Critical Reflection

This reflection covers what I have learnt in this module over the past three months. I will be writing on my thoughts and experience of the module in detail as well as the process of the team project.

Critical thinking is the process of analysing and evaluating information effectively. The first few weeks of the module I was anxious as I found out there were a lot of writing that needed to be done. Language has always been a struggle for me especially in writing especially since my Polytechnic days as I primarily converse in Chinese. Therefore the main goal I set for myself was to be proficient in writing, researching and evaluating topics of interest.

Firstly, I was taught how to analyse the weaknesses of other people's writing and take down key points on what can be improved. I learnt how to adopt the elements of the PEEL format into my writing and how it further enhances the critical key points in my paragraphs. In our first task, we were tasked to write summary of a topic of interest and how to properly paraphrase and cite our sources with the APA format. The summary writing was written in a process taught in our lessons and incorporated accordingly, we wrote certain drafts which was firstly evaluated by our peers then Prof Blackstone would evaluate and give his feedbacks. This process made me felt more relieve as the writing was properly evaluated and given feedback and changes before the actual submission of the task. I have learnt my weakness of over evaluating certain features of the product and lost the main important points of the topic, after the feedbacks I was able to refine the summary report before submission.

Subsequently, we form groups for our research topic for the second half of the semester. Although we had difficulty forming the initial topic and pitch, our group persevered and we eventually were able to form a solid foundation and topic for researching. Over the following weeks we would occasionally meetup and discuss whether our parts of the research fit into our overall vision of the solution we are proposing. After refining the topic, we input our research outcomes into a shared document and prepared for our presentation. Initially during the mock presentation I felt that by following a script, I would panic and forget parts of the speech I was supposed to present, hence over the next week I practice by memorising key points and phrasing it into my own sentences. This felt like a more natural way for me and boosted my confidence during the presentation. Through this experience, I will further adopt this learning experience into my future report writings and presentation.

In summary, the critical thinking aspect of this module has enhanced my writing capabilities and boost my confidence in presentations. Overall I was very satisfied with the skills I have picked up as it has met with my original goals of the module.