The English 301 curriculum provides numerous opportunities aimed at sharpening your technical written communication skills in a general business, professional, and technical environment. To give you an idea of my writing style, I have compiled a list of my best works from the term.
Definitions of Scrum: The objective of this assignment is to appreciate the importance and role of definitions, and to understand how audience and purpose indicate the need for definition. We were required to differentiate between and provide three types of definitions: parenthetical, sentence and expanded definition. Organizing categories in a logical manner and effectively utilizing diagrams, I successfully defined the term “Scrum” to a target audience that did not have technical knowledge of the term.
Formal Report Proposal: The proposed report is intended to investigate, analyze, and recommend action on a problem in a workplace, volunteer or community garden I am involved in. This formal report allowed me to draw upon my experiences and interests, making research for the report very enjoyable. I formulated a formal report proposal on the feasibility of upgrading the data storage system at the University of British Columbia Visual Cognition Lab.
Complaint Letter and Bad News Letter: An effective business document is one that achieves the purpose set out by its writer. Important considerations when writing a letter of complaint include: persuading the audience to respond or act in a certain way, or to provide information. Conversely, considerations when responding to a letter of complaint with a bad news letter include: indirection (never begin or end with the bad news), avoid overreacting, and make sound decisions based on your findings. By using the You-Attitude, presenting facts and maintaining professionalism, I composed a letter of complaint requesting compensation for the inconvenience caused, and a letter of bad news expressing courteous appreciation of the complainant’s correspondence.
Peer Review: One of the most important aspects of technical writing is the process of peer review. The purpose of peer review is to provide constructive and balanced feedback that allow for effective revision at the next stage of the draft. In order to produce an effective and structured review, I created an organized peer-reviewing template, outlined the strengths and weaknesses, and provided suggestions for revisions. This is one of my peer reviews for my colleague’s formal report draft.