Sunday, October 12, 2008

Reflections

delicatesituations.blogspot.com

The world around you is a reflection, a mirror showing you the person you are. Show your best face to the mirror, and you’ll be happy with the face looking back at you.”

The process of doing this report has been enriching and enjoyable, thanks to three groups of people: my group members, my tutor and the rest of the classmates. Past encounters with awful project mates have taught me to appreciate good team players. Thank you, Weikin and Yu Ming, for being so. I hope that I have been a good team mate as well.

A good module owes its success to the efforts of the lecturers or tutors behind it. Thank you, Brad, for just the right amount of guidance, which keeps us in track and yet gives us room to explore and learn.

Sometimes it is hard to spot our own mistakes, thanks to all the classmates who have edited our report and survey for us.

When working as a team, I feel that communication is not just about presenting your ideas but also listening to other people’s ideas. It is also good to meet up face to face for discussions rather than communicating via the internet, to avoid misunderstandings. My team mates and I have tried our best to meet up as much as possible, but it is a pity that we are taking this module in our honours year, leaving us with vey little free time.

To say the truth, my communication skills with team mates have yet to been put to great test during the course of writing the report. The reasons could be because I am blessed with amiable team mates, and that we are working in a small group with people from similar background.

However, I have learnt a lot from the writing process, including my grammar, the formats for writing minutes and report. Four years of scientific training often allow students to be proficient at scientific writing but are handicapped in other forms of writing. Even the writing of the survey report is different from the usual scientific reports. I am glad to have the chance to learn something different and useful, which I would otherwise not learn as a science student.

4 comments:

Tiffany said...

Hi Oxy,

I totally agree with you that as a Science student, we become skilled in writing science reports but are not honed in the area of other forms of reports (like the ones we are doing for ES now). But through the unconditional efforts that Brad and our team members have put in, I believe that we all have picked up skills, in one way or another, in writing a good business report.

I hereby wish you and your group the best of luck for your project!

Yu Ming said...

Dear Oxy,

It has been great fun being on the same team. Thanks for the tip on conjunctions. Always thought that words like hence, therefore and however were only meant to be used in the beginning of sentences. Was truly surprised when you mentioned that the use of conjunctions are actually not encouraged in report writing. I'm always learning something new everyday:)

Brad Blackstone said...

Thanks, dear Oxy, for your positive vibes. You sprinkle around lots of compliments, but the biggest thanks should go from me to you for your hard work, intent on learning and good cheer.

I now have your report in my possession and will attend to it very soon. Looking forward....!

Lyon said...

Hi Oxy,

Yes I totally agree with you that Science students are indeed handicapped when it comes to writing non-scientific reports or any other forms of writings. I even feel that ES 2007s should have been made a compulsory module for Science students, just like HR2202 is a compulsory module for Engine students. I believe this course can greatly aid the Science students in their writing styles and proficiency.