I believe that English 487 has played an integral role in educating me on writing skills that are more pertaining to the line of work I intend to delve in. Prior to this class, I was slightly wary to any kind of professional writing because I enjoyed the open-ended nature of creative writing. However, I have now come to the realization that I enjoy the constraints offered by technical writing. It has taught me to keep my language crisp, sentences short and remove all digression.  

 

The class also taught me to pay critical attention to my audience and tailor the language and visuals to whomever it was intended to be directed towards. I always assumed that technical writing revolved around manuals and communicative memos etc. However, I learned throughout the semester that technical writing was a lot more than just monotonous instruction sets. There was so much aesthetic detail attached to it and freedom in terms of visual aid.

 

It also struck me that technical communicators had a much greater role than creating instruction sets on machines and monotonous procedures. I realized that blogs, newspaper articles, Wiki-how articles etc. were also forms of technical writing. I am quite certain that the skills I learnt will be essential for internal communication memos or if I need to present a product/process description at work.  

 

I presented all my work from this class because they reflect my personal interests, areas of knowledge and ability to present information in the most concise and readable manner, while also considering my audience and tailoring my language to them.

I included my grant writing work because they reflect my ability to present a project that is both pragmatic and effective.  These works help bring together both my majors, through my writing and understanding of labor costs and incentives.

 

You will also find some of my varied work from creative writing classes, that establish my critical thinking and analytical skills. I also presented some of my video and work, to make an argument for visual and auditory aid in terms of rhetoric. 

I think the work I have presented shows my varied concentrations of interest and an insight into my background as an individual and a double major. I want plausible employers to understand the vastness of my spectrum of knowledge and academic experience, where I can present detailed analyses of novels and also, work on a more pragmatic level to create a budget for a project and analyse school systems.  

I think my work shows the amount of research and time I am willing to put into my work. The papers I have presented are based off extensive research and aid from my professors, who instructed me on those topics. I am someone that adheres to what is expected from me, while making each project my own. This was always expected of me at my past internships and even in my class and I believe in doing so, I can provide effective, interesting, and relevant work.  

 

English 487 has really helped me in improving my leanings towards more flowery and digressive style of writing. This was a skill that was much appreciated in Grant writing class and my career counselor. I was glad to be around other students, who also gave me extremely helpful criticism, in terms of technical aesthetics. I learnt aspects of literature and writing that I had not, especially when we are dealing with an audience that may appreciate less explanation and more to-the-point sort of information.  

 

I could incorporate the rhetoric skills I picked up from my Rhetoric and Civic Life classes, more general health knowledge from prior Kinesiology classes and my research into all the resources provided by Penn State to their people. It also helped me incorporate some of my analytical skills, while evaluating my peers works.  

 

I think this E-portfolio gives viewers an insight into my background, areas of interest and expertise, long and short terms goals and how I am working towards both. I am hugely passionate about making this world a better place through sustainability of the environment and betterment of one’s health and mind and learning more about how to manifest my ideas into the real world.  I am glad that I had the opportunity to develop my personal passion into my work, over the course of four years at Penn State.