SHUNJIE'S ENG 301 BLOG

The major tasks of this unit are coming up with an argument, conducting a survey, drafting a report, reviewing other reports. As a design student, we don’t really have many chances in conducting reports. Most of the time we do research. After drafting a report, I found that they are quite similar. The only major difference is that a report requires a strong conclusion and a recommendation, whereas in research we have done, the conclusion and recommendation will be reflected in our design, not in text. I think this is a good chance for me to conduct a report independently, as I will need the knowledge next thesis term.

Coming up with an argument: It is important to find a topic you really care about. The reason for selecting this topic is because a group of three of us did a design renovation for Lynn Valley Elementary School not long before, and I was quite concerned about the guidelines and reasons why we did that. Since sometimes in design practice, the client’s orders are the guidelines and the reasons.

Conducting a survey: Unlike the survey we did before the design renovation, the survey for this report is more thorough. It looked into the watershed the School sits on, the trending policies and children play theories. Many of these policies and theories are relatively new and have not been adopted and translated into design. I found that this is a good opportunity to study something just for myself.

Drafting a report: It is always good to start a draft report by creating a structure of the report. You need to understand the logics of the report first and then draft it. Also, after building the structure, it is helpful to write the main idea sentence of each section to further support your logics and to double check if you miss explaining something.

Reviewing a draft report: Viewing peer’s report is always the most helpful way to learn how to draft a report. Veronika’s draft is really clear and descriptive, and she is really good at using long and concise sentences. I find myself quite weak in making long and condense sentences.

This unit is a good in-depth introduction of writing to a specific audience with a determined purpose. In this unit, we have several tasks:

• Set up a LinkedIn profile;
• Start a formal report proposal and the report outline;
• Peer review on teammate’s LinkedIn profile and report proposal.

In the first task, we were asked to create a professional social media network, which was an online resume with clear layout and highlights of past experiences. In this task, our specific audience was the employer and our goal was to get the position we want. With the specific audience and the determined goal in mind, we got a chance to go through our past experiences and selected the highlights in it. These processes helped us to summarize our past and take a full glance on the real world.

In the second task, we proposed a formal report and a schedule of this report. In this task, we had a chance to research on a topic we were interested in. In the process of brainstorming and preparing the formal report proposal, I found that a report was quite different from a research, which is something that I always do. In my field, researches come in two formats: site analysis and literature review. Both formats contribute to the understanding of a site/policy/phenomenon. In other words, we will not know the outcomes until we finish the research. However, in a report, we have a goal. This goal of my report is to persuade the school board of greening the school ground. In other words, I foresee the outcome of the report, which are the reasons to support my statement (the school ground needs greening). This new style of writing is new to me, because you do have a specific purpose of it.

In the third task, we had several peer reviews on teammate’s work. It is always a delight reading other people’s work. Because instead of glancing through, I read Nicky’s work very carefully to give constructive suggestions. I found myself absorbing a lot after carefully reading.

In the peer review process, I put myself as a reader and I found that a clear structure was quite important for a reader to understand. To elaborate, a clear structure means that each paragraph should support each other. Normally, I think a sequence of building up is quite helpful. For example, in the report proposal, the first paragraph can be an introduction to the background, and the second paragraph can be an introduction to the terms. In this way, each paragraph has its job in explaining the purpose of this report proposal. With this layering-up structure, it will be easier for the readers to understand the new terms and new subjects.

Shunjie Huang_Revised Report Proposal

Peer Review of Formal Research Proposal

After the first half month, I found this online course way more effective than I imagined: The course structure is strong and organized, the assignments are reasonable and plentiful, and my teammates are responsible and helpful.

Beginning with self introductions and letter of applications, we ended up forming teams and finishing three definitions of professional terms collaboratively. In Assignment 1:3, two things that I found the most helpful are learning from other classmates’ writing and getting peer reviewed by teammates. When drafting assignment 1:3, I paid a lot of attention to the effectiveness of the explanations of ecosystem services. But I failed to successfully define the audience and the situation of the explanations. I specified the audience, but not the situation.

However, although I defined the primary audience as readers who have never heard of this term and readers who have heard of this term but don’t quite understand it, I did not bear the audience that has never heard of the term in mind- there were too many “professional terms” in my assignment.

The other reason for this failure was that I did not specify the situation of this assignment. After the peer review, I edited the situation as an ecology consultant needs to explain the reasons to enhance tree protections to the developer who just bought the land. With this background, I believe that many “professional terms” will make sense.

It is also quite helpful peer reviewing Anh’s work. Because instead of glancing through, I read her work very carefully to give constructive suggestions. I found myself absorbing a lot after carefully reading her work.

I look forward to the coming challenges and assignments!

