Kenneth A Guaman

Writing for Engineering 

Professor Elizabeth Von Uhl

5/10/2023

Rhetorical Analysis Reflection

The recent assignment regarding group work on an idea that would help people was a challenge not on the topic and people but the organization. The assignment was intended for everyone. We made the presentation and writing easy to understand by explaining complex words and the pneumatic trash system. The pneumatic trash was the idea around our assignment,  and by breaking down the components of what makes the system works and the materials of what the system is made of. It is an exciting topic, but putting these ideas, the history, cost, and materials together were complicated, considering that the other group members have different classes, writing styles, and time available to come together.

Writing the technical description for the pneumatic trash system was a headache as assigning who writes certain parts of the system is uncertain. As well as researching the topic, we had to look into the ccny database, but it could have been more fruitful as there was barely anything related to the topic. We decided to look into other places on Google where we could find papers on the topic and where these systems were implemented in certain places in the world. The workload for the group and I could have been more fair as we had three instead of four group members, so one of us needed more work than the rest.

4/17/2023

Technical Description Reflection

Reflecting on my work with the technical description paper, I was concerned that it would not meet the criteria that would be considered a technical description simply because this was my first time writing something like this I had felt that I might stray from the original purpose of this paper. It sounded easy on paper, but once I wrote it down, I needed help writing something you are invested in but providing research background and use of other information with the object; it felt like I was being hindered. Using the correct way of citing information/evidence from other papers in APA was also frustrating; how you may ask? I kept on looking at the examples provided, but also that it was hard for me to break my habit as I have been using MLA for my entire life, and I possibly ended up using both styles of writing format.

The direction when writing for the technical description came into mind when reflecting on my work; I wanted to focus on my audiences, such as people unaware of what is inside the object and those who are a little knowledgeable in engineering. It was challenging to do this as I had to go back and look at what I wrote when I wrote. Seeing that I did not provide more details about an object, but I also did not give definitions to certain words that I know of but my audience did not. Another thing that came into mind was the description of the items, such as how they felt, the taste, and the smell; I was wondering if it was too much or too little for people to read that it may feel boring. 

3/22/2023

Rhetorical Analysis Reflection

When reflecting on the rhetorical analysis essay, one thing you would notice is the paper’s tone being a little professional but a little light-hearted well. The report would be read by the professor and possibly by future students, and the professor would use my paper as an example. That got me thinking more about who I wanted to write this rhetorical analysis to and how I wanted to accomplish it and get my message across. When thinking about tone, audience, purpose, exigence, and genre, they usually go hand in hand, or you can start with one, which would get the ball rolling for writing. When writing, you need to know who your audience is and also your exigence.

Beginning to write a paper is not easy, and what was related to my exigence and my target audience were those in a similar situation as me and wanted a guide or tips to help what they are doing. It was a different paper from previous writing I had done before as I was catering to students such as myself and the professor, so balancing being laid back but relaxed as well. Everyone knows what MLA formatting is, and it’s practically in their heads, but if you were to ask anyone who is not a science or engineering major what APA formatting is, they wouldn’t be able to tell you. The genre of the paper is simply an essay, nothing more of it that makes it unique; it’s not a novel, thriller, or comedy but me arguing my argument of points and helps that I provided on how they can be helpful for future writing in APA format.

Looking at the course learning outcomes and the outcomes of the paper, I was able to practice using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to help me with research. Using the database was mainly an issue as I had struggled to use it even when I reviewed slides on searching things in the ccny database. Not only that, but I also acknowledged my range of linguistics as I had noticed that there wasn’t much complex language I could have used; instead, it was simple and bland.