Self-Assessment

In this paper, I am going to reflect on my writing, how my writing changed and evolved, and whether or not it improved over the semester. I am also going to determine which of the course objectives I satisfied, and which I failed to satisfy. I will also discuss what writing is to me, and how my perceptions of writing have changed over the course of the semester. When I first started this course, I wasn’t sure if I will do good in this class because I am not a good writer. However, by looking at my assignments, I can see how much I have improved. For example, when I first wrote my short assignment, memo, I had a lot of grammar error and weak sentence structure. Nevertheless, as time passed and I started following my class reading assignments, I got the feeling of how to write a decent paper. Following my class reading assignment also gave me an idea of what and how I should do my paper because it was related to my papers.

Furthermore, by looking at most of my essays, I can see that I have improved on sticking with my thesis while expanding my main points. Also doing the memo piece helped me by giving me an idea of what this course mostly will focus on. Which helped me to improve the third and final paper, lab analysis and research proposal. Although the research proposal, as the name suggests, required several hours of research. There were many assignments that required research in the course. Assignments such as the lab report and the technical description required the ability to gather information and incorporate the information into effective summarizing and paraphrasing. This is perhaps one of the most important skills in the professional world because the author needs to communicate ideas to the audience without plagiarizing from the original source or removing necessary information.

Writing for Engineers has also taught me how to gather reliable sources through library resources and online databases, another skill needed in the professional world. It is important to note that I still struggle with proper citation format, but I believe those skills will improve as I improve as a writer. Before taking this course I thought English courses only involves analysis of some random critically acclaimed novel. But by taking this course, I learn that there are many different types of writing, a majority of which are used in the professional world. This course has provided me with a set of skills that I will surely take with me into my workplace.

Proposal and Reflection

Link to the proposal- Research Proposal

Reflection

On this last assignment, we had to come up with a technology that will solve any current problems. So, my group came up with “Musso”, which is a portable muscle scanner that will scan any damaged muscle and print quicker treatment methods. The proposal had many different parts with the likes of Introduction, Budget, Work Schedule, Background information, and Qualifications. I decided to do Background because I believe I am really good at researching.

 

 

 

Technical Description

Link to Technical Description- Tech Description

 

                                                     Self-Reflection (Technical Description)

When I first started writing this assignment, I had little to no ideas what to write about. Then I came up with a list of technologies I use every day. Of course, there were many that came up to my mind but I did not want to write anything too complicated. So I picked something simple, a flash drive. However, after I did my research it was not so simple as I thought it would be. Therefore, to make things easy and in order, I described USB components by exterior and interior. This assignment taught me more than I expected at first. It taught me about the motherboard and how it works on a small piece of device. This will become in handy when I take higher level computer science classes.

 

 

 Lab Report Analysis (Final Draft)

 

 

 

Lab Report Analysis

 

Imon Singha

Professor Nancy Clark

Eng-21007

03/23/2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is a lab report? A lab report is when we analyze a laboratory experiment based on a scientific concept. The experiment could be about anything that makes you curious. Considering this in this assignment, I will compare and contrast 3 sample lab report and write and rhetorical analysis. The three report I will be analyzing is Perception of Different Sugar by Blowflies by Alexander Hamilton (Lab report 1), Food Selection in Beavers Based on Tree Species, Size and distance (Lab report 2), and Determination of specific nutrients in various food (Lab report 3). I picked these three report because once I read the titles it made me curious about the results and procedures lead to the results. In addition, they focus on different concepts.

Lab reports have seven different components first being the title, abstract, introduction, methods and materials, results, discussion, conclusion, acknowledgments, reference and last but not least appendix. Starting with the title, it should be informative enough to be interesting to the audience. It also should be clear enough for the audience to understand what the report will be about. It also should be on the cover page of your report.  When I look at the ones I am analyzing, they all have informative and clear titles. However, Perception of Different Sugar by Blowflies is the only one that has a cover page. The cover page makes your report looks professional.

