This unit involved practicing many useful writing skills in different realms, including creating a LinkedIn profile and preparing a report proposal and outline. As such, this unit was a great way to expand my writing experience and develop writing techniques I haven’t used before.

Firstly, I had already created a LinkedIn profile so this assignment had a different meaning for me. It was interesting to receive a peer review from another student who examined the ability for my profile to communicate my qualifications and experience. It was refreshing to receive feedback from someone outside the industry I work in, and this perspective provided new ways to improve that would not be possible otherwise. Peer reviewing has definitely impacted my own personal view of my writing, as it is very helpful to be consistently getting feedback. If there are any patterns that multiple peers were to pick up on, then one would be able to make a note of that as an area to specifically improve. Otherwise, different peers pick up on different aspects of the writing experience and therefore switching partners constantly has provided different opinions to utilize from.

Furthermore, during this unit I put together a formal report outline and progress report. I am very intrigued to see the responses, as I feel as though I could definitely be surprised by the findings. I am excited to analyze the results from the surveys and compare them between students from different academic backgrounds.

Overall, developing my own report proposal and peer reviewing others has allowed me to learn how to directly write for a specific audience and tailoring your voice accordingly. I’m looking forward to getting the opportunity to work on this more in the weeks ahead.

Peer Review Formal Report Proposal for Jake Bauer from Ilanna Barkusky

Ilanna Barkusky Progress Report

Unit One was already an extremely valuable learning experience for me, and I am excited to continue to dive deeper into the course in the coming weeks. This week’s assignment revolved around defining a complex term, and I chose a photographic concept that is imperative to know, yet difficult to grasp. Some important aspects of the term I chose are counter-intuitive, which made the assignment a welcome challenge for me to try and explain effectively.

The feedback I received was extremely helpful, and very thorough. I have noticed that it is difficult to look at work you have produced objectively, since you have a sort of attachment to what you have produced. Therefore, I am now able to refer back to this instance of peer review for future assignments in order to improve as a writer! I think it is important to seek out outside feedback and constructive criticism whenever possible and hope that the comments I provided in return were helpful. However, I did notice that my feedback was quite opinionated, and therefore it would be interesting to note if others would disagree with my comments.

As far as my own definitions that I produced, I learned a few things along the way. Firstly, it was challenging to find adequate sources to strengthen my definitions that were also specifically geared towards the audience I was writing for. The process of gathering research was much more difficult than I had initially imagined. Additionally, this week was once again a learning experience for me in terms of time management. I enjoy the fact that this course is writing intensive with frequent deadlines close together, I believe that this will help build other important skills in the future!

I am looking forward to applying what I have learned this week to the rest of the course!

My assignments can be found here:

Definition Assignment

Peer Review ENG 301