Free Writes

In class assignment 1Posted by Mohsan Khan at Monday, February 6, 2017 3:49:43 PM1. Equal effort by everyone including time and skill.2. Agreement on all topics before moving on.3. A leader or supervisor must make the final decision.

In class assignment 2Posted by Mohsan Khan at Monday, February 6, 2017 3:59:33 PMIt was challenging to condense all that information into even 5 sentences, but the point does get across, just not details. I decided to put the results of the study into the summary since that is the most important. Instead of summaries only for books and written material, it could be used for video also, such as information videos or even movies. Also, in a meeting summaries are necessary because no one can listen to all the small details. There is just a small amount of time to get all the important information out.

In class assignment 3Posted by Mohsan Khan at Wednesday, February 15, 2017 4:21:32 PMThe most useful technique while drafting was using the textbook/internet to reference what was important. From the textbook I figured out everything that was needed in the technical description. From the internet I got all the information/pictures necessary to write it. The challenging part was figuring out how to structure the body/details. The internet was a big advantage in finding the information because there is so much information online.

In class assignment 4Posted by Mohsan Khan at Wednesday, February 22, 2017 4:18:20 PMThis assignment was easy to do. I chose to do glasses even though I don't wear them. The information online was quite easy to come by. The difficult part of this assignment was giving a description of the parts of glasses since there isn't a lot to it. Everyone sees them or wears them and doesn't care about it. The function of the item was easy to find because most people know it is to help someone's vision. The graphics online were quite helpful in breaking down the item by parts. Each part was labeled and I categorized the parts into the front and side sections along with the additional parts. The conclusion was a little bit hard to do since the parts are all connected and it doesn't take a genius to figure out how to use them. There were a couple of

adjectives used in the description to describe how they feel. The APA format was easy to follow. I just went on the OWL Purdue website and followed their format. I used easyBib to do the Works Cited page. The peer review helped since my partner told me what parts I was missing. What I could be better at is analyzing the parts. I know there wasn't much to explain, such as the screws or the nosepads, everything should be obvious. I changed my draft only a little bit, since I tries following the rubric. I almost forgot to do the outline because that wasn't written in the textbook.

In class assignment 5Posted by Mohsan Khan at Monday, February 27, 2017 3:42:16 PMI usually read at home or on the train. I usually just read news articles on my phone on the train. At home I close my door and start reading if I have to read something formal. My nephew is staying at my house and I hear him crying all the time which bothers me a lot. Sometimes if I need to block out any noise, i just put headphones on and listen to my music. If I feel like I need a break, I will probably grab some food and watch something on youtube or even a tv show. Informal reading can be done easily, because you don't have to be focused. You could call checking facebook before sleeping informal reading. On my iPhone and MacBook, I can change the color of the screen at night, so it is easier on my eyes.

In class assignment 6Posted by Mohsan Khan at Monday, March 6, 2017 3:42:54 PMIn high school, in my architecture class we learned how to build a house. We had a very large classroom and we made a house the size of half this room but we first had to learn each part of the house and build on a 3D computer program called Revit. The teacher taught us how to cut wood by using machines. We drew it on Revit and then actually built the house.

In class assignment 7Posted by Mohsan Khan at Wednesday, March 8, 2017 3:40:30 PMI am not actually interested in the "sciences" but I'm doing it to further my career options. I want to do construction later on and become a general contractor. I want to make buildings but to do any public work (work for the city or the government), the plans have to be signed off by a professional engineer. After I graduate, then I have to have 4 years of experience as a civil engineer to become a professional engineer. Then I'll start out as a small general contractor

and build my way up. I can become a contractor without becoming an engineer but then I won't be able to work on large construction projects which make a lot of money.

In class assignment 8Posted by Mohsan Khan at Monday, March 13, 2017 4:00:26 PMI would first read a sample of the unfamiliar genre and see if I understand what is going on. If not I would try to read a basic version of a text from the unfamiliar genre. From there it should be straightforward what to follow. You see the patterns to see if the text is informative or opinionated.

In class assignment 9Posted by Mohsan Khan at Wednesday, March 15, 2017 3:40:56 PMTo cope with school stress I just take breaks while studying. I might watch a TV show or go outside for a smoke to "relieve stress". Sometimes I might have a snack or a meal in between studying. In general school isn't that stressful, it's just a lot of work.

