Author Archives: arash farhadian

I have really enjoyed working through the various assignments in English 301. Now that the course is coming to an end, it is time to reflect on some of the progress I have made throughout the course. Below, I have written about my overall thoughts on my weaknesses and strengths in both my learning process and my assignments. Additionally, I have provided some of my thoughts on how my skills and strengths gained from English 301 support my future career and educational goals.

One of my major weaknesses in technical writing is that my writing can often become ‘wordy’ and lack conciseness. Furthermore, I have noticed that quite often I write some very long sentences that can become confusing to readers. Lastly, sometimes I tend to write very dense paragraphs, which can make it harder for readers to follow my writing. During the first few weeks of the course, Jasmine Spencer, the TA of the course, also pointed out similar weaknesses in my writing. Ever since, I have been using the team forums on the English 301 website to learn from some of the elite students in the class who are very concise in their writing.

At the start of the course, I thought I could adapt my writing to be more brief and concise; however, I quickly realized that this is not an easy task. After reading some of the work of others in my writing team, I came to the conclusion that by eliminating certain phrases from my writing, my assignments can become substantially easier to read. Furthermore, to improve on my weaknesses in writing, I have to continue cutting some extra words or phrases in paragraphs that are more dense. For example, I should cut verbs ending in ‘ing’, adverbs, and some prepositional phrases. This will certainly help sharpen my writing. Using these strategies have really helped me improve my writing in the last couple weeks of the course. When comparing my assignments from the beginning of the course to the end, it is clear that my writing has improved significantly. The lesson I have learned is that technical writing is meant to convey messages in a simple and effective manner. I know there is a long way to go in improving my writing skills, but as long as I work towards sharpening some of my sentences and paragraphs, my writing will continue to improve.

One of my strengths in technical writing is my ability to write using the YOU-attitude. Writing with YOU-attitude is something that I have practiced a lot throughout the second half of the course. At first, it was very difficult to refrain myself from using the pronoun ‘I’ in peer reviews. Furthermore, it was also difficult to refrain from using the pronoun ‘you’ in my reviews when I intended to give suggestions on potential ways for improvements. However, after writing many peer reviews and memos throughout English 301, I am very confident in my skills to write very effective memos and peer reviews using the YOU-attitude. That is not to say I have fully mastered this type of writing. I know there is always room for improvement; however, I still believe this is one of the strongest skills I have gained from English 301. I have always loved giving feedback to my fellow students; therefore, I am very happy to have attained the skills essential for providing constructive feedback without insulting anyone in the process. Furthermore, I find it interesting how the simple idea of putting the focus on the readers and their needs can be so effective.

Another strength I have gained through this course is the ability to review my own pieces of writing. Through the first half of the course, I realized how important the peer review process could be in paving the path for an effective final product of an assignment. Furthermore, I started to feel very comfortable in providing effective peer reviews to my writing team members. Realizing the importance of peer reviews and my level of professionalism in writing them, I thought it might be a good idea to review my own writing assignments. Thus, I started to apply the same skills I have gained through peer reviews completed for my classmates to improve my own pieces of technical writing. For the second half of the course, I started to review my own assignments from an outsider’s perspective. I found this to be very effective. Moreover, I noticed that I started to make some improvements in my writing. Some of the skills I have gained through English 301 are more useful than I would have ever imagined.

I believe my writing skills and strengths, which have significantly developed throughout this course, will support my educational goals and future career. The next challenge in pursuing my ultimate educational goals is researching more into various dental schools and strengthening my application. Thanks to English 301, now that I have a very effective application package, I am very confident that with some extra revisions, I should have a very good chance of receiving an interview for dental school. Furthermore, one of my writing team members and I, who have similar goals regarding professional school, have actually promised to carefully peer review each other’s application package in the next couple months. We both know how helpful peer reviews can be, and we hope to use what we have learned in this class to help each other succeed in pursuing our career goals. I must also mention that getting into dental school and going through the process of becoming a dentist are not the only aspects of my future that are supported by the skills and strengths gained through English 301. In working towards my future career and becoming a great dentist, I will be taking full advantage of my technical writing skills as they can be very helpful in any professional environment.

