Reflective Essay
Reflective Essay: Growth Through Writing, Design, and Collaboration
Khaled Elsayed
Mr. Adam Bubrow
21007 E
5/19/2025
Over the course of this semester, I have grown significantly as a writer, researcher, and communicator. This portfolio brings together a variety of assignments that demonstrate how I developed the core skills outlined in the course learning outcomes. From technical writing and collaborative projects to lab reports and personal reflections, each assignment helped me practice different forms of writing for different purposes and audiences. Through this reflection, I will examine how I have met the course goals by revisiting my seven in-class assignments: my introduction, resume and cover letter, lab report, group proposal, technical description, museum reflection, and Quest punctuation test.
The introduction assignment allowed me to write about something personal: my long-awaited visit to the Pyramids of Giza in the summer of 2024. Sharing this story helped me understand the value of voice, memory, and purpose in writing. I learned how to negotiate my own writing goals with the expectations of a college audience, especially by making my experience relatable and engaging. Reflecting on my identity as an Egyptian living in America helped me connect my writing to a broader cultural and emotional context, building awareness of how language and storytelling shape identity.
Creating my resume and cover letter was one of the most practical assignments this semester. I learned how to recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when writing for different audiences and purposes. Tailoring a cover letter for a specific job taught me how to highlight my strengths clearly and convincingly. This assignment also emphasized formatting, structure, and tone—essential elements for effective professional communication. I now feel much more confident about applying for jobs and internships in the future.
The lab report was my first time applying academic writing to a hands-on experiment. Rolling two dice 100 times gave me a deeper understanding of probability, randomness, and how scientific reasoning can be communicated through writing. I used graphs, data tables, and scholarly sources like the Law of Large Numbers to support my conclusions. This assignment helped me practice how to locate, evaluate, and synthesize sources and how to develop strategies for revising, editing, and proofreading technical documents.
Our group project, The Beaver’s Dam Dream Student Center, was an eye-opening experience in collaboration, leadership, and design thinking. Working with my teammates, we developed a proposal to improve student life at City College. I learned to negotiate multiple perspectives when working in a group setting and how to use collaborative technologies like Google Docs and Slides to stay organized. This assignment also deepened my understanding of how to write persuasively and support ideas with evidence, while responding to a real-world issue that impacts our community.
The technical description was an important step in preparing me for my future career in Mechanical Engineering. I researched how New York City’s wastewater is collected, treated, and released safely. Writing this required me to use writing as a tool for inquiry and communication in STEM, and to break down a complicated system into clear sections. I practiced audience awareness, knowing that my readers may not be engineers, so I defined key terms and explained the system logically. This assignment improved my ability to organize information effectively and write with clarity and precision.
Visiting The MET was one of the most meaningful parts of the semester. As an Egyptian, seeing the statue of Hatshepsut on display in New York made me reflect on how art travels and how cultures are interpreted around the world. Writing about what I saw helped me reflect critically on cultural experiences and artifacts, especially when I analyzed sculptures from Greek, Roman, and European galleries. I was surprised by how emotional and thought-provoking art could be, and this reflection strengthened my appreciation of writing as a response to visual and historical material.
The Quest punctuation test reminded me of how important it is to master the small details of writing. Learning the proper use of commas, semicolons, and colons helped me avoid common mistakes and write more clearly. This test supported my development of editing and proofreading strategies and helped me see how punctuation shapes clarity and professionalism in writing. It also made me more aware of the importance of sentence structure in all types of assignments—from cover letters to technical writing.
Conclusion
Looking back at all seven of these assignments, I can confidently say that I’ve improved as a college writer. I’ve learned how to adjust my tone and structure depending on the assignment, audience, and purpose. I’ve become more confident with academic language, technical explanation, and collaborative writing. Most importantly, I’ve grown in my ability to reflect, revise, and communicate ideas with intention. This class taught me that writing isn’t just about grammar or word count—it’s about making meaning and sharing ideas with others. As I move forward in my Mechanical Engineering major, I know I’ll carry these skills with me, whether I’m writing a lab report, drafting a proposal, or explaining a complex system to others.
