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I was not expecting to be randomly assigned to our groups on the first lesson, but I am thankful that my group mates are all super friendly and that we work well with each other.

We had an activity that required us to go around campus to take different photos at different locations, and the fastest team to do so and come back wins. My team was the only team that thought of splitting up to get the tasks done faster. We ended up being the first team to arrive back and won ourselves some kitkats :)

This was an interesting activity as we weren't expecting to win since we did not get all the answers right. However, what miss Esther was trying to teach us is that the process matters more than the results.

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During our second lesson, we began working on our first mini-assignment, which involved researching phones and recommending two brands that we believe will best suit Susheela's daughter's needs.

This assignment allowed us to use CAPS to help break down the problem and understand what it is about.

Through the video, I also learned that CAPS stands for Context, Audience, Purpose and Structure.

In class, I also got to properly work with my teammates for the first time, and I appreciated the fact that everyone was eager to participate and communicated effectively, allowing us to finish doing our research quickly.

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The biggest thing I learnt today is how to identify if my purpose when writing an email leans more towards trying to persuade my audience or inform them about something. Ms Esther shared that it can never be totally neutral. For Problem 1, I thought that the email should lean more towards informing Susheela about the types of phones she should get and not really persuade her to get one as the final decision is up to her. However, in this case, because Susheela mentioned in her email that she would like a "final recommendation" from me, that makes the purpose lean more towards persuasion. Ms Esther explained to me after class that often, we should clarify the purpose with our audience, as it varies across different scenarios. However, in Susheela's case, since she is a busy corporate lawyer who doesn't have time, her asking for a final recommendation from me implies that she would most likely follow my recommendation. Thus, I need to persuade her more than just inform her about the phone I chose for her daughter.

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We worked on problem 2 today, which gave us another opportunity to define the problem by breaking it down into CAPS. Since the assignment is for us to write a short article that will be published on Snopes.com, one consideration that I felt was important, necessary, and interesting was that we had to search up examples of articles on Snopes.com to understand their format of writing articles, so that we can do the same for ours.

I also cleared up a misunderstanding, as I thought we were supposed to make a claim in the argument pyramid first and then find sources to support our claim. However, after clarifying with Ms Esther, I learnt that we are supposed to read up on different articles first (as part of our research) and then refer to our sources to make our claim. This way, we can ensure that our claim is accurate, as we have done our research prior to making it.

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Q2) How would you “get in the brain” of your audience when writing for your assignments in WR or other modules?

Firstly, I think the most important thing is to understand who my audience is. Are they people of my age, professors or potential clients? Each of the groups I have mentioned above thinks differently, and all have different priorities. Thus, the way I write, like my tone and structure, should differ and cater to each group as well.

Secondly, I need to put myself in their shoes, just like how April Kim mentioned in the CNA video, "I want to make sure that everything is natural when I interpret it. Like as if I am the fan, or as if I am in the brain of the artiste." I need to empathise with my audience's perspective and constantly ask myself questions like: "If I were reading this, what would excite me or confuse me? What would I want to get out of after reading this? etc, to meet their needs.

Doing background research on my audience is extremely crucial as well. It helps me understand their needs and interests, allowing me to craft my writing around what is actually valuable to them, rather than what I just want to say. This, in turn, shows the respect I have for my audience, as it shows that I took time to learn about them before writing, as they are also taking time to read my writing. It will probably also increase engagement as my audience can resonate better with my piece of writing.

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My group members and I wanted to come to class with our synthesis matrix table for problem 2 already filled up. Hence, we decided to work on it as "homework". For the synthesis matrix table, each of us had to do our own research on ovarian cancer risks and choose a suitable article for our findings.

Since my group already finished our synthesis matrix table, this gave us more time in class to share the different articles we found and discuss our claim.

We decided that our claim will be: Jobs in hairdressing may increase the risk of ovarian cancer, due to exposure to harmful chemicals, while roles in accounting increase the risk of ovarian cancer due to their sedentary lifestyle.

