Although Unit 3 flew by quickly, it was definitely the most educational unit for me. Writing with YOU attitude in mind and considering the audience throughout each piece of work was difficult at first, but helped strengthen my writing skills immensely. I enjoyed writing the business letters and recognizing the intended audience through both the complaint and bad news adjustment letters, and how to maintain positive, firm, and effective in both letters.
Surprisingly, writing the formal report draft was easier than imagined. By having solid results to work with and by researching my topic of interest thoroughly, I feel like my formal report has a good shape. Being experienced in writing and completing research proposals, I found that strategizing for gathering and interpreting data was familiar and simple. I think that the base that my final formal report suggests that I have some more work to do, but that my report will become stronger with the incorporation of more research information and by applying all the technical communication skills we have learned throughout this course.
A struggle that I will have to overcome for my formal report is to ensure that my formal report fits the required length of 10-15 pages without the use of rambling or ineffective and irrelevant sentences. I want to ensure that my final formal report is concise, clear, and effective. My formal report draft is enclosed below.
This peer review took longer than any peer review in the past. I wanted to ensure that I incorporated all corrections in my evaluation sheet as well as the writing tips in the instruction blog and the elements of technical writing in this unit. Writing with YOU attitude and avoiding imperative verbs while reviewing my partner’s writing skills took a lot of time and consideration. I wanted to ensure that my part of being a good team member by supplying Wendy with thoughtful, helpful, and constructive advice while remaining positive and encouraging. Writing an effective peer review for a large project such as this took time and effort. I had to reword many sentences and considered the delivery of my constructive criticisms in order to give a wholesome peer review that would hopefully inspire rather than discourage my partner. Regardless of how busy I was during this term, I wanted to ensure that my peer review was helpful and contained quality rather than leaving it as an afterthought or side assignment that I had to complete for the sake of completing. I understand the importance of peer review of the correct draft and am always willing to supply quality advice to my peers.
One thing that I believe I did well in this unit is my understanding and utilization of writing with YOU attitude in each assignment. After reading the handout and writing the memo to Evan Crisp, I realized the importance of writing with YOU attitude and how much more effective writing with YOU attitude can impact a reader.
For the next unit, I want to work on structuring my sentences so that they deliver a clear message without overusing words. I have trouble with using too many words or repeating myself when I want to get a point across. Another goal is to encourage my writing team to keep in touch and on top of our courses during the last unit so that we can initiate group organized peer reviews so that we can all submit solid final projects.
Enclosure: English 301 – Jocelyn Toledo – Formal Report Draft