Kathryn Simone’s Blog

It is difficult to believe that we have reached the end of this course. At the beginning, I was nervous to complete the course — I work full-time as a software developer, and honestly, the volume of assignments made me nervous. However, I knew I wanted to take this course because of the practicality of it! It is rare to find a course that helps you prepare for navigating the professional world.

Practical applications of this course mainly pertain to professional correspondences, specifically surrounding employment. Namely, obtaining a job and excelling at professional communication. For obtaining a job, we practiced cover letters, resumes, professional social media, and letters of reference.

My favourite part of this course has been the peer review process. I know it has been highly beneficial to my skills as a writer in general, and being able to provide feedback with a You-Attitude is a great gift to give someone. Helping them in a way that is constructive rather than critical is something they will appreciate greatly. On this same note, avoiding imperatives was a big wake-up call for me; it made me realize how authoritative and standoffish my writing could be when consistently using imperatives in my correspondences. Further, a highlight of this course for me was the textbook. I don’t usually enjoy reading textbooks as they are usually dry and outdated, but this one was highly relevant, helpful, and even humorous!

I particularly enjoyed my professional writing team, Team MASK. We worked very well together, and it was great to watch my teammates’ writing techniques grow and mature over the semester. And thank you, Dr Paterson, for a great term. I hope you all enjoy the remainder of summer!

The Web Folio assignment has been incredibly useful in allowing me to realize all I’ve learned throughout this ENGL301 course. It’s almost like climbing a mountain and being able to finally look back at how far you’ve climbed, while also getting to enjoy the view at the top. The view, of course, is where I am able to look back on all of the works, reflections, and job application resources that I have completed over the semester. At the beginning of the course, I’ll admit that I didn’t know how much I would learn from a technical writing course — since I already work in industry, I thought I may already know most of it. It turns out, even three months later I see that there are still improvements to be made! I want to be committed to lifelong learning… no one ever knows everything and there is always room for improvement.

When designing the Web Folio, I wanted navigation to be simple and easy. Thus, I ensured the headers were large and descriptive, so that a future employer can easily navigate intuitively. A webpage that is informative and easy to use shows that I am detail-oriented, patient, and empathetic because I understand the importance of other people’s time. Further, this assignment taught me to conduct myself professionally and formally, unless both parties agree that casual communication is alright. In today’s world, we must keep in mind that the first impression is so vital. If there are no grammatical errors, a You-Attitude, a respectful tone, and great attention to detail, it will leave a fantastic impression on a potential future employer. This assignment has helped me realize the effort that must be put into the job hunt, and how continuous self and peer reviewing can greatly improve the final versions of resumes, cover letters, social media pages, and personal letters.

Lastly, my favourite aspect of the web folio is how it is personalized and that we have room to let our professional personalities shine through. I added an additional page that showcases a couple of personal software projects that I have completed, which is very applicable for my career aspirations in the software development industry. I know that it is a great personal detail to include that adds considerable value for parties interested in hiring me, as they will be able to assess my best software projects!

Unit three of English 301 started with learning how to write with a “You-Attitude”, progressed with writing professional communication on an issue from two points of view, and finished with writing and peer reviewing the first draft of the formal report.

We began the unit with learning how to write with a “You-Attitude”, a writing style and a philosophy, places the reader’s interests foremost in your writing. I was surprised to find this particularly challenging, as I have experience writing in a professional setting throughout my years at office jobs. I quickly realized how many aspects of my writing conflicted with “You-Attitude”: I often used imperative verbs and my tone could be construed as harsh, when that was not at all how I was trying to come across. Instead, I needed to emphasize what the reader wants to know and respect the reader’s intelligence. Learning how to write with a “You-Attitude” has helped my writing improve and will lend me credibility in the workforce.

The process of researching, organizing and writing my formal report draft was an extensive task. A lot of preparation and planning was required to carry out the surveys and interview. In preparing the survey questions, I learned that some of my questions were “leading” — that is, the manner in which the questions are worded are eliciting a certain response and could create a bias. My report required gathering survey responses from Lions Gate Hospital employees. Through the experience of gathering primary data, I realized the importance of having a strong social network. My sister is a nurse at Lions Gate Hospital, so I was able to ask her to reach out to some colleagues. Further, my childhood friend graduated from UBC with a degree in nutrition and has a masters in Occupational Therapy, and is now employed at Lions Gate Hospital. Through these connections, I was able to gather 10 responses.

