Technical Writing: Rida Irshad

As this course comes to an end, I realize I have learned many useful skills in a short amount of time. Although writing was never my best talent, I appreciate the importance of having good writing skills as it is a necessity in both personal and professional lives. Creating so many different formats of formal writing and having many opportunities to review my team members writing skills, this course has provided a wide range of experiences and exposure to different styles of writing.

My learning process with this course heavily relied on finishing my textbook readings and instructors blog posts in a timely manner to be able to engage in the assignments or discussions with team members. There were many lessons in this course that were quite foreign to me, this helped ignite my curiosity even more and kept me motivated to learn something that is not strictly dental related – which I tend to enjoy learning about.

Some strengths in my learning process were to ask questions either in the course group chat or by emailing the instructor or other team members whenever needed. With assignments, one of the biggest strengths I have is to follow guidelines provided by the instructor to ensure no areas of the assignments are missed. However, shortcoming with my learning process is that I tend to not proof-read my writing more than once. Although I am well aware of the importance of proof-reading more than once, it is a bad habit that I plan to work on to better improve my writing and editing skills. Another weakness that I noticed in myself during this course was time management. With a busy schedule professionally and personally over the summer months, it was definitely challenging to have a heavy content course to finish. I plan to be better prepared in the coming months for my future courses.

I believe the knowledge and skills learned in this course is something that I need to carry with myself in my future career endeavors. I plan to go into teaching dental hygiene in the future and will require all the assistance available to improve my writing and communication skills. However, assignments such as writing formal letters, creating professional resume, cover letter or conducting research to create a formal report are all very critical skills that I have acquired and plan to keep practicing as we move forward. Having the experience of creating a web folio provides another way for me to showcase my qualifications and skills when needed in the coming years.

The process of creating a web folio was a new experience for me as I have not completed one in the past. It was challenging for me to brainstorm ideas on what the focus of the web folio should be prior to starting the assignment., however, I did enjoy creating and personalizing another blog website, this time in the format of a web folio. During this process, I have discovered new appreciation for the work and effort that goes into developing any sort of marketing tools or websites. There are several factors to keep in mind when developing web folios such as: user friendliness, easy navigation, fine tuning any grammatical errors and ensuring all the information required for the web folio is present.

In an effort to continue to work on my writing skills, I have considered updating my blog even after the completion of this course. I believe it will allow me to reflect on my learning process, assist in organizing my thoughts when writing and it will allow me to monitor my progress of my writing skills. Creating a web folio an excellent way to show case your creative side, highlight your skills and can provide a networking opportunity.

Drafting Formal Report

In the process of drafting the formal report for the unit three assignment, I found my topic to be more challenging than expected in regards to research. In the past, I have completed several research papers and am familiar with what good sources are compiled of and the techniques that can be used to find the desired topic of research. However, my chosen topic proved to be quite specific. Although there was ample data available on the general topic, there was limited research specifically for individuals with special health care needs. Organizing my formal report draft was less challenging as we had created an outline for the formal report and the topics of discussion were already organized in the progress report completed prior to the draft. When completing the outline, I kept in mind the flow of the formal report that I wanted for easier organization in the future. While compiling my draft, I followed the outline I had created as well as the guidelines provided by the instructor. Something that I learned during this process was how to write a letter of transmission and the abstract. In my previous research papers, I had not been required to write these. An error on my part was that I spent a good amount of time researching and learning how to write the letter of transmission and abstract as this was my first writing experience with it, I did not allocate enough time to work on “data selected” or report of the actual draft prior to the peer review. I also learned that the letter of transmission and abstract are not usually submitted with the initial draft.

Peer Review

As the course progresses, I have learned more about the process of peer reviewing. This particular peer review was interesting as I had also reviewed my partners proposal for this assignment. Seeing the progress of the report from the proposal provided good background information on what to expect in the formal report. During the peer review, I learned that proper formatting with any type of writing is critical. My teammate had posted a great draft with ample amount of information and research; however, due to incorrect formatting, the research paper was not reader friendly and made for a challenging read. I also learned that the tone of the paper is very important. We all chose topics that we feel strongly about and hope to see some positive change. Although, as a writer we may be biased, it is important to keep an objective, professional and positive tone throughout the paper and follow the YOU-attitude. This ensures that the reader does not feel attacked and appreciates the time and effort put into the research and the report.

DRAFT – formal report engl 301

LinkedIn Profile

The process of doing research on best practices of LinkedIn was very interesting. Being in the dental field, social media networks such as LinkedIn are rarely used. I had very little knowledge about LinkedIn and was unaware of all the other perks of joining this professional social media network. During my research, I learned so much about this platform and felt intrigued to join. Creating such a platform allows professionals to represent themselves and gives them an opportunity to display all that they can offer. It is a great space for networking and having an online community of other professionals that you can interact with and expand your social and professional life.