Being a dentist requires a great deal of professionalism. Dentists deal with their receptionist and patients on a daily basis. Furthermore, these interactions often require some professional form of communication. Thus, I hope that the writing skills I have developed through English 301 can be fully incorporated into my communications as a dentist. For instance, if I need to leave a document for my receptionist to review and mail, I can simply write a memo with the document attached and place it on my receptionist’s desk in the morning. In any type of career, these kinds of professionalism can be very beneficial.

In closing, this course has taught me a great deal about my writing and has exposed me to various types of effective writing techniques. By reflecting on my work, I have been able to point out my flaws and have work towards eliminating some of my bad habits. I have learned that writing is a dynamic skill. As I grow and develop as a professional, I must continue to review my own work and reflect on my writing techniques in hopes of making significant improvements. I want to thank Dr. Erika Paterson and Jasmine Spencer, who have helped me a lot throughout the various stages of the course. I am very thankful for what this course has allowed me to achieve.

Now that my Web Folio is up and running, I have written a reflection below highlighting my thoughts on the process of constructing my Web Folio assignment. The reflection is broken down into the three different stages of the Web Folio process: beginning, middle, and end.

Beginning:

Initially, I was very intimidated by the prospect of building a Web Folio. I definitely struggled to get started. As I was searching the web to view different sites with examples of Web Folios, I noticed that there is not a single template or style for creating a Web Folio. I discovered that Web Folios fulfill many different purposes; therefore, I had to be very careful in designing my own Web Folio to suit my target audience. My application was written for UBC dental school, thus I tailored my writing to a more professional audience that is looking to assess my level of professionalism amongst other things. I know this because my cousin who graduated from UBC dentistry brought to my attention that UBC dental school has a big portion of its syllabus focused around professionalism and preparedness. In fact, a number of students are often held back a year if they do not meet the level of professionalism required of them for the various parts of the program. I tried my very best to write each section of my Web Folio in a very professional tone while also incorporating a personal touch that illustrates my uniqueness and qualifications for the dentistry program.

After my research on Web Folios and identifying my intended audience, I started with the basics of creating all of the relevant pages of my Web Folio. I had some trouble formatting the new pages to appear in an order that I wanted them to. However, I finally figured out how to fix this issue through the menu setting of my website dashboard. It is quite amazing how complex website building applications have made certain tasks so simple. Following that, I created an outline for each section of my Web Folio. This definitely made it easier for me to come back and insert files and texts that satisfied the intended purpose of each section of my Web Folio. Lastly, as the final step in the beginning of my work on the Web Folio assignment, I added a header image to my website to make my Web Folio stand out. I selected a picture of a person sitting down on a bench looking at a beautiful view of the world. I believe this image will illustrate to the readers of my Web Folio that I am ready, determined, and on the lookout for all the opportunities life has in store for me.

Middle:

After setting up the template for my Web Folio, I started to work on each individual page. At first, I felt quite overwhelmed with the amount of information I had to include in each part of my Web Folio. However, since I knew UBC dental school would be looking through the details of my Web Folio very carefully, I had to work very hard to include as much necessary information as possible in each of my web pages. For instance, if UBC dentistry is looking at my Web Folio to assess my level of readiness for admission into their program, they are more likely to reject me if I have some ambiguous or missing information than they are to contact me for further information. Thus, I had to describe the purpose and details of many of my assignments on each page of my Web Folio.

Through the process of making revisions on my assignments according to the peer reviews I received from my classmates, I realized how the structure of this course has really made it easy for me to construct a very strong Web Folio. Throughout the course, I received many thoughtful and effective peer reviews for my assignments. I continually edited my assignments based on these peer reviews multiple times. Thus, there was not much for me to edit when it came down to preparing my assignments for inclusion into my Web Folio. I just had to read through my assignments a couple more times to make sure they were free of any errors of grammar and spelling. The lack of errors found in my assignments made me realize how much my technical writing has improved throughout the course.

