Introduction
In this reflection, I was able to learn my strengths and weaknesses in both the professional field and my writing style. By reflecting on this reflection, I am able to understand my thought processes in creating my LinkedIn profile, drafting my formal report and peer reviewing my partner’s work. It allows me to identify the weaknesses I have improved on and those that I still need to work on.
Creating a LinkedIn Profile
Before the course, I already had a LinkedIn profile to start with, but I never researched how to make my profile stand out. Through the process of revising my profile, I learned the specific algorithms in LinkedIn and how you could make your profile pop up for recruiters in more related fields. For instance, before I did not know that writing a summary with specific keywords would allow recruiters in related fields easily see your profile. I also took the time to update my profile to include my current degree and the work I did in the past year. Overall, this assignment was really useful in helping me understand online job networks and how to best present yourself online. This is a useful skill especially with a lot of jobs looking to LinkedIn due to the pandemic.
Brainstorming and Preparing the Report Proposal and Outline
When I started brainstorming my topic for the formal report, I was struggling with coming up with something tangible I could do due to the pandemic. However, I thought a lot about my past undergraduate degree and what I am qualified to do, and decided to do something for a community that I have been a part of since I was young: a club for international people in Taipei. In the process, I also had some trouble thinking of the scope of my research and how to frame it as a formal proposal. To solve this, I found that looking at examples in the textbook and talking to my group members helped a lot. Having the report proposal checked off before completing the outline was also helpful in initiating the research process, as it was easy to write the outline based off the proposal. So far, these assignments were really useful in getting my research plan organized. A question I still have is: since I have so many parts of my primary research, how am I supposed to clearly integrate these in my official report?
Reviewing my Partner’s Proposal & The Peer Review Process
Reading my partner’s research proposal gave me a lot of insight into how to write concisely, but hitting all the important points. After reading my partner’s proposal, I immediately took note of things that I could change in mine, such as condensing my sentences, changing my phrasing from the negative to the positive, and reorganizing some parts of my proposal. In this process, I was able to see how others are structuring their proposals given their respective research backgrounds and suggest a few changes, based on my understanding of research.
Reading my group’s work opened my eyes to the scope of the formal report. It allowed me to see what fields others are interested in researching, especially during the pandemic. For instance, one of my group members has based her research on the challenges working at home during the pandemic. I thought that this direction was excellent given the circumstances and I am excited to read her findings, since it is so relevant during these times.
Conclusion
Overall, I think the peer review process allowed me to see the flaws and strengths in my writing. Rotating partners was especially helpful when peer-reviewing as many people have different perspectives and point out different issues in my writing. Also, being able to read others’ writing gave me a lot of ideas of how I could change mine. I believe my biggest issue is writing concisely, but I struggle less with the organization of my thoughts. Thus, peer-reviewing gave me a better idea of what I need to work on and how to expand my writing style to match the intended purposes.
301 Ashley Yuan Formal Report Proposal_Revised
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