In the beginning of the semester, I thought that ENGL 301 would be my most difficult course out of the other two summer courses I was taking. However, now I think that it was the most enjoyable and stress free course because of how the assignment schedule was spaced out. This course has taught me many useful writing skills, and introduced me to how to write a variety of technical documents. These skills will be helpful for my last remaining semester at UBC, and I will further improve upon them into my future career. 

This course has taught me how to write with more conciseness and clarity. In the past, I wrote with unnecessary verbs and words to make my writing longer, and seem more complicated. However, after finishing this course I believe that avoiding unnecessary words and phrases is a practice I will consciously continue with.  

The most challenging assignment for myself was the formal research report. I have little primary research experience and it was challenging to brainstorm a topic to research. However, through my struggles with the assignment, I learned that research, and writing research reports require a lot of time to complete. Thankfully, I started early and worked on my report throughout the weeks till the due date. Also, if the topic is relevant to myself or my community then writing a report about the topic is enjoyable, and rewarding. Also, it was interesting to read the reports of my fellow team members. They all had topics that affected me such as improving student housing, and improving wait times for equipment at the UBC gyms by implementing an electronic queue system. They were all passionate about their topic and it showed in their effort in the research, and the organization of their reports. The formal report assignment has made me more comfortable with longer forms of writing that require research beforehand.       

By doing peer reviews for my team members, I was able to see the strengths and areas for improvement in their work and reflect upon areas I could improve upon. I provided feedback about my peers’ main areas of strengths which are how clear and concise their writings were and how well they organized their work. Working with my writing team for the semester has been a delight and it was a great opportunity to learn from each other.

ENGL 301 has taught me many skills and has prepared me for writing in my future career. Effective writing and communication is critical in the workplace and is an important skill for everyone. I would recommend this course to any student to better prepare them for their careers after school. I will continue practicing my writing in my future career and learn about new forms of technical documents but I will be ready to tackle these new challenges because of the skills that I learned from this course.