Over the course of three months, I have composed three reflective blogs this semester. In these blogs, I discussed my work progress and my afterthoughts after completing a unit. Additionally, two more reflections were added to describe my webfolio creation process and my self-assessment reflection. I have also edited these posts according to Professor Paterson’s suggestions.
Unit 1 Reflection
The first unit of this course was a learning experience for me. It introduced me to what technical and professional writing is and what I should expect from an intensive English course. The application letter assignment was a good awakening for myself. I had to figure out my qualities and strengths to put myself out there as a potential group member. I learned to be able to write professionally while maintaining a friendly tone through writing emails to prospective group members. In addition, I realized the importance of checking your emails frequently and replying to them as soon as possible!
As for the recent assignment, I found the definitions to be the most helpful in my grammar and essay organization. This assignment expanded my knowledge in the different types of definitions as well as being able to write something that can be understood by non-technical readers. I found that portion a little difficult because I had to put myself in the reader’s perspective and use less-difficult phrases/examples (as the readers should have little to no knowledge about the subject I was defining). As a result, I was more careful in choosing my expansion strategies and visuals that was able to show the readers what democracy actually is. In the end, I believe that I was able to successfully conveyed my definition to the audience.
Finally, the peer review process is helpful because reading different versions of the assignment in terms of content and formatting is helpful. The document I reviewed effectively defined the term ‘lipoproteins,” it was well thought-out and easy to understand. The writing was efficient, but there remains room for improvement. This was a new learning experience.
Receiving feedback from Konstantin greatly improved my writing. Thanks to Konstantin, I realized that I was missing a portion of the assignment and I was able to fix it. Grammar isn’t my strongest suit so Konstantin’s suggestions were super helpful. For example, removing unnecessary sentences, adding articles, and organizing my sub headings were all proposals made by Konstantin. After re-editing my definition, I believe that non-technical readers will have a better understanding of what democracy is.
Revised Definition: REVISED Assignment 1.3 — Piper Kim
Konstantin’s Peer Review: Konstantin Peer Review of Piper Kim’s Definition
Unit 2 Reflection
LinkedIn was an intimidating topic for me. Before this class, I already had a profile created with nothing posted. Since LinkedIn is a platform made for professionals, I felt unconfident with my profile since I did not know how to properly utilize the site. However, with unit 2 and my teammates’ suggestions and my research on common practices, I was able to dive deeper into the platform and produce a better profile. LinkedIn is a beneficial site and I have always wanted to be active on it. Although it is overwhelming, I think with more practice, it will be useful in the long run.
Moreover, this unit also included a lot of team-oriented assignments! I enjoy learning from other students and having a new set of eyes viewing my work. My proposal was peer-reviewed by Madison (vice-versa) and she was super helpful! She suggested new ways to phrase a sentence and caught a minor typo. While writing, I have a tendency to overuse certain words/phrases so having her peer-review my proposal was a huge assist to me. Her suggestions made my report more seamless and overall were things I would not have noticed until she pointed them out.
The aspect of peer-reviewing is enjoyable to me. Although receiving criticism is helpful, giving criticism to others is something I learned in this course. Reading Madison’s proposal was nice to intake. She had some minor errors but hopefully, I left suggestions that she can use in her final report. With peer revision, I also realized that her proposal question is quite different from mine so it will be interesting to see how she will proceed with her report.
Lastly, this unit was heavily focused on the formal report proposal. To be frank, the formal report scares me. Having to formulate a 12-15 page report based on your research and data is a lot. I have not written a report with just my research/data (along with my own question!) so this will be new for me. Regarding the most recent assignment, I had to plan a ‘working schedule’ with tentative dates and objectives. This report will be completed during a time crunch (about three weeks) so I am concerned with my time management. It will be time-consuming and tedious, but I will make sure to stay on top of things and set aside time solely for this report. I will begin posting my online survey in a day or two, marking the commencement of this report! Completing this assignment will be an interesting and new milestone for me as a student.
Below I have attached my revised formal report proposal as well as Madison’s peer review.
