MEMORANDUM
To: Dr. Erika Paterson, Technical Writing Professor
From: Zainab Rauf Tramboo, Technical Writing Student
Date: July 10, 2020
Subject: Progress Report for the Formal Report on increasing student voter turnout for UBC AMS general elections
As requested per the Unit 2:3 assignment instructions, a progress report has been created outlining the key aspects and progressions for the formal report. The formal report’s outline has already been completed and is under review. Any feedback in regard to continuing and improving this report is appreciated.
Audience: The formal report will be targeting the student election campaigners and the AMS election administration; as a part of the research sample, it is important for them to see the results of the data in order to actively plan their practices for successfully attracting and motivating students to vote.
Purpose: The purpose of this report will be to outline where there are gaps and room for improvement within the AMS general election practices in terms of reaching out and incentivizing students to vote, as well as all of the positive practices currently being carried out by the campaigners and AMS administration.
Significance: By understanding the AMS election practices executed by the administration and campaigners, both current and past, and by extracting the election expectations and incentives that appeal to students would allow the implementation of methods that motivate students to come out to vote. This formal report is crucial because it will help find and improve ways of encouraging students to take part in the AMS elections, which in turn allows students to become aware of referendums, changes, and movements that impact them as individuals at university.
Research Plan:
- Distribute the “UBC AMS General Elections Survey” to the general student population through social media and personal messaging/contact.
- Distribute the “UBC AMS General Elections Survey (for Planners)” to the members of the previous and current election campaign team in an attempt to receive input regarding their strategies and outreach.
- Distribute the “UBC AMS General Elections Survey (for Planners)” to AMS student election administration through personal contact (e.g. email, messaging apps).
- Collect demographic and policy data from the Alma Mater Society (AMS).
Writing Schedule:
- Write survey questions → done
- Retrieve needed documents from The AMS → done
- Distribute surveys → upon approval
- Analyze and extract relevant data from surveys and documents → July 21th2020
- Complete formal report rough draft → before August 3rd, 2020
- Examine peer review → August 8th, 2020
- Prepare final formal report → between August 8thand August 17th, 2020
Thank you for your consideration and assistance throughout this project. Please let me know if any additional information is required or any adjustments need to be made.
Enclosed are the official surveys:
UBC AMS General Elections Survey (for students)
UBC AMS General Elections Survey (for administration and campaigners)
July 11, 2020
Hello Zainab,
Thank you for posting this Progress Report. I am confused about your intended audience. I reviewed your proposed solution (recommendations) which state:
“A proposed solution would be to have professors allocate ending five minutes of their lectures to allow students to vote for the AMS elections via their devices just like students are asked to fill in teaching evaluations in lectures.
Other solutions that could be looked into are; educating students on the importance of voting via videos, in-class speeches, and encouraging campaigners to mention it while campaigning/marketing, having schedules for major an on-campus debates between competitors in student areas i.e. Student Nest, or having multiple ballots in every possible UBC building based on distance rather on just the number of student presence.
Your Progress report indicates that your reader(s) include students in general – but, students do not have the authority to implement these solutions?
You have an excellent idea for a Formal Report, your surveys a excellent — but you need to re-think who are writing for; students, in general are too broad an audience and do not have the authority. Can you please consider this concern and edit the progress report accordingly?
Thank you.
Dear professor,
Thank you for your detailed feedback and suggestion. I have amended my intended audience for the formal report to just the AMS administration and the student election campaigners. I believe I confused my intended audience subheading for groups I was reaching out to for my surveys. My apologies for the inconvenience.
Best regards,
Zainab