I have the habit of using secondary research, instead of primary research when writing academic papers. This has been a hard habit to break. While I was writing my first draft of the formal report, I tried to be very conscious that I didn’t start writing a research paper instead. Creating primary research is much harder than finding relevant secondary research. Getting enough BCS students to fill out my surveys was challenging, but it was a good learning experience on reaching out to others.

My formal report outline was a good starting point for organizing my report, but as I started writing I realized I had to make changes to the outline. This is the first academic report I’ve written since I graduated from my first degree, so it took a little bit to get the hang of organizing a report again. I was happy to find that Hannah, my peer reviewer, was able to understand the flow of the report.

Peer reviewing Hannah’s report was interesting because we have similar writing style problems. Like Hannah, I often forget to use more of a “you” attitude. Reviewing Hannah’s report has reminded me to be more conscious and careful about my writing style. I was impressed with Hannah’s well thought out recommendations for change, and I hope to use her format to revise my own formal report.