As a final self-reflection assessment, I aim to discuss weaknesses and strengths in my own learning process and assignments, as well as how my skills and strengths as a student can help support my future career and educational goals. Looking back over the course of the term, I feel that I have gained a lot of knowledge about technical writing, and I appreciate the feedback that my classmates provided about my assignments. For example, in Unit 1 I learned so much about how to write appropriately for a specific audience and take constructive feedback into consideration, which helped to significantly improve my work. I also enjoyed reading other people’s work and offering my own feedback and suggestions for improvement that they could incorporate into their writing. Having a closed loop on the feedback by making edits based on others’ suggestions also made me realize the weaknesses that I could improve upon in my writing. For example, I found that one weakness I have is that sometimes I would make assumptions about the reader’s knowledge of the subject matter of my writing, which can be very scientific at times. Not everyone understands the same level of detail or has the knowledge about the subject matter of the various scientific courses I have taken, and this was evident in my definitions assignment.
Furthermore, having my writing broken down into small chunks and viewing them from another perspective was extremely helpful in reviewing my work. The suggestions that I received on making the technical language much simpler allowed me to think deeply about my writing from the reader’s perspective, and to remember to utilize this strategy each time I wrote a new piece going forward. I was also able to gain exposure to new tools, such as LinkedIn, to expand my network on social media while highlighting my skills and qualifications for future volunteer and job opportunities. This is a great tool to use because you can do so much with it, and it’s a simple process that’s easy to follow with the ability to add an online portfolio, accomplishments, and so on in addition to education, work experience, and volunteering information.
From a research perspective, the final project I completed on Bath and Body Works really opened up my eyes to a new methodology that could help assist a company in improving their corporate social responsibility and environmental practices. These are causes that are of great importance to me, and I was able to use my scientific research methodologies learned in my science courses, change the point of view by thinking about how the consumers would respond, and incorporate the survey feedback into my final report. I believe that this was a great strength I was able to use and a wonderful opportunity for me to learn about different types of research that can assist a social cause. Although the number of responses was lower than I had hoped, I think that this information can provide Dina, the store manager at the Metrotown Bath and Body Works location, with some informative insight into the customers who shop there and what is important to them.
Overall, I really enjoyed the various assignments that I worked on throughout the term and believe that my skills have greatly improved as a result. ENG 301 is a course that every student should take to help them understand how the ‘you attitude’ is of the utmost importance in any writing that they do, whether in their educational pursuits or future careers. For me, I believe that this will greatly enhance my communications skills with others as I pursue a Master of Science in Genome Science and Technology (GSAT). In this graduate program, a certain level of capability in writing is necessary to pass the courses and graduate, so the skills I have learned will be essential components of my skill set going forward.