One of the main issues I had this term was writing for the audience. It seemed like a sample task, but often when I began writing I found it difficult. I would often realize at the end of completing an assignment that I hadn’t appealed to the audience I was writing for. This was a particular challenge for the formal report. For my report, I had issues explaining how the issue I was writing my report on was relevant to the reader, and instead often focused on how it was relevant to UBC students (which was not the intended audience). Another challenge was learning to write with YOU attitude. This was again related to writing for the intended reader, so overall this seemed to be the largest challenge for me in this course.
In terms of what went smoothly this term, I found writing the peer reviews and reflection blogs rather straightforward. For the peer reviews, I found it easy to identify what was done well in my writing partner’s work, and what could be improved upon. For the reflection blogs, I didn’t find it challenging to reflect upon my previous work, and discuss what went well and what did not. This kind of reflective or analytical writing was much easier for me than writing letters or reports that required us to use YOU attitude and write for some professional audience.
I believe the wide range of courses I’ve taken and me building my critical thinking skills has set me up well for graduate school and future research. Over the course of my degree, I have learned a wide range of subjects, and this has allowed me to apply concepts I learned in one course to what I’m learning in a different course. This will be important to research, since you will often have to apply concepts across different disciplines in order to overcome obstacles. As well, I’m a hardworking student who is persistent and willing to overcome struggles that will definitely be encountered when doing research. Persistence and ambition are often just as important as having a firm grasp of the material being researched when it comes to overcoming challenges.
Overall, the reflective blogs written this term have been extremely useful for me reflecting on my work over the course of the term, and I believe they were invaluable to my learning this term. They allowed me to reflect upon what I was doing well, and what I could improve upon.