Cheryl's Blog

This unit had been one of the more challenging units. Although organizing and writing my formal report had been smooth, the process of research was more time consuming than expected. First of all, I had spent much more time editing my survey and interview questions than expected because I wanted to avoid questions that were too personal or leading questions. This was much more challenging than I thought as I had to maintain neutral and not to guide participants to certain answers. Because of this, I had less time to complete the surveys and interviews. In addition to that, reviewing clients’ data also took longer than expected. While reviewing client data, I noticed many targets have changed and may not last 6 months long. Furthermore, one of my clients had new behaviour interventionists that joined the team and did not have 6 months of data. Hence, I was only able to compile 3 months of data. In the future, I should be mindful of the constant changes and consider more practical data research. I should also allocate more time to create survey questions.

In terms of organizing and writing my formal report draft, it seemed to be more straightforward. When completing the draft of my formal report, I realized that some parts from the introduction had been completed in the research proposal or research outline. Hence, some parts of the report were more about editing written work. The data collected had been quick to compile as my research sample was rather small. In addition, when completing the data analysis, the results had resembled my expectations. This meant that the results were supportive of my recommendations. Therefore, the overall writing of the report had been similar to my expectations and straightforward to complete. 

With peer reviewing, it has been an interesting experience. This was because everyone’s topic is different and it was interesting to have the opportunity to read and critique one of my teammate’s work. Furthermore, it was helpful for my writing as it highlights successful areas that I could consider to change in mine. Lisa, my peer review partner had clear distinct headings and subheadings with a strong font size contrast. This made it clearer as to where is a new section in the formal report. From reading her work, it helps me to reflect on additional areas to improve on in my own report.

Formal Report Draft: 301 Cheryl Chao Formal Report Draft

This unit was very eventful. I have never created a LinkedIn profile before because I did not know how to create an appealing profile. Through this course, I had an opportunity to research on how to create a professional and appealing profile. It was a new experience for myself and I felt confident with creating a professional profile because I had the opportunity to be evaluated by my peers and I also had the opportunity to observe other classmates’ profiles. When reviewing my partner’s profile, I was a new experience as I have not peer reviewed a network profile before and it was also my first time paying close attention to formatting and job titles. 

The process of brainstorming and preparing for my report proposal had been slightly difficult. I understand that the report should be related to personal experience, however, most of my work or volunteer experience has been related to children. Therefore, I struggled to balance the confidentiality of the clients’ information and to propose a solution that I am passionate about. Furthermore, as I continued to prepare the report, I became hesitant to change a topic as most of my peers have started on their report and I was worried about not having enough time to complete my report. Currently, I have been given feedback from my instructor about survey and interview questions that are too personal and could cause an issue on confidentiality. I plan to revise my questions in hopes that it would not cause an issue on confidentiality. Once I have revised my questions, I will conduct an interview and a few surveys and propose my solutions to Ms. Pun. 

For this unit, I had peer reviewed Amy Yung’s report proposal. I have learned to consider the implications and clearly state it in my report. I noticed that Amy’s report proposal she had mentioned the issue and importance of this issue in almost every paragraph. However, in my report proposal it was unclear of my impact that this report would have and the importance of this issue. Although I understood the importance of the issue, readers may be unfamiliar with my job, therefore, when working on my report, I should always clearly state my impact and importance. Peer reviewing my teammate’s work has impacted my writing as I often remind myself to write from a person without the same knowledge so I would not neglect information such as the impact and importance of my work. 

Revised report proposal: 301_Cheryl_Chao_Report_Proposal_Revised

Peer review of report proposal: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-99a-2019wa/2019/10/16/peer-review-of-formal-report-proposal-improving-data-collection-accuracy-at-fairview-behavior-consulting-inc/

For the writing definitions assignment, I had chosen the term “heuristics”. Initially, I thought this assignment would not be difficult as I have learned this term before. However, as I was reading the textbook and my peers’ definitions, I realized that there are many types of definitions. I learned that when defining a term, there are various ways of presenting it, such as the parenthetical definition. It was a very effective way to communicate the meaning of a word and embed it into context. The parenthetical definition worked well with my word as there is a short synonym to it. I learned various expansion strategies that I did not know could be used to define terms. Specifically, I found that the compare and contrast and the negation strategies were very helpful to differentiate it from similar terms. 

