BEHIND THE SCENES

I found joy and satisfaction in the process of writing the research report. Prior to writing the research report, I didn't use Microsoft Excel very frequently as most of the graphs required in my previous academia were from pooled results and common graphs shared by the class. In the process of writing the report, we had to translate our findings into visual statistics hence leading me to explore Microsoft Excel and becoming more confident in using the programme to generate comprehensive and pretty graphs of various types. I found joy in acquiring this new ability. Also, having reviewed the key features of the report via this module and its textbook, I've come to realise how haphazard the reports I've written for previous academia were. I am again pleased to be now knowledgeable of how to write a proper report. I also realised the importance of understanding the features of the report, such as the establishment of a problem statement and purpose. In my opinion, these not only give structure and flow to the report but also keep the writers/researchers focused and on track thus allowing progress to be made more effectively and easily. In addition to the joy I got from realising these abilities, I also felt a sense of achievement at the end of the process of writing the report when I reviewd our close-to-final draft.

Apart from the newly acquired written and IT skills, I am also very pleased to have worked with Travis in writing the report. I feel that we both complement one another, in an academia sense of course. Firstly, Travis and myself have a number of other commitments but we managed to come up with a work plan in accordance to our different schedules. Whenever one of us was busy with other academia or work, the other would try to see to what is urgent at hand and relate items KIV (kept in view) to one busy at that moment, so that he/she can work on it later. Secondly, our initial brainstormed problems complemented one another and when pieced together, helped us established a more complete problem statement. Travis highlighted the recent government's focus on green energy and I was skeptical about the claims of current environmental conservation efforts being effective. Together, we wondered if Singaporeans were successfully inculcated with good green habits and if the shift of focus was premature. Thirdly, our writing styles complement. I tend to write lengthy sentences whilst Travis, short, to the point sentences. I suppose the combination of these two could have contributed to giving some shape to our report.

Having said that, I consider myself fortunate to have been paired with Travis to work on this report. It was coincidence that our ideas complemented but I also believe that the rapport we built is very important in a team project. Rapport helps members understand one another's lifestyle and personality to some extent and facilitate more efficient communication. I suppose that it is through good rapport that Travis and myself are able to sympathise with one another's commitments outside this module and school thus allowing us to 'cover' for one another by first doing whatever can be done instead of hampering the progress of the report. In this way, I suppose each of us made fair contributions to the report. The good rapport also made the entire process of writing more fun when we exchanged conversations about other non-academia subjects or personal experiences.

I hope to continue to build good rapport with Travis and bring this into the upcoming oral presentation as I believe that this would bring about better coordination between us when presenting our findings to the class. Due to the fact that Brad has been more like a friend than a mentor during regular classes and the that we are already quite familiar with our peers in the class, I preempt that we might, unknowingly, be less formal when presenting our findings. I feel that presentations should be more formal and professional so as to gain the attention of the audience and prevent the speakers/presenters from being distracted and less focused. Apart from that, I am also eager to apply some of the theoretical guidelines of communication as suggested by the book to truly experience the effectiveness of these. After all, learning is not just about memorising theories but more importantly, the application of them.