In class assignment 10Posted by Mohsan Khan at Wednesday, March 22, 2017 3:42:22 PMI haven't typed up the technical report yet but I know what I will be doing for the report. Doing the experiment for me will be what is hard. The strength of the report is that I could add pictures to show what happens to the bridge before and after weight is added to test its strength. The weakness you can say is without seeing the experiment live you can't see what happens exactly during the break. It would happen instantly and the picture might not accurately show where the bending of the bridge occurs.

In class assignment 11Posted by Mohsan Khan at Wednesday, March 22, 2017 3:51:33 PMI could be the leader/presenter for the group. I get tired from doing the technical(hard) work, but I should be able to present it if I coordinate and figure out what has to be done. One weakness is that I don't like spending a lot of time explaining information. If I already have done something, I don't like repeating it, because it's as if I'm doing it twice.

In class assignment 12Posted by Mohsan Khan at Wednesday, March 29, 2017 4:02:58 PMThe textbook gave lots of information about each section of the technical report. It also tells you what questions to answer throughout

the report. The difficult part of the report was the experiment. I had to go to the hardware store and get materials that I didn't have at home. I even had to buy a mini saw to cut pieces of wood. I had to get thick wood so the experiment would work or else the thin wood would break easily. Using the CCNY database to find information about bridges was a little bit difficult. There was just too much information. I instead used an encyclopedia to get the information down like the history and purpose. Doing the actual experiment was time consuming. Cutting the pieces of wood with a saw took forever. I didn't have the right machinery at home to cut wood quickly. Analyzing the results was pretty straightforward. I look at which bridge was stronger by seeing which could handle more textbooks. I already did this project in high school in a group and we tested it using sand. I made a bridge for another class and the teacher basically told us if we passed, if she put a certain amount of textbooks and it didn't break. We basically did the experiment without writing a report. The architecture major in highschool gave me the idea to do this civil engineering related project. Overall, the experiment was the hard part because it was time consuming but the report was easy to type up.

In class assignment 14Posted by Mohsan Khan at Wednesday, April 19, 2017 3:40:06 PMThe proposal is going great. We had a great idea that can be implemented in an environmentally friendly way. It will help out the community, especially for smaller neighborhoods. We came up with the price and the technical part. I will be drawing it and it should look nice.

In class assignment 16Posted by Mohsan Khan at Monday, May 1, 2017 3:34:49 PMWhen I present I would like to the audience to give me their full attention but not creep me out with their staring. I took a speech class at my last school so I should be prepared. I would first introduce everyone in the group and then introduce the topic. Then one by one in the group we will talk about each subtopic.

In class assignment 17Posted by Mohsan Khan at Wednesday, May 3, 2017 3:37:38 PMMy nephew is at my house for a couple of months and he is definitely a barrier to my student identity. He starts crying halfway as I'm studying and it distracts me all the time. The time I have to go to school, I

sometimes have to drop my nephew off at the school bus and that could make me late to classes in the morning.

In class assignment 18Posted by Mohsan Khan at Monday, May 8, 2017 3:42:06 PMAs a technical writer the biggest challenge would be to put my ideas into words. For people to understand why something works, you have to explain the technical details with math/science. Formulas and equations properly used would make it easier to understand the logic/ reasoning behind a certain projects/products for publication. Other genres that are non-technical maybe easier.

In class assignment 19Posted by Mohsan Khan at Wednesday, May 10, 2017 3:41:51 PMRegarding my technical writing expectations, if I could go back in time I would learn how to elaborate on difficult topics that is hard to understand. Technical writing is difficult because it has to be in past tense and has to be third person. Writing an opinion with technical writing has to be written in a complicated way.

Peer-reviewPosted by Mohsan Khan at Wednesday, February 22, 2017 8:47:54 PMI peer-reviewed with Steven McAdam. He told me I should add a title page and what details to add such as the material of glasses, the cost and function. I helped him out by telling him he should focus on the parts and give a more detailed description. I also told him to add graphics and label or add a caption. He also reminded me to number my pages.

Chapter 19 Notes

Posted by Mohsan Khan at Sunday, March 5, 2017 2:14:52 PM

HypothesisPosted by Mohsan Khan at Monday, March 13, 2017 4:19:55 PMHypothesis: Truss bridges are stronger than beam bridges.To test this, I will construct them of the same length and same material and I will put textbooks on it until it breaks.