End:

At the final stages of completing my Web Folio assignment, I went through my entire Web Folio to make sure it was free of any typos. At this point in the course, I was very confident in my technical writing; however, it was still important to keep in mind that we all make mistakes sometimes. The last thing I wanted was for the UBC dental school admissions team to stumble across a typo in my Web Folio. At this time, I also added some visuals to the various pages of my Web Folio to personalize some of its major sections. I think these visuals will keep my readers more engaged when reading through my Web Folio.

Looking back at the process of creating my Web Folio, it has been a great learning experience for me. I have never constructed my own website in the past. Therefore, I am quite excited with the final product. I believe this has been a major process of self-improvement for me. Once again, just as the methodological approach to formal reports allowed me to create an outline before moving forward with the construction of the body of my formal report, a strategic and methodological approach to the Web Folio allowed me to systematically work through the process of creating an effective Web Folio. This is not to say that I did not struggle through the process. In fact, this has been a major challenge for me. However, I believe that with the amount of hard work I have put towards completing my Web Folio, I have created a very strong piece of technical writing to showcase my outstanding work in English 301 and my life.

In the third unit of ENGL 301, students were required to dedicate a lot of their time and effort into the process of researching, organizing and writing their formal report drafts. Essentially, the focus was to take the next steps towards the formal report project by conducting research and compiling data into a draft version of the formal report. Next, each student was required to peer review a writing team member’s formal report draft to provide constructive feedback. Below are my initial goals and thoughts on: the process of working through the formal report draft, and the peer review process.

The Formal Report Process:

Initial goals: complete the research required, conduct all the interviews, select and create the required visuals, and draft the formal report by using the formal report outline as template.

Completing the draft of the formal report was a major challenge for me. As a computer science student, writing a twelve to fifteen page formal report draft did not seem like an easy task. One of the most challenging parts of the formal report draft was conducting interviews as my primary source of research. Setting up the interviews was time consuming and somewhat troublesome at the start. It was difficult to organize the interview times to accommodate everyone’s availabilities. There are definitely times when tasks become more challenging than expected; therefore, it is important to be prepared for the unexpected obstacles at all times. After some time, I was finally able to organize a time to meet with all the interviewees. Although setting up the interviews was quite challenging, conducting the interviews was definitely one of my most enjoyable experiences in ENGL 301. The problem I chose to address was a very important topic to the people I was interviewing. Thus, the people I interviewed were all so passionate about the topic and were fully engaged in all their responses to my questions. I noticed that in the first steps of the formal report process, ENGL 301 students were all asked to conduct interviews or use surveys as a primary source for their research. Now I understand the reason behind this requirement. In the case of my research, I noticed that conducting interviews is a very hands-on kind of research that takes into account the opinions of the people who are directly affected by the problem being researched. I believe this is a great aspect of the formal report, as it engages the students directly in the problem they are addressing rather than just sitting in front of the computer screen and researching publications.

When I sat down to start writing my formal report, it took me a while to actually begin writing. I was not sure how start. Therefore, I looked for some help from some of the previous assignments I have completed in the past couple weeks of the course. Using my formal report outline from the last units of the course as a template made the process very simple. Even though a few aspects of my formal report have changed in the last couple weeks, the formal report outline was very helpful in guiding me through the different sections of the formal report draft. This clearly shows the importance of the previous assignments of the course. A formal report is not an easy assignment that could be completed in just a few hours or even a few days. It is definitely a process that will take weeks or even months to complete. For this reason, I am very thankful that the structure of this course has prepared me to work systematically through the formal report process. Essentially, instead of having to write a twelve to fifteen page formal report draft, I just had to effectively combine the previous work I have done in the formal report process with the new data I recently collected. Realizing how simple it is to systematically come up with such a complex and effective formal report draft, I will have a more systematic way of approaching some of the technical writing assignments I will be completing in the future. Technical writing is a very effective way of communication and will often require many steps.

