The third writing assignment was a lab report analysis, this assignment was to write a rhetorical analysis comparing and contrasting three sample lab reports of my choosing. I immediately began to search for computer science related lab reports, this helped me to realize that computer science is not an experimental science. My second attempt led me to three lab reports centralized around increasing the efficiency of internal combustion engines. When I was doing my research, I kept to my usual guidelines and searched for recent and relevant reports, this returned results that often relied on computer simulation. I picked three labs from the results that not only centralized around increasing the efficiency of internal combustion engines but also helped me to understand the validity of using simulations to prove your hypothesis.

The assignment required us to look at each lab report into sections and analyze how they logically format their information so the reader can comprehend and use their results. To accomplish this, I used the textbook and outlined what each section of a lab report should contain. Next, I outlined each of my chosen articles, making thorough notes on what was and was not included in each report according to the recommendations given by the textbook. With all this information outlined I wrote my first draft by going through each section of what should be included in a lab report, then compared and contrasted the three reports I chose to one another.  This first draft was far closer to the final version than on my second assignment, my second assignment required an almost complete re-write. Trying to condense all this data into something comprehendible was difficult, finding similarities and differences was not the difficult task. Making even one comparison or showing one difference could take many sentences because some analyzation of data was needed beyond what was offered in the reports. I knew it was not perfect I was satisfied after my first self-assessment. I feel as though I have a good grasp on the writing process, I think I can improve my writing if I can become better at self-assessment. To achieve this I need to first give myself more time for self-assessment, also when self-assessing I should start from the beginning and read my report all the way through before and after making my corrections. I believe that if my rough draft is better before peer-review my revision can focus more on actually improving my piece rather than making it acceptable. My second major flaw of my first draft was in my conclusion, I wrote on how I felt the reports usable from their logical format rather than the logical format itself.  My peer-review returned the with the same results as listed with the added note that it was a little boring, my report analysis may be better written for an audience of automotive engineers than a broader range of general engineers. Also, for this report the information provided in my summary of the BLDC lab could not be shortened, it was a complicating lab to follow. In my final revision I was able to be more confident in formulating a stance.  The research nature of this report helped me to strengthen my source, but more importantly I have improved my research strategies. I can now quickly analyze a lab report for the needed information, as well as being able to judge if a report is usable for my research by glancing over the cover.

In conclusion I think this analysis was excellent practice for writing and analysis, but also for researching.  I can now break down an article much faster because I know what to look for and where to find it.  Also, for this assignment we had to submit our first work cited page, as I mention previous this is my first writing class in four years and this part of the writing process continues to get easier due to the maturity of the databases. My favorite part of this assignment was the research, I was happy to find an applicable article on CVVT and fuel alternatives which are not only a huge part of making internal combustion engines more efficient, it can also make them more powerful when you wish to tare the balance for your particular application.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.