This was the first time writing an Exploratory paper and honestly, I had no idea what it consisted of. I was given the assignment to take a topic and how the language used in that field affects it. Since I was already working in a construction company and was learning the basics to the field, I thought why not choose to write about how language affects civil engineering, and civil engineering is my intended major so I did not see a reason not to. Since the topic of language affecting civil engineering was too vague I had to be more specific with what language and so I decided to write about both the written and verbal language such as blueprints and the acronyms used.
I took to reinforcing my knowledge of the sub-topics I selected for this paper. Since I was already surrounded with people working everyday in the field, I asked my co-workers, who are project managers, what they knew about blueprints and the different acronyms people use with them when they communicate with the architects and the engineers. The information they provided me with, ensured I was using the correct sub-topics for this paper and they not only related to the topic but supported it as well. Being able to take in their critique about how and with what details I was going to structure my essay proved how I was engaging in the social and collaborative aspects of the writing process.
I also used the resources around me to dig deep in the exact usage of one of the sub-topics, which was blueprints. I wanted to see in person what these blueprints contained and how they were being communicated. Having this blueprint in hand made it much easier to recognize the importance it had on the topic since I was able to see how my father, a general contractor, used this blueprint to speak to the project managers on what was going on in the project and where certain appliances needed to place. Other than engaging socially through this work process, I also took on understanding and using digital technologies to address the range of audience I had. I needed to guarantee that I was able to inform those who had little to no knowledge on the subtopic, like blueprints.
I was required to develop in depth analyzations of the evidence and quotes I used while assuring that it addressed the topic of my paper. Throughout this paper I was locating research sources in the CCNY’s library, and evaluated them for credibility, accuracy and bias and also go to search through a selection of articles and I did not feel limited when researching. Since there were thousands of articles to look from, I also learned to minimize what I was searching in order to find articles in relation to my topic. Furthermore, I composed a text that combined both my thesis with appropriate sources while summarizing, analyzing, interpretation and argumentation. I also practiced my systematic application of citing conventions since throughout my essay I was using numerous quotes and I also provided a work cited page. This showed my skills in being able to cite where I got my information from and I was not plagiarizing my work from anywhere. With the work cited page my professor would be able to determine efficiently that I was taking my information from credible sources.
