Researching and Writing my First Formal Report

While I was writing the first iteration of my formal report, the process and structure of a formal report reminded me a lot of writing a lab report. However, I have never experienced writing on a topic such as the one I picked. I found the process of coming up with your own idea refreshing because topics and research methods are usually assigned to you in science courses. Getting the opportunity to create and hand out my own survey was also a cool experience for me as I never knew there were proper ways to word survey questions.

When organizing and writing the report draft, I drew a lot from how I write lab reports as I noticed a lot of similarities between formal reports and lab reports. For example, section names and their contents were largely identical, the use of figures and captions, and the importance of passive voice.  These similarities allowed me to have a solid idea of what a good formal report consists of and eased my writing process immensely, aside from using MLA citations instead of APA citations.

Peer Reviewing my Teammate’s Formal Report

Peer reviewing my teammate’s formal report was a fun process. Conservation and sustainability are things I have great interest in, so it made Barton’s formal report a very interesting read. It is also very helpful to look at my peer’s approach to writing a formal report and seeing what I can learn from their writing. The feedback I receive from peers in this class are always constructive. I always look forward to and appreciate any advice my peers have to improve my work before handing in the final submission, so I have greatly enjoyed the peer review process in this class.

301 Phoebe Wu Formal Report Draft

EDIT: You can now read my completed formal report  here