This is the last thing I will write for ENGL 301. Although this is not a formal introduction for a writing assignment, I want to share my emotions right now regarding this course. Coming into ENGL 301, I was a little overconfident in my own abilities. Having already obtained a Bachelor’s degree from UBC, which involved many writing courses, I thought I would not be learning too much. Now that we are at the end of the semester, I look back on my initial assumptions about this course and laugh, because I could not have been more wrong. This course has challenged me as a writer, pushed me outside of my comfort zone, and taught me so much. It is a bittersweet feeling to write this final post, as I am proud to finish this course, yet I know that I will miss it. It has been a very enjoyable experience, and I know I will carry what I have learned with me for the rest of time at UBC and into my future career. With that being said, now it is time for my final blog post: the final self assessment reflection. 

Strengths in my learning and assignments

One of my strengths as a writer is my ability to provide constructive criticism for my peers. I have a keen eye for detail, which is a valuable asset in providing peer-reviews. This strength benefited me greatly throughout the course of ENGL 301. After Unit 1, a lot of the work involved peer-reviews. My partners let me know that they always found my reviews to be extremely helpful and insightful, and it made me happy to know I was aiding my colleagues. Conducting peer reviews also allowed me to pick out the strengths and weaknesses in other’s writing, and apply it to my own writing. Avoiding mistakes I would see, and emulating the aspects that made the writing of my peers excellent improved my technical writing abilities. Another one of my strengths is my ability to communicate complicated ideas in lay-terms. I found this especially benefited me on the definitions assignment. In my first degree, a lot of the science courses I took involved breaking down complex topics into a format that was readable for general audiences. This in turn greatly aided me throughout this course. 

Weaknesses in my learning and assignments 

Although I have learned a lot and greatly benefitted from ENGL 301, I am still aware of some strengths and weaknesses in my learning and assignments. Starting with my learning, one issue I have is not creating and sticking to a firm schedule. This especially created a disadvantage for me when writing the formal proposal and doing the research for it. I found myself to be very overwhelmed with the workload. However one aspect of the progress report was creating a writing schedule. This allowed me to map out my work and break it down into smaller portions. This taught me just how important creating a schedule and sticking to it is for learning. Being inspired by the benefit the writing schedule provided me, I created an exam studying schedule and it has helped me tremendously for the current exam season. 

In terms of my assignment, one of the weaknesses I noticed was missing little styling and formatting details. For example, on some of the assignments that involved writing a memorandum, I would sign off. Through the instructor feedback, and being given the chance to revise my assignments, I was able to catch these mistakes. This has taught me the value of reading assignment guidelines more than once, and triple-checking my work. Finally, a last weakness I want to highlight is my tendency to use more words than necessary when writing. ENGL 301 has helped me a lot with this weakness, but I still have a lot of room to improve. The creation of the Web Folio allowed me to revise my old assignments, and cut down on unnecessary words and sentences. 

Translating my skills and strengths for future career and educational goals

In the future, I hope to enter the technology field. Initially, I want to work as a software developer, and my ultimate goal is to enter the field of neuroengineering. To be in such a field, one must have an amazing work ethic, great organisational skills, and exceptional technical communication skills. Luckily for me, ENGL 301 has allowed me to work on all these aspects. ENGL 301 has taught me a lot about networking and creating resumes. It allowed me to optimise my LinkedIn profile, which will help me expand my professional network and find mentors who are already in the field of neuroengineering. Moreover, my emails have become more professional and concise as a result of this course. Already, I have noticed how much more receptive people are to requests I send over email when I write with a “YOU attitude” and apply the lessons learned in ENGL 301. I know that I will keep a copy of the textbook handy at all times to refer to all the lessons learned through the course of this semester. 

My passion, drive for excellence, and hard-working attitude will allow me to succeed in the future. ENGL 301 has aided me develop all these, improved my writing skills, and taught me about professional networking. I have learned a lot, and I know I will carry these lessons with me throughout my life. Thank you to Dr. Paterson for all that she has taught the students over the course of this semester, and thank you to my writing team for being there for me and helping me grow as a writer. I am excited for the future. 

Creating the Web Folio was more challenging than I had anticipated. To be frank, I was not concerned with the technical aspects of creating a website, considering my background in computer science. However, I realize now that I overlooked the difficulty of this process.

It was a slow process to create my Web Folio. I had to spend time learning all the small details of working with WordPress, such as how to implement a theme, re-arrange components in a theme, and create pages and order them correctly. Although this was initially frustrating, after spending the time researching all I had to know, the process of creating the Web Folio and my website became much easier. I really enjoyed the freedom, in terms of design decisions, this assignment afforded the students. It was fun to experiment with different themes and orientations. One thing I found valuable was sending pictures or links of various pages to my friends for feedback. Having a fresh set of eyes to make sure everything was easy to access and looked “good” ensured that I created an aesthetic and strong Web Folio.

