From my 4 years working as an engineer and many other positions throughout my life, I understand the necessity of technical communication. This can be in person, over email, through messaging apps, via formal reports, even sending a fax is considered technical communication if you’re communicating in a professional manner. Communication is an absolutely essential skill and those with better communication skills always do better in their professional careers.
English 301 aims to improve the technical communication skills of the students taking it through a system of learning objectives. Writing in business, professional, and technical contexts are covered, and students will be creating short and long assignments with emphasis on peer review and discussion. Students will be keeping a blog with all of their assignments posted on it, and will also be working on an online portfolio that is comprised of two parts. The first part is a LinkedIn profile with appropriate references, and the second is a professionally designed website that acts as a resume. Ultimately, this course strives to encourage the student to improve their writing and self-editing skills in an effort to improve all aspects of their technical communication skills.
I have compiled a list of my best work as a student and as a member of English 301. Below there is a short description of each one below and a link to view them directly.
Definitions Assignment
This assignment was to teach students different methods of defining a single topic, with an emphasis on making it easily readable to non-technical readers. Often times engineers or researchers are unable to explain difficult concepts in layman’s terms, and this assignment reinforced the concept that mastery of a subject only comes when one is able to explain it simply. I drew success from this assignment because now I can go over my work and realize that a non-technical reader won’t be able to understand it, and make appropriate corrections for readability.
301 Brent Hanover Revised Definitions
Formal Report Proposal
The formal report proposal was not intended to simply inform the reader of the purpose of the report, but to persuade the reader that the suggested topic is both necessary and impactful. This proposal allowed me to generate an insightful and in-depth analysis of single-use plastic use at UBC, and suggest feasible methods of reducing this waste.
301 Brent Hanover Revised Report Proposal
Progress Report for Formal Report
This progress report provided experience with writing a memo and how to inform the reader of progress made. The most useful aspect of this assignment was breaking the report up into a manageable list of dates and tasks. This assignment was kept as a blog post instead of a .pdf file so that the reader could continue to access the survey and outline at the bottom of the assignment.
301 Brent Hanover Revised Progress Report for Formal Report
Complaint and Adjustment Letters
This assignment, while appearing to be written by two parties, was just written by myself, describing a mock-scenario where I received poor treatment from Amazon regarding a product delivery. I put myself in the place of both parties, trying to create an amicable resolution for a difficult situation. This was very helpful to help me in the future with conflict resolution over written media.
301 Brent Hanover Revised Complaint Adjustment Letters
Peer Review of Formal Report Draft
After writing the first draft of the formal report, we performed peer reviews on our teammate’s drafts. I helped my partner create a better report, and she helped me create a more concise, readable, and coherent paper. This assignment helped me refine my peer-review skills and showed me how to create a list of helpful advice without being condescending or overly critical.
301 Brent Hanover Revised Peer Review Formal Report
Peer Review of LinkedIn Profile
LinkedIn profiles are necessary for gaining employment in a media-centric world, and this assignment helped us create a better profile by peer reviewing each others profiles and offering notes and advice on how to improve them. This has helped my profile become a stronger, more readable, and easier accessible page.