The Peer Review Process:

Initial goals: provide constructive and balanced feedback, study more professional editing techniques, and take into account the qualities of content, organization, style and design during the peer review.

At this point in the course, I am very confident when completing peer reviews because of the amount of practice I have had throughout the course. At the beginning of the course it was very challenging to peer review another student’s piece of writing. There were various instances where I wanted to provide suggestion to help improve my classmate’s work but I was having trouble getting the message across without insulting my classmate. Providing constructive and balanced feedback is an essential part of peer reviews; thus there has to be a way to give constructive feedback without directly telling the writer what he/she has done wrong and what he/she needs to do to improve their writing. This is where the writing with you-attitude proves to be very effective. Having learned the writing with you-attitude and its importance, I no longer have trouble providing feedback to my classmates. I have learned that as long as I use a tone that reflects the writing with you-attitude, I will be putting the focus on making suggestions for the piece of writing being reviewed rather than directly addressing the writer or telling the writer what he/she has done wrong. For instance, when reviewing my classmate’s formal report draft, I noticed that the conclusion section of the report was not completed. Only an outline of the conclusion was provided. Instead of directly addressing my classmate by saying that he did not complete the conclusion and that he needs to complete it, I simply mentioned that the completion of the details of the conclusion is an essential part of the report that should always be included. I know writing with you-attitude is not easy to master; therefore, I will continue to practice using writing with you-attitude techniques in hopes of improving my peer reviews.

There was also another challenge I came across in writing peer reviews at the start of the course. There are so many different writing styles out there and I feel like I was not exposed to many of them before this course. Being aware of the different writing styles and being comfortable with understanding various types of writing is essential in order to construct effective peer reviews. Therefore, peer-reviewing pieces of writing that were very different than my own writing style was very difficult. However, now that I have read and peer reviewed my writing team members’ assignments for a couple months, I have been exposed to various writing styles. Consequently, I am now comfortable with peer reviewing pieces of writing that differ from my own writing style. I believe that I have fully taken advantage of the writing team aspect of this course. The writing team forum has provided me with opportunities to communicate with my classmates to improve my own technical writing as well as help them improve their writing techniques.

After completing the peer review of my writing team partner’s formal report draft, I came up with a new potential idea for improving my own technical writing. I thought it would be a good idea to try and review my own writing assignments as if I was peer reviewing another classmate’s assignments. I believe that this may be a very effective approach because it could give me a chance to look at my own writing techniques from another person’s perspective and provide suggestions for improvements. Peer reviews are a lot more powerful than I thought at the start of the course.

I have really enjoyed working through this unit and I am very excited for the final unit of the course. I really look forward to completing my formal report based on the feedback I receive from my writing team partner.

Amongst many other assignments for the second unit of ENGL 301, these last couple weeks students were required to make a professional LinkedIn profile, construct a formal report proposal and outline of their chosen topic, as well as peer review a writing team member’s formal report proposal. Below are my initial goals and thoughts on: the process of creating a LinkedIn profile, constructing the formal report proposal and outline, and the peer review process.

LinkedIn Profile:

Initial goals: create a professional online representation of my resumé that highlights my skills in a personal, yet professional way that attracts employers.

