Unit 3 has been a challenging section of the course. The entire Unit assigned us to write a ‘You Attitude’ memo, business letters, a Formal Report draft and an email memo about the progression on our Job Application Package assignment. In addition, the Formal Report draft and ‘You Attitude’ required the subsequent inclusion of a peer-review with our writing partners. Overall – regardless of the challenges – the unit was very rewarding in improving my professional writing, especially during the completion of my Formal Report. The most important lesson for me was learning to maintain a neutral and professional tone when writing business letters, memos and reports. 

The first component of this Unit was creating a “You Attitude” memo for a student that is asking for placement in a course that is full. Evan’s email was poorly written, since it conveyed laziness and a lack of enthusiasm. Thus, the assignment required us to create a memo that would guide Evan towards writing a professional email to the English professor. Overall, I found this to be an important lesson in being able to write a professional correspondence with an addressee. Maintaining a professional tone is paramount when communicating with a supervisor, members of academia, senior management, and business clients. This enhances the impact of your message by inciting urgency and importance to the addressee. Moreover, I find myself using this experience to enhance to my business correspondence to clients in my wedding photography business. Therefore, I would highly recommend this assignment to be placed in Unit 1 or 2 of this course. This is especially important with the distance-education version of the course, because students communicate with the professors and teaching assistants through email and social-media correspondence.

The “You Attitude” assignment was followed by a peer review of my writing partner’s own memo to Evan. Kevin, my writing partner, was able to effectively write a memo that contained important guidelines regarding professional correspondence. He used his experiences from his clinic-related job to support his recommendations for Evan. However, there were some minor formatting and grammatical inconsistencies, such as punctuation errors and missing words. Using these findings, I was able to write a peer review that covered the details and occurrences of each error.

An interesting assignment was writing business letters. The assignment was divided into two sections. The first section required us to write a letter of complaint from a client about a bad experience from the company of interest. This was followed by the second section, which was writing a bad-news letter. Interestingly, I was able to draw from my own experiences of a complaint when unforeseen circumstances happened in my wedding photography business (such as a staff member catching the flu). Using concepts from the ‘You Attitude’ memo, I was able to create a professional response that included an apology, valid reasons, positive changes, and compromise for the client. I did not include a refusal, since the service cannot be repeated due to weddings being a non-recurring experience. The contract between the client and business owner also states that there is no liability directed at the company when unforeseen circumstances occur. Thus, a monetary refund was not considered as a topic for refusal in this assignment.

Subsequently, the class was assigned with the task of finishing a draft of our Formal Report. Following Unit 2, I made some changes in my report outline due to some adjustments in the narrative of my entire document. The most important change was the inclusion of the ‘working definitions’ at an earlier stage of my report rather than defining these terms at each finding. Dr. Paterson emphasized the importance of the time spent by our reader on this report. Thus, this would allow any reader to easily refer to any unfamiliar terminology in the ‘working definitions’ section of my report. Furthermore, I have implemented a data from my client surveys regarding the website and Facebook page of Tea for Two Studios. Unfortunately, I was missing the interview answers from the marketing consultants and company staff upon writing the first draft – thus, these sections were excluded. However, I have recently acquired all necessary interview answers and metrics which will be immediately included in the next report draft. This is essential because the next step of the study will require actual implementation of the results from all surveys, interviews and metrics. Overall, I found this assignment as the most challenging section of the entire Unit – but was equally the most rewarding. It made me realize the value of an outline, which was paramount in organizing the flow of ideas in my first draft. I look forward to finishing this report, and seeing a positive change in Tea for Two Studios’ online business practices.

The Formal Report was followed by a peer review by my writing partner. In this assignment, I was able to review Ray’s formal report and suggest some changes. Interestingly, his topic shared similarities with my own report regarding online business practices and marketing. Thus, I was able to draw from my own experiences running a business (including the problem of online marketing), to assess the scope and methods of his report. Moreover, he was able to present his findings by using figures in the ‘Data Analysis’ section of his report. His formatting was effective, but needed the implementation of a ‘working definitions’ section. This was suggested because I assumed that some readers may be unfamiliar with marketing-related terminology. Similarly, Ray has given me some design and formatting changes for my report. He suggests that I should change the indentation and presentation of my points. Overall, I will implement his suggested changes once I have included the interview answers and metrics in my next draft.

Lastly, Unit 3 required us to provide an email memo of our progress in the Job Application Package assignment. I provided a projected timeline of completion and milestones for this assignment, along with a description of the job that I am applying to. In general, I was looking for a job that was relevant to my current skill level in Computer Science. Thus, based on the job posting requirements, I was primarily searching for ‘Junior Developer’ positions that considered me as a potential candidate. In this assignment, I am applying for a ‘Junior Software Developer’ position at Speed Shift Media since I fulfill some of the requirements. My goal is to increase their confidence in my abilities through my cover letter. Again, I look forward to finishing this assignment, especially prior to applying to any jobs in the Co-op program.

Overall, the Unit was challenging, but rewarding. I’ve learned concepts that will improve my professionalism as a student, business owner, and writer. These concepts include professional correspondence with an addressee, learning the importance of outlines, and conducting peer reviews. This Unit also gave me the chance to draw from my own business experiences to support my points and provide concrete examples.

I am excited to start Unit 4, and finish the course as a better technical writer!