I peer reviewed Sydney’s draft report on increasing the amount of spots open for veterinary schools in Canada. I reviewed the content, organization, style, and design flaws within each section. I found that reviewing the draft this time around was much easier than before, as I thought more about “You-Attitude” than before. The peer review process has given me an appreciation for others’ work and allowed me to be a better self editor along with being a better peer editor. I have been lucky to have dedicated and intelligent teammates with professional and inspiring writing styles, and interesting topics on top of that!

Overall, drafting the formal report was a long and intensive process, but fruitful in the end. I anticipate finalizing the outstanding elements of my report. I have included a link to the draft of my formal report below. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts, and I look forward to presenting the final draft of the report.

301 Kathryn Simone Final Report Draft

In Unit Two, we explored two major parts of the course: the report and our LinkedIn profile. In terms of the report, I believe it will be an excellent exercise in technical writing, surveying, interviewing, and data compiling. We completed the proposal, outline, and timeline of our report for this unit. For our LinkedIn profiles, we compiled tips and learned the importance of ensuring that your profile is as appealing as possible to potential future employers. We then put these tips to work by improving our profiles, including making sure all sections were filled out and up-to-date, and ensuring our online presence is active, relevant, and professional.

Personally, Unit Two proved to be more challenging than Unit One. One reason for that is that I found the formal report proposal to be especially challenging. I have strong opinions on the state of healthcare and hospital food in Canada, but I wasn’t sure exactly how I wanted to proceed. I decided to tackle how we can improve the health of hospital food in Canada in a cost effective way. Thanks to my peer Sydney, who reviewed my proposal, I was able to realize that certain language (i.e “carcinogenic”) was not friendly to certain users, so I should more clearly define who my readership will be before using technical language. Further, I should define if this new meal plan would be for all patients, or just for the most vulnerable patients. With the advice from Sydney, I will be able to make my formal report more clear and realistic.

Prior to the LinkedIn assignment, I had already created a LinkedIn a few years ago. I occasionally got contacted by recruiters, but always had improving my profile far down my “to-do list”. This assignment gave me the “push” I needed to finally make my profile more complete. With my reviewer’s help, and advice from my team’s best practices blog posts, I cut a lot of unnecessary filler from the page, rendering it more concise and readable. Thanks to the tips I researched, as well as with the comments from my peer, I now understand the importance of a LinkedIn profile and will be working to maintain the better standard that my page now has because of the peer review process.

Overall, I believe that peer review was a valuable experience for improving my writing and I look forward to the learning objectives in Unit 3. My personal peer review process was challenging but less difficult than the previous unit. While my partner for the LinkedIn page review had excellent content, her page was lacking involvement as it had a lack of endorsements and connections. I made recommendations to her to try to be more involved in LinkedIn by “following” companies and charities that she’s interested in, as well as “liking” articles to show that she is active on the website. The review process for the formal report proposal also went smoothly. I was able to make suggestions to my partner to increase conciseness, as certain information was repeated throughout the report. Again, I was able to make these suggestions in a positive and constructive manner as specified in the textbook.

Below I have included links to Sydney’s peer review of my report proposal, and my revised report proposal.

My proposal: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-98a-2020sa/2020/06/19/formal-report-propsal-increasing-the-quality-of-hospital-food/

Sydney’s review: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-98a-2020sa/2020/06/24/peer-review-kathryn-simone-report-proposal/

Unit one of English 301 consists of three sections, whereby students were required to set up their blogs, form writing teams for collaborations, draft a definitions assignment, and then peer review their teammates’ definition assignment.

The ability to communicate professionally is a vital aspect of being employed. This can consist of explaining a technical term that you, yourself, are extensively knowledgeable about, to an individual (a teammate, client, and beyond!) with limited expertise on the subject. Through the definitions assignment, we learned how to properly define a technical term to an audience with limited knowledge on the subject.

Additionally, as a working professional, the ability to provide constructive feedback to one’s peers and coworkers is invaluable. Our textbook provided a helpful example for how to properly provide constructive feedback in a tactful way. Reviews should always be accompanied by constructive criticism — that is, it should refer to concrete elements that can be improved, and accompany this with resources or alternatives if possible. Importantly, reviews should be friendly, encouraging, and considerate. While reviewing Jie’s assignment, I made sure to be tactful in my criticisms, and to include concrete examples of areas that the assignment could be improved.

Having my definitions assignment reviewed by my teammate Jie helped me find issues with my writing that I would have otherwise overlooked. Jie was able to help me increase clarity within my assignment by pointing out ambiguity in areas that were unclear or may have caused confusion to the reader, such as a lack of transition sentences. Another important note was that the purpose of the assignment was to provide a simple explanation of a technical term to a non-technical reader. I realized that beyond my original explanation, I could have another example or case in which algorithms are used, which would increase interest in the subject as well as comprehension.

