This document summarizes William Mouzon's reflections on his technical writing class. The class covered rhetoric, design, writing, applied technology, collaboration, ethics and culture, and learning outcomes. Mouzon learned about rhetorical analysis, effective resume design, concise writing, using tools like LookBack and Adobe Premier, collaborative work, considering ethics and culture, and how the class prepared him for future careers.

1. Final
Reflections
William Mouzon
Engl 2311-034

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DesignRhetoric Writing Applied
Technology
Collaboration
4 5 6 73
8
Ethics &
Culture
9
Learning
Outcomes

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Rhetoric
Rhetoric was very specifically involved with the first lectures of
class when discussing the importance of modes of
communication. Rhetorical analysis is especially important in
Technical writing because it helps address how to make the
message clearer to the audience by considering “Where, When,
Why, and How” of the text. This class dealt specifically with the
Poster Genre of communication which deals primarily with
academic or educational types of communication which is what
the mobile app was used for.
The first twitter assignment involved modes of communication
when we were asked to find a set of instructions and identify
these modes. The understanding of modes of communication is
important in technical writing because it is the essence of what
makes instructions and other forms of communication, effective.
Understanding these concepts makes for an effective instruction.
Documents can solve problems if the modes of communication
are used properly. Overuse of words or visuals makes an
instruction set too convoluted, but an underwhelming amount
might make the document seem ambiguous, so understanding
the balance of linguistic, spatial, visual, and aural
communications will help consumers solve problems.
Rauch, Susan. "Intro to TC Review: Ethics, Culture, and Context
of Use." Technical Writing. Lubbock. 6 Sept. 2016. Lecture.

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DESIGN
The design of a resume shows professionalism and it is important to
be able to make a professional resume with appropriate designs. This
class dealt specifically with the Poster Genre of communication which
deals primarily with academic or educational types of communication
which is what the mobile app was used for. Though I had problems at
first with the overall format of the Resume I learned how to effectively
organize the resume to better reflect my professionalism, such as
putting the resume in a reverse chronological order, making sure all the
fonts and sizes are consistent, and providing spaces in between the
different parts of the resume. Using the Spatial mode of
communication was important for the Resume because it makes the
entire resume seem organized and more accessible for employers. The
design aspects of the app proved to be one of the more challenging
parts of making a good app. We used the Marvel App and a blank
phone template as the background for the app, but my group also had
to design the app in a way that was easy and usable for users
Rauch, Susan. "Resume and Cover Letter." Technical
Writing. Lubbock. 8 Sept. 2016. Lecture.
Ball, Cheryl. "Chapter 3: Choosing a Genre and Pitching Your Project." Writer/Designer: A
Guide to Making Multimodal Projects. First ed. London: Macmillan Learning, n.d. 42-56.

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WRITING
Over the course of the semester I have learned how to
be a more concise writer. In the process of writing
instructions for the app, I learned how to eliminate fluff
words and only include the words that enhance the
instructions to make them easier for the audience to
read.
Towards the beginning of the semester we had an in-
class assignment that focused on revising poorly written
instructions on paper; this activity helped me understand
the importance of better instructions.
.
PowerPoint® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Rauch, Susan. "Resume and Cover Letter." Technical Writing.
Lubbock. 8 Sept. 2016. Lecture.

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APPLIED TECHNOLOGY
LookBack was used for the majority of the semester for both
the procedure of tracking for the volunteers for the app and
the video presentation. LookBack tracks what the user is
doing while operating the app. Using this app helped the
group to identify which arts of the app the users would be
referring to if they made a specific comment on the app.
Adobe Premier was used for the video presentation, and
though it was difficult to understand it helped with the editing
and recording of the video presentation. The group that I was
in had problems with the editing software for Premier which
was due to a lack of experience with the program, however,
over time we were able to address this and fix some of the
major issues it caused with the presentation. The video
presentation dealt heavily with gestural and aural
communication which meant we would need technology to
be able to demonstrate different parts of the app and we
were able to do that with the use of LookBack and Adobe
Premier. Now that I understand Adobe Premier I can now
use it for any video presentation for a career as well as for a
personal brand.
Ball, Cheryl. "Chapter 3: Choosing a Genre and Pitching Your
Project." Writer/Designer: A Guide to Making Multimodal
Projects. First ed. London: Macmillan Learning, n.d. 42-56.
Print. .

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COLLABORATION
The collaboration aspect of the mobile app
was very important for the video presentation
because it required communication from all
members of the group to be able to
successfully make the app. The video
presentation required communication and
cohesiveness among the group. It was
challenging to read the parts while
simultaneously trying to navigate through the
app, but after many trials we were able to
make the video presentation. The usability
test report also required a good deal of effort
from the group; we each assigned different
areas to talk about to explain the outcome of
the app and we ended up turning out
organized and effectively reported how the app
was used. Because the test report heavily
relied on spatial communication it was
imperative that we all abide by the standards
of this type of communication. This test I now
feel better equipped to deal with team or
project- based work because of the
collaborative efforts of my group
Ball, Cheryl. "Chapter 4: Working with Multimodal Sources." Writer/Designer: A Guide to
Making Multimodal Projects. London: Macmillan Learning, 2014. 57-76. Print.

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ETHICS & CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS
I have learned through working in the class it is important to
consider cultural differences, and the way to show
consideration is by not including slang or jargon that people of
other cultures cannot understand. Ethical considerations are
very important and we had an assignment that demonstrated
the use of ethics of apps. I learned that unethical procedures
such as false promotion, uncited work, and privacy
infringement. These unethical approaches are rarely forgiven.
In one of the earlier lectures we discussed how important it is
as a technical writer to manage what the readers see in a
document, and not to overload information for the readers.
Knowing the right amount of information to present is crucial to
the ethics of technical writing.
As a class, we were able to demonstrate what ethical technical
writing is with the second twitter assignment where we were
assigned to tweet an article about unethical use of social
media. Being able to identify unethical uses of media is very
important with the climate of technology in the world, and the
use of mobile apps indicates that is essential to take measures
to avoid unethical communication.
Ball, Cheryl. "Chapter 4: Working with Multimodal Sources."
Writer/Designer: A Guide to Making Multimodal Projects. London:
Macmillan Learning, 2014. 57-76. Print.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES
There is a lot to be said about the applicability of this class to any career
field but I feel that this class will be especially helpful for any professional
career. I now feel equipped to collaborate, use unfamiliar technology,
identify ethical writing skills, and design an efficient means of
communication that will one day impact many lives in a positive way. The
skills I have learned in this class are timeless and will prove to be
necessary in my future endeavors

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Final Thoughts
The skills taught in this class are applicable to all fields of
work, and is essential for any professional career.