Second, it was rewarding to re-work some of the past assignments in this course for this assignment. I especially enjoyed editing and revising work from earlier in the semester. Although my earlier works had many more mistakes that required correction, it filled me with joy to see just how far I had come as a technical writer. When comparing my earlier assignments to my more recent ones, it became clear just how much I had improved my writing abilities. Revising my assignments was also a smooth process; the feedback I received from the course instructor and my writing team aided me in making all the necessary corrections. All in all, I am very happy that the Web Folio was an assignment for ENGL 301. Creating it has been my favourite part of the course, and it allows me to look back on all I have accomplished with a sense of pride.

For Unit 3 in English 301, students were tasked with doing most of the work required for their formal report. Specifically, we wrote our formal report draft and provided a peer review for a member of our writing team. Unit 3 was the most challenging and rewarding unit so far. It challenged me as a writer and taught me a lot.

Formal Report
The formal report was both enjoyable and challenging. As I have a background in life sciences/computer sciences, writing my report was my first experience tackling a problem that could be classified as a business issue. Specifically, the subject of my formal report was on introducing daily specials at Cactus Club Cafe to increase customer volume during dry season (January to April). This pushed me outside of my comfort zone in many ways. I found it more difficult than I had anticipated to find sources for my formal report. I mainly had to examine statistics and then draw my own conclusions from them, as opposed to having the conclusions stated for me.

Designing the qualitrics survey for my report was a rewarding experience. It was especially difficult at first to word questions in a positive tone while also ensuring that they were not leading questions. This challenged my writing skills, and through much fine-tunning, I was able to come up with a survey that I believe met all the necessary criteria for a good survey. The distribution of the survey went smoother than anticipated. I was able to distribute it to many friends in the lower mainland and found the use of old Facebook messenger chats for classes I had taken to be a valuable resource to spread my survey. I was able to garner 29 responses; although I wish this number could have been higher, with no incentives attached to filling out my survey, I was still pleased with the results. I had used qualitrics before, but never knew that the application had built-in software to generate tables and figures for your survey questions. I found this very convenient as I was concerned about transforming my data into tables and figures.

Composing the interview questions and conducting the interview with the head manager of Cactus Club Cafe Park Royal was my favourite part of Unit three. It was very rewarding to get out into the “real world” and apply the lessons I had learned from the Instructor’s Blog and the textbook. My manager offered me very valuable information and shared a lot of enthusiasm towards reading my final report. I am looking forward to finishing and sharing it report with her.

Writing the report was initially very challenging. The first two days, I made very little progress as I had “writers block”. However, I decided to change my approach, and write my report in note form. This allowed me to get all my ideas down on paper without the constraints of proper sentence structure and grammar. From there, the road map for writing my report became clear, and I was able to find momentum and flow. The organization of the structure was difficult at first, as Microsoft Word did not automatically format the report to meet the necessary requirements. Nevertheless, the more I formatted, the easier it became. Writing the report also vastly improved my ability to maintain a positive tone in writing. It was difficult, as there was some data that I collected that raised questions about the validity of my proposed solution to increase customer volume. However, consulting the textbook and previous work that I had done in ENGL 301 allowed me to ensure a positive tone was maintained. Overall, the process of writing the report was the most challenging yet rewarding assignment I have had in this course so far. I am looking forward to incorporating the peer-review comments I received and finalizing a report I will be proud of.

Peer Review
The peer review process for the formal report was a stressful one for me. Initially, the two other members of my writing team had extraneous circumstances that prevented them from submitting their reports on the due date. This caused a lot of stress for me, as on the day the peer review was due, they had not yet posted their formal report drafts. However, this proved to be an invaluable lesson in dealing with difficult situations with teammates. With the support of Dr. Paterson, I was able to communicate in a friendly manner with my writing team and share my concerns with them. This led to one of my members posting their report the day I communicated my concerns. As such, I was able to write a peer-review for one of my writing team members.

The writing of the peer review for an assignment as large as the formal report was rather difficult. In past classes, I have written peer-reviews on google docs, which allowed me to highlight and comment on the document itself. For this peer-review, we had to compose a memorandum style peer-review. This put me outside of my comfort zone, as I had to pay special attention in how I worded my constructive criticism to ensure my writing team partner knew which areas of their report I was referring to. However, this also allowed me to really think about the wording I used when providing review, increasing its quality.

