Sarah Keller's Technical Writing Blog

I had some trouble with unit 3. The opinion survey research for my final project was successful and the divers from Kraken Water Taxi and Diving Services did a great job with their environmental surveys. The amount of detail that they wrote in their comments sections really helped create of picture of the biodiversity of the Southern Gulf Islands. The trouble that I had was that after finishing the data section of my report I walked away from my computer, and when I came back the document that I saved was nowhere to be found. Thus, I had to start my formal report draft from the beginning on the day that it was due. I finished the new copy on November 21st, 2016, three days after it was due. It has completely thrown off the schedule of all of my courses, which is why this reflection blog is late. Kayla was incredibly sympathetic to my situation and agreed to review my formal report at the last moment. I appreciate her doing that for me quite a lot, because she was not obliged to do so and it put her overall mark on the line.

Reviewing Kayla Grisack’s formal report draft was relatively straight forward. Since I had to do most of my report twice, I was very comfortable with reviewing the content, organization, style, and design of any formal report. From her report I learned just how important “YOU-attitude” is as the solution part of her report was imperative at parts and the CEO who is the intended reader for her report would not want to be lectured. I really enjoyed her topic, as it is a vast improvement from her original proposition. It is now appropriately professional.  From my own report experience I learned that it is important to save information in multiple places. I still cannot find my original copy, not that it matters now. On a positive note, between the time that I wrote my first copy and wrote the copy that got turned in, I learned how to organize my data properly. The first copy was really just numbers of people who said which answer in the survey, which is not the correct way to organize the data. The next time around I was able to keep the data objective, while giving information without numbers. Next copy I need to add some graphs that show the numbers. I did not do the graphs so that Kayla had time to do her report.

In all, even with the trouble that I had, unit three was a good learning experience.

I learned a lot in the second unit of English 301. My favorite part of it was planning for the formal report. I’ve been able to use my report to help the place that I love most in the world, Ruxton island. The Ruxton Island Home Owner’s Association has been mulling over building docks for years, and someone even built an illegal dock at one point, but they haven’t been able to do any research on the social, economical, and environmental consequences of building a dock. I thought, ” I have the resources to do the research, and a class that will mark me for it, so why not do it?
Moving ahead in this course, I look forward to finishing my formal report complete with the surveys that I made. I feel like it is an accomplishment to feel proud of.

Below are my reflections of the Unit Two LinkedIn account creation, formal report proposal and outline, my investigation for my formal report thus far, comments about my review of Kayla Grisack’s formal report proposal, and about the reviewing process in general. Attached you’ll find my revised report proposal and somewhere in the writing you’ll find a hyperlink to my review of Kayla’s report proposal.

LinkedIn account creation:

Before this course, I had only filled in the very basics of my LinkedIn account. Creating a professional social media network made me feel confident that I could carry my business forward like never before. Meanwhile when I am eventually looking for a job besides my business, I will only have to edit my profile picture and my summary to suit the nature of my profile. LinkedIn was much easier to use than I thought it would be. I just filled in my qualifications, after some research, of course, and my profile looked pretty good. I could use a few endorsements, but those will come in time.

Preparing my formal report proposal and outline:

As stated above, I really enjoyed this part of the course. Once I decided that my topic was going to be researching the impacts of  docks on Ruxton Island, the proposal basically wrote itself. That is to say, I’ve heard the issues that Ruxtonites have with docks so many times, that my main task was organizing those issues into a proposal and figuring out how to do my research. The research should be fun too, because I get to analyze facts about my community such as just how much crime happens in the Southern Gulf Islands. I found the outline a bit tedious to write because of all of the subtopics, but I think that I can get used to that with some practice.

Formal report investigation:

So far my investigation is going well and I have created a timeline to suit my needs so I should be fine. I’ve also read up in the course text book about what a formal report should look like, so I think that I am well on my way to the final product of my formal report. I just have to get the research done with help from my divers and from participants from the local island community.

Kayla Grisack’s Formal Report Proposal review:

I may have been even tougher on Kayla Grisack than I was on Sean Chan last unit. The problem was that her topic was not well thought out or researched. A solution for her topic already existed through a government of Canada website, which I had coincidentally heard about in a CBC broadcast two days before reading Kayla’s report. She also wanted to do a survey of very few people which consisted of the staff and management of her workplace. Although it is likely that such a survey would create a consensus, a survey of so few people is not usually done in a formal report, and in a situation where people are not communicating in the work place is likely to cause drama. I like the thought of Kayla wanting to help her workplace succeed in communicating, but I’m not sure that a formal report is the right tactic to do that.  From reviewing Kayla’s formal report proposal, I learned that a person’s grammar and spelling are just as important as their topic. Kayla and I reviewed each other’s topics and while she found that my grammar and spelling make my topic seem confusing, I understood her topic very well because of her spelling and grammar.

