My colleagues and I worked on a project called pure ocean. The topic that we choose to discuss is oil spills and the best way to clean them. Our project suggested the use of dispersants. Dispersants are microbes used to break the oil and eat it in an organic way. This technique is safer than what other companies use to clean oil spills which is booms.

 We had two audiences for our project. The first type of audience that we tried to approach are the general audience. We decided to create an infographic for the general audience because an infographic is simple and straightforward. On the other hand, we provided a full report for our professional audience to persuade them using facts and studies. We faced some challenges during project four. For instance, it was not easy to find sources that talk about the financial aspect of the use of dispersants. On the report for our professional audience, we decided to compare the costs of using booms. Which is another way of cleaning oil spill, but this way has its harmful effects on the environment and costs more. We faced some challenges finding a reliable source that talks about the pricing of each technique used during cleaning an oil spill. In addition, this was the first time for me and my group to write an infographic. We had to use a wrong template at first. Then we sought advice from the professor, and she gave us some insight about picking the right template. The infographic required us to write general information about the topic, but not too general. We had to be a little specific. This is what mainly confused us during our approach in creating the infographic. 

The final step of our project was to do a presentation about our topic. During our presentation, we were required to analyze one of the genres that we choose. Moreover, give a brief description about the genre that we weren’t analyzing. It was a very interesting experience to present our own project. We choose to analyze the report because it the report contained many interesting analyzing features. 

Project three was about finding a job ad and filling out a resume for that job. After that, we needed to write a letter for the desired company informing them that we are interested in a position in the company. Before we started the project, I thought that the cover letter would be like a proposal. Moreover, I thought that jobs would just need a resume to look at my application. However, I found out that the process of applying to a job is required you to list your qualifications and you want to gain from joining the company. In other words, show them why you are interested in their company.  I found the process of finding a job quiet interested because I really needed to try this experience before applying to a real job. It was hard at the beginning to find a job ad because it was my first time doing it.  Also, I am still a student who does not have many skills. I still have a lot of skills to learn during my time in the university. As I searched more, it became easier to find an appropriate job ad for me.  In my career fields, a lot of skills and qualifications are required from candidates. For instance, most jobs require the candidate to be familiar with group work, because group work is a huge part of the job. In addition, Jobs in my career field require skilled writers. Writing is a huge aspect in my career field. Reports must be written in a daily basis. Furthermore, the form used in communication is in a writing form. Finally, the main common thing that is required and expected from candidates through the job ad is to be experienced in your job field. For example, if a candidate is an electrical engineer, he/she must be knowledgeable with that field. What I found challenging about writing the cover letter and resume is listing my experiences, because I am still a student. So, I did not have a lot of skills and qualifications to list. All in all, I found writing a cover letter and resume really interesting and beneficial for me in the future.

Before conducting the interview, I never had an idea about interviewing. I never thought that I would be interviewing anyone in my life because the experience was new to me. Moreover, my major is not related to interviewing. Before project two, I thought that interviewing someone will be similar to interviews done on the television. However, I discovered that there are many types of interviews. For example, interviews about sport, academic interviews, and political interviews. Honestly, I enjoyed this experience. I learned a lot from it. For instance, I learned how interviews are conducted. In addition, I learned how to organize the information that the interviewee gives. I faced some challenges during the interview. For example, asking the right questions. The interview that I made was about my career field. So, I had to come up with interesting questions. Questions that I really had about this career field. Moreover, I needed to ask work related questions. I had to a bit of research about the company that the interviewee works in to get an idea about what questions should I ask him. Getting this information was a bit challenging. After I finished the interview, I had to create a genre profile about the interview. This was a completely new experience to me, because it is really different than an essay. In a genre profile, I needed to list the information that I got from the interviewee in chronological order. Moreover, I had to write really small paragraphs to fit the information. In addition, a major difference was the use of quotations. In an essay, we normally don’t use much quotations. For the genre profile, I had to use a lot of quotations. Moreover, in an essay, I had to back the quotations with evidence. For the genre profile, I didn’t need to do that. I faced one challenge while doing the profile challenge in the profile genre. The challenge that I faced is how to fit all the necessary information in the profile. However, I really liked this type of writing because it taught me a lot of things about my career field and about interviewing. 

For project one, the professor told us to analyze a text. The first time I heard the word analyze was in my first year in the University. I thought to myself that it would be the same thing. For example, I thought that we needed to get background about the text, and sources to back the authors main point. Moreover, find out if the author had a strong claim. For instance, check if the author had good evidence, clear statements, credibility, and good logic. However, the analysis we needed to do was completely different. We call it genre analysis. Basically, we analyze the text based on its genre using the genre tool kit, and some techniques called the DOCSV. DOCSV stand for design, organization, content, style, and values.  Each part of this analysis requires us to look for certain things in the text. For example, language used, logos, pictures, tone, and vocabulary. The text me and my group analyzed was “Basics for Handling Food Safely.” This text was a fact sheet. I found this fact sheet pretty exciting and useful because it contained useful information and was well organized. I learned a lot about this genre. For example, it contains bullet points, charts, and small uncomplex sentences. I learned that these factors help the reader go through the fact sheet easily and understand the points clearly. Moreover, the tone that the author used in this fact sheet was professional and informative. I learned that this tone was used because the fact sheet is used for informing (instructing) the readers about the appropriate ways of handling food and storing it. What I found challenging about the DOCSV analysis is style. Style is basically what features relating to language does the author use. To find these features, I need to really understand and find certain evidence the author uses to recognize the language he is using. Sometimes, I get confused when reading a text, and it becomes really challenging for me to do that. To improve this skill, I think that I need to read more texts and try to analyze them.

As my first blog post, I would like to introduce myself to my classmates to get them to know me better. My name is Ali Alqaoud. I was born in Kuwait 27^thOctober 1997. I have two twin brothers, so we are triplets, a younger brother, and an older sister. Although we are triplets, we really don’t look alike. Before coming to the United States, I graduated from high school with a 3.3 GPA. My goal was to study Electrical Engineering abroad. Thankfully, I achieved my goal. After I got accepted in MOHE (Ministry of Higher Education) scholarship, I started to finish my visa paperwork and apply to California State University Fullerton to study English for one year, because I didn’t have much experience back then. After I finished my English studies at California State University Fullerton, I applied at San Diego State University to keep chasing my dream in becoming an Electrical Engineer. Since I got accepted in San Diego State University, I have been in San Diego for roughly three and a half years. I chose SDSU especially because of the many aspects that San Diego has. For example, the beautiful weather of San Diego, many wonderful places to visit, and SDSU has a good academic reputation in engineering majors. In addition, you can do a lot of thing here in San Diego. For instance, you can go hiking, swimming, kayaking, and jet skiing. Some of my hobbies are weightlifting, and swimming. I go to the ARC (Aztec Recreation Center) for weightlifting. For swimming, I usually go to Belmont park. In Belmont park, I can go swimming alongside a lot of other activities. For example, walking on the side of the beach, and grabbing coffee. Some of my personal interests are going to grad school. I am thinking about continuing my studies as an Electrical Engineer and getting my master’s degree. If I don’t continue my studies to grad school, I will return to Kuwait and apply for a job there.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton