Aboufoul 1

Mohamad Aboufoul

Professor Sindelar

ENGL 2116 – Introduction to Technical Communication

10 May 2018

Reflection Essay

I will be honest, when I first enrolled in this course, it was because it was a requirement
for the computer science program. Because it was meant to introduce students to the formalities
of technical writing and communication in order to instill a sense of professionalism in them, I
understood that there would likely be merits to taking the course. Given my background and
desire to advance my research and presentation skills, I was ready to practice my technical
writing this semester. At first, I didn’t see much change in my writing given that we began with
finding articles online and answering a few questions regarding how they were examples of what
we had discussed in class for that day. When we delved into the packet writing later on, I found
myself being pushed to write technical documents about the most obscure topics. My “Reaktion”
topic, deserts, was particularly difficult to write about. Beginning with the white paper packet, I
struggled to find the content to meet the daunting word count for the assignment. However, this
forced me to look for a diverse set of sources beyond my “Reaktion” book and carefully analyze
them to derive content that made my white paper packet and other packets possible. That was the
main way in which I saw my writing improve. However, I feel that it might have improved more
if we were given a different prompt and had written some other technical documents that one
would commonly write to a business or organization. My topic in particular didn’t really reflect
on my abilities to write in this field.
At the beginning of this semester, I sought to improve my technical writing skills and
communication in ways that would help advance my career in computer science, be it in terms of
research or with regards to presentation skills. Although I did get to practice writing much more
and in turn improved some aspects of it, I didn’t really meet my goals. The assignments that I
was given, with the exception of the request letter, didn’t seem as relevant to what I’d be doing
later on in my professional career. I understand that the purpose of having us write about topics
not related to computer science was to assist us in developing our technical writing skills as a
whole. However, I found that the “Reaktion” books just weren’t suitable for a series of technical
writing assignments, especially given the word count requirements. Many lacked the substance
necessary for these types of papers. I think the course could be revised so that we would have
more assignments related to what people write in professional technical fields. Perhaps a free-
form assignment could be given in which students could choose to present some scientific
research in a conference-like presentation or write a document proposing a business-venture.
 Aboufoul 2

With regards to the assignments that we completed, I was perhaps most proud of my
request letter. I am glad that I was able to formally address an organization with a succinct letter
that transitioned from an introduction to background information to a formal request. The usage
of headings that summarized key points of subsequent paragraphs as well as the development of
a professional letterhead and formal closing signature made this assignment noteworthy given
that I’d likely have to write similar documents in the future. If I could add an assignment to this
course, it would likely be one involving the proposal of a new idea for a venture that a business,
organization, or activist group should take. I would also add a formal presentation as part of this
assignment. If I could edit any assignment in this course, it would be the white paper packet. I
would change it to allow for writing about a more technical subject. This wouldn’t necessarily be
computer science related, but it would at least be a topic that most people deal with or have to
deal sometime in their careers.