I also found the feedback I received to be helpful. I especially appreciated having a second pair of eyes to catch any grammar mistakes or typos that I missed in my report. Finally, my peer-reviewers offered me great advice in terms of formatting my figures to make them more readable. I initially described the axes of my figures in the figure caption. Using the suggestions provided to me, I will now change that around so that the X- and Y-axis titles are in the figures themselves, making the information presented in the figures easier to digest.

Concluding Remarks
Overall, I found Unit Three to be the most challenging yet rewarding unit of the term thus far. My writing skills were challenged, but through overcoming these challenges, I can see myself improving as a technical communicator. I am very much looking forward to finalizing my report and presenting to Cactus Club Cafe.

I have attached my Formal Report Draft as a PDF below.

Enclosure: Formal Report Draft ENGL 301

Process of Creating a LinkedIn Profile

The second unit of English 301 introduced us to the topic of professional social media networks, with an emphasis on LinkedIn. Before this assignment, I had a LinkedIn profile that I seldom used. However, I did keep it updated. After doing research on “LinkedIn Best Practices” I realized that I had not been using LinkedIn to its full potential. One of my takeaways from this assignment was the necessity for me to increase my LinkedIn activity. This in turn would increase the likelihood of me expanding my network, leading to increased job prospects. I further learned about the importance of sending personalized messages alongside a LinkedIn connection request. Since using this technique, I have found it easier to make connections on LinkedIn. My attitude towards LinkedIn has changed after this assignment, and I am actively on the site now.

Process of Preparing Report Proposal and Outline

The second unit of English 301 started us on the process of compiling our term long-project, a formal research report. Initially, I found it difficult to come up with a topic that was interesting to me and relevant to explore. This created negative emotions towards the assignment. However, while at work one day, I was speaking to a co-worker about this issue, and they encouraged me to explore ways to improve our restaurant, Cactus Club Cafe. This sparked an idea in me and started me on my journey of researching how to increase customer volume at the restaurant during the months of January to April (known as dry season). After my realization, the progress on my report sped up and I picked up momentum. My initial struggles with finding a topic taught me the value of turning to others for ideas. I tend to try and solve all my writing issues on my own, and this proved that getting help from others is always valuable.

Since my initial struggle, I have successfully completed my proposal, my outline, and my progress report. It was interesting to learn about the necessity of a positive attitude when formulating sentences in a report. This was not an intuitive realization for me; I assumed it was appropriate to include negative comments, as the purpose of the report is to solve a problem, and problems are negative. However, the readings in the textbook, along with the instructor blog, changed my assumption. Adopting a positive tone increases the chances that your report is received, and your solution implemented. The reader will be influenced by your positive attitude, which will make them more likely to listen to your ideas. I have begun my writing of the formal report. So far, it is going well. I did underestimate a little the gravity of this task, but creating a writing schedule calmed my nerves and provided me with a road map. Prior to this assignment, I entered writing tasks with no road map laid out. This always caused me angst. However, unit 2 taught me the value of mapping a plan for your writing. By breaking a large task down into smaller steps, it makes achieving the result more attainable. Furthermore, writing without the angst of meeting a deadline has improved my writing abilities. One of my greatest struggles is concise writing. Since I have a roadmap to follow, I can take more time to write, and go at a slower pace. This has allowed me to think about the value each sentence offers, improving my communication skills and cutting my word count.

Peer Review Process 

This part of the assignment gave me the opportunity to read and critique a team member’s (Brian Wong) formal report proposal. Reading Brian’s proposal raised my awareness of study space capacity at UBC. I have personally experienced the difficulties of finding a spot to study during peak study hours, and I am glad that he is investigating this issue. While reviewing my partner’s proposal, I learned of the importance of a subject line. He was missing one, and it made it very difficult for me to immediately grasp the main subject of the proposal. This in turn reinforced the lesson we learned in this unit, that subject lines are an essential part of any memorandum or proposal.

