Unit 2 required us to create a formal report proposal with a corresponding outline and progress report. We were also required to create a professional LinkedIn profile using our own research on ‘best practices’. Moreover, we also conducted additional peer-review activities for most of the assignments in Unit 2. I have found this very helpful, because I am learning different methods of expressing ideas by reading the works of other classmates. Overall, I found Unit 2 more challenging, since I am still familiarizing myself with the peer-review process and the composition of non-scientific formal reports. With this in mind, Dr. Paterson’s emphasis made me aware of my readers.
We started the unit by writing a formal report proposal using concepts from our textbook. The biggest challenge for me was shifting thought process towards a non-scientific mindset. This was highlighted with the topic of my report, which was focused on improving the online marketability of a wedding photography business. Generally, I would start scientific reports by writing an ‘abstract’ that summarizes the entire experiment. However, this is not the case, and I would have to carefully consider my audience by defining marketing terminology and simplifying my data by using simple figures (such as bar charts). As a result, I found myself pausing more often, since the I had to spend more time thinking about my audience’s understanding of the given topic. Regardless of the challenges, the assignment taught me how to create a report proposal, which would be applicable to my career path in Computer Science.
Subsequently, we have also conducted peer-reviews for our classmates. I enjoyed this process, since I am able to read other people’s work which exposes me to unique writing styles. More importantly, any mistakes that are committed by my classmates made me more aware of my own errors. I was surprised of errors that have easily gone unnoticed from my own self-reviews. Thus, having my own work peer-reviewed, in conjunction with this awareness, has allowed me to write more consciously and carefully. I aim to improve my own peer-review skills, in order to provide better feedback to my classmates and to increase my own awareness towards my writing skills.
To continue, the assignments in Unit 2 also involved the creation of a professional LinkedIn profile. It was to my own advantage that I already had an existing account with the required sections. However, I welcomed the prospect of a peer-review to improve my LinkedIn profile. Again, the peer-review process was the most rewarding section, since I was given feedback on how to improve my existing profile. Ying Ying’s peer review contained a well-organized partition of the different components of my LinkedIn profile. Thus, I was able to immediately make the changes because I was able to locate these sections with ease. Moreover, I also found it enjoyable to actually read my classmate’s own experiences. In this case, I’ve conducted a peer-review of Ying Ying’s profile using my ‘best practices’ criteria that segmented into the different sections of a LinkedIn Profile. Her LinkedIn profile was well-done since she provided a sufficient amount of detail of her achievements and projects. Thus, I actually used her LinkedIn profile as another basis of improving my own. Overall, the LinkedIn assignment was an enjoyable activity because it made the reviewer acquaint themselves with their fellow classmate and learn different writing techniques.
Lastly, Unit 2 required us to create a progress report in our formal report, including an outline. I found creating an outline is helpful in organizing our ideas. My report consisted of multiple sections that covered surveys, interviews and website metrics – thus, it was important that I created an outline that would introduce a coherent flow of these different types of data. Interestingly, the progress report was similar to having a reflection blog. It enabled us to summarize our ideas, discuss our current findings and create a timeline for our formal report. While writing my progress report, I realized that I had to create questions that would cater to my intended audiences. In this case, I designed survey questions for Clients, whereas Marketing Consultants and Staff would receive interview questions. However, I am unsure if I have created proper questions, but I always welcome feedback from Dr. Paterson and her colleagues. Overall, both the outline and progress report gave me a text and visual representation of the entire formal report. I am certain that I will be using these concepts when I create future reports.
Overall, Unit 2 was a great learning tool that pushed me to become a more efficient and considerate writer. Writing peer-reviews, progress reports, and outlines made me feel more confident in proceeding with more challenging concepts in Unit 3. I am aware that I still have flaws in my writing, but the course has made me more conscious and careful of such errors. I will continue to use the new concepts I’ve acquired to develop my technical writing skills.