would be familiar with the acronyms without the need of a definition.

 

2. Enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment 📈

Despite some development in revising and editing my paper, I still have a tendency to include some information that might be interesting to me but not necessarily helpful in conveying my intended purpose. For instance in my first draft of my memo addressing the NAC building’s lack of school spirit I learned about an interesting historical fact about the building: 

“Not only that the NAC is one of the biggest buildings accompanying many students in CCNY, but it’s also a remembrance of the immigrants docking into New York City. “ (Memo)

however it took another reader for me to realize that this specific information is not really beneficial in conveying my intended purpose. This allows me to better value the importance of  having a “fresh set eyes” in polishing a paper in the future. 

 

3. Negotiate your own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and rhetorical situation 📈

I learned how to better communicate my audience expectations by using a more direct writing genre. I’ve expanded my knowledge on directly addressing few individuals rather than the general population. For instance, in writing my memo to the Assistant Director of Student Life and Leadership Development, Evelyn Ortega in regards to the change of the NAC’s wall colors and in the engineering proposal which was directly addressed to Governor Andrew Cuomo in regards to the construction of a nanotechnology hospital, I incorporated my expectations:

Through investing for the development of the first ever nanotechnology-based hospital, patients can have access to more precise and efficient medical procedures of diagnosing, treating or preventing diseases. (Engineering Proposal)

The purpose of this memo is to request a change in the wall colors of the NAC to promote a better school spirit for the students like myself. (Memo)

However, I still believe that I need more improvement in effectively delivering and “selling” my purpose and expectations to my audience.

 

4. Develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes ✅

When writing the engineering proposal and the group presentation, communication and cooperation of each group member became the key elements of successfully finishing the assignment and effectively conveying our intended purpose to our audience. Given that each of us had different ideas regarding the assignment, the only way that we learned to move forward was to communicate our own thoughts and concerns with each other and to decide the best steps to take together. We gave productive criticisms and suggestions on each other’s work throughout the process of writing and when any issue occurred we avoided giving “negative vibes”. Each of us were very understanding and supportive to the other. 

 

5. Engage in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing across disciplinary contexts and beyond. ✅

Throughout the Spring semester we were introduced to four different writing genres related to the engineering field: technical description, memo, lab report and engineering proposal. We analyzed the key characteristics of each genre including things such as paragraph size, format as well as each of their purposes/strengths. These in-class analysis allowed me to understand each characteristics and strengths of the genres in order to better use them in in-class writing and better prepared me to my future writing.

 

6. Formulate and articulate a stance through and in your writing ✅

I formulated a stance in the engineering proposal regarding the implementation of the nanotechnology in New York City by using credible online resources and data from previous surveys. The research information I gathered allowed me to better support my stance/claim and to effectively persuade my readers on the importance of the innovation. In addition, I have articulated my own stance in my memo regarding the wall colors of the NAC building and its effects on students using my Lab Report survey results. Using this primary research that I acquired from the survey, I was able to support my claim that a college student’s workspace is important in their productivity as well as their stress level. 

 

7. Practice using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to your writing projects ✅.

Prior to writing the lab report, nanotechnology was a subject area that was very unfamiliar to me. As a result, I used multiple websites such as youtube, wikipedia as well as other few online dictionaries to understand the general definition, goal and capabilities of nanotechnology. In writing our group’s lab report and presentation on the implementation of the Nanotechnology Hospital in New York City, it was very important to us to present real and accurate data and information regarding the issues we are trying to solve.  I have practiced using online databases and credible internet sources such as Nano.gov and National Center for Biotechnology Information in gathering information and data on nanotechnology in medical terms as well as current medical issues in our society that need to be addressed. 

 

8. Strengthen your source use practices (including evaluating, integrating, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources) 📈

As a writer I have improved in my source use practices in terms of evaluating, analyzing, summarizing and citing my sources. I have practiced these in our engineering proposal as well as in the technical description of the VHF-R by mainly using reputable or credible sources and analyzing each content to integrate in my paper. However, I am still learning how on how to directly quote my sources in the body of my papers. I tend to only summarize and integrate the content however I feel less confident in directly quoting a source. 

 

References:

Liberty, Abordo Angel. “English Composition (2019-2020).” English Composition (2019-2020) – by: Liberty Angel Abordo, 2020, libertyabordo.commons.gc.cuny.edu/engineering-proposal/.

Liberty, Abordo Angel. “English Composition (2019-2020).” English Composition (2019-2020) – by: Liberty Angel Abordo, 2020, libertyabordo.commons.gc.cuny.edu/lab-report/.

Liberty, Abordo Angel. “English Composition (2019-2020).” English Composition (2019-2020) – by: Liberty Angel Abordo, 2020, libertyabordo.commons.gc.cuny.edu/memo/

Liberty, Abordo Angel. “English Composition (2019-2020).” English Composition (2019-2020) – by: Liberty Angel Abordo, 2020, libertyabordo.commons.gc.cuny.edu/cv__trashed/technical-description/