Author Archives: siarra sens

Throughout this course I have been challenged with my lack of experience creating and working with the technical aspects of web pages. Meanwhile, I am in a transition phase of working as a Registered Dental Hygienist and desiring more from my career–which is why I have chosen to advance my Diploma of Dental Hygiene into a Bachelor’s Degree of Dental Science. With this degree I can go into publishing, which is great as I have an aptitude and a desire to write as well as to research. In this way, this course has given me skills to find jobs to write for national and international medical, dental, and dental hygiene journals, news magazines, trade journals, textbooks, consumer publications, children’s books, newsletters, brochures, handouts for dental offices. The upside of learning these skills that grant me access to working in publishing is the ability to influence the oral health professions and the public.

This course has also greatly helped me seek out positions with volunteer organizations. As I am dedicated to dental hygiene, and I want to get involved with their community or to travel around the world. At this point in my life, I am someone who is in the position to take anywhere from a few days to a couple of years to travel to and work in another country or another region. In this way, this course has given met he skills to apply for jobs in educating and practising abroad, especially in developing countries, and providing services to underprivileged areas and people in Canada.

I now know where my strengths and challenges are in the ways of technical writing. While I have learned how to write with “You Attitude”, critically reflect on and review other’s work, and apply for opportunities with professionalism, I intend to advance my learning in creating professional, captivating and technically styled webpages. I realize now, from these projects and assignments, just how helpful this skill is in showcasing my talents and my best work for future pursuits. And of course,  I am a life-long student in the ways of technical writing. It was such a great experience to choose my team members which complimented my writing style and helped me see my own writing from a different lens. I look forward to the ways in which social-networking will advance my career path and I am gratful to have begun that journey in this course.

This last assignment of unit 4 was to create a Web folio. They are a great way of pulling everything together from this course to showcase what we’ve learned in a nicely presented format.

Web portfolios are a fantastic way for students to highlight our skills, work experience, projects, and potential for graduate school applications, or opportunities with future employers or volunteer organizations etc. Online portfolios can also be a great way to personally display our knowledge and interests to your family and friends. They can help make a great first impression! So it is important to consider our target audience. For me, my target audience would be future employers in the dental industry like dentists or dental journals in which I would submit my writing to for publication. Additionally, I can send my profile page to volunteer organizations I wish to be apart of like the one I chose for my application package assignment as well as companies I would like to market products to.

This assignment encouraged me to critically think about what my next steps are on my career path. I considered future goals and possible interests which will shape my role in my desired community and what I choose to do with the completion of the Bachelor’s Degree of Dental Science.

Siarra Sens

193 Trincomali Place

Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 1M9

Phone : (778) 350-4690

Email : siarralayla@gmail.com

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/siarrasens 

OBJECTIVE Volunteer position in Nepal with Global Dental Relief

EDUCATION

• Dental Hygiene Degree Program – Bachelor of Dental Science        Sept ’15 – present             University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

• Dental Hygiene Diploma – Camosun College, Victoria, BC                  Sept ’12 – Sept ’15
• Monthly Holistic Meetings      June ’14^th – present
• Hola! Spanish Class – Barcelona, Spain        Oct ’10 – July ’11

PROFESSIONAL WORK AND VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

• Registered Dental Hygienist – Dr.. Shaw and Webb Inc.                                  Jul ‘15 – Jan ‘17
• Registered Dental Hygienist – Dr. William Lea                                                  Jul ’15 – Jan ‘16
• Give From the Heart – Dental Fundraiser                                                            February 5^th ’15
• Dental Hygienist Volunteer – Mexico Semester Abroad                     Apr 30^th – May 30^th ’14
• In-House Nanny/Au Pair in Barcelona, Spain                                                  Nov ’10 – July ’11
• Lifeguard and Swim Instructor – H2o Fitness Center, Kelowna BC           Nov ’09 – Nov ’10

SKILLS

• Ability to quickly relate to patients of all ages and from all backgrounds
• Professional but friendly, driven, and detail orientated
• Applying preventative treatments including a wide range of antimicrobial aids
• Placing sealants, fluoride and other preventative treatments
• Injecting local anesthetic and applying Oraqix
• Interpreting, taking and developing dental x-rays
• Documenting patient treatment data and plans both written and electronically

• Highly motivated, hard-working, and passionate about health-promotion
• Registered with CDHA since September 2012; recent First Aid and CPR with AED training;

• Criminal Record Check; current practicing registration with CDHBC

• Successfully collaborated with 11 team-members working with diverse, underprivileged clientele in a make-shift dental clinic–work/study semester abroad in San Pancho, Mexico
• Great with children–several years working as a swim instructor and a family au pair overseas—as well as elderly with a large population of elderly clients on the island of Salt Spring.
• Attended the Pacific Dental Conference from 2013-2016

INTERESTS             Traveling, hiking, photography, writing, languages, humanitarian aid work

REFERENCES          Available on request

This was an excellent unit not only for my advancing my technical writing skills, but also for the acceleration and progression of my desired career path as an independent dental hygienist. My chosen topic for the formal report was a challenging one, though it is where my passion lies and thus, I took a chance with it.

