Author Archives: gareth yuen

I joined the class intending to improve my writing skills professionally because, as an English major, I was taught how to write academically for various purposes but never in a professional workplace manner. So I was very eager to learn how to craft a professional resume and improve my technical writing skills in a professional workplace manner with proper guidance. Learning how to write appropriate memos and emails is crucial to any professional office job, and the technical writing class did precisely that. The training began with writing a memorandum and application letter for introduction and peer interaction, and gradually, to creating a formal report like a professional, including the proposal and progress report, and crafting a draft for peer review. Now I have even completed the web folio of my design and application package that taught me every skill I needed for job application in a short span of one semester. The available resources gathered on this page will attest to my newly acquired lifelong skills that can favor my chances of landing a desirable office job. Lastly, thank you, Professor Paterson. I wholeheartedly enjoyed attending your class.

Creating the web folio was an interesting and valuable experience, as I got to create something that could be used for my professional application while being refreshed on the whole course material from the technical writing class. The first step of creating the web folio is to determine the intended audience, and I chose interviewers as I am currently on a job search. I thought it would be better to include a personalized website than LinkedIn to show personality and character. The next step is designing the web folio. I am a big fan of simplistic themes, so I chose a classic combination of black and white for clarity and straightforwardness, as it is visually appealing and tasteful. The layout for menus and pages for easy navigation was also heavily considered as I would not want visitors of my web folio to be confused about what kind of content could be found here or what to expect. Thus, I decided to make the home page as simple as possible to avoid overwhelming visitors, using keywords and a simple introduction for navigation. Moreover, I decided to use my dog as a welcome message because he is a lovely ambassador, as his cute smile represents friendliness and is approachable. The contents of my web folio are included according to the assignment’s instruction, which would be an exhibition of my past work that the professor can evaluate academically and professionally. In my opinion, creating a web folio is an excellent choice of being the final assignment of the class, as it can contribute to our professional careers by teaching practical skills such as creating resumes and writing professionally in the format of memorandums and formal reports—allowing us to excel in a professional workplace with the hands-on experience and knowledge gathered from the class.

Completing the Formal Report Draft

There are three steps in crafting a formal report draft—researching, organizing, and writing. Researching is the first and arguably the most important step, as the data discovered at this stage will be the foundation of the draft. The focus at this stage is to find compatible results online that can reflect or relate to my survey and interview findings, as cross-referencing data can create concrete evidence to support the draft. My topic was about improving road safety in West Vancouver, and speed cameras will be my proposed solution. I have a preexisting understanding of speed cameras, so researching articles that favor my position would be simple, as I know what I will need to support my points in the draft. For example, I understand completely what speeding is and how dangerous it can be because I drive. However, to elaborate on my knowledge, I would need to find sources that I could reference to make it more convincing that speeding is a significant concern waiting to be solved. Thus, to prove why speed cameras are a viable option from experience, I narrowed down my research topic to how speed camera impacts road safety and speeding. I found numerous research studies on this topic. However, to keep it short and concise, I could only pick a few for reference so that the researched data can support my survey findings, such as the public’s opinion towards speed cameras that happened to be based in British Columbia.

Next is the formal report draft’s organization, where the first step is to craft a cover page. Even though I am a third-year English major, I still needed help with correctly formatting a cover page in MLA style, as all of the papers I have done with MLA in the past did not require a cover page and a table of contents. Hence, I had to research how to format a report written in MLA style correctly. After figuring out the MLA style comes the headings and subheadings that represent the paper itself, as they are practically short titles for each section. A clear title is essential because a clear and concise heading can give readers a basic understanding or expectation for what will be in the following section. Thus, I decided to label the headings in each section as clearly and straightforwardly as possible, for the headings can dictate what I will be writing under them as well.

Finally, I can start writing the draft. In my opinion, researching and organizing is more challenging than writing the draft itself as it resembles an ongoing brainstorming session, where I constantly rethink the approach and ideas I want to express in my draft. However, upon writing the draft, I used more time than I initially expected, as the introduction alone took me hours to complete. Not to mention the data analysis and cross-referencing with the data I gathered from the research on the positive impact of speed cameras. Notably, as I continue to write the draft, I find myself going back and forth, changing the subheadings to represent the contents accurately, and sometimes changing the introduction to fit the contents of the draft better. Supposedly, that is precisely why there is a saying that an introduction should be saved for last, like a conclusion. Overall, writing the draft was a unique and fun experience as I got to analyze data I collected with a survey; it is a report that I made entirely, from researching to writing. Such a precious experience will undoubtedly contribute to my future endeavors.

