Unit Three Reflection Blog:
Formal Report Draft
The main task for this unit was to compose a formal report draft based on the chosen topic from unit two. The process of composing the formal report draft involved researching, analyzing, organizing, and writing a document of over 15 pages in length. Research and data collection for my report was done primarily through surveys distributed to UBC students and supplemented through secondary sources such as UBC Blog posts. The analysis and organization segments involved creating visuals such as graphs from collected data and utilizing the results to support the overarching issue. While I have experience creating reports, this assignment took longer than I had anticipated. There was much background research involved in order to adequately support my claims in the report and information was not readily available. For example, it was quite difficult to determine the number of students that would study at Irving K. Barber Learning Centre on a daily basis. Despite being in contact with staff from Irving K. Barber, we were unable to determine a specific number. As such, an estimate was used based on the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre official website.
The research component took the most amount of time with the organizing and writing components following suit. Some of the data collected from the surveys were not expected and rather surprising, however, I soon came to realize the unexpected data stemmed from biased distribution that was addressed in the limitation section of the formal report draft. Another component that took longer than expected was the analysis of data and generation of figures. The distributed survey contained only 12 multiple choice questions, however, extracting the data manually and creating visuals that included components such as appropriately-sized labels, headings, and colours took longer than expected.
All in all, it was a wonderful learning experience to conduct research, analyze data, generate figures based on transformed data, and organize the information into a cohesive report. While completing the assignment, I realized there were many areas that I would do differently to increase the overall quality of the data, such as distributing the surveys to students across all years instead of mainly senior years. However, after the completion of this formal report draft, I feel much more confident creating and submitting large reports.
Peer Reviewing Formal Report Draft
I had the opportunity to review the formal report draft of my partner, Parsa Zehtab. I was blown away by the quality of the report and it was executed well with very minimal flaws. Many of the previous mistakes were not present and it demonstrated the improvements that Parsa has made from this course. A few areas of strength I noticed from Parsa’s formal report draft included his supplemental research, use of figures to illustrate the findings, and the overall ease in following along with the paper. The supplemental research addressed the questions I had while reading and it was clear that Parsa addressed the issue holistically. While reading along, I found that it was easy to follow along and understand the statements being made. I believe this was due to the organization of the writing as well as usage of clear language. Overall, the peer review process allowed me to determine areas of strength regarding Parsa’s paper that I would wish to implement in my own writing for future assignments.
Unit Two Reflection Blog:
LinkedIn Reflection
One of the numerous tasks in this unit involved researching best practices for the professional social media platform, LinkedIn. While I already had a LinkedIn account and was familiar with its purpose, I learned much more about the platform after my research. For example, I was not aware that creative mode was even an option. Through this assignment, I consolidated information from various sources such as blogs and the official LinkedIn website and presented it to my peers. This process allowed me to practice collecting information and quickly reformat the information in my own words. As a result, I gained confidence not only in conveying information but also in using LinkedIn to network with other people. Overall, the assignment was very informative and I gained valuable experience from it.
Formal Report Proposal / Outline
The main task for this unit involved creating a formal report proposal and outline. At the beginning, I found brainstorming for a formal proposal topic to be quite difficult. Originally, I had the idea of creating a formal report on the topic of emergency department wait times. However, while the topic is very relevant and of personal interest, it was simply too large a scale for this assignment. As a result, even though I conducted much research into the topic, I ultimately decided to scrap the topic and choose another one. Currently, I am progressing well with the report as the simplicity of the new topic allows a clear path with no complications (so far). I am excited to convert the information I gather into a formal report that will address an issue that is very tangible to myself as a UBC student. I believe creating the formal report proposal and outline allowed me to have a clear vision and laid out the framework regarding the formal report. Approaching the formal report now, I feel much more confident than I was at the beginning with no direction or guidance.
Peer Review Process
The peer review process for this unit involved reviewing a team member’s proposal and providing feedback regarding the organization, expression, content, language, and overall impressions. While already done once before, the peer review process continues to teach new lessons and highlight recurring issues that I was not aware of. For example, I had the opportunity to review my partner’s (Parsa Zehtab) work. Through reviewing Parsa’s work and seeing the strengths of my partner’s proposal, I realize mistakes that I have made and aspects I could improve on in my writing. Reading and critiquing a peer’s work is not easy but I find that being able to critically analyze a piece of literature increases the confidence and quality of my own writing. Furthermore, after reading through the feedback given by Parsa, I notice a trend where I make recurring mistakes in my work such as grammatical errors or using redundant words. The feedback given by my peers have allowed me to understand areas where I can improve on and overall I believe the peer review process has been a beneficial experience in my writing journey
Unit One Reflection Blog:
Composition of the First Draft for the Technical Definition:
For unit 1.3, students were to complete an assignment that focuses on the importance of definitions. The assignment involved the usage of various definitions to describe a technical term to a non-technical audience. This assignment proved to be interesting yet challenging. I have not consciously utilized different methods previously and it was very informative to learn about the different ways of conveying information. My term, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, is mainly utilized in the medical field. Due to the complexity of the term, it was difficult to eliminate the jargon and communicate the definition to a non-technical audience. However, the parenthetical, sentence, and expanded definition made it easier to break down the information and explain the term in a coherent manner. Through this assignment, I have learned to utilize the different definitions and their roles. For example, while the parenthetical definition serves to provide clarity of a term in parentheses, the sentence definition describes the term along with its unique features. Finally, the expanded definition provides more details through various methods such as explaining its history, operation principle, and analysis of its components (if applicable). Through completion of the assignment, I have learned different methods to defining a term and tailoring it to a specific audience.
Peer Review Process
For the peer review process, I had the opportunity to review my teammate Riya Kathuria’s draft on the term “demand generation”. As I found myself reading over the draft multiple times, I realized that I have made mistakes that I needed to improve upon in my own work. It was an enlightening experience to see how my teammate utilized the same writing techniques in a different manner. For example, while I chose to use analysis of components as one of my expanded definitions, my teammate chose to use examples and current usage to define their term. After reading over the draft, I found myself being able to spot areas that needed improvement and I was able to provide constructive criticism that hopefully will benefit my teammate. I also received great feedback from another teammate and I was excited to implement their suggestions into my work.
Revision Process
Once the peer review stage was complete, students were to incorporate the feedback given from their teammates and revise the draft to improve the overall quality of writing. While some mistakes I caught upon re-reading my assignment, my teammates pointed out areas where slight changes would lead to significant improvement in clarity and in understanding. For example, because the MRI contained components that were quite complex, my teammate suggested that I include parenthetical definitions of the components as well to make the term easier to comprehend. Furthermore, my teammate pointed out sentences that were too wordy and could be phrased better. The criticism provided by my teammate allow me to strengthen areas that I need to work not only for this assignment, but in the future as well. The overall process of writing a draft, reviewing a peer’s work, and revising my own work based on my peer’s criticism allowed me to further refine my writing skills. I am grateful for the feedback given by my team and I look forward to future opportunities of growth.
Link to Revised Definition: Click Here
Link to Peer’s Review: Click Here