Welcome all to my digital portfolio. Over the past few months I have been taking the Writing for Engineering class and I have completed several assignments. All of these assignments led me to being more of a critical thinker and a better writer. I learned how to write engineering based documents and think in a science focused manner. I hope you enjoy what I put together and realize the infinite possibilities of writing. 

The first assignment we had was about an egg. In the egg assignment we had to analyze what an egg is. From that point we could describe what it is if someone that never saw an egg before would understand. The problem with this assignment was not knowing where to start. I didn’t know what an egg really was in the beginning and began to second guess myself. But after a while of doing research I began to explain the exterior and interior of the egg and then what type of organisms are related to this object. I learned many different things about eggs during this assignment. For example, there are many animals that have the ability to lay eggs like frogs, snakes, birds, crocodiles, fish, spiders, and many more. I also learned that these were very complicated and that a simple chicken egg can have nine different organelles which all work together in order to keep the egg safe and properly create a live organism. There were many interesting things about the egg and I was intrigued to learn everything I could. Now I believe that I have the ability to explain a plain object in key details. Having this ability allows me to communicate with younger people as some may not understand certain topics, but by breaking it down to things they know it is easier to understand, which I tried to accomplish while writing about the egg. For this first assignment we did not yet know how to do APA citation so I just ended it off by linking the website that I used. I now know how to properly cite and will be able to fix that next time.

The next assignment discusses the character portrayal of Nikola Tesla in the novel “Distant Waves” by Suzanne Weyn. Tesla is portrayed as an eccentric inventor who creates hundreds of different inventions. The essay focuses on Tesla’s earthquake machine, which he demonstrates to a family in the novel. The earthquake machine proves Tesla’s theory of vibrations, and he goes on to explain his beliefs about ghosts. The essay argues that Tesla’s innovative thinking and perseverance in the face of hardships led to his success and fame. The author emphasizes the importance of imagination, creativity, and thinking outside the box in achieving one’s goals. The problems I encountered during this writing was the text itself. On the first read it was hard to understand as there was a lot going on and I could not grasp the main idea. But after re reading I understood more and began to appreciate the story. It was very interesting to read and I began to start writing. Another problem I encountered was analyzing what the author wrote. We had to find key points in the story and show how that related to certain  characters. In this case it was Tesla and ghosts. This part was kinda subtle and towards the end so it was hard to find. But once you read more of the story before you understand how strong of a thinker Tesla really was and was he was able to respond to any possible question. In this assignment I learned how to analyze texts and accept new types of readings.

For the third assignment we had to talk about the brooklyn bridge. This was interesting as it one the first assignment that actually was based upon engineering ideas. I began with reading about the bridge and I learned many things. The Brooklyn Bridge has been one of the great staples of New York City. This bridge has withstood decades of weather, tourists, and vehicles. Another specific part of this bridge was the construction of this bridge, caissons were constructed in order to keep a water tight seal during digging and building of the towers. This was one of the most revolutionary parts of the build and I mainly focused on those during the essay. From the writing in this essay I learned to use more citations. In this essay I had to use many different sources in order to find the true details about the construction. Learning to cite my sources was kind of hard as digging through different sources is hard to manage. All of these websites had varying information and I had to make sure to check if websites had accurate sources and were true. To do this I would check the authors and see where they got their information from. Towards the end of the essay I successfully was able to summarize all about the bridge and cite my sources for the websites I used. This was an important piece in the class as I based my other essays on this to make sure I am hitting all of my points during writing. Overall this writing piece was interesting to do and I learned a lot of facts to which i can use in my engineering career.

The fourth assignment was the Dream Project Email. In this assignment i learn how to type up a professional email to a potential investor in my company. I learned a lot about the proper wording of this email and when to send an email. We started off with the hypothetical situation that I met an investor at a party and from there I connected well with the person in order to get their info and pitch them a project. Having the proper social skills is the first step to any company as you need to be able to communicate with your investors. The second step would be writing and your ability to efficiently portray what you are trying to accomplish in easy to understand parts. This email was the first part of my dream project, but we also need to do fifth and final assignment which was a hypothetical lab report for our project. Without providing the necessary technical details on your company and goals, no one will believe what you said. So through this lab report you are testing your own product to show how it is beneficial and what improvements can be made. And then these improvements can be accomplished with the investors’ help. Now everyone in the company will know their role and they have an idea of what needs to be done. By getting everything tested you make sure that your idea isn’t impossible and just needs some altering in order to be successful.

Overall this class has had a strong impact on my writing. I believe I am now more well versed in technical writing as I have practiced it and learned how to structure writings like this properly. I also learn good time management by always making sure I am caught up with the assignments. Having a skill like this is necessary in the later engineering fields as you might want to start your own company one day and you will have to type up all of these reports. Over the next semesters I will continue to practice my writing and evolve my style to fit the needs of my job.

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