Throughout the course of this term, I became more and more aware of my strengths and weaknesses in editing and writing for professional communication. Although I’ve been communicating with business professionals since high school (over seven years now), I am still learning about new aspects and means of writing.

Before even starting ENGL301, I knew that my strengths lied in grammatical corrections, and my weakness was in content editing. In my letter of application to my group mates, I informed them of my weakness with content editing; however also told them I would try my best to provide them with edits in both aspects. With each peer review, I worked harder towards focusing not only on grammar mistakes, but also the content of each assignment and what was lacking.

In addition, one of my strengths included the job application package. I have been applying for positions throughout the entirety of my university career, and therefore have a lot of experience composing cover letters and resumes. In turn, this specific assignment was one of my best for the course.

Working with WordPress, editing peers’ assignments, and composing various letters, emails, and memos will definitely assist me in the future with my career. Since my career lies in communications, marketing, and public relations, the majority of the assignments completed throughout the course will help me in writing and communicating professionally. I’m incredibly glad that I chose to take this course – I developed a numerous amount of new skills and knowledge that I will carry with me and use for the rest of my career (which personally, I believe is hard to find in many university courses).

Overall, the process of creating my web folio was simple. I have years of experience with WordPress, therefore rearranging and editing my previous website for ENGL301 was quick and easy. I definitely believe that knowledge in WordPress would help everyone in ENGL301 because creating pages and reorganizing a website can be quite tedious.

The biggest struggle I had with composing my web folio would have to be deciding which information to include, how to present it, and in which order. Information on a web folio should be presented in a logical manner, including the most relevant and important links first. In my case, I chose social media, personal website and resume because my primary readers are individuals in communications, marketing, and public relations where social media is an incredibly important aspect.

It was helpful to have all of the information and links necessary already completed from previous assignments in ENGL301. All that was required was a simple reorganization and editing, a few summaries, and two additional blog posts. It was nice to have a final assignment that wasn’t incredibly time consuming or stressful.

Unit three consisted of a variety of different writing styles, which made it slightly difficult to switch back and forth from. We started off the unit by learning how to write with a “you-attitude” – which is an incredibly important writing style to know for business emails. I wasn’t even aware that this was a writing style until I read about – which is strange because I use this writing style all the time and it never occurred to me that it had a specific name. By writing a memorandum to Evan, editing his email and offering him suggestions to make his email to his English professor more powerful, it was a great introduction to writing with a “you-attitude”.

The second half of the unit was dedicated to writing the first draft of our formal reports. Although this was incredibly time consuming, I was relieved to have a full draft completed by the due date because it relieved a lot of stress from my shoulders for the future. My topic revolves around how Grindstone Cafe can increase their profits amongst university students. I took the time to analyze university student customers at Grindstone – specifically focusing on their purchasing habits and how long they spend at the cafe. I’m still awaiting my peer review from Robele, but it’s completely understandable because this week has been a busy one for everyone. I hope to get the peer review soon so I can make the necessary corrections in a timely manner.

Overall, this unit was a difficult, time-consuming one; however, it paid off because finishing the formal report is a large part of our grade and having a draft of it completed now will take more stress off closer to the due date.

Unit two consisted of primarily starting our formal reports – developing a topic, a proposal, an outline, and a progress report. Simultaneously, the unit also allowed us to begin developing our LinkedIn profiles and the best practices for maintaining a professional profile.

Personally, I found Unit 2 slightly more challenging than the previous unit. However, having due dates for each assignment and a detailed description of what needs to be completed for the assignment was incredibly helpful. Similarly, receiving peer reviews from my group mates allowed me to recognize the mistakes that I made and facts that I may have overlooked when initially drafting each assignment.

For example, for my formal report proposal, Robele did an excellent job at peer reviewing. He blatantly told me if anything was wrong with my research methods, or how I could expand on my data collection by interviewing the manager at Grindstone Cafe.

