Category: Blog Post

Formal Report Research

Researching and conducting interviews and surveys was something new for me as I haven’t had an assignment that was unique in that way. It was interesting to gather information on a topic that is personal to me and it was a fun process that I thoroughly enjoyed. While researching I also realized how difficult it can be to create surveys and interview questions without a biased tone and approach.

Formal Report Organizing

Organizing the formal report allowed me to connect the thoughts I had for my possible solutions with research data that strengthens my argument. This process helped me to learn more about exactly how I wanted the problem I presented and even opened me up to more solutions.

Formal Report Writing

The outline made in the previous assignment made writing the formal report much easier. My thoughts and research were organized and I felt I had a firm grasp on how I wanted to layout my report. A difficulty I found was trying not to over explain certain points and definitions and keep the report fairly straightforward and easy to understand.

Review Peer’s Formal Report Draft

Peer reviewing another report helped me to see that it is important to ensure the data you present is clear and easy to follow. If you present any data that is ambiguous it can throw off your reader throughout the entire report. Peer reviewing also helped me to find mistakes in my own report as I went over the report format. It was also interesting to see how my peer presented their information and gave me ideas on how I can redo some of my own work.

LINKS:

Formal Draft: 301-Julian Hui-Formal Report Draft

LinkedIn Profile

I have always thought about creating a LinkedIn profile but always found a way to put it off. This assignment allowed me to sit down and really think about how I wanted to present myself to potential employers/recruiters. The importance of choosing your audience and tailoring your profile that would be best for your industry/field you are looking to work in. I had the opportunity to flush out and fine tune my resume by taking out anything unnecessary and only adding what I believe would be relevant to my audience. I believe that in doing this assignment I have developed myself professionally and developed a mindset that will help me in the future when I start putting myself out in the job market.

Report Proposal and Outline

When thinking about what wanted to write about in my formal proposal, I immediately thought about things that I was apart of and found issues with. Naturally, my workplace came to mind as I spend a good amount of time there every week and have noticed certain issues that I believe could be solved. Having to come up with a proposal allowed me to think about important points that I wanted to focus on and not end up with a long list of problems. Coming up with survey and interview questions helped to further discover issues I wanted to emphasize. Scheduling when I was going to do each step of my report was very helpful as I could visualize how I was going to go write my report.

Peer Review

Reviewing my peer’s proposal was very interesting as I could tell they were passionate about the topic they chose. That passion also led to certain biased statements made in their proposal. While I am sure that my proposal also had bias sentiments, reviewing my peers proposal showed me how important it is to remain unbiased during the writing of our reports. I also saw that my peer kept their audience in mind when writing the proposal which helped me to see that I could use work in that aspect as I often assume my readers will know what I am referring to when they really might not.

Report Proposal: 301.Julian Hui. Formal Report Proposal

Peer Review:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-99a/2018/10/17/review-for-fare-evasion/

 

Original Writing Process

When I was first writing this assignment, I thought about how could I make it so I could reach not only the audience that will be reading my assignment but for everyone. It is important to know who you are trying to get your message across to and adjust your writing accordingly. I wanted to make sure I didn’t use any words that were over complicated and if I were to use complicated words, to briefly explain their meaning. I found it difficult to give more context while keeping the information at a level where everyone without previous Sociology background could understand.

Peer Review Process

Peer reviewing one of my group members definitions was a good experience and I learned a lot from it. While my fellow group member had few mistakes, it gave me a chance to analyze the structure and organization of the writing rather than simply reading what he wrote. From a reader’s perspective, it was important that the writing was structured in a way that made sense and had a cadence in which each section would lead to another. Each type of definition expanded on one another and when tied together made the word easily understandable.

I personally was familiar with the term that was used, but I appreciated how easy it was to understand the definitions and I believe it would appeal to anyone from any background. I took away a few things that will help me improve my own writing in the future.

Editing Process

Editing my definitions with the feedback from my peers help me to realize that I should not be so quick to assume that some things are “common knowledge”. While I may have gone complacent to some of the terms I used due to them being heavily emphasized in my degree, I failed to identify my audience properly and did not expand on a few terms that may not be familiar to others. I promptly went back to expand on these terms to add more clarity. This complacency also led me to use a visual that I found funny and understandable, but that was because I knew the punchline of the joke already! I found a picture that more suitably described my word in a way that anyone can tell what is happening. Without the peer review, I would not have I would have caught onto these mistakes myself and found it very beneficial for my writing growth.

Here is a link to my revised definitions ENGL 301 Three definitions

Here is a link to my peer review:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-99a/2018/09/29/peer-review-for-proletariat/