Moving on to the next step which is abstract. It is where you summarize all the other components. It is where the reader decides whether it’s interesting to them or not. It shouldn’t include words that your audience might not be familiar with. My sample reports #1 & #2 gave a really good abstract. While reading it, I wasn’t confused or bored, however, there were few vocabularies that stuck me. Overall, I think it was informative and easy to follow. Coming on to lab 3, I feel as if their abstract was limited in terms of summarizing the report. I feel like they are missing summary of few components such as the discussion.

Now, let’s talk about the part where everything begins, Introduction. Like every assignment you did in the past, you will also have an introduction here.  This is where you introduce your hypothesis and questions you trying to answer. If possible state the result of your previous research related to whatever you are currently doing. If your audience is unaware of the situation, this is the perfect moment to make things clear to them. If failed to do so your audience could be confused throughout the report. All three of the samples gave a pretty good introduction. They successfully started the hypothesis and gave background information to make sure there’s no confusion. I think lab report 3 gave way too much information on introduction. Although their intro was too wordy, they were the only one who stated question the experiment will answer.

Stepping onto another important component of the lab report, materials, and method. This is where you make your audience believe that your procedure is credible. Show them that youdid you experiment with caution. Describe all the materials accurately, bring the actual material that was used, if not just present it with a picture. Related to all the other sections, this should be also clear enough so your audience can follow through and so that another scientist can execute the same experiment. Looking at the sample’s methods and materials, all three followed all the steps that were necessary for the part. While I was reading it made sense and nothing struck me. I think report 3 was the better one because they broke down the procedure into two parts. I assume it’s because they are trying to answer questions that require two different methods. Overall, I feel they had viable information.

Here comes the part everyone waits for after hearing the hypothesis and possibly even the title. The result, it’s the section where you compare present the data you got from conducting the experiment. Some might present the results with words, but from personal experience, it is best to include both the numbers and worded version. When you include graph or numbers, some people might grasp it quicker than the one with words. At the same time too many numbers can bore you audience some time, so you have to balance it out to please everyone. It is best not to discuss the data because there will be a discussion section. It seems as though lab report 3 and 2 are the ones who included both the worded and graphical version of the result. In addition, lab 1 had results that were really hard to follow. It included mathematical symbols that can make someone feel out of place. I really like how lab 3 had a note under the results to explain what each line on the table meant. If lab 1 took the similar approach it would make everything easy for everyone.

Now we move onto another section related to results. Discussions, it is where you explain your data and graphs. This is the section where you will compare the results with your hypothesis and answer questions you had in your introduction. You can also analyze anything you that might be hard to understand for the audience. If you did similar studies in the past and you got different outcomes now give an explanation of why it happened. Looking at the samples I think it’s the biggest section in the entire report. Based on the reading I can conclude that all three reports were successful in discussing the results. All three compared their hypothesis and went deeper to explain why certain outcomes occurred. For instance, lab 3 explained why the color of the food might have changed the results of the studies compared to the hypothesis. Contrasting it to the previous sections, I think they did an excellent job here.

Now we finally approaching to the end of the report. The conclusion, it is where you summarize all your main points. You don’t need to add anything new here. By looking at the example reports, lab 1 didn’t have any conclusion which is really bizarre because it’s a key component to any lab report. But report 1 and 2 followed all the necessary rules for a conclusion. They started by reviewing the hypothesis of their experiment, then they moved on by condensing the main points. In addition, they provided examples of similar experiments that had same results. So, we have talked about everything that a lab report needs and we compared three different reports to as examples. But, there are few more components should be included because without them your report won’t be credible. Those are references and appendix. In here, you list all the possible sites and all your citation. If you had a really long graph that you didn’t want to include in your report before, this is your time to do so. By observing the example reports, I can conclude they followed those rules properly. Even though my example lab reports missed a few components, I think it will give someone some ideas about ways to do lab reports.

