CC0001 INQUIRY & COMMUNICATION IN AN INTERDISCIPLINARY WORLD (2.0 AU)

I didn’t like writing essays at all, and it wasn’t my strength, so knowing that I have to take this mod, I put in the extra effort from the beginning. For this mod, it is very important to go hard from the beginning as we are only working on 1 long essay for the whole sem. Hence, it is very important to ensure that the quality of our essay is good from the beginning. Use grammarly, quillbot for checking and paraphrasing. Make sure to participate in class discussion, esp the ones where you have to take turns to give a speech to your groupmates (class part). All in all, very fun mod as the my teacher (Ms Eunice) made this not so interesting mod fairly interesting.
Final Grade: A

Grade: A+

Most of the technical aspects have been covered in the other reviews, so I won’t say much other than this very important piece of advice: focus on your observations and questions very early on! What I noticed from my friends was that everyone tended to leave it to the last (“aiya can change question one right? then nvm la just submit first then later I see how”). But making good observations and developing a good, open-ended, and insightful question is the key to lightening the workload. I had the fortune to consult (read: pester) my tutor repeatedly throughout the initial 3-4 weeks. As a STEM major, the initial 3 weeks are quite light in terms of major cores, so at least for me it was an ideal time to focus on CC0001 (but of course not every living, breathing moment!). By the time the Blog 2 submission rolled around, the workload was quite comfortable and generally worry-free because I only had to concentrate on the writing, source-finding, and argument/conversation portion of the op-ed while my coursemates and peers were mostly changing their questions and rewriting their observations in the midst of mid-terms and other submissions.

Also, do take note that the Blog 1 is a build up to Assignment 1; and Assignment 1, Blog 2, and Assignment 2 are a build up to Assignment 3, the final Op-Ed. It is important not to skimp and submit them half-assed, because your tutor’s comments will effectively determine what you ultimately have to work when building the Op-Ed. So if you submit something lackadaisical, then you probably shouldn’t expect much in the way of constructive feedback too!

Generally, I think CC0001 was the most fun and engaging of the suite of the Y1 ICC mods, in that there is no ‘right’ answer — only what you make it out to be (and how you develop it). It’s not as unstructured as CC0002, but not as rigid as CC0003. There is no group-graded criteria (I think!) as well, so whether they do work or not doesn’t affect you, so the stress of underperforming groupmates is nonexistent (of course, you could do a mutual swap and exchange papers to proof-read, but you could ask this of other coursemates, friends, and even family members as well).

As the mod introduction mentions: writing is a way for you to concretely pen down your thoughts, and a way to deconstruct ideas and reconstruct from them a novel perspective or idea. Having it in an academic setting under a proper tutor was a very rewarding experience for me, and I hope that you (whoever is reading this) will have fun ‘looking at your fish’ too. 🙂

Tutor: Dr Nicole Ong

Weekly hours: 1x2hr tutorial

This is a mod where your prof really makes a huge difference. I enjoyed this module as I enjoyed writing and Dr Ong was very good at engaging and guiding your train of thoughts. Heard many of my friends don’t even get much feedback about their blogs from their prof but Dr Ong was very prompt and precise in her feedback that it really helped you improve your writing. I put in alot of effort into the writing and it was also easy to class part because there is no fixed answer to this module so everyone is encouraged to share their thoughts or opinions.

Expected grade: A

Assessments:
15% class part (2 blogs, active participation, consults)
20% assignment 1: short write up regarding topic
25% assignment 2: oral presentation – I did this online so referring to notes was ok
40% assignment 3: final op-ed essay piece

Grade: B

Overall, the teaching was ok. If you get Geraldine, you’ll have a fun time in the class even if you don’t really enjoy writing. She really tries to engage and encourage her students. Although was kind of disappointed with the final grade cuz I did put in the effort, it was a relatively ok class. Find a topic you’re interested in tho (I only had my concrete idea the week before recess week and changed the topic again after recess week, thank god my sources were still relevant). Try to do well in all the components if you want to get an A grade tho, I think the bell curve for this one might be slightly steep. English major here but didn’t even get an A grade so yea… oh and also get your friends to read your op-ed and provide feedback tho!

Final Grade: A
This module requires a good foundation in English in order to score well. The module revolves around an Op-Ed Essay. Students will be asked to explore a place, community or observe styles of English writing and make observations based on the chosen option. Based on the observations, students need to craft an Op-Ed regarding some sort of issue that they can identify from their observations. I believe there are a total of 3 graded assignments, the first will be a blog on the observations, second being the Powerpoint presentation of your Op-Ed and the final assignment being the final Op-Ed that you have crafted.

Word of advice for students taking this module, be very careful of what issue you choose to cover, the issue that you choose influences how well you can craft your Op-Ed. For someone who does not have a strong foundation in English, fret not, you can always engage you friends who are better in English to review you work. I would also advise not to spend so much time on this module, my professor mentioned that a good writer regularly reviews his/her work and makes changes along the way. For me, I spent 30 minutes of my time every day re-reading whatever I wrote and making changes to my Op-Ed. There will be tons of reviews and changes that you’ll need to make along the way, so this is not something you can complete in one sitting.

Overall, this is a pretty interesting module but will probably only appeal greatly to students who have an interest in writing and English.

Really fun module, even if I didn’t get the grade I wanted.

If you’re not used to writing, especially academic writing, this module’s learning curve is perfect for you: gentle, but just enough to get you on the right track. You only need to write a single 1350-word op=ed, which I found quite manageable. Pick a topic that really interests you, rather than something you might find easy to write on. Not being able to answer a research question immediately means you’re on the right track.

Talk to your coursemates! The interactivity in this module is hard to find elsewhere. I found that most topics were great.

Really rehearse your presentation. I had the good fortune of doing it online, so reading off notes was not the biggest issue. But audience engagement is not something you can achieve through improvisation/winging it.

The instructor was Prof Hsieh Yi-Chin. Teaching was clear and precise, which I appreciated. The course materials are also really well-prepared, something I can’t say for the other two ICC core mods I took in AY2021-22 Sem 1.

Grade: B+

(I wrote on nostalgia’s role in Singapore’s collective imagination.)