Creating a LinkedIn profile was a major challenge for me. Whenever I used to think of social media, I never thought about presenting myself in a professional way. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and the many other social networking platforms that exist today do not serve a similar purpose as LinkedIn does. As I started making my LinkedIn profile, I had to change my perspective. I had to tell myself multiple times that I was creating a “professional” social media network. I tried very hard to present myself as both personable and professional. Through the process, I have learned a lot about the best practices for LinkedIn, ranging from simply selecting an appropriate profile picture to including various keyword skills throughout my profile in order to attract professional recruiters. One of my favorite parts about this assignment was when I noticed that I have fifteen courses in common with one of my writing team members when I was reviewing his LinkedIn profile. This is just one instance that opened my eyes on the significance of including various sections on my LinkedIn profile such as courses taken in the past. Additionally it is very rewarding to see that I am already getting some connections with other people just a few days after creating my account. Having finally created my account, I feel very confident in my ability to continue working on my profile using the best practices I have learned. I am well on my way in strengthening my professional social media communication with potential recruiters.

The Formal Report Proposal and Outline:

Initial goals: select an appropriate topic that I am interested in, improve my techniques for writing formal report proposals and outlines, and get a better understanding of what my final formal report will look like.

One of the hardest parts of the formal report proposal was selecting a topic. Brainstorming about my volunteering, community and workplace activities brought up many potential topics. There were definitely a lot of topics I was interested to pursue, however, after some time, I decided to select my topic with the focus on one of my volunteering experiences that has a significant link to some of my courses at UBC. Being somewhat of an expert on the topic increased my chances of creating a strong formal report proposal. The template we were provided for the formal report proposal on page 561 of the textbook made it really easy to construct my own formal report proposal. I realized that going through the proposal step-by-step gave me a better understanding of the entire assignment and exactly what was expected of us. By the end of the report proposal, some of the original thoughts I had were completely revised, which highlights the significance of the assignment.

After finishing the formal report proposal, I was still not fully certain about my topic and what my formal report was going to look like. However, once I started creating a formal report outline, things really fell into place. I spent a lot of time thinking about the different parts of my outline because it was providing more structure to some of the ideas I had. Having organizing my thoughts in a clear manner will be very beneficial moving forward in the next steps of the formal report process. I am now fully prepared and aware of the next steps I need to take in my investigation. One of the biggest driving factors for me in the formal report was the focus on audience. In the instructions for the creating a formal report, it was mentioned that audience is the first and foremost consideration, which means that the reader is someone who should be taken into consideration in every step of the report. This instruction guided me in the right direction as I am now fully aware that my report is intended for review and consideration by Jody Wilson-Raybould, who is a powerful politician in the Canadian government with the interest to seriously consider my formal report. Moving forward, Jody Wilson-Raybould will continue to be my first and foremost consideration.

Before completing the formal report proposal and outline, I had a lot of questions about the formal report and what it should look like. I was very close to posting a list of my questions on the class Facebook page to make sure I was on the right track, but I think the structured approach we were assigned for the formal report made each step of the process clear. Furthermore, after completing the proposal and outline, I definitely have a better idea of what my final formal report is going to look like and exactly what it will be composed of. This definitely reminds me of one of my computer science courses on systematic design which required us to follow a specific recipe or set of steps in order to arrive at the final solution of problems. This systemic approach to the formal reports, which includes creating a proposal, providing constructive feedback to each other, and constructing an outline, is certainly making it simpler to develop an effective formal report. I have learned that in order to effectively complete technical writing assignments, it will take time and patience.

The Peer Review Process:

Initial goals: improve in providing constructive feedback to my writing team partners about their writing techniques and strategies, provide clear reasons for each piece of feedback, and offer suggestions to help improve another classmate’s assignment.

Through the peer review process these last couple weeks, I have noticed that as I do more peer reviews, I am developing more confidence in my abilities to provide helpful feedback to my writing team partners. At the start of ENGL 301, I was reluctant at times about some of the suggestions I had in mind, however, now that I have completed several peer reviews, I feel more comfortable in helping my team members with different writing styles. I know that providing and receiving constructive feedback is very helpful in technical writing, which is one of the main reasons I have really enjoyed the peer review assignments we have completed so far in this course. Furthermore, I noticed that as I was peer reviewing my partner’s assignment, I started to analyze my own work from another perspective. I am not quite sure if this is common for people who complete peer reviews, but as I was going through the various section’s of my partner’s research proposal, I noticed some things that led me to revisit my own assignment and reflect on my own technical writing and how I can improve it.