While reviewing Brian’s proposal, I was able to pick out its strengths, and along with the feedback he gave me, improve my own.  Brian did an excellent job of formulating his scope so that it retained a positive tone. He also pointed out two instances in my proposal where my tone was negative, and in turn, could confuse a reader. Specifically, I had a scope question “Will the introduction of daily specials during dry season increase the probability of customers dining at Cactus Club Cafe”. Brian shared the insight with me that the whole point of solution was the fact that daily specials would increase customer volume; this question challenged the validity of the proposal and the recommended solution. Reviewing how he posed some of his scope questions, I was able to change this question and re-frame it in a more positive light. He also mentioned that my scope question “How important are daily specials in choosing a restaurant to dine at?” would undermine my proposal; if daily specials were not important, it would make my solution redundant. However, I decided to keep this question, as I believe it to be ethically necessary to specifically gather data to inform my proposed solution. Further, I have first-hand experience with customers sharing the fact that they wished Cactus Club Cafe offered daily specials, making me confident that the data will show my solution is feasible and will work. Brian also gave me valuable insight regarding ethical writing with references. He pointed out that I had stated a claim (Earls offers daily specials) without citing it. I was able to include a relevant citation to Earl’s menu and improve my ethical writing. Compared to unit 1, I noticed that my partner found less mistakes in my tone and writing. This was encouraging, as it showed I was improving my writing abilities. The peer review process has positively impacted my view of writing. As mentioned in many examples above, it taught me the value of framing questions/problems positively and being ethical towards my readers through providing citations. The research proposal process has had its successes and difficulties. It has challenged me to improve my writing abilities, and question some of my overlooked assumption. I am looking forward to writing the full research proposal, as I know it will inevitably continue to improve my writing abilities.

Link to revised definition: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl30199c2022w2/2023/03/16/2-1-2-3-revised-formal-proposal/

Link to Brian’s Peer Review: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl30199c2022w2/2023/02/28/peer-review-for-parsa-proposal-for-determining-the-feasibility-of-introducing-daily-specials-to-increase-customer-volume-during-dry-season/

Writing the first draft of the technical definition 

The first unit of English 301 tasked us with writing a definition of a technical term for a non-technical audience. Before this assignment, I had never written a technical definition, so I found it difficult when I started. However, after reviewing the assigned readings and creating multiple drafts, I was proud of the technical definition I wrote. Moreover, this assignment helped improve my writing abilities, especially in terms of concise writing. My term was Executive Function, which is from the field of Psychology and Neuroscience. Explaining this term forced me to consider how to reduce jargon while still maintaining the integrity of what Executive Function encompassed. This assignment also taught me the value of each type of definition. I learned that parenthetical definitions are a short-form definition in parentheses, which help clarify a term while maintaining the natural flow of writing. Sentence definitions are short sentences that present the term and describe the class that the word(s) belong(s) to. Finally, expanded definitions provide readers with a comprehensive analysis of a term through various expansion techniques, such as the history of the term, the operating principles, and examples. I learned that parenthetical, sentence, and expanded definition follow a hierarchy of detail and information. In terms of expanded definitions, this assignment taught me that some expansion techniques are better than others. For example, describing the operating principles behind Executive Function would not be appropriate for non-technical readers, as it requires a background in psychology and neuroscience. However, a visual is an excellent technique to use, as it provides a concrete view of this term. Overall, through writing this assignment, I was challenged to improve my writing skills, and improved my abilities to convey technical information to non-technical audiences. 

Peer Review Process

This part of the assignment gave me the opportunity to read and critique a team member’s (Brian Wong) technical definition. Reading Brian’s definition taught me new things about MRI’s and gave me insight to improve my own assignment. I was able to pick out the strengths of Brian’s definition and improve my own as a result. For example, I noticed how his visual was the third expansion technique used, which provided a better flow to his expanded definition. I originally had my visual as the last expansion technique; I changed the order of my expansion techniques because of reading Brian’s work. The peer-review process also provided insight into how a reader might view my definition, and what aspects of it could be confusing for them. I found Brian’s header organization made his expanded definition very clear, and so, I emulated that in my own definition. Overall, the peer-review process was valuable, as it not only helped me practice my peer-review skills but helped me improve my writing by picking out the strengths of my peers’ writing techniques.

Revision Process

After a team member (Riya Kathuria) reviewed my definition, they provided me with constructive feedback to improve my definition. This furthered my understanding of how a reader might receive my definition, and Riya’s feedback helped me improved my own definition. Riya pointed out that my “History” expansion technique provided too much information without adding much to the understanding of executive function. Upon reviewing my work, I agreed, and was able to cut out almost half the words. I was also provided with excellent feedback on my sentence structure. As someone who struggles with concise writing, I hoped to gain feedback on this during the peer-review process, and Riya delivered. I had instances of run-off sentences in my assignment, which were pointed out by Riya. I was able to fix these, which improved my assignment and made it flow better. Overall, Riya’s peer review showed me the value of peer reviews, as they were able to find improvements in my assignment that I would have otherwise missed. This assignment has improved my technical writing abilities and taught me just how challenging conveying technical information to non-technical audiences can be. However, the process was rewarding, and I am looking forward to future assignment, which will inevitably continue to improve my writing abilities.

Link to revised definition: Link

Link to Riya’s peer review: Link