The reviewing process in general:

I was not surprised by the kinds of topics in my group came up with. They are diverse and it has been a pleasure to read their work. I have learned a lot from them. I learned why not to use too much Jargon from Sean, why to use proper grammar from Kayla, and how to do a good LinkedIn account from Mike. From doing reviews, I think that I have to be more careful with my grammar because sometimes it is not very good.

revised-ruxton-proposal

The first unit of English 301 had a steep learning curve. It is not necessarily a difficult course, but I am used to writing stories – not typing out technical writing. That said, I am learning a lot about technical writing and I am enjoying the process of writing for business. Moving ahead in this course, I look forward to learning how to write a formal report.  Below are my reflections of the unit one definitions assignment, critiquing process, editing process, and what I learned. Attached you will also find the edited version of my definitions assignment.

The Writing Process:

The writing process for the definition assignment was fairly straight forward once I figured out the right word to define. “Fetch” is a term that mostly people who work on the water or students in oceanography or ecology would know, so it seemed like a good fit for the assignment. Defining it in a way that someone who does not work in that field would understand was fairly easy, although upon reflection, I feel like I may have made my definition too simple. People complete PhD’s on fetch, such as those listed in the bibliography of my assignment, and to oversimplify that term is not giving them enough credit for the conditions that fetch has. I suppose that if I had made the definition more complex though, it would ruin the point of parenthetical and sentence definitions.

Sean Chan’s Critique Of My Assignment:

Sean Chan’s critique of my definition assignment was generally positive. His one critique was that the diagram that I used should have a bi-directional arrow. The nature of fetch is that it is caused by wind in one constant direction, as stated in my sentence definition, so I could not agree with that critique.

The Editing Process:

Due to the fact that Sean did not understand my diagram, when I edited my definition assignment, I changed the diagram that I used. The new diagram is more complex, but the descriptions of the arrows in the diagram better describe fetch than those in my last submission of the assignment. I also updated the references to show the source for the new diagram.

My Critique Of Sean Chan’s Assignment:

I have to admit that I am a tough critic. Compared to the singular critique on the diagram that Sean made of my assignment, my critique of his assignment looks rather harsh. My critiques were on his grammar, his word choice, his visual, his citations, and his format. Looking back at my critique, I still standby what I wrote because his original assignment needs some work. Sean is capable though. His final copy of the definitions assignment will undoubtedly be much more polished.

What I learned:

I learned that definitions can be quite useful in business documents but that jargon should not be used if at all possible. It also makes sense that there are different expansion strategies for definitions because not everyone will understand a definition with just a diagram, or just an a sentence definition. I did not understand Sean Chan’s definition of “trading algorithm” until I saw his diagram, which makes sense because I am a highly visual learner. Likewise he did not understand the diagram that I used, but he understood the words that I wrote, so he possibly learns well from reading.

edited-assignment-1-3-engl-301

To:          Sean Chan <seanj.chan@gmail.com>
From:        Sarah Keller   <keller_sarah@outlook.com>
Date:           September 22, 2016
Subject: English 301 Team Request

Dear Sean Chan,

To: Erika Patterson, English 301 Professor

From: Sarah Keller, English 301 Student

Date: September 21, 2016

Subject: Application Letter

Professor Paterson,

This is an email notification that my Application Letter has been posted onto my blog. It can be found at the following link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/sarkeleng301/2016/09/21/writing-team-application-letter/. I have also provided a word document attached to this email memorandum.

The application letter includes:

• Current education
• Work experience
• Relevant skills and attributes
• Learning Philosophy

If there is any additional information that you require, please inform me by e-mail at keller_sarah@outlook.com

Kind regards,

Sarah Keller

Attachment: Application Letter

301-sarahkeller-application-letter

607-3070 Guildford Way
Coquitlam, BC V3B 7R8
September 21^th, 2016

301 Technical Writing Team
University of British Columbia
2329 West Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4

Attention: English 301 Technical Writing Classmates

Please consider this my application to work in collaboration on projects for term one of UBC’s English 301 course. I am a fourth year history student taking an undergraduate degree and I am dedicated to providing any group who will take me with considerable time and effort in our technical writing endeavors.

For the past three years I have been able to balance my course work with my water taxi business, and have been successful with A or B averages in all but one course. I have experience drafting a business plan using the software LivePlan, dealing with customers, and local governing bodies of the Gulf Islands such as the Home Owners Associations of Ruxton Island and DeCourcey Island. I also have experience in marketing to local newspapers of the Gulf Islands such as the Ruxton Review and the Gabriola Sounder, as well as through social media, and a business website. With this, it is easy to see that I am a suitable candidate to any technical writing group.

Results have shown that I am a conscientious, creative, and highly energetic worker.

My learning philosophy is that it takes effort, not only intelligence to be successful at anything. This philosophy has worked in my experience, and according to psychology it is widely considered as correct.

If you have room in your technical writing team and are looking for someone with work ethic, please to email me at keller_sarah@outlook.com

Sincerely,

Sarah Keller

301-sarahkeller-application-letter