By reviewing my team’s writing forum, I have learned that although every student in the class uses a professional writing style and format, surprisingly, everyone has a different approach to the various assignments. Through peer reviews, I have noticed that my group members have been able to provide constructive feedback to each other in hopes of strengthening each other’s writing, while also receiving feedback that will help improve their own writing. Furthermore, peer reviews have helped us analyze and reflect on our own pieces of writing. The writing teams for this course are very beneficial because it is a safe space for us students to communicate with each other on the best practices for technical writing while keeping in mind that we are all here to learn and improve ourselves.

This unit has been another great one, which I have really enjoyed. I am very excited for the second half of the course.

Revised Research Proposal: english301-2-1-arash-farhadian-formal-report-proposal-revised

Manraj’s Review of my Research Proposal: http://engl301.arts.ubc.ca/2016/10/11/peer-review-of-arash-farhadians-formal-report-proposal/

For the definition assignment for ENGL 301 students were required to pick an audience of “non-technical readers” and choose a relatively complex term to define for the target audience. The term was to be defined using three different types of definitions: parenthetical, sentence, and expansion. Next, students were required to have one of their writing team members peer review their definition assignment. It was encouraged that students critically analyze their partner’s work and give constructive feedback in order to help their partner improve their assignment. Below are my thoughts on the original writing, peer review, and editing process.

Original Writing:

Having gone through the process of writing my definition assignment on mitochondria, I can confidently say that I appreciate the importance and the role of definitions in technical writing. One of the parts of the assignment that I found very challenging was keeping in mind the purpose and the audience. At times, I would use words that seem quite simple and easy in my mind, but after reading over my writing I would notice that I was using quite a bit of science jargon. Thus, I had to go back and revise my assignment multiple times using simpler words but there were some words I had a hard time trying to get rid of. However, things became much simpler when I reflected on the purpose of the assignment and what I have learned throughout the process. After a bit of reflection, I found this assignment to be quite rewarding in many ways. For instance, even though the requirements of this assignment were to write one parenthetical definitions, I actually wrote four. Three of the parenthetical definitions I used made it easier for me to keep three of my science jargons by briefly explaining them. This made the process much easier for me while transforming my writing into a piece that is easily understood by those who are new to the mitochondria world. Furthermore, I am glad to know that my technical writing skills are already improving and that I have gained the natural instinct to use the techniques I have learned throughout this assignment. It is very rewarding being able to produce and differentiate between the levels of detail in the different types of definitions.

Peer Review Process:

I have never written a peer review before, so after reviewing Manraj Athwal’s definition assignment and writing a peer review on it, I definitely understand the importance of a peer review and how helpful it could be. The peer review was a very simple, yet formal way for my writing team member partner and I to give constructive feedback to one another. Going through Manraj’s assignment, there were certain things I noticed that I wish I had noticed on my own assignment when writing it. I was easily able to break my suggestions down into organized categories to provide the best type of support. Manraj has a great writing style and I really liked the expansion expansion strategies he used. Furthermore, even though there was one unexplained science jargon in Manraj’s assignment, one of my favorite parts of his assignment was that he continued to stay with his target audience. He was able to commit to the basic purpose of the assignment and to explain his definitions using words and phrases that would not trouble new learners on the topic of mitosis. This is certainly something I have taken into account as I start to edit my own definition assignment. Overall, this peer review process was very rewarding, as I had chance to help improve my classmate’s assignment while learning about how I can improve my own assignment and technical writing as a whole. Lastly, I should mention that the textbook we have for this course is very useful, as it is very clear regarding the guidelines required for the different types of technical communications such as peer reviews.

