Assignment 1 In Class Discussion

My group helped me decide how I wanted to write my assignment. Together, we decided that I was going to compare and contrast the difference in writing between a professor and a professional in my field. I will create a thesis following how these people use writing and follow up the thesis with quotes from my interview and my sources. I will have two interviews and four sources: two of which are academic and the other two are non academic.

Interview Summary

Kevin Walsh, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Louisville, says that writing is an important part of his every day work. He is constantly having to write up lesson plans and power points in order to better enhance his students’ ability to learn in the classroom. He uses paraphrasing and summarizing skills he has learned in order to create study guides and reviews of units and chapters for his students. He says these skills are important because they allow him to give his students the information they need to know without spending too much time wasted on writing information that is not needed. Not only does he need these writing skills to make lesson plans for University of Louisville students, but he also teaches online classes for students at other colleges via a program he says is similar to skype. This program works by students “skyping in” to his lectures and getting notes from him that way. For this program, writing skills are important because he cannot communicate face-to-face with these students, and many communication is done via email. He has needed to learn how to communicate his lessons through his writing in ways that are both as simple and clear as can be. 

Assignment 1 source

This source is an informative source. It informs readers about how writing is used in the everyday life of an engineer. This source is from Colorado State University. It informs readers on the types of writing performed by engineers, such as technical reports, presentations, and research papers. Generally while in school, professors dictate what type of writing students will be doing. However, once out in a work environment, the writing changes. Writing is used more for informative purposes, such as instructions on how to operate a certain machine.
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=84

Interview Questions

1.   1.   What type of writing do you use on a daily basis?

2.    2.  Are good writing skills is an important aspect of your job?

3.     3. How often do you the writing skills you’ve learned on an average day?

4.    4.  What type of writing do you most commonly use?

5.    5.  Do you think writing in your field will still be common in the next 10-20 years?

6.     6. Is being a good writer important to your job?

      7. Why is being a good writer important to you

Assignment 1 Rhetorical Situation

            The audience assignment 1 is addressing is students who may be interested in my field of study: Industrial Engineering. The purpose of this assignment is to teach students about Industrial Engineering and also for me to make connections to other industrial engineers. It will also give us more experience with different genres, cite sources, and practice on writing to a specific audience and synthesizing different sources. The stance will be pro whatever field it is that you are interested in, you are not going to talk negatively about a degree you want to work towards. The media of this assignment will be an interview and three written sources. 

Rhetorical Situations

Rhetorical Situations:

• contain an issue, audience, and a set of constraints
• sometimes a situation can bring about rhetoric
• and sometimes rhetoric creates situations 

Syllabus

        This year in English 102, I am excited to learn about different genres of writing. By learning this I am hoping to become more diverse as a writer. A question I had about the syllabus was if there was a specific theme we would be writing about throughout the year, or if the topics would vary? It would be interesting to maintain a constant topic due to the fact that each of the projects are so diverse.
        I am glad there are points for class participation. I enjoy being in a class where the students can engage with the teacher. I am also pleased to hear that you will be offering the assistance to your students. Finally, I am fortunate that we have an opportunity to revise and resubmit a paper, because I believe that throughout this semester I will grow as a writer.

About Me

My name is Molly McKenna, and I am a Freshman at the University of Louisville. I am in my second semester at the university's Speed School for Engineering. It is my goal to graduate in 5 years with an Industrial Engineering degree.