Throughout Unit 2, I continued to be challenged with refining my technical writing, leaving me surprised at how complex this skill really is and respecting the process even more.
Research Proposal & Peer Review
Our first assignment was to develop a research proposal for a public issue that could benefit from our recommendations for improvement. It was a bit overwhelming as there were so many factors to consider for each section, especially the six areas of inquiry. However, once I determined the problem I wanted to research, I was quite excited about preparing this work as it was a great opportunity to shed light on an issue that I have had for some time – pedestrian safety on the Arbutus Greenway. My writing teammate, Karolina, had a great idea for her proposal (an app for navigating Metrotown Mall), so I really enjoyed doing a peer review on her work. It was such a simple idea, but one that I am shocked hasn’t been implemented yet. Doing the review also reminded me how important the structure and quality of our feedback is for our teammates to present their best work, while also forcing me to look at my own work with a new lens. In addition to reviewing Karolina’s proposal, I actually went through all of the class team pages and skimmed their proposal ideas as well. I thought so many of them were fantastic and I am really excited about reading all of the final reports at the end of the term.
Ten Best Practices for LinkedIn
I found the LinkedIn assignment very interesting. Not only did it force me to analyze my current profile with major scrutiny, it enabled me to look at it from an employer’s perspective. I had very little knowledge of LinkedIn’s functions, and that would have been very obvious to anyone who visited my profile. Researching the best practices provided me with so many options to enhance it, and out of the ten that I included in my memo, I personally have only used two of them. This was very enlightening because I realized I have been limiting myself within my profession due to a lack of effort in building and maintaining a profile that is up to date, utilizing the tools available to enhance it and taking advantage of the networking capabilities it provides. I fully intend to revisit my LinkedIn profile over the coming weeks and apply what I have learned.
Formal Report Outline
The report outline was quite challenging for me as I am notorious for jumping into my assignments across all of my courses without doing an outline. I know this has been a major issue with my writing process, but to be honest, it has been something that I always make excuses for. However, being forced to develop and submit an outline as an assignment was invaluable because it made me realize how beneficial they are. By breaking elements down into sections and then further into subsections, a solid structure provides a clear vision and checklist to stay on track. I can honestly say that going forward, I will always do an outline for my writing assignments at UBC and beyond.
Revising Work
A final reflection for this unit has to be in regards to revising my work. A recurring theme on my evaluation sheet for this unit was ‘more detail’, and I found this comment very insightful. I think trying to tame my ‘wordiness’ has affected providing sufficient detail, so I will continue to work on finding the right balance in my future assignments. Furthermore, going back and tweaking my writing based on peer reviews and instructor feedback has been crucial in my learning and development. I revised four of my assignments in Unit 2, and I actually really enjoyed the process. I touched on this in my reflection for Unit 1, but I really do think that having a second or third set of eyes on a piece of writing is crucial to be a successful writer as we can become blind to the finer details, regardless of our intention to produce a perfect piece of work.
Looking forward to Unit 3!
Revised Report Proposal: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl30199c2022w2/2023/02/24/assignment-2-1-formal-proposal-for-additional-safety-measures-on-the-arbutus-greenway/