However, after consulting Ms Esther, we learned that our claim was covering too many aspects of the article, and that we only needed to focus on one. Thus, 3 of us decided to write about jobs in hairdressing potentially increasing one's risk of ovarian cancer, while the other 3 wrote on sedentary work lifestyle and its effects on risk of ovarian cancer.

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For today's lesson, we had to come up with our top 3 criteria when choosing an article for our website, assuming we are the editorial board for Snopes, and then pick the better article in our group to present to other groups.

My group's 3 criteria were:

1) Accuracy

2) Relevance

3) Understandable

Afterwards, we had to go to a different group to hear about their article and present our own. This was an interesting activity as we got to hear group 4's article, whose claim was totally different from ours.

Two key learning points my group members and I took away from this activity are:

1) We should use more current/updated sources (preferably 5 years and below) when doing our research, as we used a source which was published in 1995, which may not contain relevant, updated and accurate information.

2) We should rephrase scientific information to make it easier for readers to understand our article.

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Q1) What are some aspects you've learnt about academic integrity that you didn't know before?

I didn't know that we were actually allowed to use AI tools to help us with our work. We just have to use them in appropriate ways, like not copying information word for word or taking data numbers directly, as they may be inaccurate. It is important to still do my own research and only use AI tools to help with my grammar or paraphrasing of certain paragraphs. Furthermore, properly crediting sources in APA format is extremely important as well.

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Q2) What is one key learning point I will take away from problem 2? (Thesis statement, Argument Pyramid, Problem-solving process, Synthesis Matrix or Choosing credible sources?)

One key learning point I took away from Problem 2 is the Argument Pyramid. I realised that while filling up my argument pyramid, it helps me be sure of what my claim is, and my reason (premise) or supporting premise. There was once, I thought this particular reason was my premise, but after putting it into the pyramid, it helped me see that the reason was actually my supporting premise instead. As a visual learner, I find the argument pyramid very useful in helping me see my points more clearly, and I would definitely use it for my future assignments.

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Q2) What was your greatest challenge when writing the Executive Summary or preparing for your presentation?

The hardest challenge for me when preparing for our presentation was trying to find an interesting and relatable hook to capture the attention of our audience from the beginning. Initially, I wanted to just start our presentation with the usual facts etc., but after seeing the content my groupmates had to present, it seemed quite boring. Thus, I decided to use a more interesting approach, which was asking the audience questions at the start of our presentation.

Another challenge my groupmates and I faced while preparing for the presentation was to present our findings without making our presentation too boring. What we decided to do was add fewer words to the slides and more pictures, to hopefully make our presentation more interesting.

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Q2) What are some things in life that I have believed for a long time, but may want to critically think? How would I go about doing so?

One thing that I've always believed since young is that if a news outlet says something, it must be true, as they always seemed to be the "experts". However, I may want to start thinking critically for myself and not blindly accept whatever a news outlet says, as they can be biased or make mistakes as well.

How I would go about doing so is by comparing what that news outlet is saying to many other sources. This way, I can get more views on the topic and not just believe whatever one news outlet is telling me.

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Q1)

a) One of my most meaningful experiences has been working on group projects in school with people from various backgrounds. These projects often require teamwork and decision-making.

b) Initially, I struggled with confidence as my groupmates seemed more knowledgable and outspoken. Hence, I often doubted my own ideas and hesitated to share my thoughts to others. However, over time, I learnt that contribution to team projects is not about who has the loudest voice but how one can contribute to the team in various ways like being responsible, taking initiative and being prepared.

c) Through these experiences, I developed a stronger mindset, gained confidence through experience and greater resilience. I started speaking with more confidence during group discussions or presentations and turned my self-doubt into motivation to put in more effort in my work and do better.

d) This can help me professionally pitch my experience/expertise as I can mention that these experiences over time have helped me learn how to take initiative and contribute ideas effectively, while communicating clearly. Furthermore, I have developed a mindset focused on growth, teamwork and problem-solving qualities, which I feel are vital to success, especially in the business industry that I am in.