Theory of Writing
“Finally, it is all over”, or so I thought. After finishing this semester of English Writing for Engineering, I realized that this will be my last English class that I will be required to take through my academic career. But I missed one thing. Writing, speaking, and communicating will be some of the things that will haunt me for the rest of my career and journey as an engineer and later as a doctor. It is at this moment that I realized that writing is not simply about completing assignments, rather, it is about owning them.
The importance of writing and speaking in my day-to-day life will eventually catch up to me if I do not put time and effort in it. Knowing how to articulate myself might be the key feature that I possess that will yield me job offers and career paths that I never dreamt of. Writing and speaking well is an essential skill that many people lack, especially in an isolated world. But, practice, along with patience, will help sharpen those skills that will literally determine one’s success in life. Think of this, there is a brilliant scientist who has discovered something about quantum physics that is Nobel prize worthy, but he is unable to write a report that articulates his research and analysis accurately. What good does his discovery do to the world? Nothing. Writing is an essential skill that should be taught to everyone. I also observed that if someone does not believe in his writing or does not take risks in his/her writing, that person will never improve through their writing. For me, writing is taking risks, writing is taking sides, and writing is not agreeing with everyone on certain beliefs and opinions.
Throughout this semester, I wrote many different writing pieces, from a memo to an innovative proposal, I experienced extensive styles of writing and I adapted to them. On almost all the assignments, I was able to achieve a grade of at least a B+. The key to this success was spreading out the workload and working on bits and pieces of writing throughout the day. From my high school, I took AP English courses that were writing intensive. But my main issue during that time was that I procrastinated, and by saying procrastinating, I meant every letter of it. I would finish up writing assignments hours before the deadline, not a day before, rather, hours. I saw that the quality of my writing was declining, and I was writing without a purpose, simply to hand in a paper. Through this, I learned to spread writing sessions out. I commenced using this strategy during this semester of Writing for Engineering. I would spread out my writing sessions along days, different times of the day, and different locations. This helped drastically. My writing quality improved and I was able to better articulate myself through the final, produced product. Through this I realized that writing requires time. You have to connect with the writing piece that you are working on or else it will lack a voice. Doing writing assignments over a period of time allows for the writing to mature, develop, and most importantly thrive. It allows time for the author to think about what he is writing while giving the writer the highest chance of writing with different ideas, which is something that is needed for writing. Writing needs ideas. It needs a source of them. I know for a fact writing a day before the due date will cause the writer to repeat the same ideas over and over.
From repeating the same ideas repeatedly, many writers fall into the trap of verbiage. When authors write verbiage, they tend to circle around the topic that they are discussing, overwhelming the readers with unnecessary words, information, and ideas that only add confusion to the text. To avoid this, I would often give myself a topic, along with breaking down the rhetorical situation of the specific piece that I am working on.
Through breaking down the rhetorical situation, I, as an author, would be able to identify my duties as a writer, along with what the readers expect, and the message that I will be delivering. Through this thought process, I would be able to clearly define a purpose for the text that I am writing, giving it a clear voice along with a specific style that is unique to me. Along with that, I also adopted the idea of creating outlines for each of the assignments that I will be working on, no matter how small or big the assignment is. An outline, for me at least, allows me to visualize and see the breakdown of the ideas that I will be discussing in my writing.
With this Writing for Engineering course, I was able to dramatically improve my writing from the beginning of the semester to the end of it, and it can be seen from my first writing piece to my last. Here is an example from one of my first assignments in this class, the Memo: “This is what brings value to the college experience, building connections and forming relationships with others.” As you can see, this sentence by itself, if taken out of the assignment, cannot stand. It needs additional context and information in order for the readers to understand what I am referring to. On the other hand, here is a sentence from the last assignment that we had for this semester, the proposal, “After wiring the speaker through the engine bay to the cabin of the car, it has to be either wired back to the fuse box, which is also usually located on the driver’s side of the car under the steering wheel, or directly to the center console, where it can be fed power through one of the car electrical outlets.” Much more specific, concise, and explained well sentence that can stand alone on itself. Through the feedback of my peers along with the feedback given to me by the professor, I have found myself always double checking for specificity in my writing, making sure I state exactly what I am referring to, rather than using pronouns. Here is another sentence from my Cover Letter assignment, “I plan on expanding on to this goal by taking a course next semester and getting certification as a technician in medical offices”. It has the same issue as the earlier example that I provided from the Memo, not specific and depends on context. For contrast, here is a sentence from my proposal, the last assignment of this class, “Through this braking module, when drivers brake hard when going over a specific speed, the hazard lights will automatically go off, and the brake lights will also start flashing a number of times before going solid.” Achieving specificity in any given through my writing is a great skill that will allow me to flourish and succeed through my career. Throughout this course, I learned that as a writer being specific, concise, and coherent is the best favor you could do for your audience.
As I embark on the beginnings of my journey as an engineer and later as a doctor, I will make sure that honing my writing skills will be a commitment. Not only that but, I plan on proving to other individuals that may dislike writing to recognize its importance; clear, concise, and effective communication will always give individuals who possess them an upper hand no matter what career path they choose. I will be determined to embrace writing as a means of sharing knowledge, expressing my beliefs, and articulating my discoveries and ideas throughout my career.
