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1. Micah Anglin
John Harris
Technical Writing
5 December 2023
Reflection Essay
Over the course of the semester I have learned just how technical writing plays an
important role in our everyday lives. It is especially important as I graduate this spring and start
to apply for jobs where my resume, cover letters, and writing samples need to be as polished as
possible. The three major writing assignments In this portfolio are not just three finished
assignments. They are works that forced me to be honest about my current ability and work on
my writing skills that I may not have needed to do in the past. As I sit here reviewing my work I
can appreciate the work I put in on first drafts and how different they are to the current ones, and
how even the final drafts I turned in could be tweaked. That is the beauty that I have learned to
appreciate about the writing process. It is something that I will take as I start my professional
Journey.
I learned with the basic rhetorical analysis how to take a piece of digital media and how
to pay attention to the small details. I chose the whoop watch because I workout a lot and so I
feel like I would use the product in real life. Doing an in depth analysis showed me how
everything in the Ad was intentional and meshed together to effectively communicate the
benefits of the watch. I believe I effectively showed who the target audience was and the
strengths and weaknesses of the design.
For the News E-Letter I chose one of my mentors and my first boss Michael Jeans. Going
to him was a no-brainer because he always has a treasure chest of information to give me and is

2. always willing to set aside time for me. Discussing his latest project only felt natural. After doing
the interview exercise in class I felt prepared to ask the right questions in the correct order to get
a full and complete story. I had some practice writing pieces in my highschool Newspaper so the
format of the piece felt very natural to my journalism past. If nothing else, writing this piece
twice made me realize how I have to work on editing my work because I tend to just look for the
big mistakes. After doing some of the class exercises and reading the textbook, I realized just
how often I am prone to make small unnoticeable mistakes.
The Job Application assignment was really a wakeup call to how close to real life I am.
From now till I am employed I am going to be refining my resume, writing cover letters and
getting recommendations. This was the most helpful assignment by far of the semester. The class
lectures and textbook showed me the cracks in my resume and tips for cover letters that I have
already carried over to writing some applications for some spring internships. It also is a good
habit to get into. By writing this and then doing several real applications in a week It helps get
you into a rhythm of cranking these out.
As I reflect on the journey of this semester and the evolution of my technical
writing skills, I am aware of the invaluable lessons and growth that have shaped my
understanding of effective communication. The trio of major writing assignments in this
portfolio symbolizes not just completed tasks, but rather milestones in my quest for proficiency.
The process of refining my work, from initial drafts to the polished final versions, has instilled in
me an appreciation for the nature of the writing process—a valuable mindset I plan to carry into
my professional journey.