Below are a few examples of my best assignments completed in English 301. Each assignment is provided with a short commentary on its purpose and my success in the completion process.
Peer Review of Formal Report
Purpose – In this peer review assignment, students were required to carefully examine the overall formal report document of their writing team partner, taking into account writing techniques and strategies. Essentially, as with every peer review throughout the course, students were urged to offer constructive and balanced feedback that would allow for effective revision at the next stage of the formal report project. Students were asked to begin by identifying the report by name, indicating in specific terms the strengths of the draft, and indicating the specific areas of the draft where revision would lead to marked improvements in the final presentation copy. In crafting the review, it was highly recommended that students consider the following headings to organize and group their comments: content, organization, style, and design.
Success – My peer review of Manraj Athwal’s Formal report was my strongest peer review throughout the term. Before writing the report, I constructed a template to properly structure the review. This template allowed me to provide overall impressions and suggestions on various significant headings regarding the qualities of content, organization, style, and design. Consequently, my writing was very well organized by headings and subheadings. Furthermore, I strongly believe that I took full advantage of the writing with YOU-attitude throughout my review. For example, I noticed that certain details of an effective formal report, such as the details of the conclusion, were not included in the formal report. Instead, only an outline of some sections was provided. Whether it was due to a confusion or lack of effort from my writing partner, I made sure to put the focus on my partner’s writing by using the YOU-attitude consistently, rather than irritating or insulting him and his work. Furthermore, I had a quick look at my partner’s formal report after he made revisions and I must say that I have definitely seen a lot of improvements. I am very proud of him for his great work. Thus, I am very happy that I was able to help my partner by providing him with one of my best and most effective pieces of technical writing this term.
Memorandum to Evan Crisp – Writing with YOU attitude
Purpose – This assignment was designed to introduce students to the “YOU-attitude” and reader-centered writing. Students were requested to read a poorly written e-mail by Evan Crisp, a student in English 301, to a professor requesting to be added to a full course. Then, students were required to write a memorandum (memo) of advice to Evan on best practices in writing effective e-mails to professors. Students were encouraged to demonstrate the YOU-attitude towards Evan throughout the entire memo, providing feedback and advice without insulting Evan’s original e-mail in any way or telling him directly what to do.
Success –My memo to Evan Crisp was very successful in maintaining the YOU-attitude throughout. I believe, it was a great demonstration of the YOU-attitude in a well-organized and expressed memo. It was very interesting to write a memo to Evan using the YOU-attitude, giving him advice about how to incorporate the YOU-attitude into his own e-mails. Furthermore, the major strength of my assignment is due to the fact that it did not contain the pronoun ‘you’ in the body of the memo and imperative verbs in the entire memo. Consequently, there was no instance in the memo that gave direct orders to Evan or irritated/insulted him in any way. I made sure to put the focus on Evan and how he could improve his writing rather than what I think is right or wrong about his writing. Essentially, my memo provided polite, yet effective feedback to Evan who was struggling to write an effective e-mail to his professor requesting to be put into a full course.
memo-writing-with-YOU-attititude
Definition Assignment
Purpose – For the definition assignment 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. Guidelines on how to come up with these three types of definitions were provided in the course textbook, Technical Communications. Next, students were required to have a 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.
Success – The success of my definition assignment is evident as it is very organized and meets all the requirements set by the textbook regarding the various types of definitions. My definition assignment was on the biological term Mitochondria. After receiving a peer review from my writing team partner, it was suggested that a few of the words I used were potentially too complex for the target audience I was writing to. In the self-editing process, I decided to add parenthetical definitions to define these complex terms rather than cutting them from my assignment. Essentially, I used the skills I gained through defining my main term to define other significant terms that were also relatively complex for my target audience to understand without a simple explanation. Additionally, my writing team member mentioned that the most effective elements of my assignment were the expanded strategies I used for the expanded definition section, as well as the figures I used to help my audience visualize the complexity of mitochondria. Thus, after adding some additional parenthetical definitions to help my target audience understand every part of my writing, my assignment has become a very successful and strong piece of technical writing in this course.
Formal Report Proposal
Purpose – The formal report proposal was set out to get students started on their formal report, which is one of the major assignments of English 301. Sometimes the hardest part of starting an assignment is coming up with an appropriate topic; therefore, this strategic approach to the formal report was designed to give students clear instructions on potential topics and requirements of the assignment. It encouraged students to use the textbook of the course, Technical Communications, as a guide throughout the process. By having students explore various topic, prepare a proposal, and generate ideas for the formal report before writing it, this assignment put every student on the right track in working towards a very structured, cohesive, and effective formal report.
Success – Hearing about the formal report assignment and its requirements at the start of the course was intimidating. Reading through the course syllabus, I knew it was going to be a challenge to write a formal report assignment over 12 pages long. However, I think the formal report proposal was a big success for me, as I was able to come up with a very good topic before moving onto the next steps of the formal report process. I was able to research some of my interests and experiences to come up with an effective topic, which has the potential of becoming a great final assignment at the end of the course. My formal report proposal is very strong in providing a clear organization and structure on my preferred topic. By outlining some of the necessary sections required for the final formal report, it has allowed me to envision a clear plan moving forward. Although I continually built on my ideas throughout the next stages of the formal report process, I still believe this assignment was a major success for me in the course.
Complaint Letter
Purpose – The complaint letter assignment was designed to help students understand the elements of effective business writing. Students were requested to write a letter of complaint about an error on a bill, rude service, a mistake in delivery, or the poor quality of some product they have purchased. A set of effective guidelines was set for students to use. These guidelines encouraged students to use a rational, credible, and polite, yet firm tone while including the following details of the situation: the transaction information, the problem, the problem’s consequences to the student, and the solution proposed by the student. The purpose of this assignment was not to vent frustration by writing an angry, irrational, and rambling letter. The purpose was to construct an effective complaint letter to a company with details, facts, and requests in a way that presents you as a worthy customer, leading to a potential compensation for any inconvenience suffered.
Success – My complaint letter was addressed to Staples, a company from which I had purchased 3 books for one of my courses. One of these books was for me, while the others were for two of my other friends who were taking the same course. Only one of these book arrived on time, while the others did not arrive until six weeks after the purchase date. Consequently, my friends and I shared one book throughout the term. The aim of my letter was to persuasively convince Staples to hold the second shipment of the missing books and to offer my friends and I a refund for the two books that did not arrive. My letter was strong in that it did not focus on the negative aspects of the situation or place blame on Staples for their bad service. By creating a neutral tone that was not accusatory, I was able to receive a refund about a week later. I know there is a high chance staples would have provided me with a refund either way; however, I am very proud of what I have achieved through writing an effective business letter to the Staples team who was very understanding of my situation.