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SP1202 - Communicating with the Academy
Introduction FOS students are offered the opportunity to acquire skills to write academic text more effectively, read scientific writing with a keener eye and evaluate ideas and arguments with a more critical mind - skills that would serve them well throughout their undergraduate years, more so if they pursue graduate studies or a research-based career. Introduced in semester 2 of AY2006/2007 and offered exclusively to Science freshmen, SP1202 Communicating with the Academy is taught by highly qualified and experienced staff from the Centre for English Language and Communication.
Aims This module seeks to familiarize students with the way knowledge is put together and disseminated in the scientific community, as well as the characteristics of objective writing, training them to conceptualize, develop and present strong scientific arguments in their academic articles.
Curriculum The curriculum is organized along three main interrelated areas: (i) social development of scientific writing, (ii) general description of formal objective style of writing, and (iii) argumentation in the experimental report. Classes are conducted in both lecture and tutorial modes. Tutorials are in workshop or seminar style with emphasis on the students' interaction with and critical reflection of reading texts.
Pre-requisites
Faculty Requirement Students who have passed SP1202 are deemed to have completed 4MCs of Faculty Requirement from one distinct subject group outside the group under which their major falls.
Duration The course is held over 13 weeks, with 2 hours of lectures, 2 hours of tutorial, 4 hours of project and 2 hours of preparatory work per week.
Assessment The grading system is divided into 2 parts: 60% Continual Assessment (CA) and 40% Final Examination. The CA itself comprises quizzes and text analyses (10%), a 3000-word academic paper dealing with a scientific topic (30%), an oral presentation (10%) and class participation (10%).
Writing conferences with the lecturer are a regular feature and feedback from content specialists is provided.
Kudos from Past Participants Communicating with the Academy has been very well received. Most participants agreed in their feedback that the course helped them gain a more profound insight into how academic text is composed, arguments put forth, claims backed by strong evidence and solid reasoning.
Some of the comments from students include the following: 'I cannot say enough of the strengths of this module. It was one of the most exciting modules that I took this semester.' 'A very good module, size of the class was small, so lots of personal attention, the articles given for reading were relevant to science students.' 'Gives a comprehensive idea of how to communicate with the academy, from the language to the structuring of arguments and finally the citation. Indeed helpful!' 'This module is one I would recommend to Science students. Many Science students are unable to put their great concepts on paper and this module will benefit them.' Best Essays Every semester, to recognize the efforts of the participants, the Science Dean's Office, in collaboration with the Centre for English Language Communication, will select and publish online the best scientific articles written by participants as part of their CA. Students whose essays have been short-listed will receive a $50 book voucher, with a choice of Borders, Popular or Kinokuniya.
Click on the names to view their essays. For the AY2007/2008 Semester 2 class, kudos for best academic papers go to the following: Ong Lee Sheng Raphael Tan Heng Huat Jason Yeo Su Qian Best essays of the Sem 1 AY2007-08 cohort were written by the following: Looi Wenjie Wong Hiu Fung Phua Qian Hui Bryan Zhao Caleb Huang Kwok Chee Keong Lee Lin Ming Related Links :: CELC website on SP1202 © Copyright 2001-2008 National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.
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