During this definition writing and peer review process, I learned a lot about definition writing, peer review and self-editing. I chose the complex term “software engineering” because I think this is a technical word of my discipline and is not a too complex term for general people. However, after looking at my partner’s review, I realized that it is difficult to explain this term to those of people who are not familiar this word before. I used many technical terms such as engineering, interface, algorithm and so on to define “software engineering” but I forgot that these words are impossible for laymen to understand.

 

When I reviewed the definition writing of my partner, I learned that she could use many simple words to explain some complex things. In that way, people could easily understand what status is. Besides, she can write fluent sentences that provide clear connections and variety, which is another strong point I need to learn in my writing. For example, as she wrote “An individual’s status is not how they view themselves fitting into society but rather how other’s see them fitting into a group”, she uses two object clauses to in one sentence to clearly deliver the misunderstanding of status.

 

After considering my partner’s suggestions. First, I tried to use either some simple words to replace some technical words used in my definition or parenthetical definition to explain those complex terms. Especially I add a sentence definition to explain engineering to make it clear to all audience. Second, my partner thinks the history part did not make sense for her to understand the complex term. I agree with her suggestion and delete this part. I learned that we need to select the most appropriate strategies for expanded definition since not all strategies are helpful for audience to understand the complex term.

 

Here is the link to peer review: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl301-technicalwriting-98a-2018/2018/06/04/peer-review-of-scotts-definition/

And the link to my definition:  301  Haotong Wang  definition