The following links are some examples of my best works from my time in ENGL 301. Follow any of the links to view each assignment.
Three Definitions Assignment – Lateral Flow Assay
The Three Definitions assignment was an interesting opportunity, due the unique situation of explaining advanced terms to the layman. Typically when interacting with someone unfamiliar to the subject, the use of more technical jargon would be avoided for simplicity’s sake. Taking a step back to put myself into another person’s shoes was a novel experience. The term I personally wrote about was of the Lateral Flow Assay, something I had worked extensively with during my co-op term. I wanted to write about this assay because it is something that people do know of, but are likely to not know the formal definition.
Peer Review of Three Definitions Assignment
Reviewing my teammate’s Three Definitions assignment was extremely useful when I had to revise my own assignment. Thinking about what a layman would hypothetically be confused by, and actually experiencing new terms definitely changed my initial perspective on how I should approach writing my definition. Additionally, having another person’s work to look over also helped me notice some flaws within my own writing style. Peer reviews have been a very valuable experience within this course.
One of the largest assignments for ENGL 301 was the formal report. First, we had to propose exactly what we would be writing about. Writing the proposal for my formal report was initially difficult – I wasn’t sure exactly what to write about. Eventually, I came towards the conclusion that I wanted to propose something to improve something I truly cared about. From this, I decided to write a proposal for helping my local martial arts school, Shou-Yu Liang Wushu Institute grow into a larger school, where more people could learn and enjoy themselves just as I had.
Before we began the meat of the work on the formal report, we had to plan out the progress for our writing. Writing the progress report was actually extremely useful for the overall process. Before, I had thought of a rough idea on how I would approach writing the report. I would probably interview some people, probably write after getting their results, and nothing was set in stone. Writing the progress report forced me to make my actions definite. I would have the interviews done by the 29th, and I would finish writing by the 14th. The planning of actions made my work much less rushed and enabled me to write a much better report.
Sending the formal report proposal itself was to be done within a formal memorandum. Writing my proposal memo was fairly straightforward. One thing I had to specifically note was the inclusion of increased detail. On my initial memo, I kept out significant amounts of detail, assuming the audience would have the required knowledge for the subject. However, addition of detail also helped me with writing report. I had to specifically think about my goals and actions, and put them into a concise memo.
This assignment was to find various methods to best use LinkedIn. Initially, I believed the assignment would be very boring – however, looking up LinkedIn practices was exceedingly useful. Previously, I had not made much use of LinkedIn – I did not see much benefit for using it. After research however, I quickly realized how useful of a tool LinkedIn is. From networking with previous co-workers, to finding brand new employment opportunities, LinkedIn is an incredible tool that I regret not using earlier.
For this assignment, we were to give helpful advice to a theoretical Mr. Evan Crisp. Writing a the memo was an exercise of restraint. Balancing criticism without being too offensive is something exceedingly useful within a business environment – not all work will be done perfectly, and giving constructive feedback is a great way to increase the value of the final product. Using tools such as writing with a YOU attitude was extremely useful for this assignment.
Complaint Letter and Response Letter
The complaint letter and response assignment was about writing a theoretical complaint, and a theoretical business’s response to said complaint. I found this assignment very interesting, as complaint letters are not something I have a large amount of experience with. I personally wrote about an experience I had with ordering furniture, and wrote a theoretical response that I would have hoped to received.
Once writing of the initial formal report draft was finished, each draft had to be peer reviewed by another student. This peer review process was similarly helpful to the previous ones I had written. Being given another person’s work to use as a frame of reference was exceedingly helpful to myself, as I could offer advice where I saw weakness, and use the paper to help fix my own weaknesses in writing.