Unit 1 is the introductory unit to the course English 301, where students get to familiarize themselves with the course platform, tools and materials; to study and practice writing techniques in professional settings, specifically in writing definitions; and to learn how to peer review and self-edit their work. This is the Reflection blog on my learning experience throughout this unit.
The main assignment of Unit 1 is to choose a relatively complex term in one’s discipline and explain it using three definitions with increasing level of complexity. Each student will partner up with a team member to peer review each other’s work. After receiving the feedback, each student will revise their work accordingly.
In my original writing process, to my surprise, the easiest part was to choose a word and the hardest part was to choose which methods I wanted to use for the expanded definition. I also learned to incorporate my prior research skills into this assignment, to improve my writing through multiple revisions and to reach out to friends for proof-reading.
It did not take me long to choose a word because I just came across “drumlin” again in a Geology class. I can still remember how confused I was when I first looked it up and realized how limited the resources on it were. Hence, I wanted to do a good work in describing this term to my non-technical readers. However, I got stuck in choosing the methods to expand my definition. I found it hard to find a Geology term that can be easily described using methods such as “Examples”, “Operating principles” or “Special/Required conditions”. Hence, I was limited with expanding choices while trying to explain the term as detailed as possible.
After writing my first draft, using my research skills, I found some blogs of Geology peers who took the course before me. I reviewed their Three Definition Assignments and read their reflection blog posts to learn from their experiences and to apply what I learn to my work. My writing was supposed to cater to a non-technical audience. Hence, I had to constantly remind myself not to use jargon, to simplify words as much as possible or to provide further explanation if I thought the term could be a little difficult. I also realized it was very helpful to receive feedback from friends who do not have the technical background on whether my definitions were comprehensible or not. Beyond my expectation, they also pointed out some obvious punctuation or grammatical errors that I did not notice. I initially thought it would not take more than a couple of hours to finish this assignment, but I was wrong. There was a sharp difference between my first draft and my first published work. The importance of multiple revisions was something I had to relearn throughout this process.
The peer review process gave me a chance to be the critic of someone else’s work and surprisingly it affected my own work as well. I partnered with Bara’a Alabbas in this assignment. It was not very hard to spot the strong aspects in her writing and the ones that needed a bit more work. However, it was difficult for me convert these comments into a review with a professional yet friendly tone that would not make the author feel bad about their work. Hence, I practiced adding positive comments in the beginning of each paragraph and choosing phrases carefully when giving constructive criticisms. I also learned to back up my comments with strong examples so that the author can have a good idea on where and how to revise their work. This process further taught me how to deliver the same message using different phrases to avoid repetition, such as “I would recommend”, “I would suggest”, “It might be a good idea”, etc. From reviewing Bara’a’s work, I was most surprised to see how much I learned as a writer from the simplicity of her writing language. Her work has taught me about the importance of simple language in delivering complex knowledge, which was something I wanted to further apply to my own writing.
The self-editing process was both daunting and rewarding to me. When I submitted my original work, I was confidence that my writing was comprehensible to the non-technical audience I imagined. However, the first and foremost feedback I received was that my writing was not simple enough for someone without any technical background. I was also confused with the contradicting comments: In the Audience section, she wrote “As a non-technical reader, the extended definition was beyond my working knowledge” while in the conclusion, she commented “As an individual with very limited knowledge of geomorphology, this definition explains drumlins very well”. I reached out to other university-level friends, both international and domestic students, and were not in my discipline for consultation. The feedback were mixed, most of them being positive that my writing was comprehensible to them. However, I learned to accept that if my work is still too complicate to even one reader, that means I can still simplify it. I took Bara’a’s comment and revised my writing again, replacing some words and adding more explanations if possible. Furthermore, my work was suggested to have plagiaristic components because I did not cite with quotation marks in my writing. I originally thought when writing descriptions for a term, it would be acceptable to just mention the references at the end of my work. However, I learned it the hard way that proper citation was also required within my writing, not just in the Reference section. Hence, I revised my work by rewording some phrases using my own words. From this experience, I appreciate the peer reviewing process even more because there were so many factors an author could miss and a good peer reviewer could point out, which in turn would help authors like me to improve upon this assignment and future writing as well.
This unit started off with a simple assignment but gave me a rounded perspective in being an author as well as a reviewer in a technical setting. It also taught me the importance of addressing the purpose and the audience in writing, and that it takes a lot of practice to master this skill. I am excited to put this into practice more in the upcoming units!
Bara’a Alabbas’s review of my assignment can be found here.