Self-Assessment Reflection

While I was reviewing old posts I have made on my blog, I stumbled across the “ABOUT ENG 301” page where I wrote about expectations I had for this course. Towards the end of that page, I wrote about how nervous I was for making the decision to take this English course knowing that English has always been one of my weakest subjects in school. However, one thing that I sure of was the fact that practice makes perfect. After having complete the course, I can confirm that the initial statement is true.

Throughout the course, I had plenty of opportunities to practice technical writing, peer review others’ work, self-edit and revise my own work. These practices not only gave me the opportunity to gain insight from my peers’ work, but it also equip me with the skill sets needed to minimize my own mistakes each time I start a new assignments. I am so grateful to have taken this course knowing that I now have what it takes to write effective business letters and formal proposals. On top of that I also have the ability to present myself professionally through my LinkedIn page, resume, and cover letter.

My favourite component of this course will definitely have to be the formal report. From identifying an issue, to coming up with a resolution and writing a complete formal report to present my recommended solutions was such an exciting process for me. Although I must admit that gathering data and carrying out the actual study was a very long and difficult process, I did find it rewarding when I was finally able to interpret the data I have gathered and use it to come up with solutions for the formal report.

Overall, I believe that I have great improvement in my technical writing skills and I hope that I will be able to continue to utilize the knowledge I have gained from this course upon graduating from UBC.

Reflection on Creating Web Folio

After completing my Web Folio, I was surprised to find out how difficult this last portion of the assignment was. In fact, I would say it is one of the hardest assignments for me. I think this is due to the fact that I am not very familiar with web design so I had a lot of difficulty navigating through the different menus and figuring out how to add and remove menus to my current blog. However, I am glad that I had it figured out through trial and error.

My favourite part of this assignment was generating the page containing my best works. This is because I find it very rewarding to be able to put together pieces of work I have done over the entire semester. This also gave me a chance to reflect back and see how far I’ve come in terms of self-editing and technical writing.

Making an online resume was something that I have never done before. I have always only generated resumes through Microsoft word. It definitely wasn’t easy generating a resume online that was neatly spaced out and presented aesthetically. This may also be due to the fact that I am not advanced with html so I had difficulties when it comes to formatting. In the end, I was able to figure out the spacing and present my online resume neatly with the use of colour and different fonts. Overall, I am very proud of myself for this portion of the web folio.

Unit Three Reflection

This unit was one of the most difficult yet exciting unit for me in this course. The process of coming up with a research plan and gathering data was more time consuming than I thought. When planning my research, I was expecting to have a much larger size sample size, however I was only able to get 23 front line agents and only 5 managers to participate in the survey. Gathering responses from front line agents was a very slow process as a lot of them had different shifts or are on vacation. One feedback I had regarding my survey was the wording of the questions, some agents indicated that the wording was confusing and it is something that I can improve on in the future. For instance, one of the survey question that I had was “How many of your calls end with a customer threatening to file a CCTS complaint?”. Some front line agents were confused whether it is asking how many calls in general gets threaten to file CCTS complaints or how many called with complaints gets threaten to file CCTS. This is something that I will keep in mind next time when creating survey questions. I will need to be more specific with the wording of my questions.

Although the process of gathering data wasn’t my favourite part of the research, I did really enjoy the process of analyzing my data and writing the draft of my report. The results from the surveys were similar to what I had expected, which is great because I can use that data along with the CCTS annual reports to support my recommendations for changes in the call centre. I was able to use the survey responses from front line agents and compare it with the responses from managers to find the common problem and procedure gap in the Burnaby call centre. Originally, I had planned to only use the mid-year CCTS report, but I was able to find the 2018 annual report from CCTS as well, which was extremely useful because it gave me a list of top complaints filed by Telus customers.

As always, the I find the process of peer review very helpful. When I am writing the draft of my formal report, I get so nitpick about the little details of the report that I forget to look at the big picture and the overall layout. My partner was able to give me great feedback on the overall appearance of my formal report. Through previous peer review processes, I’ve picked up lot of tips regarding self editing and looking at my work through the reader’s lens so there was a lot more self editing done prior to the peer review process for this formal report.

