Writing & Communication

Writing and communication skills allow one to effectively share ideas and findings with anyone they may come across. Proficiency of these skills is demonstrated in the ability to formulate an idea, and express it in such a way that the intended audience can easily grasp the concept; regardless of their familiarity with the subject. My development of these skills are demonstrated in both my BIS 284 artifact One Belt One Road: China’s Economic Exploitation, as well as the final paper I wrote for BIS 336 History of Mass Incarceration discussing sentencing reform in Washington State. Both of these artifacts are relevant to the aforementioned skills as they required me to pose a research question, present a clear argument, and effectively support this claim with relevant evidence.

One Belt One Road: China’s Economic Exploitation required me to conduct research into the policy of international relations enacted by China in which I compared the statements made by the Chinese government with the actions taken by the government itself. In conducting my research into China’s economic foreign policy, I discovered that although the Chinese government had publicly claimed repeatedly that their international policies had been enacted under good faith with the intentions of aiding the global community; the policies enacted instead had a tendency to exploit the participating nations to China’s advantage contradicting official statements. In order to demonstrate this observation the assignment required me to compare the statements with these actions, analyze the differences, demonstrate examples of the inconsistencies, and carefully communicate the significance.

The second artifact, Sentencing Reform and Mass Incarceration in Washington State, similarly required me to break down the impact of the Sentencing Reform Act (1981) in order to demonstrate how the act failed to achieve its goal; while negatively impacting the criminal justice system in Washington State. This artifact greatly improved my skills in writing and communication as its page limit and source requirements forced me to write a much more succinct paper than I had used up to this point; while covering the history, impact, and shortcomings of a major piece of legislation spanning over 40 years. The artifact resulted in a five page paper clearly communicating what the Sentencing Reform Act was and how it emerged, the shift from a rehabilitative justice system to a punitive justice system, and the negative impact involved. Increased rates of incarceration and the cost thereof, as well as the increased rates of recidivism were the results of the reform act directly contradicting the aim of the legislation. Just as the artifact mentioned previously, this piece demonstrated my skills in writing and communication as it forced me to break down a complicated and potentially controversial topic while effectively communicating the issues posed, in a very clear and concise manner supported by reliable evidence.

Artifacts