Writing the first draft of my formal report during a busy time in my life was a challenge. With my family moving homes, it was important for me to really organize my time to ensure that deadlines were continuing to be met. Collecting the data for my two surveys was fairly simple once I received approval from Dr. Paterson as it was just a matter of distributing over social media and email. However, once my surveys closed, a large challenge I faced with composing the draft was creating the graphs and figures from the data that was received. With so many key questions being asked, it was a struggle to not only create the appropriate graphics but to also decide on which were to be excluded from the report. As a psychology student, it was also an adjustment writing a full report in MLA and following the textbook’s guidelines, as I am so used to composing papers in APA format. It was important that I paid close attention to detail and changed the way I approached this assignment as it does not follow my “everyday university paper”.

Reviewing Christina’s report was a pleasure. I really enjoyed reading her report on overcoming the pandemic and socially distancing within her workplace. Because this assignment is such a large portion of our grades in this class, I really wanted to make sure that I was providing her with the best peer review that I could so that she would be able to improve her paper as much as possible. She provided an excellent review for me as well, and I wanted to return the courtesy. While peer-reviewing her draft, I tried to break it down by section as much as I could, providing both the positives and areas of improvement of her draft. Multiple passes of her report were needed for me to provide a proper review, as I wanted to be sure not to exclude anything important. While peer-reviewing takes time and can be tedious, it is a necessity for assignments such as these.

I think while finalizing my own report, I can indirectly learn from Christina; she has a very direct and concise writing style which helps keep her report within target length and this is something I am going to need to focus on achieving. Right now, my report sits at 21 pages, but with Christina’s suggestions, I am sure I will be able to achieve a page count closer to the target length while still maintaining quality within my report.

I look forward to completing my last few assignments for this course, but I know there is some more hard work ahead of me this upcoming week!

301 Michaela Basciano Rough Draft

LinkedIn was not new to me before this course. For the past couple of years, I have been an active member on the platform, connecting with colleagues and my fellow UBC students. However, I am not a Sauder student, meaning that when I set up my LinkedIn account, I did not receive the same guidance and/or workshops that some other students have received on how to be a great LinkedIn member. Running my LinkedIn account on my own the last while has involved a lot of research, communication with others, and personal experimenting. Receiving a review on my profile for the first time is wonderful, as I now feel I better understand where I may need some improvement. Peer reviewing as a whole this unit has been very helpful and insightful. I feel that I look at my work in a different view more often than I used to, and at the same time, I am seeing the various writing styles for the same task by my teammates. Seeing a variety of interpretations and methods of execution within our writing styles provides ideas for my own writing down the road of this course. With the largest report coming up, it will be interesting to see how I decide to use some of my peers’ techniques within my own writing, while still making it my own. In addition, I am very thankful for the reviews I received from Eva and Max this unit, and I plan on using both to further my work.

After facing a small bump in the formal report process, accidentally releasing my study surveys too early, I was required to reset and readjust my strategy for working on this report. After some great help from Dr. Paterson, I now feel like I am back on track to collecting data for the report I plan on writing later this month. I feel confident that I will collect the information I need in order to make the case I am hoping to make on a topic I am very passionate about. It is rare to have this level of freedom in choosing a report topic, so I am excited to get started. At the same time, I have noticed that my teammates have proposed some intriguing topics, all of which vary drastically from each other, so I am excited to see what the lot of us produce.

 

UPDATED Research Proposal Michaela Basciano

Eva’s Peer Review

The first unit and set of assignments have been a nice and smooth introduction into this technical writing course. Before diving into a reflection on my own work and process, I want to thank Christina for writing a very simple educational definition for such a complex term. I often find when learning medical terms, explanations can often be hard for a reader to digest with one passing. I found she did an excellent job of making periodontitis simpler to understand. When peer-reviewing her work, I started off by reading the assignment out loud. I find that this helps locate points in the writing that may not be fluid. If there is a point where I stumble reading, it can likely be adjusted. In this specific case, I found that Dr. Paterson’s template was helpful as a guideline. It helped me narrow down what to point out within my teammate’s work. Something I have learned from Christina’s writing is that she is very articulate and is able to explain complex concepts in a simplistic way for everyone to understand. I also admire her creativity and ability to create a realistic scenario in the presentation of her work. Going forward, I hope to learn from her conciseness and directness and apply it to my own work.

Choosing a word for my assignment was easy, yet difficult. It was easy for me to decide on picking a word from my residential building profession, but deciding on the exact term was difficult as there are so many to choose from. In addition, I would need to be able to explain it in a simplistic way for my peers and there are many terms where that would not be possible. Once I had decided on arterial, I found it challenging to rephrase the same definition in three ways. It is not very often where someone needs to explain a word in three different, expanded ways to someone, so my largest challenge was not being too repetitive or providing contrasting explanations accidentally.