First Draft of my Formal Report: 301 Lisa Liang Formal Report Draft

Unit Two Reflection

I found this unit to be very interesting. The integration of social media networking and report proposal writing is truly something I have not been formally evaluated on prior to this course. Although I have created a LinkedIn profile during the first year of my undergraduate studies, I have never gotten the opportunity to have peers review or critic my profile. As a science student, I have written many research reports, but I was mostly evaluated for the content rather than the format of formal report proposals. Throughout my entire years of being an undergraduate science student, it was a process of imitation, through examining other report proposals and copying the style without a solid understanding of the format of a formal report proposal.

To my surprise, I actually quite enjoyed the process of brainstorming and preparing my report proposal and outline. I think it is because I have chosen a topic that I have had plenty of experience in and it is an issue that I have always wanted to address but never got the chance to while I was working full time at Telus. This unit gave me the opportunity to put my ideas into action. Although I am a bit nervous about talking to the business analyst team at Telus, I am very excited to see the results of my research report. Once I have the results from my surveys, I will be able to propose the implementations that I think is necessary to make a change at Telus.

For this round of peer review, I was partnered up with Jojo, who proposed a brilliant idea of implementing vegetarian options in her local dumpling restaurant. Through reviewing her proposal, I learned to always revise my own work in the reader’s perspective. To Jojo, she was very familiar with the restaurant so she understood a lot of the background information that most readers would not understand. To use my report proposal as an example, I may know the impact a CCTS complaint has, but the reader (Jojo) does not. Next time, during self-editing process, I will remember to re-read my writing from the reader’s perspective before submitting my work. Similar to unit 1, I think that the peer review process not only helps me with my work that I have already submitted, but it also serve as helpful reminders and tips for my future writing.

My revised report proposal: 301 Lisa Liang Revised Formal Report Proposal
Peer review received for the proposal: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-99a-2019wa/2019/10/15/peer-review-of-report-proposal-reducing-ccts-complaints-at-the-telus-call-centre-in-burnaby/

Unit One – Reflection Blog

In this unit, I was partnered up with Cheryl from my writing team to peer review my three definitions of the term “radiotracer”. Initially, when I wrote the three definitions, I tried to have it written in a way that is as straight forward as possible. That way, my intended audience can fully understand the term without getting confused. Although I have tried to eliminate jargons as best as I can, it wasn’t until when Cheryl point out the sentence “since cancer cells are known to uptake glucose at a much faster rate, deoxyglucose are commonly used as tracers in cancer patients” that I realized it may be confusing for patients who have no knowledge of the chemistry terms. To avoid that, I decided to make a link between the term “deoxyglucose” and “glucose” by adding a parenthesis definition beside the term “deoxyglucose”.

While I was peer reviewing Cherly’s definitions, I had noticed that she gave quite a bit of history behind her term and where the term was originated from. One of the takeaways from reading her definition was that I find it very interesting as a reader to be given background information of the term first before fully defining it. This was also one of the suggestions she had given me regarding my definition. Although I did briefly state the year of when it was discovered, I did not include the history of when tradiotracers were used in humans. I have since added the names of the scientists who discovered the technology as well as the year of the discovery.

It is definitely interesting how I didn’t think explanations for pictures were necessary until I read others’ work. While reading my team members’ definitions, I was able to compare and contrast the different writing styles. For those who had included an explanation of their pictures, I found it much easier to understand why that specific picture was used. However, for those who did not give an explanation of the pictures attached, myself included, I find it very difficult to digest the visuals, especially diagrams. In my case, I thought the diagram was self explanatory because unconsciously, I knew what it meant. On the other hand, Cheryl, who did not have any background in medical physics found it rather confusing. Instead of just attaching the diagram, I have revised it to include a short sentence explaining what radiotracer was used for in that specific case.

Overall, it was a great learning experience to be able to revise others’ work. During the peer review process, I was able to reflect on my own work. I was surprised to find how much editing I was able to do on my own simply through reviewing others’ work. After receiving feedback from my peers, I was able to write a clear and concise definition of the term radiotracer.

Attached is word document of my revised definitions: Definitions – Radiotracer

Here is the Link to Cherly’s peer review of my definitions: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-99a-2019wa/2019/09/26/peer-review-of-your-definition-radiotracer/

Letter to Writing Partner 3

To:Amy Yung [ayung.24@alumni.ubc.ca]
From: Lisa Liang [lisaliang@alumni.ubc.ca]
Date: September 16, 2019
Subject: English 301 Writing Team

Hi Amy,

I am emailing in regards to the English 301 application you have posted on your blog.

After reading the application letter you’ve posted on your blog, I believe that we will form a great writing team. Similar to you, I like completing my assignments well ahead of time thus, I am writing to you hoping to form a writing team well in advance.

