Choosing a Term & Writing
ENGL 301 unit one was a three-part process – we were first asked to take a relatively technical term and define it in a way that would be intelligible for non-technical readers. I found that a greater distance between the perceived and actual complexity of a concept, assuming the former is larger than the latter, leads to more satisfying explanations. I chose the term “Binary Search Tree” as my relatively technical term.
I learned about different types of definitions as the work began, including sentence, parenthetical, and expanded definitions. I felt very comfortable with the sentence and expanded definitions. In particular, I was pleased with my “Analysis of parts” expanded definition because it nicely detangled the “perceived” and “actual” complexity of my chosen term. Conversely, I wasn’t satisfied with my understanding of the parenthetical definitions at the time of submission.
Reviewing
Following the submission of our own definitions, my group began pairing-up to peer review each other’s definitions. Reviewing Jake Moh’s submission required some careful thought because it was very well assembled, and it would lead me to focus my feedback on broader themes in his writing. I focused on providing feedback in a way that was concise, actionable, and thoughtful. Completing the feedback was very satisfying, in large part because I had enjoyed improving the already-excellent work of a team member.
Concluding Thoughts
I was pleased to find that I had not received a significant amount of feedback from my partner. I had misinterpreted one portion, and produced a few logistical errors, but most of my partner’s feedback was less clerical. After fixing my parenthetical definition, I thought carefully through the provided feedback and applied most of the suggestions to some degree. With these changes in place, I am very pleased with the final state of my definitions. The act of writing, reviewing, and being reviewed, improved my ability in all three areas. Similar to the task of “defining a term at various levels”, I can now see the review process as a similar sort of hierarchy. Review begins at the obvious errors and ends with the semantics, where more knowledge of the subject and the document’s purpose is required for each additional pass. I’m looking forward to applying, and improving, my technical writing skills over the course of the semester.
Peer Review Report on Expanded Definition of “Binary Search Tree”