Unit 1 Reflection 

In the first unit of the ENGL 301 course, we were tasked to set up our blog, write bios, emails, a memo, a definition assignment and peer review. In reflecting on the process of completing this unit, I came to realize the purpose of each of the assignments.

Writing emails to potential team members is not just invitations to form a team, it also tasked me to write in a professional manner. The style of the emails is more business-like than academic. Compared to emails, the writing style of the memo is neater, and the content is more concise. I think this is because different business writings have their own purpose, and our writing style should stick to that purpose.

Writing the definition assignment and the peer review is a new experience for me. The definition assignment tasked me to write three different definitions: parenthetical definition, sentence definition, and an expanded definition of a technical term. The purpose of this assignment is to explain the term in a way that is non-insular. The term I chose is from my Chinese major–“Dao”. I really like this term because I recently start to realize what this term means. I read a novel about revenge, and this story was based in the Tang dynasty. The main character (a princess) wanted to revenge and kill the new King because the new King murdered her entire family and then took the power from the old king’s hands. On her way to revenge, she starts to realize that although the new king murdered her family, he is indeed a wise king for her people. By realizing this, she finds her “Dao”, which is to protect the country and her citizens, she knows that she needs to let her hate to go. This story impressed me and which is why I had a whole new perspective on “Dao” and chose to write it. The peer review that my team member Jenny Li wrote me made me realize that there’s a huge gap between “knowing something” and “explaining something”, especially when it comes to a philosophical term like “Dao”. I learned that I can’t explain in a way that would make everyone understand what I mean, even though I provided a standard definition for the term. The approach I took in the revision process is to induce resonance, using simple examples to make my audience understand.

Please see the attached for the revised definition assignment: 301 Revised Definition DZ

To summarize my experience of unit 1, the part I like the most is writing the definition assignment and the peer review. I find joy in reading my peers’ assignments and learning from their writing styles. When writing peer review for Jenny, I also came to know my own weaknesses and parts I can improve in my own writing. Collaboration really makes the whole learning process much faster and better.