The Editing Process:

I found the editing part of this assignment very useful. Manraj Athwal’s peer review of my assignment was very well structured, which made his suggestions very easy for me to follow and understand. Manraj suggested that some of the science jargon I used should be eliminated if I plan on getting my point across to my target audience. For this reason, I eliminated most of the complex science words I used; however for those that I thought I should keep, I added a parenthetical definition to help my audience follow along and understand everything. Another suggestion that was very useful from the peer review of my assignment was regarding the in-text citations of my references. Revisions were made to address these minor issues. The editing process taught me that technical writing does not come easily. Sometimes it takes some editing to be able to create a technical piece of writing with as little flaws as possible. For now, with the help of our technical writing team, these peer review activities are designed to help us improve our technical writing assignments, however, in the near future we must become more comfortable and skilled in reviewing and editing our own pieces of writing, as we work towards becoming better technical writers.

Overall, through the first unit of this course, I have definitely improved my writing techniques in order to write professional letters of application, memos, emails, definitions and peer reviews. This has been a great start to the course. I am very excited for what lies ahead and I hope to continue to improve my technical writing skills through the rest of the course.

Edited Definitions Assignment: definition-assignment

My Peer’s Review of the Assignment: Peer Review by Manraj

Dear Manraj Athwal,

I enjoyed reading through your application letter for ENGL 301 writing teams. I noticed that we share a lot of similar past experiences. Our academic backgrounds seem to be quite similar as well. From your academic achievements, I can tell that you are a very hard worker, and I would definitely love to work with someone like that. Your organization skills can be a great asset to our team. I would really appreciate if you could consider me to be a part of your writing team for the next couple months. I think we would make a great team. I have included a link to my application letter below. If you are interested in the offer, please reply to this email. I hope to hear from you soon.

Best,

Arash Farhadian

https://blogs.ubc.ca/arashfarhadian/2016/09/14/301-arash-farhadian-application-letter/

Dear Samuel Navarro,

I really enjoyed reading your application letter for ENGL 301 writing teams. One part that caught my attention was your strong ability to easily transfer your ideas to written form. This is an amazing strength to have, which is something that does not come to me very easily. I am writing this email to ask you to consider Manraj Athwal and I, to be a part of your writing team for this semester. Manraj and I are very determined individuals who hope to improve our professional writing skills through this course. I have attached our letters of application below. If you are interested, please reply to this email. I look forward to working with you.

Best,

Arash

Manraj – https://blogs.ubc.ca/manrajathwal/2016/09/14/301-manraj-athwal-application-letter/

Arash – https://blogs.ubc.ca/arashfarhadian/2016/09/14/301-arash-farhadian-application-letter/

Dear Sarah Parry

I hope you are doing well. I really enjoyed reading your application letter for ENGL 301 writing teams, and I would be very excited if you could be a part of my writing team . I would have to agree with you that breaking concepts down to their components could often make the understanding process much easier. I would be very thrilled if you could be a part of my writing team, which currently consists of Manraj Athwal and myself. I have attached our letters of application below. If you are interested, please get back to me when you get a chance. I look forward to working with you.

Best,

Arash Farhadian

Manraj – https://blogs.ubc.ca/manrajathwal/2016/09/14/301-manraj-athwal-application-letter/

Arash – https://blogs.ubc.ca/arashfarhadian/2016/09/14/301-arash-farhadian-application-letter/

Dear Natalie Ngan,

I have read through your application letter for ENGL 301 writing teams and I am emailing you to ask if you are interested in joining my writing team. I am also in the BCS program. However, although we are currently on similar paths, we come from different academic backgrounds . I am currently in a team with Manraj Athwal, and having you join would make our team stronger. I have attached our application letters below. If you are interested in the offer, please reply back to me by email. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Best,

Arash Farhadian

Manraj – https://blogs.ubc.ca/manrajathwal/2016/09/14/301-manraj-athwal-application-letter/

Arash – https://blogs.ubc.ca/arashfarhadian/2016/09/14/301-arash-farhadian-application-letter/

MEMORANDUM

To:          Dr. Erika Paterson, UBC Instructor in the English Department

From:     Arash Farhadian, English 301 Student

Date:      Sept 19, 2016

Subject: Letter of Application Summary

As you are aware, each student in ENGL 301 has been requested to write a Letter of Application in order to search for a professional writing team. Attached to this memo, you will find my Letter of Application, which is also posted on my blog.

