Reflection

Reflecting on the assignments throughout the Professional Writing class, the two professional writing assignments I found the most useful were the complaint letter response assignment and the reaching out assignment. The reason I found the complaint letter assignment useful was because as a freelance engineer, there has been a few instances where a few artists that I have worked with in a studio session have had some issues with the overall recording results even though our recording session experience was great. This assignment helped me do better at addressing the issue while providing alternative solutions in a more articulate manner.  

What I found useful about the reaching out assignment was that it helped me learn to differentiate appropriate approaches through different platforms and media. I was initially intimidated by the thought of contacting someone through things like email and LinkedIn, knowing that in a professional setting, those are two forms of communication that I always intended to get better at, but I just was overwhelmed by not figuring out how to approach properly. 

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The assignment I felt was the most challenging for me was the reaching out assignment. In recent years, I’ve done most of my communicating over social media, so I wasn’t used to more formal means as emailing or LinkedIn. Being formal was more of a challenge for me because I’m used to more casual communication with the artists I tend to work with. 

In the complaint letter assignment, I felt AI was helpful being with tone, grammar, and organizing thoughts a lot. I was able to communicate with the platform clearly enough to generate enough of a response that shows a more fitting example to steer me in the right direction as I formed my assignment. It gives a great ballpark range of what the complaint letter should sound like while giving me a chance to work authentically, which is why I definitely will use AI regularly in the future. 

What I learned throughout this course is how helpful AI is in today’s professional setting while still relying on my own authentic tone and verbiage without heavily relying solely on the tool to do all the work. I learned the importance of including detail in prompting.  

Reflecting on all the assignments from this month, I would have to say I learned the most from the reaching out assignment as it broadened my understanding for not only different levels of communication, but the importance of being able to relay the same message in many different situations without sacrificing professionalism.