While peer reviewing Robele’s proposal, I found it slightly challenging to follow because I know close to nothing about intramural leagues. However, he made it slightly easier to understand with the background information section in his proposal.

I found it really interesting to look at my peers’ topics for their formal reports. Everyone in the class has a very different perspective, which leads to a broad range of topics. I’m very intrigued on how some of the reports will develop.

On the other hand, the second week of Unit two was slightly easier because I already had a LinkedIn profile. This week primarily allowed me to enhance my profile professionally with the help of Julianne’s peer review. From a professional perspective, she assisted me by mentioning flaws in my profile (such as my profile picture and summary). Her comments will ultimately help me the most in the long run considering I will continue to use my LinkedIn profile throughout my professional career.

Overall, unit two was generally very helpful in enhancing my LinkedIn profile and developing my formal report. Although it was a lot of work during a very stressful time in the school year, I’m thankful for the detailed assignment instructions and the kindness, and constructive criticism, of my peers.

For my definition assignment, I chose to define the term “extrapolation.” As a statistics major, I am incredibly familiar with the term and originally thought that defining it would be easy; however, I did not realize that it would be as difficult as it was considering we had to define it without using technical terms and with the mindset of someone who has no previous knowledge. It was slightly tedious creating the expanded definition, but not so much the sentence and parenthetical definitions.

With Robele’s peer review, I was able to correct the areas that I lacked in knowledge. He gave good advice on where to expand the definition slightly more, and where I accidentally used technical jargon without noticing. Similarly, he gave excellent advice when saying that the example I used regarding paychecks was not exactly extrapolation. Without his review, I would not have been able to improve my expanded definition to its fullest potential.

While peer-reviewing Robele’s definition of “correlation coefficient”, I noticed how I am more inclined to first-off edit the grammar mistakes within a paper or report, and secondly, the content. Similarly, the peer-review assignment definitely helped my content-editing because I was aware that my editing would be read and used with great respect and my advice would be the only one used; whereas if multiple individuals were editing, I probably would have focused primarily on grammar. This has been an issue of mine for years, but I am trying to work my way towards editing both simultaneously.

Overall, this unit has been very helpful in provoking me to edit more and focus my attention on the non-technical reader. I think I’ll be more aware of this now when writing emails and other various documents.

Extrapolation Extended Definition

Peer Review by Robele Baker

Michelle Zaporojets
West 13^th Ave Vancouver, BC V6R 2S1
E-Mail: michelle.m.zaporojets@gmail.com

Monday, January 12, 2015

ENGL301 99C: Technical Writing
The University of British Columbia
2329 West Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4

RE: English 301 Winter Term 2015 – Professional Writing Team Member

Dear ENGL301 Technical Writing Class:

Thank you ­for the opportunity to apply for the position of a Professional Writing Team Member for the second term of the Winter 2015 session. I am currently a fourth year undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia, studying towards a combined Sociology and Statistics degree. I believe that my public relations and journalism interests will make me a valuable asset to this position.

Currently, I am the Communications Assistant for the UBC School of Population and Public Health. On a bi-weekly basis, I update the SPPH website, build posters and signs for distribution, and construct future social media posts, while simultaneously assisting the Communications Manager with various tasks throughout the office. My experience at SPPH has advanced my professional interactions, as well as my writing and communication skills.

Throughout the past seven years, my adoration for journalism has flourished from various jobs and internships. I am an eloquent and passionate writer, and enjoy discovering new adjectives to use in my writing, making me a great fit for this position. I will bring my experience and spirited personality to the writing group, while also providing constructive criticism to fellow group members; however my criticism tends to be primarily grammar-based, and less-so content-based, yet I will do my best to provide both to the team.

With this, I hope to receive the chance to speak with you regarding the Professional Writing Team Member position for the ENGL301 Technical Writing Class. Please, feel free to contact me through email at michelle.m.zaporojets@gmail.com. Thank you for your time and consideration, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Michelle Zaporojets
www.michellezaporojets.com

301 Michelle Zaporojets Application Letter