To: Mathew De Rose, English 301 Student
From: Meera Patel, English 301 Student
Date: August 12, 2020
Subject: Peer Review of Formal Report Draft
Hello Mathew,
Thank you for submitting your formal report draft: “Feasibility Analysis of Introducing Unit Testing into the DAB Online Software Development Team’s Testing Protocol.” The draft appears extremely promising and I look forward to reading the final report. Below are some recommendations for you to consider as you move forward with the final version.
First Impression:
It is apparent that the writer is knowledgeable of the material and can explain it well. The report contains quality research and analysis. The writing is simple, and clear, which is a strength due to the more complex jargon related to this topic. An area to improve is restructuring a few of the section to enable an easier read, details are given below.
Organization:
The organization is clear and well separated into logical sections. However, some sections can improve writing flow and organization by being shifted around.
- The summary of the conclusions section can be relocated into an abstract.
- Including a Methodology that contains the following subsection: Method of Inquiry
Excellent use of appendices to organize information. The subheadings are detailed and make navigating the report simple.
Content:
The most informative section is the subsections under data, which all delve deeper and build on each other to form a strong argument. Thus the conclusion and recommendation made are highly attractive to the intended reader. The report also progresses naturally from the presentation of inefficiencies in testing to identifying and recommending plausible solutions.
Due to the nature of very specific computer science jargon in this report, it’s highly recommended to include a glossary (Appendix I).
- Title Page:
- The title is clear and informative of the report’s topic of investigation and analysis type.
- Removing the titles ‘ATTN,’ ‘From’ and ‘Date’ from the title page can improve the overall appearance.
- Consider including exact information including the address and affiliation of the intended recipient and author. (Reviewing page 520 of the course textbook can demonstrate the suggested format.)
- Table of Contents:
- Removing numbers and letters from the left can maintain minimal distraction. Instead consider adding page numbers aligned to the right of the page, corresponding to each section for readers to easily navigate and visualize the report.
- Introduction:
- Intro paragraph leads into the report nicely. A friendly, knowledgeable tone of writing is used.
- General Types of Software Testing – Avoiding pronouns like ‘this’ in the writing can improve readability.
- Test Execution Methods – Excellent comparison of manual vs automated testing methods. Great opportunity to include a pros and cons chart here.
- Overview of DAB Online Software Testing Practices – simple explanation accomplishes this section’s goal. Consider defining ‘story’ in this context.
- Purpose of Inquiry – States the purpose clearly and concisely.
- Method of Inquiry – Creating a separate section can help the report’s organization.
- Research Scope – Clear outline of what the report aims to accomplish, consider removing pronouns.
- Summary of Conclusions – moving to an abstract will be more in-line with professional reports.
- Methods / Methodology or Methods of Inquiry
- Include ‘Methods of Inquiry’ here
- Data Section:
- Extremely detailed, and a lot to digest. Consider summarizing statistical analysis (effort point means; average willingness ratings) of each of the front-end and back-end unit testing strategies into a table/chart to ensure they can be readily compared.
- Since several more charts will be included in an Appendix, consider shifting highly referenced ones into the data section to eliminate shifting back and forth between pages. The table or figure can be followed by the finding and the interpretation, to keep the reader on track.
- Conclusion:
- The summary of the findings is concise and clear. All the key points are included as they should be.
- Interpretation of findings translates the raw data and identifies the most feasible unit testing strategies
- Recommendations are insightful, reasonable, flexible and appear achievable
- Consider displaying recommendations in a chart to show the pros and cons in terms of monetary costs, and effort points if applicable
Visuals / Figure:
Great inclusion of a bar graph to show team members and their years of experience. Perhaps including more visuals to display the survey result and/or analysis will help increase comprehension of the data.
References:
Including MLA in-text citation and a list of MLA references will help reference secondary sources and maintain the credibility of the research and analysis.
Style / Tone:
The report’s tone is positive throughout the report, it is also objective in most parts. The remaining objective throughout all sections of the report can maintain professionalism and low of the writing. It is suggested to revise Methods of Inquiry to remove pronouns like ‘I and ‘our.’
Design:
The report is reader-friendly and visually appealing. Graphics are effectively included within the text seamlessly maintaining the flow of information. The visuals also accomplish displaying full information.
Consider displaying subsection titles in a more subtle and uniform manner. For instance, the table of contents identifies sections via roman numerals, and the body of the report identifies the same sections via standard numbers.
Similarly, subsections under the Introduction can be improved with a consistent font style.
Grammar / Typos:
- “DAB Online Development” contains an extra space throughout document
- Including the longer meaning of abbreviated words, the first time they are introduced can help readers familiarize themselves with the content. For example explain what API stands for in the Introduction, the same way E2E has been.
- Maintaining consistency with titles like E2e and E2E throughout the document will enhance readability.
- Proof-reading the document before submission will ensure minimal typos.
Concluding Statements:
Ultimately, the draft has been a delight to read and I am interested in reading the final version. Please contact me at meerapatel049@gmail.com if you have any questions or concerns related to any of the suggestions made.
Link to Mathew’s Draft: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-98a-2020sa/2020/08/02/matthew-formal-report-draft/
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