Unit 1 Reflection
by jenny zhang
We have just finished the assignments for Unit One of our English 301 course. This Unit consisted in writing professional letters, emails, memos and definitions. Through all these assignments, I feel as though I am improving my writing skills. This reflection will focus on assignment 1:3, the peer review process, and editing my three definitions on the term algorithm.
Assignment 1:3 was challenging but I learnt how to communicate to a non-technical audience, and improve my writing skills. The assignment repeatedly reminded me to pay attention to the clarity and intentionality of my writing. It takes work to be deliberate and careful with word choices and the amount of detail to include. I also learnt which writing strategies were effective for a non-technical audience. These included adding visuals, question-style subheadings and giving the parts that make up this item. Overall, the assignment was a good opportunity for practicing how to write for a targeted audience.
For the peer review, I practiced critical reading skills. I peer reviewed Janice’s work and provided some suggestions where it was due. It was quite difficult as her definitions were well written. I found the feedback from Janice to be helpful. Her feedback was specific and she identified areas that I needed to fix or elaborate more on. She gave me a suggestion, to find some more scholarly articles which I have tried to when I was writing my definitions. Since my definition was more broad, most peer-reviewed articles are on specific types of algorithms. As my goal is not to explain a specific algorithm, I found it difficult to find a scholarly article that explains just the general term algorithm.
I believe this assignment helped me to strengthen my writing skills. The process of peer review was also helpful because it allowed me to see the style of writing by my teammates. Not only that, but I think it’s really beneficial to have another set of eyes review a piece of work carefully. Thank you for taking the time to read this reflection blog.
Revised Definition: ENGL 301- Definition Assignment (1)
Link to Peer Review: