Liam's Blog – Web Folio

Throughout the second unit of ENG 301, I deepened my abilities to write effectively in a formal context. During the formal report proposal, I honed the skills to clearly outline and put forward a plan for the development of my coyote-tracking app. In this assignment, I was reminded of the importance of presentation and structure when crafting any sort of formal proposal. I noticed how reworking my draft’s structure into a streamlined, easy-to-follow order helped to make the content much more powerful than when it was diluted through feeling disjointed.

My initial draft for this assignment was overly complex, and I realised that this complexity was not adding much to the overall effect the content had on the reader. Through my editing processes, I came to realise how important simplicity is, even – or especially – when communicating in a formal setting. I noticed how much of my writing was just cumbersome white noise which distracted from meaningful content and how, rather than making my work appear more professional, it just muddied it.

I also more fully realised the importance of sentence structure. I chose to break up my work into a series of shorter, to-the-point sentences. Prior to this, run-on sentences seemed to be a snag that was holding my work back from being its clearest and most professional. I had a tendency to want to fit in all the information I could into a single sentence. I now see no harm in breaking up a sentence, even if it follows “a single thought” into two, three, or more separate parts. Keeping sentences purposeful and concise felt key to maintaining the audience’s attention. It had been missing from my work, however the assignments in Unit 2 provided me with space to practice this. By the unit’s end, I found my writing markedly easier to follow.

Moreover, I learnt new, subtle details about objectivity when writing a report. It was interesting to see how, even when you are proposing the development of a new innovation, such as a coyote-tracking app, you must give equal airtime to the anti-development counterarguments – the reasons why such an app is not feasible, effective or necessary. This was new to me, as I assumed when one is proposing a new technology they are going to be inherently biased toward going ahead with it.

However, this made me stop and think about how the development of any new innovation needs be done with everyone’s interest in mind, not just the creator’s interest, and must only be done if objective assessment reveals it will have a net benefit on the whole.

It was also fascinating to learn about ethical data collection, and the rigours one must go through to safeguard any study they conduct against exploitative, questionable collection of people’s data, sometimes on personal or sensitive subjects.

Through all of this, I feel I bolstered my skillset when it comes to being clear when writing a proposal, looking at everything in a detached, objective way and being wary of how to ethically proceed with a study, specifically as it involves the collection of data.

I am grateful this unit imparted me with these lessons and manifold more.

Throughout the process of writing, giving and receiving feedback via peer review, and revising, I learnt about how easy it is to miss subtle syntactic and grammatical features in your first draft, particularly when striving to compose one’s writing in a professional tone.
I noticed there were a few instances in my first draft where I was not as concise as I could have been, and left room for ambiguity. This was particularly apparent when writing the sentence definition of my term, gerrymandering, which resulted in a hard-to-follow, run-on sentence. Given its complex nature, the term did feel difficult to summarise in a single sentence, but I managed to cut out unnecessary aspects of the term’s description to help make the meaning clearer in my revised version.
I also now have a better appreciation of how taking time away from your own work, before coming back to it, allows you to detach from ‘being the writer’, and view it with a more objective lens. When I returned to revise my work, I was no longer reading it as my own work, but just as an anonymous piece of work that I was there to edit. This made it easier to see solutions to make my definitions clearer staring back at me in plain sight, as I was no longer wrapped up in the mindset of ‘these are my words, and I need to make sure the writing style I choose reflects me’.
I found incorporating a visual aid, like diagrams with arrows in my case, highly useful to provide the step-by-step explanation of a term, like gerrymandering. The linear layout of the diagrams helped to dramatically simplify what could be a confusing process if it was merely described in a paragraph. I think supplementing written definitions with illustrations or diagrams is a very good way to be clearer, as many people are more accustomed to visual learning.
Peer-reviewing others’ works was fascinating, too, because it allowed me to see how group members’ thought processes differed in the way they approached this assignment. While each of us took a different route, we arrived at a similar destination, and each of our final products feels like a succinct and professional definition of the term we chose. I enjoyed learning from their posts, gained inspiration, and was consistently struck by the succinct and well-crafted quality of writing, for the most part.
All in all, I learnt a lot from every component of this assignment, and was engaged by the process. It felt like a good training ground for a professional environment, where one must make the final, executive call on how to revise their writing – even if they can ask for advice.

Hi there, I hope you are well. I am also a student in ENG 301, and my skills include strong communication skills, a strong command of the English language (editing and writing skills built from a background in Creative Writing), and a desire to make every group member feel heard and included.

To: Erika Paterson, ENG 301 Instructor

From: Liam Plosker, ENG 301 Student

Subject: Letter of Application

I am writing to inform you that I have posted my letter of application to join a writing group on my blog. In it, I detail the abilities I offer to prospective group members.

These include:

• A strong command of the English language from my background in Creative Writing
• Sound communication skills
• Self-taught professional editing skills I have cultivated
• Being skilled at dealing with and de-escalating conflict
• Prioritising the inclusion of every member

This letter is pending consideration from my peers. I have sent it to members of our cohort, so they can consider the skills I bring to the table and whether they are a good match for their own.

If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Sincerely,

Liam Plosker

Dear prospective writing team-mates of English 301,

My name is Liam Plosker. I am a third year English major, minoring in Creative Writing. Fiction writing has been a lifelong passion, since I was six years old. This background in Creative Writing has allowed me to acquire a strong command for the English language, including a robust writing and editing skillset. I am a dedicated team member, and I prefer to listen, rather than speak, and entertain many different perspectives when forming my own.

I am a proficient communicator and tend to thrive in group settings, both socially and professionally. I have experience volunteering in Sprout kitchen working and communicating in a team setting, as well as volunteering at UBC Farm where I participated in coordinated group tasks. I have also been an active member in many workshop-structure classes at UBC in the past.

I sincerely enjoy getting to know others and am a friendly and approachable person. I strive to build a safe space where every member feels heard and included in each activity. I seek to make group-work totally democratic where each member has an equal contribution. On a more human aspect, I love to socialise and building stimulating new connections with people that extend beyond the classroom.

I hope you will reflect on the abilities I bring to the table when considering my application to join your writing group.

(Word Doc Version Linked) 301 – Liam Plosker – Letter of Application

Please do not hesitate to email me at ploskerliam@gmail.com whenever your schedule allows.

Thank you for your interest. Have a lovely day.

Sincerely,

Liam