In Unit 3, the main task was to draft the formal report and edit my peer’s report, employing YOU attitude. Researching, organizing, writing, and reviewing are the main four processes composing the formal report draft. Therefore, this reflection blog starts from the above four aspects summarizing the difficulties and the gains during the writing process.
Organizing
I was not very experienced in how to organize a formal report, so I read the textbook first. In chapter 21, I identified that most formal reports consist of the front matter, the text of the report, and the end letter. And the draft should with supplements in this order: title page, table of contents, list of tables and figures, the text of the report (introduction, body, conclusion), and works cited page.
Researching
According to the organization of the formal report, I mainly focused on the “text of the report”. My research topic is “Feasibility of Enhancing COVID Protection for On-campus Dining at UBC”, so I investigated UBC’s popular indoor dining areas, current UBC Food Services’ COVID-19 protocols, and other universities’ measures facing COVID. It was pretty challenging to only pick out the essential data over the overwhelming information during the investigation. For example, I first searched with “COVID-19” AND “Universities” through the UBC library website, but most contents were related to the change of delivery modes and teaching approaches. Then, I updated keywords such as “COVID-19” AND “Universities dining” and got the needed information. Using keywords to search for articles and quickly browsing the abstract to determine the article’s content is the most important skill I learned in the investigation process.
Writing
Writing the formal report draft was enjoyable based on the previous outline and research. The only challenging part is to conduct surveys and analyze the data. Luckily, the survey tool provided a graph function that helped me visualize the survey results. Through the writing process, I learned the importance of foundation work like the outline, the progress report, and research.
Peer Review Process
In this assignment stage, my task was to review Lucy’s work, “Feasibility of Placing a Clothing Bin at the UBC Bus Loop”. The whole report was professional and clear, without ambiguity. The report had several graphs and visuals, especially when Lucy drew the specific location where she suggested placing the clothing bin, making the recommendation easy to understand. However, during the revision, I found some problems with the table of contents (the figure and graph were not listed), the page number, and MLA in-text citation. I also received constructive suggestions from Lucy, like including figures in the survey section to support the numerical results. Overall, the peer review process was helpful; I received criticism and offered valuable suggestions.
In conclusion, unit 3 provided a strong writing framework with a formal report. After this unit, my writing techniques, research abilities, and editing skills are progressed. I am looking forward to seeing the final works from my team members!
301 Han Li Formal Report Draft: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-99c-2021wc/2022/03/16/memorandum-formal-report-draft-feasibility-of-enhancing-covid-protection-for-on-campus-dining-at-ubc/