Assignment 1: Formal letter


Hi Professor Brad,

I am writing this letter as a means to introduce myself. My name is Thoufeek Ansari and I am currently enrolled in your effective communication class. I graduated from Singapore Polytechnic with a diploma in civil engineering with business in the year 2017 and am currently pursuing a degree in civil engineering from the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). I chose this field of study as I am someone who is passionate about the built environment and have always been in awe to see how we, as mankind, have shaped Earth since the beginning of time and as I got older, I realised how civil engineering has played a major role in the environment that we see today.

I would say that communicating with others on a professional level would be a communication strength of mine. During my national service term, I was posted to work on the policing of drones which were being flown in Singapore recreationally and non-recreationally. I had to work with various stakeholders, be it through emails or phone calls. It was important that I maintained professionalism in communication as one mistake in communication conduct would have reflected badly on the department as a whole.
Speaking in front of a crowd has always been trouble for me. I often get anxious which leads me to either speak too fast, fidget or stutter during presentations. I am hoping to work on this issue in this effective communication module.

With that, I aim to improve on my public speaking skills and to also learn further methods of communicating my message across clearly to the other party, as these are essential in my future line of work, where failure to do so could lead to construction mishaps on the construction site. I appreciate your time in reading my introductory letter.

Thank you and regards,

Thoufeek Ansari

Commented on Sharif's blog on 20 Jan 2020.
Commented on Ken Wen's blog on 20 Jan 2020.

Comments

  1. Iskandar KhairuldinJanuary 16, 2020 at 6:51 PM

    No further comments except paragraphing bro. Anyway nice write up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thoufeek AnsariFebruary 6, 2020 at 7:53 PM

      Hi Iskandar,

      Thank you for your comment. I have adjusted my paragraphs. Do let me know if there are any further issues that I could improve on.

      Thank you,
      Thoufeek

      Delete
  2. JustinJanuary 23, 2020 at 9:24 PM

    Dear Thoufeek,

    Thank you for your introduction letter. It is well written and informative. You elaborated on your strength and weakness clearing. Like you, I also tend to stutter during presentation due to my anxiety. I hope we are able to overcome our stuttering at the end of the module.

    Cheers,
    Justin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thoufeek AnsariFebruary 6, 2020 at 7:55 PM

      Hi Justin,

      Appreciate your comment. Let us work on our issues and improve by the end of this module.

      Thank you,
      Thoufeek

      Delete
  3. Brad BlackstoneJanuary 24, 2020 at 10:51 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brad BlackstoneJanuary 24, 2020 at 10:52 PM

    Dear Toufeek,

    Thank you very much for this fine letter. It is both informative and personalized as you share specific info about your NS experience and how that has connected to your comm skills experience.

    My only questions for this letter relate to two points: What is it about the built environment that spawned your initial interest in studying civil engineering? Could you provide more specificity for the 2nd module goal mentioned in the last paragraph?

    There are also a few minor issues in terms of language use:

    1. capitalization
    -- I chose this field of study as I am someone who is passionate about the Built Environment and have always been in awe to see how we, as mankind, have shaped Earth since the beginning of time. > (use of caps?)

    2. words, phrasing
    -- I am hoping to work on this issue of mine in this effective communication module. > ('of mine' needed?)
    -- to get good in public speaking > ('to get good'?)

    These are minor issues. I look forward to reading more of your writing this term.

    Cheers,

    Brad

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thoufeek AnsariFebruary 6, 2020 at 9:44 PM

      Hi Professor Brad,

      Appreciate your comments that you have provided for me. I looked through the letter again and noticed my mistakes and have improved on them, as per your comments.

      As for your question relating to how the built environment spawned my initial interest in civil engineering has largely to do with my dad. He works in the built environment and I have always gone to him whenever I had queries regarding the environment that we live in today. Through those conversations I had with him, I came to realise that civil engineering played a vital role in shaping our environment that we see today.

      Regarding your other question, I have provided more specifics on my second goal which is to get my message across clearly.
      Hope to improve further in my future writings.

      Thank you,
      Thoufeek

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Annotated summary

Steward, A. (2016). The ‘living concrete’ that can heal itself. Retrieved 11 March 2020, from  https://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/14/tech/bioconcrete-delft-jonkers/index.html This article introduces the use of a ‘healing agent’ as a means to increase the durability of concrete by allowing the material to heal itself in the event of structural cracks. It highlights the reason why bacillus, a type of bacteria, was chosen as a ‘healing agent’. In the article, concrete is ‘extremely alkaline’ and the ‘healing agent’ that was to be chosen, had to be ‘dormant’ for an extended amount of years for a structural crack to form. Moreover, this ‘healing agent’ had to be able to produce a substance that could ultimately ‘heal’ the cracks. Thus, bacillus was selected as these bacteria are able to survive in high PH conditions, are able to last long without oxygen and when reacted with water, they produce limestone which acts as the healing material to cover the structural cracks within concrete. ...
Read more

Critical reflection

The two goals I had set for myself at the start of this module were to improve my public speaking skills and to communicate my opinions verbally in an effective manner. Throughout the duration of this module, with the help of resource lists, I was able to improve my public speaking skills during the in-class activities such as intergroup pitching and the research topic presentations. In terms of public speaking, I learnt that the keys to seek the undivided attention of any audience were through the means of storytelling and being confident. I realised that being confident comes with having plenty of rehearsals prior. I managed to really hone my public speaking skills the more I practiced. However, I still could improve in the aspect of storytelling to further sharpen my public speaking skills as I believe it could further engage the audience effectively. During class activities, I believe that I managed to get my points and opinions across effectively whenever called upon. However, I r...
Read more