The process of researching the report on introducing a new product to an already established dental supply company was the most enjoyable part, it wasn’t until writing the draft that the challenges were made obvious. These included creating a budget for the project. To combat this challenge, I extensively researched what I thought would be the minimum budget, and then multiplied it by 15% to factor in alternate expenses and ensure success of the project. This challenge, as well as the task of organizing the report, opened up new questions that I did not have the time or resources to look into, like how much it would cost to test and approve this new product to either gain FDA or CDA label approval. In this way, I saw that my report could me made more simple if I were merely capturing the opinions and interests towards having a natural polish implemented, vs. going as far as actually creating and selling this product which consequently entails a far more in-depth report to completely cover all bases. In this way, I feel as though I have a great deal of work to do in my editing process before submitting my final draft of the formal report.

I deeply valued this exercise and intend to write somewhat similar reports in the future. One thing I will do differently is conduct more one-on-one, open ended interviews with professionals in the relative areas. I see this as preliminary research before my own research would begin; it would be a way for me to take advantage of those professionals who have travelled down similar paths as I wish to, but to learn form their pitfalls and their strengths. Ultimately this could accelerate the process of my research and ensure I am proposing an idea that is both influential and essential to the progression of my field. Lastly, since my report was presenting a product that I hope to see in the dental market, it was a challenge for me to consistently write with you-attitude and in a professional, non-biased tone to ensure my report did not sound like a marketing scheme. I will continue to pay close attention to effectively write with you-attitude.

I found the task of peer-reviewing my team member’s report to be just as challenging as it was interesting and fun. Nonetheless, it was informative and an excellent learning process as worked to put myself in the shoes of the target audience whereas my own report would have greatly benefited if I had done just this in the process of writing it. Polina and I had quite different ideas for our proposal, which was beneficial to the learning process as well. Hers was much more scientifically detailed whereas my own more report was targeted at a more broad audience with a solution that was not already in place (like the Green Initiative), but was a completely new or innovative solution. What I enjoyed from reading both Polina’s draft and Andriy’s proposal, was that we are all geared towards a more ‘greener’ way of living and directly incorporating and implementing this living into our fields of interest.

Enclosed 1 – My Report Draft: formal-report-siarra-sens

Enclosed 2 – Peer Review of my Report Draft: engl-301-report-draft-peer-review-for-siarra-sens-by-polina-beskrovnaya

Enclosed3 – My Peer Review of Polina’s Report: formal-report-peer-review-for-polina

Unit 2 Reflections

Writing and creating a LinkedIn profile was a satisfying assignment. It encouraged me to go beyond merely creating a profile for the sake of joining the network, but researching the best ways in which I can use this tool to my professional advantage. I was also unaware of how widely used LinkedIn is and how many tools and apps it includes to enhance the experience of joining the ‘professional social media network’. It was also a pleasure to review another’s profile and have mine reviewed as it increased my awareness of what draws a reader or viewer in and what information may be missing or misread. Hannah offered valuable advice of which I very grateful for. I had signed up for a LinkedIn profile previous to this assignment, though it was quite incomplete—I did not even have a profile photo, and after this assignment I feel confident and inspired to share my profile with prospective networking links.

The process of brainstorming, investigating, creating, researching, and writing my formal report was exciting and rewarding. I chose to use my dental hygiene diploma to finish with a bachelor’s of dental science so it would open doors to progress my career from merely working in a dental clinic. I have dreamt of creating my own dental products, being a researcher and writer for dental or other health magazines, and possibly opening up my own clinic, so this assignment has been greatly inspiring as I feel it is solidifying my goals. I had to do some necessary research to decide who I wanted to address my report to, and even then, as this company will be representing my project. I have to say, this was—so far—the hardest part of the report even though it takes on the smallest ‘word count’. I have been doing research for this project long before this program started, so I feel confident in my idea and excited to move forward into professionally recording this research as data.

I found my partner’s proposal brilliant and quite different than my own. While both of ours addressed a specific issue relating to consumers in a certain niche, our writing styles were very different and we offered each other a balanced perspective (or critique) in that way.   It’s great to make the connection that we as writers are also very observant problem solvers, and to have the opportunity to put those problem solving skills to test in this course is a valuable experience. Now that I have some peer-review experience, I see myself paying closer being hyper-aware of the subtleties in pieces of literature, websites, profiles, etc. and of their pitfalls or advantages—of which I will take note for my future studies.

Enclosed:

Updated LinkedIn Profile Url – https://ca.linkedin.com/in/siarrasens

Rewritten Formal Report Proposal – report-proposal-rewritten-siarra-sens

Peer-review of Report Proposal by Andiry Bolyachevets – Peer-review of Research Proposal

I grew increasingly frustrated with my choice of term, vitrification, the more I researched it. The term is involved in several fields of study with a minor tweak in its meaning in each of these fields. In this way, it challenged me to define the term broadly to firstly encompass all of these fields, and secondly to narrow down the expanded definition to ensure the reader was clear about the process as it pertained to each specific field.

