Having completed Technical Communications, I can say I have definitely seen an improvement

in my writing. The technical writing style has required me to use critical thinking to hone my
choice of words to get the level of specificity and conciseness required. I have learned to present
a lot of information in a format that flows for the reader by eliminating extraneous information,
redundancy and including graphics for interest. I have learned how to break down complex
subjects into smaller packets of information that can be more easily digested by the reader. I
have a new understanding of how formatting can add to the logical progression of the writing.

I have exceeded my original goals for the course. My original goal was only to pass the class,
which hopefully I will achieve. In addition, I have gained a new skill that I will carry with me
throughout my education and into the business world. I have learned some organizational skills
through the process of outlining and researching for my assignments. These were skills I was
sorely lacking. Going forward, it will be less intimidating to tackle larger writing assignments. I
can see that the skills required to do technical writing can also be applied to verbal
communication. If I can speak concisely and communicate my information clearly, I will surely
benefit in nearly every situation, personal or business.

The assignment I’m most proud of is the Instructions assignment. The topic of preserving
automotive paint is one of personal interest to me. I have always enjoyed cars and personally
invest time and money into keeping my car well-maintained. I felt very much in my element
writing this assignment, which I think lent a certain authority to my writing. Because I already
had a lot of knowledge of the topic, the writing came to me with less effort. The lesson in that is
to always do adequate research before attempting to write on the topic.

An assignment that would be interesting to add to the course would be designing business forms
to gather information. This would be a skill that I would most likely put to use once I start my
business career. Designing business forms would be a good exercise to learn how to request
information in a way that is easily understood while also requiring the person completing the
form to be concise.

If I could edit any assignment to the course, I would choose the White Paper. This paper was the
most tedious for me to complete, partly due to the topic focus I chose. The overall topic of fire
was overwhelmingly broad. If I could edit this assignment, I think I would take a different
approach and look at a different aspect of fire than I originally chose. Maybe choosing a more
interesting focus would have resulted in a better paper.

Overall, I think this course was a good investment of my time. I am glad that this course was
taken early in my college coursework, since I feel it has helped prepare me for other coursework
in the future.