Aside from writing lab reports and solving equations, I haven’t had to write much in my engineering related courses. After taking Writing for Engineering, I can say that my writing has improved a lot. The first assignment was to write a resume and cover letter as if I was introducing myself to the professor. This was a great opportunity to edit my resume with new information regarding my work experience and skills. The cover letter allowed me to showcase my interests and why I want to pursue a career in chemical engineering. This task helped me express myself as a writer a little more personally than most assignments. I learned how to target my cover letter to a specific audience and focus on the most important aspects of my career interest.

The second assignment was to write a response to a short story called “The Veldt”. I was able to write about my reaction to the story and any inferences I made. This is where my creativity really shined. I was able to write a succinct response with my thoughts on what had happened past the ending of the story. The freedom to write anything really inspired my thought process.

The third assignment allowed my fellow chemical engineers in the class and me to come up with an instructional guide to fold a paper airplane. Though the task seemed simple at first, it proved to be a little more of a challenge when making sure the instructions were clear. The paper airplane had to be folded in a precise way to replicate the result. The assignment taught us to word things clearly and structure them in a way that is easy to understand.

The fourth assignment focused on a structured lab report with an experiment of our choice. The format of the lab report was the key to writing effectively. The assignment also taught me how to research topics and cite sources properly. This was particularly useful in writing the introduction portion of the report. Following the introduction were the materials and procedure portions. The procedure portion once again tested how well we could write for someone else to replicate the experiment. The results section summarized how the experiment went and the conclusion section was the opportunity to discuss future experiments and changes.

The fifth assignment tasked us with writing a technical description of an object. I chose a speaker and researched the history and mechanism. The description taught me to dig beyond the surface of the speaker and find what it’s really made of. Learning the functions of each part and how the speaker was made was an interesting way to deliver a description of the device. In addition to the technical description, we also had to create a technical poem about the device. I haven’t had much experience with writing poems so this proved to be a bit of a challenge. Describing the device subtly was harder than it seemed but also very fun. I think I enjoyed this assignment the most because I could be myself while writing the poem.

The sixth and final assignment was to write a full engineering proposal and deliver a presentation to the class. My group and I chose to engineer a thermal-regulating suit and researched the materials used in processing it. The assignment taught us how to produce a proposal with sufficient evidence of working research. The presentation also challenged us in writing slides efficiently as we were given a time limit for it. I was focusing on the mechanism of the suit and was able to utilize my thermodynamics knowledge to explain the heat conservation properties.

The assignments all taught me aspects of writing as an engineer. Though we aren’t responsible for writing essays and argumentative papers like other liberal arts majors are, these writing skills are more important as we work in the field. I will benefit a lot from what I have learned in the class especially when writing lab reports and research papers.

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