During this unit, I had the opportunity to conduct analytical research and write a formal report on a topic I encounter daily. Furthermore, I continued to develop my peer-reviewing skills by reviewing Terry’s formal report. 

During the formal report process, there were areas that I learned that are going to be invaluable as I grow as a person working in a professional setting. An important lesson I learned was creating a responsive survey encompassing professionalism, being concise, and being directive. For example, I faced trouble making sure the questionnaire I started was not leading questions, biased, or argumentative. I overcame this lesson by concentrating on the question’s phrasing, such as eliminating leading statements, making assumptions, or pre-answering the question in the questionnaire. Another lesson I learned was being more cautious with my limited time interviewing professionals for my formal report. With better time management, I am confident that I could have conducted an in-person interview with either the AMS Council Committee or Dr. Deborah Buszard and performed a more in-depth analysis of transportation costs increasing and UBC’s perspective.

With the conclusion of unit 3 and the formal draft report, I recognized that there is an expansive list of ideas I could have written about. However, the important aspect is finding credible primary and secondary sources that constructively contribute to my claims, leading to the most effective method possible. Along with these factors, it is also essential to plan and organize. For this report, I made it my priority to plan and organize my report to prevent veering off-topic. Moving forward, I plan to refine my results to meet the requirements of the report.

In the peer-review process, I made sure my partner had a solid design plan and constructively commented on ways to improve the overall layout of the sections. These aspects included having moved certain areas before or after others, potentially including another key target audience, and incorporating fine print of the location of images. As this portion of the report was only a draft, there were undoubtedly elements for further improvement. However, Terry’s formal report draft has its main foundations and is on-track to present solid findings.

Overall, this unit enhanced my research, writing, peer-reviewing, and interviewing skills. Not only are these skills vital for professional settings, but they will also present themselves well as I continue on my journey. Applying the lessons I learned in this unit will enrich my experience and others, which excites me.

Here is a link to my Formal Report Draft: Daniel Kim Formal Report Draft