The aim of the course is to enhance the abilities of science students in recognising and employing the conventions used by scientists in their field for communication in both academic and public settings. In this course, the emphasis is on micro skills in scientific communication such as searching academic databases, critically reading scientific texts, citing from sources, composing scientific arguments and making effective presentations to a non-specialist audience. As this is a foundation course, it will ensure that science students are ready to engage with the more challenging skills of the second and more advanced scientific communication course that follows.
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Taken in: AY 18/19 Sem 2
Grade: B+Assignment 1 (25%): Annotated Bibliography [individual]
Assignment 2 (35%): Review Paper [pair work]
Assignment 3 (25%): Oral Presentation [individual]
Class Participation (15%) [individual]Honestly thought I would excel in this module because I think my English is not bad, but clearly having a decent command of English does not suffice 🙃
For assignment 1, you will need to pair up and assign yourselves the 2 given articles. So for example, if you decide to take article 1, then your partner has to take article 2. The requirements of this assignment are not difficult in my opinion.
For assignment 2, it is pair work with the partner u chose for assignment 1. It would be nice if you are working together with someone you know (duh). Assignment 2 is slightly easier than assignment 1 because it is associated with assignment 1 in a way.
For assignment 3 (most difficult), you are required to find a research paper on any topic related to science. Then come up with a PowerPoint presentation explaining a concept from the research paper. Difficulties: what research paper to use?? is the concept easy enough for me and the audience to understand?? is it interesting enough to capture the attention of the audience?? After selecting a research paper, then everything becomes easy. Because I am rather confident in presenting, I’m just not super clear of the information I’m presenting hahah. There are no clear guidelines on how to present, you are basically free to do whatever you want, which to me, is quite scary. Tips: Choose an interesting article, not something too science-y. For example, there was someone in my class who presented on the redox reaction, like because our entire class are chem students so all of us know what redox is, but our teacher is from humanities department so she does not understand. The disparity is too large in my opinion. The article I chose was on waste management, something most of us can relate to.
Additional tip: try to choose the same index as your friends because not only will classes be more fun, but when you are presenting in front of your friends, it will not be as daunting as presenting in front of strangers right?
This review was reposted with the kind permission of Awesome NTU CBC Student. Originally published at https://awesomentucbcstudent.blogspot.com/2018/08/ay1819-y1s2-review.html
July 17, 2021 -
Year Taken: AY 16/17, Sem 2
Grade: B+Assignment 1: Annotated Bibliography (25%)
Assignment 2: Review Paper (35%)
Assignment 3: Presentation (25%)
Class Participation (15%)This course is quite useful in guiding us on the methods of content delivery to different target audience, in the form of writing and presentation. I have gained much from this course. Everyone is required to buy a course guide ($10) before the course commences. Something funny is that the Review paper is supposed to be pair work but there was an odd number of students in the class so I ended up doing it alone HAHA. I think can get B+ not bad already since I didn’t ask or answer any question in class, which means class participation marks gone ><.
For Annotated Bibliography, we had to evaluate 1 out of 2 given articles and do peer marking on the next lesson, where our classmates wrote on each others’ work by giving comments and suggestions. I suck at marking!! My classmates were able to give me constructive feedback though, I felt a bit bad as I could only spot spelling errors.
For Review Paper, we had to compare the 2 articles given, can use more articles if you want. There is also peer marking. A suggestion for all assignments is to avoid using words that are too difficult, and keep the sentences short. Take note on the referencing format.
For Presentation, I used a research paper on a super sensitive sensor made from graphene and silly putty, it was quite fun hahaha. (But presentation was scary) We were allowed to use a maximum of 8 slides and a time limit of 5 minutes for the presentation.This review was reposted with the kind permission of Hairdryer. Originally published at https://ionhairdryer.blogspot.com/2017/06/ay201617-ntu-spms-cbc-y1s2.html
June 15, 2021 -
There were 2 pairwork asssignments when I took it you need to partner up with someone who does work and is not last minute. Due to COVID, my presentation was recorded so it was fairly easy. Good luck guys!
May 31, 2021 -
Mod is relatively doable, but the readings can be quite dry at times. The workload is not heavy as there are only 2 assignments and 1 presentation.
May 25, 2021