After reading Lisa’s definition, I felt that her work was very well done and had emphasized on being concise. It was very insightful to see how she was able to fit most of her expansion strategies in one sentence and embrace all key elements. I also noticed that at the end of her introduction, she had written out the expansion strategies she plans to use. This was very helpful for readers as I would have an idea of what to expect when reading her post. From peer reviewing her work, I was able to use it as an anchor 

After reading Lisa’s suggestions, I have added a clearer visual that matches my explanation and examples of how heuristics are used. When I re-read my own definition, I understood Lisa’s confusion because the diagram does not show how it relates to my term. So I ensured that I created a better link from my explanation to my diagram. Often times during the process of writing, it is easy to neglect the connection between sentences and diagram because it is clear to me at that moment. Hence, I have learned the importance of re-reading and to attempt to understand the material from an outsider’s perspective. Re-reading gives us another chance to view our body of writing as a whole and not just grammar or spelling mistakes that are easily highlighted by our laptops. Furthermore, I attempted to keep my language as concise as possible while not losing key aspects. I understood this was an area of improvement for myself and this editing process provided an opportunity to practice such skill.

Each process of this assignment had allowed me to recognize different skills. I enjoyed viewing my teammates’ work as it provided me with a comparison to see improvements in my own work. Furthermore, it was great that we were given a chance to edit our work as I was able to pick up on areas for improvement that I would not have noticed when i was writing my assignment for the first time.

Word document of the revised definition: 301 Cheryl Chao Definitions Assignment

Lisa’s peer review:  https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-99a-2019wa/2019/09/25/peer-review-of-definition-heuristics/

To: lisaliang@alumni.ubc.ca
From: cherylchao.27@alumni.ubc.ca
Date: September 18, 2019
Subject: ENGL 301 Prospective Professional Writing Team

Dear Lisa, 

This is Cheryl, one of your classmates from the technical writing class. After reading your application letter, I would like to know if you are interested to work together as part of the professional writing team this semester. 

I have read about your experience as a writer in the Collingwood  community Newspaper and the Windermere Secondary School Newspaper. This experience is phenomenal as I have wanted to join my high school newspaper but never got the chance to. I also read about your experience volunteering at care homes and summer camps. These experiences are similar to mind and I personally also enjoy working with children and to give back to the community. 

I believe the skills you have acquired from your experiences would definitely be a great addition to the writing team and would be able to help guide other peers that do not have this experience. 

Furthermore, I really admire your learning philosophy as often times many people do not have the patience to review their work and strive for perfection. With our strengths, I believe we could help to counter our weaknesses and make great contributions together. 

I have attached my application letter below and thank you for your time and consideration. If you are interested to form a team, you could reply me at cherylchao.27@alumni.ubc.ca. 

Sincerely, 

Cheryl Chao

301 Cheryl Chao Application Letter

To: ayung.24@alumni.ubc.ca
From: cherylchao.27@alumni.ubc.ca
Date: September 18, 2019
Subject: ENGL 301 Prospective Professional Writing Team

Dear Amy, 

This is Cheryl, one of your classmates from the technical writing class. After reading your application letter, I would like to know if you are interested to work together as part of the professional writing team this semester. 

I have read about your experience with various writing intensive courses and indeed I have not had much experience in those courses. These courses seem very intensive and I believe it makes you a strong writer. I admire your vast experience with writing and it would be great if we could work together as a team as I have other writing experiences that I could contribute. Furthermore, I strongly agree with learning philosophy as I also strive to finish assignment ahead of time to allow for error correction.  

I believe we could make a great team as your learning philosophy will ensure that we could finish our assignments on time and your peer editing skills would also be crucial for constructive feedback. With our strengths, I believe we could help to counter our weaknesses and make great contributions together. 

I have attached my application letter below and thank you for your time and consideration. If you are interested to form a team, you could reply me at cherylchao.27@alumni.ubc.ca. 

Sincerely, 

Cheryl Chao

301 Cheryl Chao Application Letter

To: jojoxiaojing@icloud.com
From: cherylchao.27@alumni.ubc.ca
Date: September 18, 2019
Subject: ENGL 301 Prospective Professional Writing Team

Dear Jojo, 

This is Cheryl, one of your classmates from the technical writing class. After reading your application letter, I would like to know if you are interested to work together as part of the professional writing team this semester. 

