This unit primarily focused on writing the first draft of my formal report and peer reviewing one of my team member’s draft. I found the process of writing the report to be fairly straightforward as I had completed the proposal and outline assignments in unit two which provided me with a strong foundation upon which I could structure my report.
My Report Draft
I found that the research for my formal report was fairly easy to perform as it involved surveys and interviews with people I work with so I was able to talk with them in person and remind them about the surveys. This resulted in nine out of thirteen possible survey responses. Since SKI is a small company I was easily able to secure interview with the project manager, Kevin Brown, and COO, Craig Martin. For this report the analysis was very straightforward and the sample size was small so visual interpretation and summary statistics were all that was required. Organizing my report was quite easy since I had created a basic organization for the report in my outline and was able to follow it quite closely. The content of the report draft was relatively painless since I have a well defined argument that is easily split into sections. Although writing the draft took quite some time I found it to be a very educational process since I have never written a formal report before.
My Peer Review
Unfortunately Austin Lee was unable to complete his report draft before the due date. I reviewed the draft he posted on the group forum, which was mostly complete but only missing the conclusion section. His report was well written and I was able to learn quite a bit in reviewing his writing. I have found the review process to be very helpful as it has exposed me to other writing styles and has helped me identify and fix some problems in my own writing. I have also found the peer review assignments to be helpful because lately I have been getting more involved in editing administrative documents and applications and work and the experience editing the writing of my team mates has helped improve my overall editing skills as well.
The process of writing my report draft took some time but I found it to be well spent. I learned quite a bit about how to structure a formal report and how to make the content professional and follow a you-attitude.