 

Examples Lab Reports

 

Perception of Different Sugar by Blowflies by Alexander Hamilton (Lab report #1)

https://www.hamilton.edu/documents/Sample%20Bio%20Lab%20Report.pdf

Food Selection in Beavers Based on Tree Species, Size and distance (Lab report #2

https://labwrite.ncsu.edu/res/labreport/res-sample-labrep1.html

Determination of specific nutrients in various food (Lab report 3)

https://labwrite.ncsu.edu/res/labreport/food%20sample%20lab%20.pdf

 

 

                                                     Reflection of Lab Report Analysis

At first glance, I was really confused about how to do this assignment. Then after googling bunch of articles, which didn’t help whatsoever, I broke it down into components. Then I thought to myself why don’t I just compare each lab report in different sections. So, I started following that strategy. By doing this assignment I learned about lab reports and their key parts, which will definitely help me in the near future. I also got to explore lab report of different fields such as engineering, chemistry, biology, and physics. This didn’t only teach me about different lab reports but their uniqueness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercise #3

Imon Singha

Seahorse Fitness

69 Columbia St

New York, NY 10002

Dear Harry,

First, I would like to thank you for taking your time to send us a letter about your concern. It is our policies to give our clients best treatment possible. As we say “Your satisfaction is our success.”

You have stated in your letter that you have lost your contact lens on July 20th. I know how annoying and disappointing it is to lose something that’s pretty expensive. I have personally experienced a similar situation. And this is not the first time someone lost their belongings here at Seahorse Fitness. Meanwhile our pool maintenance staff search for your item, I highly recommend you to check our lost and found box.

In your letter, you have stated that you want us to pay for your replacement. Unfortunately, one of our club’s policy is that we are not responsible for any lost item. In addition, we provide all our members with a key and locker to keep their valuable belongings. We can search for your item without any hesitation but we can’t pay for it. If we find your item I will personally contact you as soon as possible.

If you have any other question or concerns please visit our website www.seahorsefitness.com

Sincerely

 

Imon Singha

Seahorse Fitness Manager.

Memo( Final Draft) and Reflection

To-            Dr. Vincent Boudreau

From-       Imon Singha

Date-        02/14/2018

Subject-    More parking space is required.

The purpose of this memo is to address the parking issue with the CCNY campus and propose a solution with reasons.

Summary

In general, finding a parking spot is never easy. It’s not really a problem when you have the time to search. However, for students, it’s a problem since they can be late for class and perhaps absent some time. My goal is to address the problem as much as I can.

 Discussion

Ever since I started going to high school, I always took the MTA for transportation. I wasn’t old enough to drive a car or even get a permit. However, last year when I turned 18, I took my driving test and got my license. Then after so many talks with my parents, I finally got myself a car. Which I use every day to come to CCNY, instead of taking the MTA. Even though having a car makes my commute a lot easier than taking the MTA, there are consequences I have to face. One of them is not being able to find parking space on time.

Every day before parking I need to search for a parking spot at least for 20-30 minutes. This is really time-consuming for me since I like to get to class early. Sometimes I feel like to stop searching for a spot and just come back home. I remember beginning of this term I was late to my first class because it took me a decade to find a parking spot. This wouldn’t happen if there was enough space for parking. With MTA fare increasing exponentially and constant traffic delays, I feel as if more students will start getting their own transportation. Getting the car will be fairly expensive but it’s going to save up a lot of time and fare. But this will eventually raise more complaints and increase traffic around CCNY. This brings me back to my main point which is more parking lot is needed for students.

Recommendation After doing a lot of thinking, I came up to a conclusion that a new parking garage could be the best solution. In this way, students and teacher can park their car without having to search for a spot outside the campus. Perhaps the parking garage can be built at the current parking lot. Although this can be really expensive, the college can make some money back by letting students and teacher rent parking spot every new term. In addition, if in the future more spaces are needed instead of building another parking lot, the garage can be built with more floors.

