Author Archives: Diana Choi

Taking ENG301 was once of the most practical courses I have taken in the years of studying at the University of British Columbia. I have always struggled with limited vocabulary choices, use of passive voice, overuse of lengthy words/phrases, and lack of coherence in writing. I had many areas to improve and strengthen my writing styles.

Peer reviewing was the most significant process out of all. At the beginning of the course, I felt quite uncomfortable showing others my writing. I was not confident in my own writing styles because I knew I had lots of weakness with English being my second language. However, the feedbacks and suggestions from peer reviewers/team members allowed me to read my writing objectively and consider different factors of the audience. Thus, getting feedback enhances my ability to reach a wide audience.

I was also afraid to criticize other people’s writings, but the process rather encouraged me to reflect back on my own work. I made sure my work conveys what I intend to deliver so that the readers understand the process well enough to replicate it themselves. Overall, editing someone else’s work was one of the best ways to learn how to edit my own.

One of the most effective writing techniques I have acquired was writing with YOU-attitude. Firstly, the writing technique establishes a respectful relationship between the reader and the writer. Secondly, it allows you to look at a situation from the reader’s perspective and emphasize what the reader wants to know.

To conclude, I would like to give thanks to Dr. Patterson who provided informative guidelines that enhanced my personal, academic, and professional growth.

The process of creating a Web Folio was quite a fun experience as you can tailor it to your own personal preferences. I have chosen my theme that matches my taste, which is an organized and a simple look. At the same time, I incorporated some of my photos to create some impression.

At the beginning of the course, I was struggling to re-order the pages and the menus, but now I have so much more flexibility and feel confident in using various types of tools and techniques to alter the Web Folio.

I also went back and improved some of the existing works I have produced on the Web Folio. I noticed my writing styles/techniques lacked some fluency and cohesiveness due to common grammatical errors in the writing. The process of improving old writing works made me realize one more proofreading is not enough!

I am very confident with my application package. The majority of the components matches many of the criteria that NUVO is seeking, which is very similar to the kind of career field I would like to get into. My resume and the cover letter contains examples of skills and past experiences that are relevant to social media marketing field. The layout of the application package is very consistent and organized with clear headings.

Overall, creating my Web Folio was another great experience that enhanced my individuality and increased my confidence in writing skills.

Researching Process

• During the researching process, I did not encounter any major obstacles. Collecting secondary data regarding Canada and the UBC campus’ food loss and wastage were easily accessible. Especially when researching for Canada’s food wastage data, organizations such as Agricultural and Agri-Food and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations have immense data available on their websites. One of the limitations of collecting secondary data was that the data available could be outdated. The majority of the data attained were from 2010/2011, which could have had little value to the current situation.

Organizing Process

• The organizing process was somewhat challenging due to various types of tasks needed to be done before the event day. For instance, advertising the event through a Facebook event page, posters, emails while carrying out primary research (online questionnaire, on-site observation, and face-to-face interview). Finding the time to conduct a face-to-face interview and carry an on-site observation of the focus groups before and after the event were difficult. Although there were some time constraints, all the tasks were completed accordingly and I managed to finish the project on time.

Writing Formal Report Draft

• Writing formal report draft was done using YOU-attitude style. The previous assignments such as writing business letters and email to Evan Crisp helped to enhance and strengthen my writing style in a professional manner. Interpreting findings and data collections were considerably easy. However, transcribing the face-to-face interview was time-consuming.

Writing Peer Review

• The process of writing peer review was not so challenging. The length of the peer’s formal draft was not significantly lengthy and the report itself was straightforwardly written. Hopefully, I provided thorough and meaningful feedbacks that were beneficial to Sherwin’s final report.

Unit 2 was a great learning process. I had an opportunity to find out more about the use of LinkedIn as a professional networking medium, although I have been using LinkedIn for several years now. I have taken my peer reviewer, Shervin’s suggestions into considerations and made some minor changes to my profile. For instance, re-reading and fixing grammatical errors of the job descriptions. I have also used LinkedIn for researching companies and finding more in-depth about their job application process. I become more aware of the global trends by joining groups and following up on the companies of my interest.

I did not encounter any challenges when brainstorming a topic, as I already knew the main issue of my current residence. However, I struggled to come up with an outline of how to raise awareness of the problem, which could then cause residents to partake in action and alleviate food waste generation. I realized measuring the improvements in food waste reduction amongst the whole Arbutus Ponderosa residents were unfeasible and impractical. The solution that I came up with was selecting a 1 to 2 focus groups and going on an on-site observation to see if there are any improvements made to their sorting out food scraps habits before and after the event. Although it is more labour-intensive, this is a more realistic way of measuring the results of food waste reduction project.

The peer review was a very useful way of improving my writing styles. I need to keep in mind that the intended audience might not share the same background and experiences. I also believe writing a peer review also gives me an opportunity to critique my own style of writing. Overall, I have learned the significance of peer reviewing by exchanging suggestions and recommendations amongst the group members.

Enclosure

Revised Proposal: 301 – Diana Choi – Revised Formal Report

URL for Peer Review: http://engl301.arts.ubc.ca/2016/10/08/assignment-2-1-peer-review-for-diana-choi/

Original Writing:

During the process of writing the definitions of my terminology “social space”, I have faced several challenges. For instance, I was uncertain about where to begin with when explaining the term since our audience was to write for “non-technical” readers. The term I chose had a complex concept with many layers to deconstruct. However, with the guidance of our readings, it demonstrated how the terminology can be explained by first providing a Parenthetical, a Sentence Definition, and then moving onto the deeper meaning of the term. I tried to come up with examples that the reader can easily visualize and get an overview of what the term “social space” means.