Below I have posted a link to Jie Su’s peer review of my definitions assignment, and attached the revised version of that assignment.

https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-98a-2020sa/2020/06/10/peer-review-for-kathryn-simone/

ENGL-301-Algorithm-Definitions

Hi Mandy,

I would like to extend to you an invitation to my professional writing group for English 301. After reviewing your blog and reading your letter of application, I think that you would make an excellent addition to the team.

What first stood out to me is that we are both pursuing a degree in Computer Science, and we likely approach assignments and problem-solving with a similar frame of mind, making us great teammates. Further, your real world experience at an international trading company demonstrates that you understand the importance of technical communication in a professional context. Lastly, your previous teammates’ evaluation of your work shows that you will contribute positively to my team.

Please see my attached letter of application, and should you wish to accept my invitation, feel free to respond to this email. I hope to hear back from you soon.

Sincerely,

Kathryn Simone

Hi Sydney,

I am writing to you today to extend an invitation to join my professional writing group for English 301. I reviewed your blog and read your application letter, and have decided that you would be an excellent addition to the team.

My first impression of your letter of application was being impressed with your class in Language and Cognition, as well as all of your extra-curricular activities. Your academics pursuits in psychology, all while working two-part time jobs, shows that you have excellent time-management skills, as well as a strong work-ethic. I also work in addition to my academic pursuits, and thus feel that our organization and time-management skills will compliment each other.

Please see my attached application letter for reference, and feel free to contact me with your decision on joining the group. I look forward to hearing back from you and I hope to work with you through the term.

Regards,

Kathryn Simone

Hi Alison,

I’d like to extend you an invitation to my professional writing group for English 301. After viewing your blog and reading your application letter, I have decided that you would be a great addition to the team.

I first noticed that you have co-op experience at ADP Financial Ltd. and the Alzheimer Society of B.C., which demonstrates your hardworking and dedicated character. Your real-world experience writing for public associations at your co-op placement shows that you understand the importance of technical communication in a professional, real-world context.

If you are interested in joining my group, please don’t hesitate to reach out via email. Please see my attached application letter for reference. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards,

Kathryn Simone

To: Dr. Erika Paterson, Instructor, ENGL 301, UBC
From: Kathryn Simone, Student, ENGL 301
Date: May 18, 2020
Subject: Memo for Prof. Paterson – Application Letter

Hello Professor Paterson,

My letter of application has been posted on my student blog. For your reference, it has also been linked to the end of this email.

In summary, my application letter includes:

• addresses my studies for a second degree in computer science
• touches on current work as a software developer
• discusses my personal experience with written communication
• a request for consideration for membership on an ENGL 301 writing team

Please do not hesitate to reach out should you have any further questions or comments.

Kind Regards,

Kathryn

Enclosure: 301-Kathryn-Simone-Application-Letter

Kathryn Simone
3138 Dryden Way
North Vancouver, BC
V7K 2Y8
May 18, 2020

ENGL 301 – Technical Writing
University of British Columbia
2329 West Mall Vancouver, BC
V6T 1Z3

To my classmates of English 301:

Please consider my application for acceptance into your writing team for the duration of the summer semester, as advertised on the English 301 98A Lesson 1:2 Assignment Instruction Page. I am currently a 3rd year Bachelor of Computer Science student, and I graduated with a degree in psychology from UBC in 2018.

While I was studying for my first degree I worked in the University of British Columbia Infant Cognition Lab as a research assistant. Throughout my time there, I assisted in carrying out laboratory testing on the infants, where I conducted puppet shows, tracked their eye movements, and observed reactions in order to gather data. With this data, I assisted in writing lab reports, where I honed my technical writing skills. Since graduation, I have worked as a behavioural support worker for the North Vancouver School District. For each student on my case, I wrote technical documents with observations and recommendations that would subsequently be passed on to other professional teams. These experiences, combined with my psychology studies, have given me a technical and practical understanding of what it takes to be a skilled writer.

Currently, I am working as a software developer, and must communicate with my clients online. Although I have experience with this, I do feel that I wish to improve my ability to communicate more sincerely to my clients. At times, I feel I communicate in a way that seems more robotic than natural. Although this is a current weakness, I hope to develop new strategies to improve my writing style and communication throughout this course.

Should you wish to create a partnership in this course, please feel free to contact me at kathrynsimone95@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Kathryn Simone

301-Kathryn-Simone-Application-Letter-