English 301 is an intensive writing course. It has been a fantastic learning experience, and my technical communication skills have strengthened through the process. Having experience in the professional world prior to starting this course, I assumed my professional writing skills were sufficient. However, I was surprised by the amount of improvement that I saw in my writing over the semester. Primarily, my writing has become more concise and clear. I am also able to write with a friendly, yet professional tone. Still, I am still looking to improve my time management skills, as assignments typically take me a long time to complete.
One of the final assignments was to create an application package. Composing an application package was a simple process for me. Being in the co-op program at UBC, I have already gone through the process of writing cover letters and updating my resume. So, the elements of the application package were essentially created prior to this assignment. I was able to use the skills I gained throughout English 301 to improve these documents through self-editing.
Overall, I found that I learned the most from the peer review process. I have gotten exceptional feedback from both of my peer reviewers, Harvey and David. Furthermore, my writing skills have improved through the process of reading and composing peer reviews. I initially struggled with being too concise, which meant my peer reviews lacked enough detail. So, Dr. Erika Paterson gave me helpful feedback on a past peer review and referred to an example of an excellent peer review on her blog page. I was able to use these comments to improve my final peer review, which ended up being one of my best works from this course.
I am excited about the progress I have made in my professional writing. These new skills are invaluable, and they will be put to use when I start my new co-op in September. Working in team settings is part of the Software Engineering process. I believe that my new skills for professional communication will reflect positively on myself to my employers, and set me apart from others.