Category: Blog

The Web Folio assignment provided the opportunity to consolidate my professional and educational experience in one place. I enjoyed the process of perfecting my resume and cover letter, and found it incredibly useful to get my peer’s perspective and feedback on my work. It is not often that your resume or cover letter is read by others, and the assumptions related to clarity and readability that you make regarding your own work are sometimes detrimental when applying to work positions.

The experience inspired me to create my own website outside of the ENGL 301 course, where I can add my professional interests and thoughts, and use as a visual and interactive element to point prospective employers to when applying to jobs.

 

Over the course of the semester, I have had the opportunity to practice my professional and technical writing skills. This has involved breaking bad habits and forming new ones, and the skills I take away from the course will be useful across careers and for my entire professional life.

French is my first language, but having worked and studied in English, I am confident in my English writing skills. I enjoy reading and writing as a past time, but relished in the opportunity to gain feedback and constructive criticism on my writing skills. Especially in professional settings, having good writing and communication skills can be an incredible facilitator, or barrier, to advancement.

In the field of public health, it is equally important to develop writing and communication skills for effective messaging and risk communication. As we have seen with the COVID-19 pandemic, some public health messaging is better received by some segments of the population than others. To keep the populace informed, it is vital that we are able to effectively communicate scientific findings and statistics, as well as their limits.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this course, and am glad for the practice and experience i have gained in developing my technical writing abilities. Thank you for your feedback and guidance!

In Unit 2, we began the process of thinking-through and setting-up our formal reports. We also had the chance to learn about the benefits of setting up a good Linked-In profile and putting those learnings into practice. As we come to the end of Unit 2, here are some of my reflections regarding the latest pieces of work completed and lessons from each:

Lesson 2:1 – Research Proposal for a Formal Report: The research proposal gave us a chance to think through a problem or inefficiency in a work or community setting. In my current workplace (as with workplaces everywhere), employees have had to adjust to rapidly changing circumstances due to COVID-19. Measures placed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have often been envisioned as short-term solutions, but as the pandemic wears on, there are several policies that need revision to ensure the health and sustainability of the workforce. For my research proposal, I chose to examine the effects of our site’s return-to-work policy. In order to accommodate new public health orders, I have found that the policies have been overly stringent about the way individuals request office time in order to accomplish their tasks. This seemed like a feasible and actionable project for the formal report, and I enjoyed thinking through the process. My original research proposal for a formal report can be found here.

After submitting my research proposal, my teammate Evan revised the proposal and offered helpful revisions. I find the peer review process extremely valuable, as it often helps improve not only the product at hand but allows me to revise my writing practices more generally. At the same time, I had the opportunity to review Mitchell’s report proposal in regard to improving student life and engagement in his role as an executive of the UBC Residence Hall Association. I enjoyed the process of reviewing Mitchell’s proposal, which allowed me to learn more about my teammate and about issues affecting students on campus. Evan’s revision of my proposal can be found here, and my peer review of Mitchell’s proposal here.

Lesson 2:2 – Networking and Resume Building: After a short research exercise involving LinkedIn best practice, we were asked to put our learnings to use by building our own LinkedIn profile. While I have had a LinkedIn profile for many years, I have used it very rarely. I found the practice of building my LinkedIn profile for this assignment extremely helpful, as it allowed me to consolidate my experience and skills in one place, including more detailed aspects of my experience (specific skills and coursework) that I have generally left off my CV. My original memo regarding LinkedIn best practice can be found here, and my LinkedIn profile here.

Along with creating my own LinkedIn profile, I had the chance of reviewing my teammate Rodrigo’s profile. Reading through Rodrigo’s profile really showed me the potential of a good LinkedIn profile – I found his to be extremely interesting and professional and could definitely see how an employer would be keen to hire or reach out to someone with a profile like his!

Lesson 2:3 – Outlines and Progress Reports: Finally, we were tasked with detailing our progress for the formal report, including submission of survey questions and research plans. I thought this exercise was extremely useful, as the timeline for completing the formal report is relatively short. It also helped me think through possible barriers to completing the formal report, and plan ahead for any issues that may arise. Having a set timeline and detailed task list will undoubtedly help me ensure that things are accomplished in a timely fashion and that important tasks do not fall off my to-do list

Evan’s revision of my proposal can be found here.

My revised formal report proposal: 301 Amina Moustaqim-Barrette Revised Research Proposal for a Formal Report

Thanks and looking forward to the final unit!

Amina