I have read about your experience being a management consultant in Shanghai and your experience as a software engineer internship here in Vancouver. Both your experiences sound very interesting and very different from my own job experiences. I also really admire your learning philosophy regarding seeking for deeper knowledge beyond the surface. 

I believe we could make a great team as you have encountered very different writing styles from myself and your determination for further knowledge will help to bring more in-depth content to our assignments together. With our strengths, I believe we could help to counter our weaknesses and make great contributions together. 

I have attached my application letter below and thank you for your time and consideration. If you are interested to form a team, you could reply me at cherylchao.27@alumni.ubc.ca. 

Sincerely, 

Cheryl Chao

301 Cheryl Chao Application Letter

MEMORANDUM

To:          Dr. Erika Paterson, Instructor, ENGL 301
From:    Cheryl Chao Student, ENGL 301
Date:      September 17, 2019
Subject: Letter of Application Submission

As requested for Assignment 1:2, I have posted my letter of application onto my blog for my ENGL 301 classmates.

My letter of application includes:

• • Research report writing experiences as a Psychology student
  • Other writing experiences from my job experiences working with children and youths which includes presentations, emails, daily logs and incident reports
  • Strong communication and organization skills developed
  • My goals and expectations of working as a team

I look forward to finding great teammates and should you have any questions, please contact me at cherylchao.27@alumni.ubc.ca

Enclosure: 301 Cheryl Chao Application Letter

5115 Cambie Street

Vancouver, BC V5Z 2Z6

September 17, 2019

ENGL 301: Technical Writing Class

University of British Columbia

2329 West Mall

Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4

Dear English 301 Classmates:

I am writing this letter to be part of the ENGL 301 Technical Writing Class’ professional writing team. I am very interested to be part of the professional writing team as I am looking for opportunities to develop and prepare myself for the future. As a fourth-year Psychology student, I have had many opportunities to be involved with writing and my job experiences have also offered opportunities to explore various writing types. Through my job experiences, I have also developed strong communication skills and a strong sense of responsibility. I believe that with my skills and experiences, I would be able to positively contribute to the professional writing team.

As a psychology student, I had written various research reports and research summaries. With my research papers, I had to summarise findings from published papers and use the findings to support a research question related to the unit in the class. These papers required a lot of summarising skills and required me to be able to seek connections between different papers. Furthermore, some research reports also required me to seek for research limitations and to provide feedback for future experiments.

Upon finishing my degree, I am hoping to pursue a career in the field of special needs education and I have been involved with working with children and youths. For my job, I had created presentations, written daily logs, incident reports, composed emails and proposals. Specifically, during this summer, I worked at a summer camp that required each camp leaders to lead a week of camp. This meant that I had to create activity proposals and well as day schedules so other camp leaders would know how to support my activities. Furthermore, I also worked at a special needs youth after school care, which required me to create presentations for the days that were scheduled for educational topics. I have created presentations on tips for money budgeting, hygiene, personal space and goal setting. For the presentations, I have also prepared scripts to help keep the information concise and accurate. For both my job experiences, I have had to compose many emails to various audiences, which included parents, supervisors and co-workers. Composing emails were a vital skill for my jobs as working with children or youth requires a lot of responsibility and clarity, therefore emails would be sent to co-workers and supervisors to explain the activities that I have prepared. Also, an email would be sent to parents to give them an idea of what is expected to happen for the month. In addition, I have had to write many daily logs that recorded my interaction with the children. Sometimes, incident reports will be written as well if severe situations or behaviours have occurred that requires parent attention.

Through my experiences, I have developed strong communication and organisation skills. This is because most situations would require additional attention and the situation needs to be communicated to various audiences, therefore, strong communication skills are very important. Moreover, ensuring children’s safety and being prepared is also important, hence, being organised with materials, day plans and having clear instructions are skills that have been readily practiced.

I hope to work with a collaborative team where everyone’s opinions are valued and heard as I believe that the best work comes from a team that utilizes the unique and positive parts of everyone’s ideas. With my strong communication and organisation skills as well as my experience with various types of writing, I will be a team player that communicates my ideas and helps to bring the group together.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration. I am thrilled for an opportunity to work with you so if you believe I am a good fit for your team, you may reach me at cherylchao.27@alumi.ubc.ca. I look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Chao

Enclosure: 301 Cheryl Chao Application Letter