Author Archives: JuanitaKwok

Unit 3 Reflection Blog 

Formal Report Draft

After submitting my formal report draft on the team forum this time around, I felt like I was finally at a place where the deliverable offered value and had cohesion on its own. Previously, we were doing outlines and writing down who our intended audience was, figuring out what questions to ask, etc. – which all served to be very helpful when creating the first draft. However, this unit involved actually applying those concepts and previously worked drafts and creating the report out of it. I am happy with the topic I chose as I learned having something you’re passionate about or having experienced first hand makes it that much easier to write about. This was also my first time using the UBC qualtrics website to create/conduct a survey and the process was quite straightforward. I found many useful resources when doing secondary research and am excited to produce the final report.  

Peer Review

For peer reviewing my classmate’s work, it definitely took longer this time around as we are now reviewing a 15 page document. I always find it very interesting to read other’s work and take note of how they structured their report and findings. After completing several peer reviews in this course, I have developed a system that works well for me. Initially, I would read the report once through making no edits or comments on text, only formatting and organization of the report. The second time reading, I would read each sentence carefully and determine whether to edit it or leave it in if it served its purpose. I would make a quick bulleted list with headings so that the peer review is easy to follow and structured. The final step is to polish my bullet list comments and provide context on each one. It provides me with a formal process for peer reviewing rather than picking random sentences and jumping back and forth on the document. My goal for peer reviews is to ensure my comments are reflective of what I am trying to fix and that they were clear enough instructions to follow. Additionally, I found the peer review conducted on my report to be extremely beneficial and gives me reassurance that someone else has enjoyed reading my work.

Link: Juanita’s Formal Report (First Draft)

Unit Two Reflection Blog

During my research on LinkedIn, I learned a lot of useful tips and tricks that will be beneficial to apply to my profile for better engagement. I have used LinkedIn quite extensively for the past few years and have learned what is standard practice and the value you can provide in creating industry connections. I think it is a great platform to share ideas with your network and learn about other companies and opportunities in one place. LinkedIn is an important tool for people of all industries, making it very easy to apply to jobs and message industry professionals to meet up for a coffee. 

Initially, I found it difficult to decide a worthwhile topic for my formal report proposal. I didn’t see clear challenges at work but I wanted this report to reflect my personal experiences. Scaling it back, I was happy to finalize my topic on work life balance and mental health as it affects many people daily. Since writing my proposal, I have completed my formal report outline and a survey I would like to include in my data sources. It was helpful to create a writing schedule to help keep myself accountable as we enter the second half of this technical writing course. It seems there are many deadlines to keep track of and serve as a hindrance to your overall course progress if an assignment is delayed. 

After completing two peer reviews, I find it to be my favourite part of the course. I say this because I am very interested in other people’s interests, their writing styles, and just being helpful towards their growth as a writer. Compared to my last peer review, I focused less on “being nice” and more on being an objective, unbiased marker. I wanted to be clear in how I presented my comments and make them useful for Matilda. Overall, I think her proposal was well thought out and mostly had grammatical errors which are an easy fix. 

For my own report, I learned to be careful when making claims without having a proper source. Some of it may seem like common knowledge, but to the reader it would provide additional credibility and information if I can link a source or expand further on where this idea stems from. 

Link to Revised Report Proposal

Link to Peer Review from Peter

Original Writing

The objective of this assignment is to define a term in our field of study to non-technical readers. The term I chose to define was a mortgage. After completing the assignment, I found that the word I chose was not inherently difficult to explain which may have led to a lack of breadth and depth. However, I did learn the different types of definitions (sentence, parenthetical, and expanded) that helped me explain my term in multiple ways to a non-technical audience. The tools and advice provided by the textbook were useful and I incorporated them into my assignment, especially on expansion strategies . I also found that including visuals helped break up the text as well and keeps the reader engaged.

Peer Review Process

During the peer review process, we were responsible for reading over one of our group member’s work and providing positive and constructive feedback. I found this part to be lots of fun and something I have never done before in my previous classes. Having the opportunity to read over Ethan’s work gave me the chance to reflect on my own submission and what worked well or how I could improve my writing moving forward. It also let me understand my writing style, Ethan’s writing style, and learn which areas I pay more attention to as a reader which are grammar, sentence structure, and organization. Upon peer reviewing Ethan’s work, my main feedback for him was to simplify the jargon and use less technical language in the definition itself. He included footnotes and diagrams which were very helpful. Overall, I found this process to be straightforward and beneficial for the person receiving the feedback and the editor.

Editing Process

After reviewing the feedback provided to me by Danae and making her suggested changes, it made my definition assignment much stronger. Some of the main comments were centred around grammatical errors and changing my wordier sentences to be succinct to help with readability. As the writer, it is easy to miss the small mistakes on your own work as you read it so many times. I appreciated having a fresh perspective and gaining feedback from someone with a different writing background. After receiving feedback, it was helpful to actually make the changes suggested so that you remember what to watch out for next time . This was a good starter assignment to begin ENGL 301. I am excited for the opportunity to improve my writing over the semester.

Link to Revised Definition

Link to Danae’s Peer Review of my Definition

#1.

To: Dr. Erika Paterson

From: Juanita Kwok

Date: May 30^th, 2022

Subject: Letter of Application Posted

Hi Erika,

I wanted to send you an e-mail regarding my letter of application, which has now been posted onto my personal blog. My intention is to engage with my classmates and establish a formidable writing team this semester.

In my letter, I address and expand on the following:

• My educational and professional background
• Fundamentals of effective communication in the workplace
• Looking for people who are excited to learn from each other and grow our writing skills together

Thank you for taking the time to read through my memorandum.

Please see attached application letter for your reference and let me know if there are any questions.

Regards,
Juanita Kwok

301 Juanita Kwok Application Letter

1234 Apple Street
Vancouver, BC V7A 1K3

May 30, 2022

English 301 98A Technical Writing
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4

Dear classmates,

My name is Juanita and I am an undergraduate student majoring in real estate at Sauder. During this summer term, we will get a chance to meet one another and form writing teams to collectively enhance our writing capability and technical skills. I am excited for this course because I believe communication is at the forefront of everything we do, in our careers and in daily life.

My educational background began at McGill University where I studied for my Bachelors of Science in Nursing and lived in Montreal for a year until returning to BC. Upon coming back, I pursued an education and career in real estate where I received two diplomas – one from BCIT and one from UBC, along with my real estate license. Now, as I progress along my degree at UBC, it is rewarding to see how much I’ve grown since first year.

For my career, which began 3 years ago, I have been working in project real estate marketing specializing in pre-sale communities throughout Metro Vancouver. It is a fast-paced industry, there is so much to learn, and new opportunities always come up along the way. Over the years, I have developed strong attention to detail, effective communication skills, and a “get it done” attitude. I am grateful for the experiences I’ve had and the connections I’ve formed.

After reading this, my hope is that we can work together to form a writing team that can foster meaningful connections and expand our knowledge together. If you think we could work well together, please send me an e-mail at juanita_kwok@hotmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,
Juanita Kwok

301 Juanita Kwok Application Letter