Peer Review for the formal report draft 

Peer review is a practical and necessary process at this stage, as it is registered in me that all things that are meant to be published or presented professionally should be peer reviewed and edited to ensure there are no minor careless mistakes, as those could reflect poorly on the author. Thus, after completing the draft, I received an opportunity to share this critical process with my partner Salma Ismail, who started the topic “mental health programs and services for newcomer youth: exploring needs and enhancing access.” Upon reading the title, I was impressed and thrilled, as it is a pleasure to see mental health gaining recognition. My first impression of the paper after reading it through once was very positive, as the topic is meaningful, the headings are clear and paginated, and the visuals are compelling and visually appealing in the sense of easy comprehension. Despite the slight issues that I pointed out for the figures, they were overall amazing, especially the word cloud Salma included to represent the thought and feelings of the respondents. Moreover, Salma’s table, which represented the interview content, is clear and informative, as it accurately summarized the contents in an efficient manner of point form. Salma’s style and design throughout are excellent, and it was written in a professional tone with little to no grammatical and spelling errors, making her draft exceptionally strong and impressive. Furthermore, the peer review I received from Salma was positive and informative. Salma’s feedback contained valuable suggestions that helped with my formatting for clarity and pointed out that I left an idea empty without support, especially after I said I would address it in the introduction. Salma also gave me critical feedback on how to make my proposed solution more convincing and appealing to the readers—making this peer review a rewarding and practical experience.

Peer review: Peer review of Salma’s formal report draft

Formal report draft: ENGL 301 Formal Report Draft Gareth Yuen

Researching how to create a LinkedIn profile

Since LinkedIn is a very popular website for professional usage, there are bound to be a lot of guidelines and tips online for creating or improving a LinkedIn profile. Thus, numerous guides and websites are popping up regarding how to create or improve a LinkedIn profile upon a quick search from anyone interested. However, identifying what would be truly useful is problematic because how would one deem a strategy proper or not? There are many different strategies focusing on different aspects of how to build a professional or successful LinkedIn profile. However, upon closer examination, I have found one connection that is always applicable—exposure. Because no matter how great a profile is, if it does not appear on the website’s search results often, the profile would be worthless. Thus, most of my suggested practices are correlated with how to increase a profile’s exposure in simple but often neglected ways. For example, including keywords in the skill sections to appeal to the algorithm, having a headline that contains words associated with popular search results in the perspective field of expertise, and generating activities on the website with simple comments to stay relevant and active on the platform are all ways to help a profile gain exposure, be recognized and promoted by the website through connections. Consequently, I feel more confident in creating a professional account after this research as all the practices are appropriate in their perspective suggestion. Some may be tiny irrelevant details, but occasionally, attention to detail matters as it shows characters that stand out.

The progress of the formal report

In the beginning, I had no idea what topic to base my formal report on that could contribute positively to society. However, when I saw how fast people were speeding on the road I use every day for school, I thought speeding would be a meaningful and beneficial topic to expand upon. Speeding has always been a concern of road safety globally and is one of the leading reasons for collisions. Therefore, there are speed limits, police patrols, and speed traps in place to discourage speeding motorists as accident prevention. However, as a driver, I know how recklessly fast motorists still go whenever without police supervision and regard for other road users’ safety. Thus, the idea of speed cameras came to my mind as I remembered how little people speed in Hong Kong, mainly due to the presence of speed cameras everywhere to catch speeding motorists. Since I am familiar with the concept of speed cameras, I am confident and comfortable researching this topic as I have the fundamental knowledge and experience with them, their effectiveness, and the public’s general opinion towards them. Moreover, since Canada has a completely different living culture, I want to see the public opinions on speed cameras. Thus, upon analyzing the survey data and articles, my formal report will undoubtedly contribute to the road safety effort. Furthermore, the peer review I received from my teammate Salma gave me insightful feedback on maximizing the sample size with my survey distribution. Since this is my first time creating and analyzing the data for a formal report, I am thrilled to receive such comments that can further improve my research method. The peer review also reminded me how different perspectives can be because I initially thought that my proposal and research method looked solid. Yet, Salm’s suggestion is better and more reasonable. Thus, I am grateful for the feedback I received from the peer review.

