HBES 4303 PROFESSIONAL WRITING I: CORE COMPETENCIES COURSE ASSESSMENT (100%)

COURSE ASSESSMENT IN BRIEF 1. Assessment for this course is entirely task-based. It contains five tasks based on some of key areas covered in the course as specified in the course module: PART 1 (Deadline: Tutorial 3) Task 1: Finding Your Niche Task 2: Objective vs Subjective Writing Task 3: Creative Writing: Short Story PART 2 (Deadline: Tutorial 4) Task 4: Researching, Interviewing, Writing Task 5: Final Show-Piece 2. Learners who submit any work found to be plagiarized will be subjected to strict disciplinary action. To learn more about plagiarism, visit plagiarism.org

3. Your writing will be marked against the following criteria: CONTENT (50%) Focus on task (10%) Creativity and originality of ideas (10%) Complexity of analysis/concepts/narrative (10%) Clarity of argument/explanations (10%) Inclusion of adequate detail to support opinions or ideas (5%) Ability to use primary and secondary sources appropriately (5%)

ORGANISATION; STYLE; PRESENTATION (50%) Overall structure (10%) Logic and coherence or sentences and paragraphs (10%) Word choice and vitality of writing style (15%)
2

Grammar/spelling/punctuation (10%) Bibliography/referencing (where appropriate) (5%)

PART 1

TASK 1: FINDING YOUR NICHE (900 words) a. Take a walk around a shopping mall. Look at the people and things in the mall. Write about your walk, using concrete and specific words to describe what you saw. Choose up to three people and observe what they are wearing, how they are walking, and what their body language tells you. Write a short descriptive paragraph on each of them. Incorporate all descriptions of your walk and the five people into a single piece. (300 words) b. Write an essay on a Malaysian festival and explain its significance, the rituals associated with it, how it is celebrated, etc. Make the essay clear to someone who knows absolutely nothing about the festival. (300 words)

c. Recall an experience that you have gone through that was dramatic and impactful, and write an account of it as if it were a story. (300 words)

d. Write a piece about the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English in Malaysian schools. State whether you are for or against it and back it up with reasons and other data or evidence. Try to make those who disagree with you see your point of view and perhaps even agree with your stand. (300 words)

TASK 2: OBJECTIVE VS SUBJECTIVE WRITING (600 words) Look into your wardrobe and write an objective description of its contents, followed by a subjective description (see examples under subheader 3.5 of your course module). Each description should not exceed 300 words.

TASK 3: CREATIVE WRITING: SHORT STORY (1,000 words) Recall a story you may have heard or one that you were actually involved in or one that you have often fantasised about. It does not have to be real. Decide whose voice will be telling the story. Where is the location of the story? With your eyes closed, focus like a camera on the location, the people involved, the action taking place. Make specific observations. See the faces of the people, what they are dressed in, the details of what they are doing. When you have your story in your mind, start writing it. Do not stop for 10 minutes, just keep writing. Do not think too much about what you are writing, just let it flow. When the 10 minutes is up, stop and look over what you have written. Revise it. Look out for rhythm, pace, impact. Throw out the things that do not fit, add new things. Expand on it. Write more until you have a complete story. Give your story a catchy title. (1,000 words)

PART 2

TASK 4: RESEARCHING, INTERVIEWING, WRITING (1,200 words) Imagine that you are a magazine staff writer who has been given the task of writing an interview and research based article of about 1,200 words on any one of the following topics: a. HIV/AIDS in Malaysia: Current and Future Challenges b. Advancing Human Rights in Malaysia c. Filmmaking in Malaysia: The Scene Today d. Women and Religion in Malaysia: Pressing Issues of the 21st Century e. The State of Education in Malaysia: Looking for New Directions Pick any one of the topics given and start researching on it. For this exercise, you are required to interview at least two people for their authoritative views. If you interview them in person, you would need to either record the interview session or produce a transcript of the interview in full. If you interview them by phone, you would need to produce a transcript of the interview in full. If you interview them by email, you would need to furnish the relevant emails. Ensure that you clearly inform your interviewees that you are doing this task as part of your academic exercise; also, get their permission to submit the interview transcripts to your tutor or examiner. For this task, marks will be awarded not only for the writing but also your research, as well as your selection of interviewee and the quality of the interviews.

After completing your article, you may wish to submit it to an online or print publication. If your article is published in time for you to submit this assessment as part of your portfolio to your tutor, you will be awarded full marks for this task.

TASK 5: FINAL SHOW-PIECE (10min / 1,500 words) This final writing task requires you to consolidate and apply all the skills that you have acquired from completing the course. For this task, you are free to choose to write any one of the following: a. a 10-minute play b. a 1,500 word short story c. a 1,500 feature (for a magazine or newspaper) There are no parameters set for this task, aside from the time/word length indicated.