The attached letter includes:

• my professional interests
• previous experience in my professional field
• my volunteer activities
• an overview of my academic achievements
• my strengths and weaknesses
• my learning philosophy

Please feel free to contact me for any additional information. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks.

Enclosure: 301-arash-farhadian-application-letter

#208 – 908 Clarke Road

Port Moody, BC V3H1L8

Sept 14, 2016

ENGL 301 Technical Writing Class

University of British Columbia

2329 West Mall

Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4

Dear English 301 Technical Writing Class:

Please consider my application for a professional writing team member position as posted on the English 301 class website. I have already graduated from my General Life Science degree at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and I am currently in my first year of the Bachelor of Computer Science (BCS) degree. I will be graduating from UBC with my second degree in April 2018. My career interests are to pursue medical school or work for a programming company. I am a dedicated, passionate, creative and organized student who is determined to take on new challenges.

I am very eager to pursue a career in medicine. Furthermore, I am very passionate about working with kids. For this reason, I have volunteered at BC Children’s Hospital (BCCH) for over three years. I started as a volunteer who had a minor role in playing with kids in the hospital waiting rooms. A year later, I took on a bigger role that required me to hire, orient, and train new hospital volunteers. Currently I am the UBC Liaison/Volunteer coordinator at the hospital. Pat Gillis, the Director of Volunteer Resources at BCCH, is very satisfied with my continuous efforts to improve and climb up the latters. My works at BCCH showcases my desire to take on leadership roles, as I strive to improve myself in the roles that I pursue.

In my first degree, I have taken courses from a variety of disciplines: Life Science, Chemistry, Earth and Oceanic Science, Biochemistry, Education and Linguistics. My general Life Science degree was not very specific, allowing me to explore many different subject areas. I strongly believe that these courses have prepared me to work with students coming from all backgrounds. In the past four years of my studies at UBC, I have been on the Dean’s Honor List three times and achieved the Science Scholar designation two times. These are awarded to students with a minimum 27-credit course load winter sessions who achieve minimum averages of 80% and 90%, respectively. I have also received the Trek Excellence Scholarship, which is offered to students who are in the top 5% of their undergraduate year. My dedication to academic excellence is certainly something that I am proud to bring to the table. A great academic standing showcases my willingness to work hard.

As evident in my academic success, I am a very hard worker. If a task needs to be done, I will always assure that I put valuable time and effort into it. I tend to be very up to date with everything I do. Time management is something I continuously work on. Furthermore, I am a great team player and always enjoy working on group projects with other classmates. Furthermore, I am a Trek student leader at UBC. Trek is a program at UBC, which gets students involved in the community and has various events revolving around community building and teamwork. Consequently, I continue to build on my assets of being able to work with others on projects. In the past, I have been a peer wellness coach at UBC, where I had to maintain continuous online communication with students who were struggling to handle the stress associated with university life and even those who had suicidal thoughts, therefore, I have the ability to write about sensitive topics in a professional manner. However, I do not consider myself to be a great writer. I think this is one of the skills that I lack in. Technical writing is something that will definitely take time and hard work to master. Having said that, I hope that being a part of a writing team that has a couple great writers would certainly be very beneficial to me, as it would certainly help me improve my writing skills. One of the best ways I learn is by getting constructive feedback, so being able to work with a group of students who are knowledgeable enough to assist one another throughout the term will certainly help me in my journey to success in technical writing.

I look forward to working with my fellow team members. I am very excited for what lies ahead. If my application meets your needs and interests, please contact me by email at arash_farhadian@hotmail.com

Sincerely,

Arash Farhadian

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