I am a fourth year student, working towards my bachelor’s degree in Science. During my third year, I was a part of the UBC co-op program, where I had plenty of practice writing formal emails and cover letters. While self-editing is one of your strengths, it is one of my weaknesses. However, I am a very well organized and a great team player. I believe that our strengths and weaknesses will complement each other to form a great writing team.

Attached is a copy of my application letter to the technical writing class. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me via email.

Best Regards,

Lisa Liang

 

Letter to Writing Partner 2

To:Tom Howey [tom.howey@alumni.ubc.ca]
From: Lisa Liang [lisaliang@alumni.ubc.ca]
Date: September 16, 2019
Subject: English 301 Writing Team

Hi Tom,

I am emailing in regards to the English 301 application you have posted on your blog.

We both seem to have come from very similar backgrounds where a lot of our formal writing practice are from research papers in the field of science. I am a fourth year student, working towards my bachelor’s degree in Science. Aside from research papers, I’ve also had plenty of practice from my co-op experience. Writing formal emails and cover letters became a daily routine for me at one point.

From your application letter, it seems that this is your first online collaborative experience. In contrary, most of my electives have been online courses so I am very used to this online collaborative environment. I believe that your skills in conveying messages through visuals together with my online collaborative skills will form a great writing team.

Attached is a copy of my application letter to the technical writing class. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me via email.

Best Regards,

Lisa Liang

 

Letter to Writing Partner 1

To:Xiaojing Huang [jojoxiaojing@icloud.com]
From: Lisa Liang [lisaliang@alumni.ubc.ca]
Date: September 16, 2019
Subject: English 301 Writing Team

Hi Jojo,

I am emailing in regards to the English 301 application you have posted on your blog.

Your application stood out to me because we both had very similar experiences. I was also once in the UBC co-op program, where I got to learned how to write formal cover letters and emails. Your career path of switching from Accounting to Computer science is definitely very interesting, both of which gave you a chance to practice your formal writing.

I am a fourth year student, working towards my bachelor’s degree in Science. Aside from my co-op experience, I have also had plenty of practice with formal writing, including scientific articles and research papers. I believe that your attention to detail together with my organization skills will form a great writing team.

Attached is a copy of my application letter to the technical writing class. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me via email.

Best Regards,

Lisa Liang

 

Memorandum for Application Letter

MEMORANDUM

To: Dr. Erika Patterson, Instructor of English 301
From: Lisa Liang, Student of English 301
Date: September 11, 2019
Subject: Submission of Application Letter

Thank you for the application invitation posted on your blog. I have submitted my application letter. Attached to this memorandum is the full application letter I have posted.

The document includes

  • Experience with local newspaper publications
  • Volunteer activities in the community
  • Strengths and weaknesses
  • Learning philosophy

Please let me know if you have any questions. I hope to hear from you soon.

Enclosure: Application Letter

301 Lisa Liang Application letter

Letter to the Technical Writing Team

September 11, 2019

Technical Writing 301
397 1873 E Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1

Dear Technical Writing 301 Class:

Thank you for the English 301 writing team invitation posting.

I am applying to be accepted into the professional writing team. After reading the requirements for the posting, I have decided that I am an excellent candidate for this role. Currently, I am a fourth year university student working towards my bachelor’s degree in the faculty of science. My previous experience as a writer for the Collingwood community Newspaper and Windermere Secondary Student Newspaper has well equipped me with the experience needed for this role. In addition to that, I also have experience conducting interviews, which could be a unique skill to add to the outstanding team.

As we may be working together for the remainder of the term, it might be helpful to get to know a little bit more about my personal life. In my spare time, I enjoy volunteering at senior homes and community centers as a way of giving back. I lead morning exercises and game activities every Saturday morning at my local senior care centre. In addition to care homes, I also have a great passion working with children, which is why I enjoy volunteering for sports camps every summer.

My learning philosophy is that practice makes perfect. Although realistically, it’s quite hard to achieve perfect, practice can definitely take one’s work a step closer to perfect. Some of my strengths that I can contribute are that I am a great team player and I am very well organized with my work. A skill that I will continue to improve on is self-editing. Hopefully we will be able to work as a team to compliment on each other’s strengths and weakness as professional writers. Should you have any questions, please contact me via lisaliang@alumni.ubc.ca.

Sincerely,

Lisa Liang

301 Lisa Liang Application letter