Writing for Engineering. I was told I’d have to take this class and I had no idea what it meant. “What would we possibly have to do in this class?” I thought to myself. At first glance, I thought it would be focused on writing cover letters and resumes for the engineering field. I thought we’d be studying diagrams and charts. Little did I know that writing for engineering would be much more than that.
The first assignment we were given was to do a technical description of an item of our choice. It could be as simple as a pen or as complicated as an MRI machine. When writing this technical description, I had originally thought it’d be a much more complicated assignment than it turned out to be. The idea of writing about a portable x-ray machine had come to me during a doctor’s visit for my hand where they had developed a quick image using a portable x-ray. Through all my other doctors’ appointments, I had spent lots of time waiting for a radiologist or lab technician to take a full x-ray of whatever body part I needed checked out. I realized how much radiology has developed and thought, “well, what a perfect item to describe for my assignment.”
I began looking into the history of portable x-rays, learning that they had actually first been invented in World War I for wounded soldiers by Marie Curie. She is remembered for her research on radioactivity but seldomly acknowledged for her creation of the first portable x-ray. Since the development of the portable x-ray is crucial to the understanding of the product we have now, I found it important to include a general history of the portable x-rays as a whole as well as the history of the MinXray HF100H+ specifically.
I started off by forming an outline of how I was going to lay out the description, thinking that the assignment would’ve lacked some important information if I didn’t explain the entire makeup of the x-ray. As I began to write the paper, however, I realized that much of the information that I was going to originally place into separate sections is easily fit into one or two sections that can explain the overall function of the machine. Writing the description almost came naturally; words just flew onto the page as I worked. I have always felt as though I am a technical thinker, I generally enjoyed this assignment and researching a device that I’ve encountered many times throughout my life.
This assignment also allowed me to tap into my inner creativity when deciding between the usage of imagery or verbal descriptions of certain parts of the machine. I was able to explain the history and structure of the device without bias by using solely informational resources and diction. The peer review that we had done also opened my eyes to other possibilities for the layout and depth of the description, allowing me to rearrange and change certain aspects of my assignment to benefit the reader. Looking at my peers’ descriptions, I was able to acknowledge the effect that using an image or diagram can have on the reader, as opposed to strictly using verbal communication. They do say, “An image is worth a thousand words.”
Due to the fact that I had never written a technical description in the past, this assignment opened up a whole new field of writing that I hadn’t encountered before. After the technical innovation, I thought “What else could possibly be new about writing for engineering?” Then we were assigned a rhetorical analysis of two lab reports.
At first thought, it sounded like an assignment that was often given to us on SATs or ACTs, until we went over the main eight parts of a lab report. Each part of the report holds a certain significance to the overall effectiveness of the report. The rhetorical analysis of the two reports is what allowed me to fully understand the importance of each of those parts.
Initially, I found it much more difficult to locate two reports on similar topics that included most if not all of the sections necessary for a lab report. I must’ve searched the databases for hours simply trying to find a topic that would have a variety of lab reports, let alone looking for the report themselves. I’ve always been naturally pulled into the medical field, finding all developments and studies done to be insanely intriguing. Once I had decided on that, it was time to actually find the reports. Every time I believed I had found one, I constantly ran into trouble finding another on the same topic that I would be able to use, until I found the one on electrophysiology. Admittingly, I had no clue what electrophysiology was at first, but I had no problem doing some of my own research to be able to understand what the report was discussing.
The first report I found was “The Cardiac Electrophysiology Web Lab” by Jonathan Cooper, Martin Scharm, and Gary R. Mirams, which at first glance was the perfect example of what all reports should include. After doing some more digging I found “A Dedicated Atrial Fibrillation Program Improves Catheter Ablation Outcomes and Electrophysiology Lab Resource Utilization” by Donna M. Suter, a report that was much shorter than the first. I thought to myself, “This is perfect. It’ll be an easy comparison.” Once I started actually reading both, however, I realized there was much more detail than what was on the surface.
I started by outlining each section in my notebook, noting down the biggest differences between the two, which report was missing which sections. Originally, I believed that would be the main point of conversation in my analysis: the lack of certain sections and its effect on the report as a whole. After reading the sections thoroughly, I realized that the ‘perfect’ I believed to have found, wasn’t as perfect as I thought. Not only was it missing sections, but it also could have included some detail that was included in the shorter report.
Writing the analysis itself was just like many other analyses I had written in the past for other courses. The peer review allowed me to take a look at other ways to write the analysis, other than the outline I thought to be the only way to take on this assignment. I was also able to get practice using the data bases to find a certain type of document on various topics while exploring new studies done in a field of my interest. My favorite part of this assignment happened to be exploring the data bases for topics and new advancements done in different fields because it opened my eyes to the numerous developments that are happening in the world around us on a daily basis. Then came the final assignment, a technical innovation. Combining the elements of a lab report and that of a technical description couldn’t be so hard, could it?
We were divided into random groups and given the task of inventing something new or updated in the market. We were then told to explain the need for this invention, its specifications, and how it compares to others already on the market. The hardest part of the project happened to be simply coming up with the invention.
When we’re younger, we’re able to come up with a million ideas, and our creativity is through the roof. You don’t realize how much of it fades as you get older until you really need it. My group had initially thought of inventing a portable at-home composting machine. However, after doing some research using the databases, we did not find that many sources regarding portable machines already on the market. Most of the sources we had found just explained the importance of composting. This caused us to now brainstorm new ideas.
Our next idea was inspired by the coronavirus that has greatly impacted our lives. We decided to make a device that cleans and sanitizes your phone. Cell phones are known to be one of the dirtiest objects we own since we bring it with us everywhere, whether it’s the bathroom, the stores, or the kitchen. After agreeing on the creation of what we came to call the SaniPhone, we then divided the work amongst ourselves, I being responsible for writing the introduction and the need for the device.
Using sources that Kristina found on the databases, I was able to cite studies done that discuss the different pathogens and bacteria that live on our phones. I also conducted some research of my own finding studies and proof that cell phones are not cleaned that often. When writing the introduction and the need for the device, I was able to use multimodal composing to tie in a figure of a study that compared the bacteria found on the bottom of someone’s shoe to that found on their phone. After completing my portion of the proposal, the rest of my group members also peer edited and revised it for minor mistakes that I might have missed.
This assignment allowed for me to work with a group of students that I previously had no sort of communication with and invent something that could greatly improve people’s lives, especially during the pandemic. It helped me work on my communication and teamwork skills while improving my writing and creativity, even when we were forced to move to online classes.
Throughout the semester, I learned a lot more about writing skills and techniques than I knew were out there. I had no idea that there was so much to know about writing for engineering. I further expanded my skills of researching in the databases, peer reviewing, quoting sources, and conducting a rhetorical analysis, the skills I thought I had mastered. On the other hand, I learned how to incorporate multimodal composition into my writing as well as producing an effective informational stance for my technical writing. Writing is the expression of one’s thoughts and feelings, a skill that one can always further develop and improve. Knowing how to write doesn’t necessarily make one a good writer per say. I’ve grown as a writer and will only continue to do so. The sky is the limit to how far my skills can expand, and the same goes to anyone who would like to embrace their inner voice.