Formal Report

The topic I chose to do my research and formal report on came quite naturally to me. The topic I chose was “Increasing Community Oral Hygiene Programs Tailored to Individuals with Special Needs.” It is a subject that I often wander about and can empathize with patients or their care takers that I see in my clinic on a regular basis. I often feel that an hour appointment with only five to ten minutes of remaining time to go over home instructions for their oral health every 6 months or more is not nearly enough time to educate our special needs care patients. Therefore, I felt that this is a topic of interest to me and can be useful in real life in most communities. The research for this assignment will be a new experience for me. Prior to this course, I had never created a survey or interview questions to be used for research. Once all my data is gathered, I plan to use the outline for my formal report that I have created to ensure all aspects of the assignment and research is completed and thoroughly analyzed for my report.

Peer Review Process

Completing a peer review for my partner for the proposal was a good learning experience as this time around the process of doing the peer review was a little more detailed. I had an opportunity to review my partner’s proposal first then review each section of the proposal separately. This allowed me to be more detailed with the review process and I was also able to give more positive feedback for each section. Using this method of completing the peer review, allows the partner being reviewed to recognize which section of the proposal needs more attention – as most likely that section pertaining to the formal report may require more details as well.

Reviewing Team’s Writing

Reading and reviewing my teams writing through the team forum has taught me a lot. I can see that some team members are stronger in writing skills while some are exceptional at keeping their writing assignments well organized and easy to follow. Reviewing others work also allows me to reflect on my own writing. What can I learn from them? How can I organize my writing so the reader can follow my train of thought? I am also attempting to switch my writing tone from a more casual conversation tone to a professional writer’s tone. Completing peer reviews has impacted my writing because I now write with an audience in mind. I want to assure that my readers can understand my thoughts clearly and concisely.

Links:

Revised Proposal: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl30198a2022s12/2022/07/18/revised-proposal-rida/

Peer Review Received: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl30198a2022s12/2022/07/01/rida-irshad-peer-reviewed-by-izabel-lopez/

Original Draft of the Technical Definition

In the first unit of the ENGL 301 course, we were assigned to write a definition of a technical term related to our own profession for a non-technical reader. Since I had no previous experience in writing definitions, I found this assignment to be daunting at first. However, with the help of reading the instructional blog as well as the readings in the textbook, I was able to complete the process of writing a parenthetical, sentence, and expanded definitions of the term “Periodontitis.” Normally, I would not consider this term to be technical as being a dental hygienist and working in a dental clinic, this term is considered to be common dental language. However, from my experience of explaining the term to my patients, I understand it is quite a foreign term to the general population. A parenthetical definition provides the audience with a simple version of the definition that can use a synonym of the term or a clarifying phrase in parenthesis. Sentence definition is a more elaborate definition compared to a parenthetical definition; it uses more distinguishing features to describe the term. Expanded definitions are used when the audience requires a general understanding of the term. To better define the term Periodontitis, I had used expanded definition methods of Etymology (to describe the word’s origin), comparison and contrast (to describe the difference between gingivitis and periodontitis), analysis of parts (to describe what causes periodontitis) and visuals. Using these methods and creating definitions gave me a deeper understanding of technical writing and appreciate the challenges of describing a term to a non-technical audience.

Peer Review Process

In this stage of the assignment, I was responsible for critiquing and reviewing a team member’s definition assignment as well receiving constructive feedback for my own assignment. Given my limited experience in peer reviews, I once again relied on my readings from instructional blogs and the guidelines in the textbook. Having completed the assignment and being familiar with the term chosen by my team member, I found the peer review process easier than expected. The challenge for me during the peer review was to look at the definitions from a perspective of a non-technical audience. Looking at my own peer review, and recognizing the strengths and weaknesses in my assignment, I was able to recognize the positive points as well as some suggestive changes for my team member. During the peer review process, I was also able to refresh my memory on some other methods of expanded definition used by my team member. This process allowed myself and my team members to provide constrictive feedback to each other and allowed us an opportunity to learn new terms as well as a chance to make changes and improve our definitions.

Revision Process

After reviewing my peer assessment, I found the constructive feedback to be very helpful. It helped me acknowledge the mistakes I had overlooked such as using dental jargon that I once again assumed was common language. I also had an opportunity to rephrase my parenthetical definition as my first draft had similarities between parenthetical and sentence definition. Peer review allowed me to see how well an individual who is considered a non-technical audience to understand the term defined in my assignment. My team member also provided me with positive feedback which has encouraged me to be proud of the work I have completed. Overall, this assignment has expanded my knowledge in many ways, and I am excited to learn and enhance my writing skills in the upcoming lessons.

Links:

Definitions Assignment, revised – Rida

Peer Review for Rida