Welcome to the Best Work main page. This section includes the Assignments and Blogs pages, which provide examples of my excellent technical writing skills. All works were completed during Summer 2022 for ENGL 301, a technical writing class at the University of British Columbia.
Assignments
The assignments page includes the ten following works submitted for ENGL 301. The descriptions below the links elaborate on the purpose and success of the assignment. Please follow each of the below links to see the complete assignments or click the above link to visit the Assignment page.
Complaint Letter
The purpose of the Complaint Letter assignment was to build persuasive writing skills. Students were required to convince a business to accept their request for compensation after a bad experience. When writing the letter, it was challenging to maintain you-attitude and use a persuasive tone without being demanding. This assignment helped me understand the importance of clearly and concisely communicating a request to a specific audience.
Bad News Letter
The Bad News Letter assignment was intended to teach students about writing with a polite but firm tone and you-attitude. It highlighted the importance of emphasizing the positive when delivering bad or unwanted news to your audience. Similar to the Complaint Letter, this assignment was very challenging; however, it was excellent practice for writing letters and emails in a professional context.
LinkedIn Best Practices Memo
By completing the LinkedIn Best Practices Memo, students learnt about techniques for professional networking, following specific assignment instructions, and file naming conventions. I was successful in completing this assignment, and the only feedback I received was to avoid imperative verbs.
Further discussion of this assignment can be found in the Unit Two Reflection on the Blogs page.
Formal Report Progress Memo
This memo taught students about the techniques for writing progress reports and consisted of various components, including:
- Summary of Formal Report progress
- Research plan
- Writing schedule
- Report audience, purpose, and significance
- Outline
- Survey for data collection
These components are similar to the required documents for an engineering project progress report. Thus, this assignment was an excellent opportunity to practice summarizing outstanding and completed works. Overall, I found the progress report straightforward to write; however, I had difficulty with the survey and learnt a lot about writing a professional and ethical survey.
Further discussion of this assignment can be found in the Unit Two Reflection on the Blogs page.
Formal Report Draft Peer Review
In preparation for the Final Report submission, students wrote peer reviews of their teammate’s report draft using a ‘You’ attitude. Writing the peer review allowed me to develop a deeper understanding of what is required in an effective report. While reviewing the report I encountered several areas of concern of which I was unsure, including grammar, MLA formatting, and content. To give my peer useful feedback and correct, I had to research these areas of concern, which taught me a great deal about report writing. Overall, my peer review was well done, and I learned a lot about the requirements for an effective report; however, certain sections of the review were lacking detail.
Further discussion of this assignment can be found in the Unit Three Reflection on the Blogs page.
Memo to Evan Crisp
The Memo to Evan Crisp emphasized tone and writing with ‘You’ attitude. My submission for this assignment was successful, receiving a perfect grade and no criticism.
Formal Report Proposal
This assignment was intended to teach students about the process of writing a persuasive and professional proposal for a specific audience. To complete the assignment, students brainstormed problems they have encountered in a public setting and assessed their impacts. The proposal introduced the problem to be addressed, its significance, and potential solutions. Furthermore, it detailed the analysis type, research methods, audience, and scope. Overall, my Formal Report Proposal was successful and well organized but missing some details about the intended audience.
Further discussion of this assignment can be found in the Unit Two Reflection on the Blogs page.
Proposal Memo
The purpose of the Proposal Memo was to notify the ENGL 301 professor, Dr. Erika Paterson, of the Formal Report proposal submission. It was a short and straightforward document which provided students with the opportunity to practice writing professional memorandums. My submission was well done and praised for its clarity; however, I forgot to include a description of the audience.
Definition Assignment
The definition assignment required students to define a technical term used in their industry for a non-technical audience. It required three different types of definitions with varying amounts of detail, including parenthetical, sentence, and expanded definitions. This assignment focused on writing for different audiences and emphasized the importance of detail.
Writing a definition of a technical structural analysis term for an audience with no engineering background was very challenging. I struggled with the use of jargon and being overly concise in my definition. The Definition Assignment helped me grasp the importance of using the correct definition style for a specific context or audience.
Further discussion of this assignment can be found in the Unit One Reflection on the Blogs page.
Definition Assignment Peer Review
The Definition Assignment Peer Review helped students to understand the components of a clear and effective technical definition by placing them in the position of the non-technical audience. It emphasized the importance of avoiding jargon and furthered students understanding of parenthetical, sentence, and expanded definitions. Overall, my peer review was excellent, and I learned a great deal while writing it.
Further discussion of this assignment can be found in the Unit One Reflection on the Blogs page.
Blogs
The blog page includes the five following reflections on my ENGL 301 coursework and my progress as a technical writer. Please follow the above link to the blog page to see the full reflections.
1. Unit One Reflection Blog
Technical Definition Assignment
The first unit of ENGL 301 focused on writing for different audiences. It emphasized the importance of tone, language, and the amount of detail. The definition assignment required students to define a technical term used in their industry for a non-technical audience. It required three different types of definitions with varying amounts of detail, including parenthetical, sentence, and expanded definitions. The definition assignment also included a peer review and a revision process. These parts of the assignment helped students identify their mistakes and learn from them. The following sections elaborate on each stage of this assignment…Read more
2. Unit Two Reflection Blog
LinkedIn Memo and Formal Report Proposal/Outline/Progress
The second unit of ENGL 301 explored formal report preparation, peer reviews, and networking using social media. The first assignment was a Formal Report proposal addressed to the ENGL 301 professor, Dr. Erika Paterson. The proposal introduced the problem to be addressed, its significance, and potential solutions. Furthermore, it detailed the analysis type, research methods, audience, and scope. After submitting the Formal Report proposal, students reviewed the work of their peers. In the next assignment, students leant about best practices for professional networking online by writing a brief memo with ten best practices for using LinkedIn. Unit two concluded with the submission of a memorandum addressed to Dr. Paterson detailing the students’ progress on the Formal Report, including an outline, research plan, and writing schedule….Read more
3. Unit Three Reflection Blog
Formal Report Draft and Peer Review
Unit three focused on the submission of the Formal Report Draft and the Peer Review and emphasized writing with ‘You’ attitude. These assignments built on the work completed in unit two, including the Formal Report proposal, outline, and progress report. The Formal Report Draft provided more information on the problem and the potential solutions identified in the proposal. To gather data for the report draft, students conducted a survey of the population impacted by the proposed solution and an informational interview with at least one individual with authority on the topic. After submitting the Formal Report Draft, and in preparation for the final report submission, students wrote peer reviews of their teammate’s submission using a ‘You’ attitude….Read more
4. Reflection Blog Four
Creating a Web Folio
The final assignment of ENGL 301 was a Web Folio that compiled most of the work completed during the term. The Web Folio was written for a specific audience to act as a job or grad school application tool. This assignment emphasized the importance of following detailed instructions, tone, and persuasive writing. It included a homepage, about me section, application package, reflection blogs, and best work page. In addition to creating each part of the Web Folio, students revised ten existing assignments and posted them on the best work page.
5. Reflection Blog Five
Self Assessment Reflection
OVERVIEW**