To: Veronika Zaytseva

From: Shunjie Huang, Wendy

Date: May.26 2017

Subject: An Invitation to Start A Professional Writing Team

Dear Veronika,

Please consider my invitation to start a writing team with me. As an international student, I have the same problems as you mentioned in the letter of application. But I think you are actually writing a lot better than I do. Thus, I hope to start a writing team with you to get over with our difficulties together. Also, I list three other reasons for us to make a good team.

Firstly, as a design student, I have to stay open-minded to accept and digest all critics on all my design projects. Also, I have to be concise and detail-oriented at all times because I need to bear every group of stakeholders in mind. As you mentioned in the letter of application, I believe that you are also an open-minded person. Thus, I’m sure we listen to each other and communicate well.

Besides, the fact that you read a lot of books really impresses me and I would like to learn from that attitude and explore more of this world.

Lastly, even though I’m not from the School of Arts, I have written numerous academic papers. To be honest, I’m not good at writing in a second language. But I think you are really doing well and I would love to work with you!

Thank you for reading this and I look forward to your response. Please feel free to contact me at shunshunhoho7@gmail.com for further discussions.

Best,

Shunjie Huang, Wendy

To : Anh Nguyen

From: Shunjie Huang, Wendy

Date: May. 26 2017

Subject: An Invitation to Form A Professional Writing Team

Dear Anh,

Please consider my invitation to form a professional writing team with me. By looking at your letter of application and the other posts on your blog, I believe that we share a few common interests and you are quite experienced in academic writing and professional writing.

Firstly, to start a successful writing team, everyone in this team should have good communication skills.  As we have similar design-related background, I’m sure we are both detail-oriented and concise in communications.

Besides, I appreciate your writing experiences apart from academic writings. To be honest, I have never succeeded in getting a job that focused on words and languages. I would be grateful if you want to share your experiences.

Lastly, as a design student for more than five years, I have gained some experiences in design practices. I believe that it would be interesting to share design experiences with each other.

Thank you for reading this email and I hope that you will accept this invitation. Feel free to contact me at shunshunhoho7@gmail.com for further discussions.

Best,

Shunjie Huang, Wendy

To:  Luk Chung Ling, Nicky

From: Shunjie Huang, Wendy

Date: May.26 2017

Subject: Invitation to Become A Member of The Professional Writing Team

Dear Nicky,

Please consider my invitation to form a writing team together. In your letter of application and other posts on your blog, I found that we had several common interests and you are more experienced than me in several territories.

Firstly, I am entering my thesis year next term and I am glad to have a past thesis student with academic writing experiences in my team for instructions.

Besides, as both of us have similar design backgrounds, I believe that we share similar interests in architecture-related topics.

Lastly, I’m impressed to see that you don’t constrain yourself in the world of architecture. At the same time, you also touch upon other related territories. Thus, I believe that you are a determined person and are always ready to take risks.

Thank you for your considerations and please feel free to contact me at shunshunhoho7@gmail.com if you want to further discussions.

Best,

Shunjie Huang, Wendy

To: Erika Paterson

From: Shunjie Huang

Date: May 24, 2017

Subject: Application Letter Posted

I have written and posted the letter of application for finding writing group teammates on my blog, along with an attached word document.

Here is my application summarized:

• As a team leader in a social investigation competition team:
  • Conducted surveys and constructed reports;
  • Presented our final report and won a 2nd prize.
• Internships in two urban planning firms and two landscape architecture firms
  • Presented our work to the developer;
  • Worked hard and received a job offer before the end of internship

Thank you for your patience time and please feel free to review my application letter at your convenience. Attached is a copy of my letter.

Best,

Shunjie Huang

xxxx xxxx Thunderbird Crescent Vancouver, BC V6T 2G9

May 23, 2017

301 Technical Writing Class Summer Class Students University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4

Dear ENG301 classmates,

Do you need a reliable, proactive and efficient communicator on your team? As a current graduate student in Landscape Architecture, I believe my coursework in analysis survey and research, visual design, and technical communication combined with four internships and one social investigation award make me an excellent fit for your writing team.

Through internships with two urban planning firms and two landscape firms, I was responsible for presenting our work in front of the developers and translating documents from Mandarin to English. Also, as a junior designer in the workplace, I worked hard and patiently and managed to receive a job offer in Beilinyuan Urban Design and Landscape Architecture Associates before my internship ended.

Apart from the research experiences gained in coursework, I also led a team in the social investigation competition regarding Uses and Quality of Sharing Space on Campus, in which we won the 2^nd prize. As a team leader, I was responsible for conducting a survey, constructing a report, and presenting the final report.

If you have an opening on your team and you feel that I could make worthwhile contributions to your team, you are more than welcome to visit my blog and message me.

Sincerely,

Shunjie Huang

Shunjie Huang

301 Shunjie Huang(Wendy) Application letter