Peer Review:

Reviewing Gary Tam’s peer review of my definitions gave me an insight on what other ways I could approach and provide a clearer meaning of the term “social space”. One of the aspects Gary struggled was interpreting the diagram of the Social Space. I realized the diagram (visual) and the explanation of the diagram were not detailed enough to offer him an understanding of the concept. Gary has also pointed out the example I used wouldn’t be applicable to those who do not study at UBC thus, using the acronym UBC would be meaningless to other readers.

Editing the Original Writing:

When re-writing and editing the old draft of the definitions, I took considerations of what Gary had suggested. I made sure all the examples I provided were relevant and applicable to readers who do not attend the University of British Columbia. I have also paid more attention to grammatical and spelling errors to improve the coherence of the writing.

The overall of the Unit One helped me become aware of how to deliver information in an organized and straightforward way. It is crucial to take the readers’ educational backgrounds, age, and other factors into considerations to convey information in an effective manner. As an author, writing professionally does not mean writing with no grammatical or spelling errors but be consistent and be wary of unnecessary information.

I have attached the rewritten definition assignment: 301 Diana Choi Definitions

I have also attached the peer review of my definition, which can be accessed here.

From Diana Choi

To: Gary Tam

Date: September 22, 2016

Re: Team Members

Dear Gary,

I would be pleased to accept the invitation to join our writing team.

Reviewing your application letter, you have great professional backgrounds with influential interpersonal and coordinational skills. I believe that these set of skills would play a predominant role when interacting with students in various fields of study. I also believe your time management skills would be valuable, especially because this course requires specific due dates for each assignment. We do also share some weakness in writing so it would be great to help each other out during the process of working together as a team.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Diana

Enclosure: 301 Diana Choi Application Letter

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From Diana Choi

To: Jocelyn Lee

Date: September 20, 2016

Re: Team Members

Dear Jocelyn,

I have recently heard from Shervin that you would like to join our writing team. I would be pleased to accept you as our team member.

I have examined your letter of application, you have great set of writing skills in the fields of academic and business. It has been stated in your application letter that you have some background in editing academic CVs and resumes. I have a similar background but more towards business aspects. I believe we could exchange knowledge in that matter and benefit from each other by working together.

I will be delighted to receive your reply email.

Sincerely,

Diana

Enclosure: 301 Diana Choi Application Letter

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From Diana Choi

To: Shervin Mortazavi

Date: September 18, 2016

Re: Team Members

Dear Shervin,

I have joined ENG301 class later than everybody else and if you are still looking for team members, then I would gladly accept your invitation. We could also try and look for one student each to join our writing team.

I have also reviewed your application letter and seems like we have similar goals to achieve within this course. I would like to develop stronger communications skills to further aid me in pursuing professional career as well.  Your application letter states that you have some experience of writing proposals with strong arguments. I believe that would be an advantageous tool so would like to learn some strategies from you. Hopefully I can join your team and can help you find other potential members to join ours.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Diana

Enclosure: 301 Diana Choi Application Letter

To: Dr. Erika Paterson, ENG301 Instructor

From: Diana Choi, Student D.C.

Date: September 15, 2016

Subject: Application Letter

Professor Paterson, I am writing this letter to inform you that my Letter of Application has been posted onto my blog, which can be assessed through the following link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/dianachoi/2016/09/15/letter-of-application/. I have also attached the word document at the bottom of the memorandum.

The letter of application includes the following details:

• an outline of my current education and professional background
• a brief statement of my professional interest
• a detailed review of my work experience
• a detailed review of my writing experience
• an overview of weaknesses in my writing skills
• an overview of my learning philosophy

Please let me know if you have any questions  and comments regarding my application letter. I can be reached at diana.choi708@gmail.com. I hope to hear from you soon.

Kind regards,

Diana

Enclosure: Letter of Application

301-diana-coi-application-letter

0000 West Mall

Vancouver BC, XXX XXX

September 15, 2016

English 301

University of British Colombia

Vancouver, BC

To my fellow ENG301 Technical Writing students:

I am writing in hopes of finding a position within a professional writing team for the duration of 2016 Winter semester. I am currently a fourth-year student completing Bachelor of Arts in Sociology at the University of British Colombia. Having to take several positions both in and out of school, my teamwork skills gained at Alpha Kappa Psi and working at Hausie firm as a social and digital marketing intern make myself a potential candidate for this position.

As briefly mentioned in the introduction, I am a marketing member of Alpha Kappa Psi, which is a professional business fraternity. My predominant role is to work with other team members and analyze the weakness of the incomplete business cases. This job requires each member to work cooperatively to come up with a new marketing plan each week. I believe being able to communicate with team members and meeting punctual deadlines would be great instruments when working for a professional writing team.

I recently worked as a social and digital marketing intern at Hausie, which enhanced my ability to write at a professional and personal level. Hausie is an e-commerce fashion platform and my main role was to create articles, stories and other content that are appropriate to Hausie’s editorial page. This practice has allowed myself to write in a professional manner with a specific style of writing. I have also handled five different social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Linkedln. I believe writing at a personal level that invites conversation and interaction could potentially lead to a significant asset as a professional writing team member.

One of my weakness would be sentence structure. I tend to struggle when transitioning sentences, which weakens my style of writing. I hope that peer reviews from other team members could provide me some feedbacks to improve my writing structure.

My learning philosophy is that students learn better when they are provided with a comfortable learning space where they are able to voice their educational processes and share with others. Creating a sense of community stimulate students to engage better beyond classroom settings.

Overall, I am prepared to devote significant amount of time to this course as a professional writing team member and hope to truly gain as much out of the experience by interacting with other team members. Thank you for taking your time and effort to review my application and please contact me at: diana.choi708@gmail.com if this application aligns with your ideal team member/candidate.

Best regards,

Diana (Da Yeon) Choi

301-diana-coi-application-letter