In Unit Two, I was tasked with developing a topic for a formal report. After receiving feedback from my instructor, I wrote a revised formal report proposal, a formal report outline, and a progress report, all in different formats, including email memorandums and documents. In addition, I reviewed my fellow groupmate Gareth’s formal report proposal. Lastly, I wrote a memorandum on the top 10 LinkedIn practices.

This unit highlighted my progress in developing technical writing skills and areas where I need to improve.

LinkedIn Profile
This exercise was shorter than other assignments but was a great learning opportunity. Firstly, in terms of professional development, I learned tips on maximizing my usage of LinkedIn, most notably how I can increase my visibility by reacting and commenting on posts. Secondly, regarding academic development, I learned how to convey ideas using clear and concise wording due to the 300-word count. I will continue to use and develop this skill in future assignments.

Report Proposal and Outline
I started my assignment with confidence in my proposal idea of ‘Expanding Culturally Informed Food Security Approach for the South Vancouver Food Hub,’ however upon receiving feedback from the instructor as well as the comments made by my peer in the review, I recognized that this topic, while ambitious, may not be appropriate for this project. As such, I switched to a more straightforward topic I am passionate about and well versed in, but simple enough; mental programs for newcomer youth. I chose this topic because I deal with it frequently in my professional career.
By changing the topic, I could better visualize how the formal report will be executed compared to the previous topic I had chosen. I also conducted extensive background information about mental health services for newcomer populations to articulate myself better in the proposal. In my formal review, I will use the literature from my initial investigation to provide context about the importance of mental health services for the mental well-being of newcomer youth, as well as to propose ways to improve them, and finally, to contextualize the findings generated by the primary data source.

Peer Review
My peer’s idea was quite simple yet an overlooked component in road safety. He effectively conveyed his idea in a few paragraphs. In reviewing my peer’s work for unit two, I found it more challenging as his proposal was clear and concise and did not have significant grammatical errors. As such, I believed there was no room for recommendations. I also neglected to add a proper first impression section as noted by our instructor. I tried to provide suggestions for expanding the data collection method but went outside the requirements of what I was assigned to do and received a poor mark. After this process, I learned to read the assignment guidelines carefully and not deviate from them.

After reading my peer review, I recognized minor grammatical errors that I had overlooked, which impacted the overall quality of my proposal. It showed me the importance of proofreading and re-writing sentences to be more conscious, noting that complex terminology does not elevate my work, but precise language does. Because I changed my topic, I did not receive a peer review of my updated proposal.

 

Peer review of my proposal: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl30199c2022w2/2023/02/28/peer-review-of-salma-islmails-formal-report-proposal/

Revised project proposal: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl30199c2022w2/2023/03/05/revised-proposal/