April 5, 2015

Dear Dr. Harris,

I would like to express to you just how much I have learned from this technical writing course.
Initially I thought this course would be about writing resumes, memos, and creating other basic
documents that are used in the professional atmosphere. I was pleased to learn that this
course expands beyond those basics to include grammatical correctness, creating informative
and compelling reports, and being successful in group projects. I have excelled at things such
as time management, but I have also struggled with correctly formatting documents. With that
said, your leadership and assistance has helped me find ways to improve in both my strengths
and weaknesses.
I learned quite a bit about myself as a writer in the first half of this semester. There were several
times that your comments on my work expressed pleasure with my ability to follow assignment
instructions and accurately revise my work according to your suggestions. It was notated at
least once that I did a good job of finding accredited and reliable resources for my formal
project. I also found some positive reinforcement for being able to acknowledge and connect
the audience to my writing.
With life, and with writing, there is always room for improvement, and my weaknesses display
that idea clearly. After reviewing the first half of the semesters assignments, I have realized
that I still need to work on document formatting. I tend to miss things like alphabetizing my
bibliography, making headings shorter, and putting more important information at the beginning
of a report. I also need to work on wordiness and organization. I know that I easily lose my
audiences attention by not establishing a specific and recognizable problem and not following
that problem with a specific solution.
As this course continues, I would like to work on several aspects of my writing. I would like to
be able to recognize and correct any instances when I am using the passive voice in a
sentence. I would also like to work on improving the readability of my work by providing clear
evidence that can be easily connected to my examples, being more specific with the information
that I provide, and using the P.E.E. format. Overall, I am very grateful for this course and the
tools it has given me to become a better writer.
Sincerely,
Paige Bradshaw