My Revised Formal Report Proposal: Formal-Report-Proposal-—-KIM-1
Madison’s Peer Review: madison’s peer review
Unit 3 Reflection
Unit 3 of this course focused mainly on drafting the formal report as well as peer-reviewing. The drafting process consisted of gathering primary and secondary research, collecting data, and analyzing the data. Based on the analysis, a recommendation or solution needs to be made to the one receiving the formal report. This was tedious and research-intensive work.
The previous unit (unit 2) included the research proposal and outline. For me, this was an easier step to complete. However, putting everything together in one report was harder than I expected. For instance, the survey portion was the most difficult aspect for me. It was hard to find people to take the survey and I was worried that it would affect the results. Data was collected through the survey for one week. During that time, the first couple of days were slow, but I managed to get more results by spreading the survey link through my social media platform (Instagram). The majority of my followers live in the area of the ice cream shop, so I made sure that the results were affected.
Another obstacle I faced was the formatting. There was so much information that needed to be included but I was not sure how to place it in the report. However, it worked out in the end. Lastly, my time management for the draft was poor. I was not able to submit on time and was disappointed in myself for not following my writing schedule more strictly. Nonetheless, I did submit it a day later and was satisfied with my work!
For the most recent task — peer revision — my group and I switched our partners so everyone peer-reviewed someone that hadn’t before. I reviewed Leif Jack’s formal report and it was super interesting, yet long to read! This was my first time reviewing someone’s paper this lengthy — it was a new yet rewarding experience. Reading Leif’s report on managing the water crisis in Mission Creek helped me reflect on my report. I was able to consider the advice I gave him and incorporate them into mine. In addition, his feedback on my paper was helpful. While looking at his feedback, I noticed some technical elements that I could have fixed, added, or removed. Overall, this peer-revision process was a huge step toward the final report and I realized that with Leif’s suggestions, I will need to focus more on the final report.
My Formal Report Draft: Formal-Report-Draft-Kim (1)
Final Self-Assessment Reflection
Over the course of three months, I have learned a lot about my strengths and weakness in both my learning process and your assignments. For instance, details is one of the aspects I excel at in writing. However, I realized that I use unnecessary words and imperative verbs to reach the level of detail I am writing. While reading Professor Paterson’s evaluations, she raised awareness on this problem and helped me fix them through her suggestions.
I feel like as the course moved along, I greatly improved my writing to be more professional yet friendly. There was a lot new things I learned especially, LinkedIn practices, memos/emails, and the ability to write a 15 page formal report. It was a tedious, long process but worth it! I fully enjoyed the content I learned from ENGL 301.
The knowledge and skills gained from this intensive English course will help me as a student in my future educational goal. I want to go to graduate school for Journalism and based on what I have learned, I believe my writing has improved for a higher-level education. With a handful of memos to my team members or to Professor Paterson and weekly evaluations, I think these things will be of assistance to me in the future. Furthermore, the research on email and LinkedIn practices will help me professionally in the future!
Overall, reflecting on my work after every unit was refreshing and nice. I did not realize the amount of work that came with course but looking back, there was a lot! Nonetheless, all the work were helpful and I will be referring to the knowledge I learned in my future endeavors.
Process of Creating my Webfolio Reflection
Creating a webfolio was a longer process than I thought. It was nice to look back at all the work I have completed in ENGL 301 and see the improvements in my writing!
First, I was hesitant about what my web olio was for. What was its purpose and who was its audience? After some thinking, I thought that with all the menu options and inclusions of all my best ENGL 301, it would be best to cater to future ENGL 301 students! So I started to work.
I began by creating a page for all the necessary titles. Once I finished that, I added the revised versions of all my work to their respective page.
Next, I opened Professor Paterson’s evaluation sheet and made sure I edited everything based on her suggestions. I also added my revision as needed. It took time, but I was meticulous with formatting, removing unnecessary sentences, and fixing my grammar!
Lastly, I designed my webfolio with visuals and created a tone in my narratives that is friendly and professional for my specific audience (future ENGL 301 students)!
I enjoyed this whole process because I was able to see my gradual improvements through the assignments from unit 1 to unit 4. It was also satisfying to gather a collection of all my best works onto one website!