 

Best,

Imon Singha

 

 

 

 

Imon Singha

Professor Nancy Clark

02/26/2018

  Self-Reflection (Memo)

 

When I first started writing this memo, I had little to no ideas what to write about. Then I came up with a list of things that bothers me every day about CCNY. But for most of the topics, I couldn’t write more than 3 sentences because I rarely faced it. Then I decided to pick something that bothers me every day which was finding a parking space. For the most part I think I did pretty good on describing the problem and how it affects me on everyday life. In addition, I think I did good on following the format. However, I feel I could’ve gone little more in depth about the problem and how it affects other students. Also, since I am still getting use to English I have a lot of grammatical error and a lot of improper sentence structure. The most useful way I can fix those error is by reading more and more every day.

 

 

Memo( Draft)

To-         Dr. Vincent Boudreau

From-       Imon Singha

Date-        02/06/2018

Subject-    Adding more parking space.

Ever since I started going to high school, I always took the MTA for transportation. I wasn’t old enough to drive a car or even get a permit. However, last year when I turned 18, I took my driving test and got my license. Then after so many talks with my parents, I finally got myself a car. Which I use every day to come to CCNY, instead of taking the MTA. Even though having a car makes my commute a lot easier than taking the MTA, there are consequences I have to face. That problem is not being able to find parking space on time.

Every day before parking I need to search for a parking spot at least for 20-30 minutes. This is really time-consuming for me since I like to get to class early. Sometimes I feel like to stop searching for a spot and just come back home. I remember beginning of this term I was late to my first class because it took me a decade to find a parking spot. This wouldn’t happen if there was enough space for parking.

With MTA fare increasing exponentially and constant traffic delays, I feel as if more students will start getting their own transportation. Getting the car will be fairly expensive but it’s going to save up a lot of time and fare. But this will eventually raise more complaints and increase traffic around CCNY. This brings me back to my main point which is more parking lot is needed for students. This can be a new parking lot location or students can share with the faculty members. The new location can be a parking garage at CCNY or somewhere close to the campus. Perhaps the parking garage can be built at the current parking lot. This way students can park on the campus and come to class on time without having to look for a spot and lose their mind.

This is just a suggestion that I thought was needed not just for me but for everyone who commutes using their personal vehicle and for the students who will have one in the near future.

Best,

Imon Singha

 

 

Letter of Introduction

Imon Singha

945A Herkimer St

Brooklyn, NY, 11233

02/03/2018

Professor Nancy Clark

160 Convent Ave

New York, NY 10031

Dear Professor Clark,

I am writing this letter to give you an introduction to myself and my career. My name is Imon Singha. I am studying computer science here in CCNY and I am in the second semester of my freshman year.

What are my goals? I moved to New York from Bangladesh in 2013, without knowing little to no English. But I believed in myself that I can do it, that I can learn English and attend college. Which did happen at the end because I pushed myself to do better. I want to graduate college as a computer science major with that same confidence. In addition, from this class, I want to build up my writing skills because I believe that is my biggest weakness. I always struggle when it comes to writing due to grammar and punctuation error. Furthermore, I want to get an internship in the field of computer science. Not only it will strengthen my coding skills, also it will help me to gain social skills, as I am going to do projects with different students.

When I look forward to my future, I see myself working at Google or Microsoft as a software developer. If you ask me about my what I plan to make as a software developer, I would say I am still learning the basic concept, and I am not quite sure about what I will build.  In addition to my professional life, I plan to buy my mom a house. My mom always wanted to live in her own house, where she can have her own backyard to grow vegetable and I want to be the one to fulfill her wish.

I also have some personal goals to prepare me for my career goals. First and foremost, I plan to push myself to do better, even if I fail. I noticed that it’s the best way to learn. In addition, if I fail at something instead of giving up, I will find my error and fix it. Secondly, I plan to try my best to focus on every single class. Even if the lecture is boring and I feel exhausted, I want to get something out of it. One of the most important aspects of being able to stay focus is eating healthy. If we don’t eat healthily, it can lead to sickness or tiredness, then we won’t be able to push forward for the things we desire. Last but not least I plan to take care of myself all the time.

By taking care of myself, I can keep myself ready for any obstacle and break through it.

 

Sincerely,

Imon Singha