From the peer-review, I discovered that in an attempts to “play it safe” with a vague target audience, I ultimately confused my reader. Similarly, while I enjoy creatively writing, I must work to know when specific, organized, clear and concise writing is essential as opposed to creative writing with use of metaphoric or allegoric writing–which was the case of this assignment.

From performing a peer-review of another’s work, I exercised my ability to take a step out of my viewpoint, and step into the viewpoint of the author’s target audience and to analyze the piece from there. This is a great task to practice as it not only picks up on one’s own critiques but can more openly pick up on a broader range of suggestions and questions for the author which ultimately accelerates the process of critiquing and editing. This process gave me an idea of the work and in-depth, thoughtful communication that must be put forward to thoroughly critique a piece of literature. Additionally, a lot of critique is purely subjective and I see the value in having multiple individuals and viewpoints collaborate to effectively edit one piece.

Enclosed:

Peer-review of Definition Assignment by Andriy Bolyachevets

http://engl301.arts.ubc.ca/2016/09/28/peer-review-report-of-assignment-1-3-definitions/

Rewritten version of Definitions Assignment by Siarra Sens

http://engl301.arts.ubc.ca/2016/10/02/13-edited-definitions-assignment/

What’s the HAPS?

Hannah Wagner 

Andriy Bolyachevets 

Polina Beskrovnaya 

Siarra Sens

—

Hi Andriy,

Your application caught my attention when you mentioned your technical expertise! I’ll admit, for this course, technology may be my downfall… Without the right team members of course. I am a confident and passionate writer and incorrect use of spelling and grammar has to be my biggest pet-peeve! I also see eye-to-eye with your work ethic and desire to cross-pollinate ideas and concoct top notch projects together  I have also sent an email to Polina as she highlighted her skills of clear and concise writing, though lacking the persuasive and creative aspect which I am confident I have 🙂

I look forward to hearing from you,

 

Siarra Sens.

Memo

To: Erika Paterson, English 301 Professor

From: Siarra Sens, English 301 Student

Date: September 14^th 2016

Subject: Posting Confirmation of Application Letter

As indicated in the course outline, the first assignment this week is to create an application letter, which will guide the selection of students into their chosen teams. Attached to this email is my application form.

The application outlines:

– My previous experience with writing

– My interests and goals related to writing

– My strengths and weaknesses in writing

– Examples of times when I was recognized for my efforts

I look forward to meeting my team members and diving into the semester. Please do not hesitate to contact me for further clarification on my application.

Enclosure: Application Form

https://blogs.ubc.ca/siarrasens/2016/09/13/301-siarra-sens-application-letter/

September 14th 2016

Technical Writing 301

University of British Columbia

Siarra Sens, Student

193 Trincomali Place

Salt Spring Island, BC

Dear Fellow Classmates of English 301 :

SUBJECT : A LETTER OF APPLICATION

Please consider my application to be accepted into a professional writing team for the duration of the semester, as requested on September 14^th 2016. I will graduate from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in April of 2017 with a Bachelor of Dental Science. My instructors in the Dental Hygiene Diploma program were enthusiastic with my quality of my essays and extensive research and attention to detail of my projects and highly encouraged me to apply.

I was accepted one year earlier than expected into the Dental Diploma Program, leaving me still one year away from completing a Bachelor of English with a minor in Creative Writing, also from UBC.  My instructors in the English department expressed that they were truly sorry to see me leave as I displayed a strong passion for writing and admiration of the English language. I deeply desire to research and write in aid of the advancement of the dental profession, so my pervious pursuits are not lost. Needless to say, I do not consider the English 301 course as merely an elective, but a greatly appreciated foundational course in which I am motivated and driven to excel in.

You will find I have an open mind and I am an out-of-the-box-thinker. These traits have greatly improved my skill as a researcher and a team-member among all fields. I have an eye for detail in the way that I can shorten a paper a few hundred words without losing any information all the while ensuring the paper is free of improper use of grammar and unforgiving spelling errors. I have years of experience with focus on the flow of a paper from one paragraph to the next, each with an exceptional and appropriate point to support the topic of choice. I find pleasure in taking leadership roles as well as stepping down to complete a task that has gone unwanted by others in the team in efforts to complete the task efficiently and punctually. I see the value in open and free-flowing communication from start to finish of each task while ensuring each team-member has played an equal part in the process.

I require team-members who consider themselves ‘computer-savvy,’ as my writing skills heavily outweigh my technology skills. This would include those who have an eye for formatting. I would work well with team-members who prefer to shorten pieces of work as I admit I prefer bulking up a paper or project.

If my background meets your needs, please email me at siarralayla_@hotmail.com or leave a comment on my blog.

Sincerely,

Siarra Sens