The peer review process

In my opinion, the peer review process is considerably one of the best parts of the assignment as we have the chance to review and have our work reviewed by peers as a collaborative effort. Where there is often less pressure than having it reviewed by professors, but retaining the same insightfulness as a proofreader other than the author themselves can always be appreciated. My assigned teammate for peer review is Salma Ismail, and her work is as impressive as it can significantly contribute to helping those in need. Salma’s initial proposal was about food security, where she proposed reaching out to more potential sponsors to solve the supply shortage problem to help more families in need. However, after the peer review process, she revised her topic into mental health issues among the youths, which is no less meaningful and important. Salma’s writing and idea are professional, concise, and overall outstanding. I am grateful for the chance to participate in this peer review to witness some of the unique ideas that can help improve our society in a meaningful and positive way. Issues such as food security and mental health issues are often neglected by first-world countries such as Canada, representing the hidden issues of society and how minorities are often forgotten. Thankfully, there are people like Salma who think in the direction of positive changes that can help those in need—inspiring me to write and think about meaningful and positive topics.

Revised Report Proposal: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl30199c2022w2/2023/03/16/revised-formal-report-proposal-for-improving-road-safety-in-west-vancouver-residential-area/

Peer review: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl30199c2022w2/2023/02/28/peer-review-for-gareth-yuen-formal-report-proposal/

Writing the first draft of the Technical definition

In the first unit of the ENGL 301 course, the class was assigned to write three definitions of a complex term for non-technical readers as practice. The guideline stated that the term we choose should align with our interest or experience, so with my experience in the airsoft industry, I decided to go with the complex airsoft term—gas blowback (GBB). To define our chosen complex term to non-technical readers, we were given instructions to use three different definitions to help non-technical readers understand technical terms, such as parenthetical, sentence, and expanded definition. In addition to having three definitions, the expanded definition requires four different strategies to further elaborate the complex term, with visuals as mandatory. Fortunately, I have accumulated experience in writing strategies for the expanded definition because it is similar to the requirements in my previous job as an editor in the airsoft industry. However, I have never learned the proper terms for the expanded strategies I could utilize. Thus, with new knowledge, I picked the ones I think would be the most suitable for explaining the complex term practically by first introducing its mechanism and principle, then a visual representing the inside structure for referencing. The three definitions each serve their own purpose in helping non-technical readers understand complex terms by providing clarity, background information, and features. In conclusion, I have learned about different ways of defining a complex term that could be helpful in the future if I need to explain a complex term to a non-technical audience. 

Peer Review Process

For this assignment, I was given a chance to team up with one of my writing team members (Salma) to complete a peer review, where I will review their draft and provide criticism and suggestions for improvements, and vice versa. Upon reviewing my fellow team member’s work, I was enlightened by their unique writing style and tone as it was professional, friendly, and informative, giving me ideas to improve my own writing. I especially liked Salm’s use of a video thumbnail as a figure, as it doubles as a link to the video itself, giving more options to interested readers to better understand the term. In addition to the figure, her in-depth analysis of parts gave many details that brilliantly explained the complex term Cultural Capital by splitting it into three aspects for better understanding, making it very non-technical reader-friendly. However, as impressive as Salma’s work is, minor issues could be improved for future reference. Such as bolding the headlines and minor clarity issues in writing. Similarly, the feedback from Salma also contains clarity issues, highlighting the importance of peer review or editing as there could always be mistakes we missed when we should not have—encouraging us to double-check for basic mistakes by proofreading it more carefully or thinking about different aspects in the shoes of an audience. 

Revision Process

After receiving and giving feedback from the peer review stage, the class is asked to revise their three definitions. The feedback from Salma reminds me of what words mean or their intention. For example, Salma suggested that I should change the phrase “general public” in my introduction as my target audience would be specific instead of the population as a whole, and I agreed; it was a misphrase on my part, and so I immediately corrected it along with other suggestion such as word phrase consistency and capitalization. Again, small mistakes could have been avoided in the first place, but I still made them. However, with the revising process, I can avoid the same mistake next time by paying more attention to word phrasing and consistency. Lastly, the peer review process has been a unique experience, as partnering up with my writing team member and providing feedback to each other will definitely help us improve our writing.

Definition exercise: https://blogs.ubc.ca/garethyuen301/my-best-works/definition/

Peer review: https://blogs.ubc.ca/garethyuen301/my-best-works/peer-review-of-the-definition-assignment/