Mike's Technical Writing Blog

In Unit 3 of English 301 there was a large amount of work that had to get done.  I was not only writing about the Occupational First Aid Level 3 but I was also taking it during the unit.  Due to the large course load, reading, and studying requirement for the final exam I was unable to finish all of my Unit 3 assignments on time.

During Unit 3 we looked at writing with “you” attitude and applying it to our writing in different scenarios.  We completed the rough draft of our Formal Report and we completed a peer review of a team members Formal Report.  I found the “you” attitude to be a very interesting way to use tone to the writers advantage, this for me was a new way to look at writing and I thoroughly enjoyed writing that specific assignment.  In my report draft I found it easy to write about as a subject but I found it extremely difficult to get responses back from students that were randomly selected by handing out the questionnaires with a response email.  I also found it hard to get surveys back from first responders and even my first aid instructor.  I did the majority of the first responder surveys by email and had only ever received an automated reply back.  In the future I would create an incentive for completing the survey.  I think that this way I would be able to get the required data but also have a random sample.  I found the peer review to be helpful and I can’t put enough emphasis on the value of a peer’s input.  In this course I have felt myself grow as a writer in the technical sense, and that is due to all of the great feedback I have received from my peers as well as my professor and TA.

I look forward to completing my Formal Report and using the Unit 3 evaluation to grow even more as a writer.

Unit 2 Reflection Blog

In Assignment 2.1 we focused on preparing a proper analytical proposal for a 12-15 page report. The subject I chose for this report was the addition of first aid to the UBC curriculum.  The peer review of this assignment helped improve my writing style for easier reading.  One of the criticisms that I realized was prevalent in my writing was often opting for a comma instead of a period.  This made my sentences run long and made it harder for the reader.  I also had gotten a lot of help from Jasmine and Erika in this unit.  As someone with only a few English courses under their belt I am not the most practiced writer.  I learned how to make a proper and more detailed review with helpful analysis.  Reading through my old assignments, with respect to the new edited versions, I noticed a large difference in the specificity of my criticism and the professional tone.  I feel that I have learned a great deal in this unit about my writing and the corrective measures for my bad habits.

In Assignment 2.2 we created LinkedIn pages, reviewed a team-mates page, and provided a brief memo on LinkedIn research.  I think I definitely lucked out in this assignment.  I got to review a great LinkedIn page.  By reading through and analyzing Sean’s page I really found some great things to take away from his and bring to mine.  I found this peer review especially hard based on the fact I had only good things to say. I think that my LinkedIn profile had some serious growth in this unit as well and hope that future employers will look at it and become impressed.

Assignment 2.3 was focused on developing our Formal Report methods of gathering data.  I spent quite a bit of time thinking about what the most important questions were for my survey and questionnaire.  I found this hard to create a survey that was short enough so people would actually fill it out but still had enough information on it.  I am looking forward to the input form Erika and Jasmine on this matter.

The following post is an email message to the other members of my technical writing group for English 301 at UBC.  These email messages were to my team members after they had asked me to join their group.  I was a late entry into the class and ran into problems getting my blog set up, so I was contacted quite quickly by them after my facebook post. Emails of the team members have been omitted for their privacy.

Hi Sean,

I have reviewed your letter of application.  I am impressed with your level of experience and would like to accept your invitation to be a part of your technical writing group.  I look forward to working with you in the future and creating as many learning opportunities with you that I can.

Cheers,

Mike Warner

Hi Sarah,

I have reviewed your letter of application to be a member of a technical writing team.  I am accepting your offer to be the fourth member of your team.  Your letter makes me excited to work with you as you seem already well written, organized, and driven.  I like your work ethic and look forward to the semester and learning opportunities that Sean, Kayla, and yourself, will present me.

Cheers,

Mike Warner

Hi Kayla,

I have reviewed your letter of application to be a member of a technical writing team.  I am accepting your offer on behalf of Sarah Keller to be a part of your writing team. I think that our skill sets have a degree of variation that will give us both learning opportunities.  I am looking forward to working with you and the potential for an exciting semester.

Cheers,

Mike Warner

To: Jasmine Spencer, Erika Paterson

From: Mike Warner

Date: October 19, 2016

Subject: 301 Application Letter Email Memo – Mike Warner

In my Letter of Application for Assignment 1.2 I address a number of reasons why I am a good candidate for membership in a technical writing team.  My letter includes; my reasons of interest in this course, related work experience, related schooling experience, and expectations for group work and management. I believe that with my work ethic and previous experience I will make a valuable team member to any team.

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After reading Kayla’s review of my definition I was surprised at how much jargon I had used in my original article.  I then re-read my original article and realized that I had not written to the audience that I chose to.  I used many geological terms in my expanded definition that someone new to geology would not know.  I think the reason this happened is due to the amount of use those terms get in my everyday life and how easy it is for me to rely on them.

I also appreciated her thoughts on the flow of my writing.  I noticed that some of the sentences did not read well, and had to be re-read for clarity.  I believe the reason I make those mistakes is due to the speed that I would like to be able to write at being faster than what can be read with proper flow.  I think that this is something I will need to work on in future assignments.

I also appreciate the need for more images.  I think because I have seen cleavage in a hand sample so much, I forget that the audience I chose had no reference images of actual cleavage.  I put in some examples of what helped me in the past to wrap my head around the definition.  I learned through this that when you choose an audience be sure to re-read the entire piece as if you were that audience.  I think this will help me a lot in the future for when I am writing reports or for job applications.

I think that the edits I have made to my original version were needed for the flow and explanation of my definition.  I am glad to have had Kayla review my work and provide the feedback that she has, because it has helped me become a better writer.  I am excited to bring what I have learned in this assignment to the next.

Thank you for viewing my application and I would like you to please consider me for a member of your technical writing team.  I am a fourth year student in my undergraduate degree in geology here at UBC I look forward to learning more and developing my skills in writing as a business professional, and I hope that I can help others develop their own skills through peer reviews.

Through working with the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations I have had some experience in dealing with professional writing.  I have helped to write up work projects that are to be completed by crews in the absence of wildfire. These projects have had to deal with fuel management working with the local forest district, dealing with prescriptions as they relate to insect and tree disease management, burn restrictions and chainsaw training and safety regulations.  I have also had experience writing professional emails within the BC Wildfire Service to other staff involving re-currency training and ongoing staff development.

Through university I have had to write technical reports on an analysis of geochemical data, mineral exploration plans, researched and reported on mineral deposits focusing on ore genesis, organized petrological analyses, read and performed critical analysis on scientific papers, and basic first year English essays (Shakespeare, short stories, etc.).

As a team member I will bring a hard work ethic to the team, I am a firm believer in equal division of group work and holding people accountable. A tool that has shown to work for me in the past for this is excellent group communication and regular face to face meet-ups.  I live just a short bus ride away from campus so working and meeting up on campus is not a problem at all.  I expect my teammates to be interested and committed to this course because I can see it having very positive real world implications upon completion.

If you would like to contact me to be part of your team feel free to email me at warnerm93@gmail.com, or message me on Facebook.

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