That being said, Christina’s peer-review of my own definition was extremely helpful. After reading her peer-review, it was very clear to me where I needed improvement in my assignment. Her review highlighted problematic areas that I did not originally catch. For example, “at-grade” is commonly used in my workplace, but to the common reader it may not be, and therefore needed further elaboration. Going forward, I think I need to more critically edit my work and think about it from the perspective of another person. Where can I elaborate more? Will the reader understand all that’s presented? In addition, I need to improve on better addressing an audience in all of my writing. In contexts like these, setting a clear audience is just as important as setting a clear thesis in a formal paper/report. I hope to achieve these improvements in my future assignments for this course.

 

Discussed assignments can be found here:

Original Definition

Peer-Review for Christina

Peer-Review from Christina

Revised Definition

Dear Eva,

I have recently completed reading your application letter on your student blog. I am very interested in having you work with me on one of our course’s professional writing teams. I particularly took notice in your academic work, as we are in the same major specialization and I too take interest in some of your pursuits. I also value your ability to get your assignments done on time.

Although we bring different areas of focus and expertise to the forefront, I believe this could be helpful when time for discussions, reflections, and group assignments as a whole. If you would like to a partner with me, please let me know. I have attached my application letter to this email for your leisure.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Michaela Basciano

301 Michaela Basciano Application Letter

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Dear Christina,

I apologize for the delay in response. I have received an email from both you and your current teammate, Esteban, since yesterday. I really appreciate the kind words and interest and would be more than happy to join your team!

However, I do already have one other teammate, Eva Ruiz. Therefore, I was wondering if you two would be interested in forming a group of four with the two of us.

Please let me know; I look forward to your response.

Warm regards,

Michaela Basciano

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Dear Esteban,

Thank you for reaching out. I really appreciate the kind words and interest and would be more than happy to join your team! I have received an email from both you and your current teammate, Christina, since yesterday and have just finished responding to her inquiry.

That being said, I should mention to you as well that I do already have one other teammate, Eva Ruiz. Therefore, I was wondering if you two would be interested in forming a group of four with the two of us.

Please let me know; I look forward to hearing from you both.

Kindly,

Michaela Basciano

 

 

To: Dr. Erika Paterson

From: Michaela Basciano

Date: May 22, 2020

Subject: Posting of Application Letter

 

As outlined in the course schedule, I have posted my application letter to my student blog in hopes of being recruited to join a professional writing team for the course. I really valued the textbook examples while completing this assignment and appreciate your clear layout of deadlines.

My application letter covers the following topics:

• My professional interests
• My professional involvements
• A sample of my professional development and education
• My strengths and weaknesses in regard to my worth ethic and technical writing skills
• Learning philosophy

You will find the discussed document below. I appreciate any and all feedback that you have to offer on my application letter. If it requires any changes or adjustments, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Michaela Basciano

Encl.: 301 Michaela Basciano Application Letter

2075 West Mall

Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2

 

May 22, 2020

 

Technical Writing (English 301) Summer Class of 2020

University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1

 

Dear Students of Technical Writing:

I am writing to express my interest in becoming a part of a professional writing team for this course. I am very eager to begin working with you and getting to know you.

As stated in my blog, I am the Internal Director and current stand-in Professional Development Coordinator for TheCalendar. These positions allow me to take the lead on almost all human resource and professional development initiatives by our organization. Off-campus, I work seasonally full-time as a sales, marketing, and policy writing assistant for my family’s business. Post-graduation, I plan on pursuing more education and a human resource certification so that I may work in the field as a professional.

My time at the University of British Columbia (UBC) has provided me with a plethora of opportunities in professional development. To name a few, I have received sexual assault bystander intervention & prevention education, sexual assault disclosure training, QPR suicide prevention training, was a UBC delegate at the NACURH Annual Leadership Conference, and presented at the UBC Student Leadership Conference. These experiences have given me some of the appropriate background and development suited for my future in organizational culture and have tailored me to become the empathetic person I am today.

My strengths in terms of writing skills and work habits include, but are not limited to, the following: organization, time management and meeting deadlines, precision, accuracy, and directness. I also have tangible experience in policy writing, business documents, and more. A weakness of mine, although seen as a strength by some, is that I have the tendency to be overly particular with grammar and vocabulary use and I can sometimes be somewhat of a perfectionist.

My learning philosophy is very much rooted in acts of experience and interaction. I learn the best when physically doing or taking part in something, even more so when others are involved in the process.

If you are interested in forming or joining a team for this course with me and my background is of interest for collaboration, I encourage you to contact me through Canvas or email, michbasc@gmail.com, as per the course schedule and outline.

Sincerely,

Michaela Basciano

Technical Writing Student

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301 Michaela Basciano Application Letter

Welcome to my blog for English 301! Here is where I will be posting my blogs for the summer semester(s).

(This is a test blog to demonstrate functionality and set up of blog settings and parameters).