ASSIGNMENT

OUMH1203
ENGLISH FOR WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
JANUARY 2020 SEMESTER

SPECIFIC INSTRUCTION

1. Answer in English.

2. Number of words: 2500 – 3000 words excluding references.

3. Submit your assignment ONCE only in a SINGLE file.

4. Submit your assignment ONLINE.

5. Submission date : 15th March 2020

6. This assignment accounts for 60% of the total marks for the course.

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 ASSIGNMENT QUESTION

This assignment is intended to give you practice in academic writing. It requires you to refer
to materials / articles and include relevant ideas and quotes in your essay. You are also
required to acknowledge ideas and concepts from sources that are included in your writing.

TOPIC
The majority of Malaysian students are poorly equipped with knowledge of writing and
relevant technical skills. Therefore, even the best students do not have enough skills to be
hired by employers and to make them excel in the real world.

To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Discuss the issue and give suggestions on how to equip Malaysian students with the
knowledge and skills that employers are looking for.

TASK

For this assignment, you need to:

i. Prepare an outline for your essay (must be submitted with the essay).
ii. Write an essay and discuss the following issues related to the above topic and give
reasons for your suggestions / opinions.

Notice:
Write your own outline, essay, and avoid plagiarism. The content of the essay must be
written based on the essay outline that you have prepared. Please refer to the sequenced
and numbered outline format stated on page 27 (3.1 Planning to Write Essays) of the
OUMH1203 module and refer to the attached sample outline format.

Support your discussion with evidence drawn from a review of current and related literature
(2014 – 2020). Use the APA format for in - text citations and the reference list.

Refer to the assignment rubrics as a guide to achieve cohesion and coherence.

[Total: 60 marks]

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 SAMPLE OUTLINE FORMAT

Title of Essay

Introduction
Introduction to the topic
Thesis Statement

I. Topic Sentence 1
A. Supporting Detail
i. Example
a) Sub-example (if any)

II. Topic Sentence 2 (same structure for Topic Sentence 3 and so on)
A. Supporting Detail
i. Example
a) Sub-example (if any)

III. Conclusion
The conclusion of the essay

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 ATTACHMENT
ASSIGNMENT RUBRICS
OUMH1203 ENGLISH FOR WRITTEN COMMUNICATION / JANUARY 2020
Unsatisfactory
Excellent Good Fair Poor Or
Max
No response
QN CLO Criteria Weight Marks
4 3 2 1 0
1 Essay Outline 2.5 Correct and accurate Parts of the format are The content and the Outline is poorly written No proper use 10
format. correct. organisation of ideas in and the format is wrong. of outline
the outline are weak. The format.
format is wrong.

Details are placed in a
logical order and the way
they are presented
effectively makes the
outline very interesting.
Details are placed in a
logical order, but the way in
which they are presented
sometimes makes the
outline less interesting.
Some details are not in a Many details are not in a
logical or expected order, logical or expected
and this distracts the order. The outline is
organisation of the unorganised.
outline.

1 Introduction 2 The introduction very The introduction clearly The introduction states There is no clear Introduction 8
clearly states the thesis states the thesis statement the thesis statement, but introduction of the main presents no
statement and previews and previews the structure does not adequately topic or structure of the purpose.
the structure of the of the paper. preview the structure of paper.
paper. the paper.
2 Content: 2.5 Fully addresses all aspects Adequately addresses the Generally writes about the Some attempt to address A weak attempt 10
Discussion on the of the writing assignment. writing assignment. topic but with a few the writing assignment. at addressing
gap between digressions in parts of the the writing
knowledge and writing. assignment.
technical skills
among Malaysian Ideas are organised Some ideas may not be Ideas may not be arranged Organisation of ideas
students logically and coherently. arranged logically and logically and coherently. lacks clarity and may lead
coherently. to confusion.

2 Content: 2.5 Full and rich development Clear and complete Development of content is Development of content Off - topic for
Discussion on the of the content. development of content. adequate. is limited, may be the most part. 10
issue and incomplete or unclear.

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 suggestions on
how to equip Main points are relevant
Malaysian and extended satisfactorily
students with the with the support of
right knowledge relevant details.
and skills
1 Conclusion 2 Conclusion skillfully
reinforces thesis and gives
closure to essay.
1 Language/ 2 Sentence style fits the
Sentence Skills paper’s purpose.
Sentences are varied, yet
clearly structured and
carefully focused.
Language is excellent with
hardly any error in
grammar, lexical choice
and punctuation.
1 References 1.5 All the references are
effectively used, correctly
cited and correctly listed
in the reference list
according to APA style.
Main points are relevant Some main points may not Most main points are not
and extended adequately be fully extended; fully extended, serious
with the support of relevant supporting details may not lack of supporting details.
details. be relevant or adequate.
The conclusion is The conclusion is Conclusion is weak. Conclusion is 8
recognizable and ties up recognizable, but does out of topic /
almost all the loose ends. not tie up several loose unrecognisable.
ends.
Sentences are generally Sentence structures are Contains several Contains many 8
clear, well structured, generally correct, but awkward or awkward
focused, though some may sentences may be wordy ungrammatical sentences.
be awkward or ineffective. or repetitive. sentences. Sentence Displays general
structure is simple or inability in
monotonous. writing
grammatical/m
eaningful
sentences.
Language is satisfactory Frequent errors in Very frequent errors in Errors in
with some errors in grammar, lexical choice grammar, lexical choice grammar,
grammar, lexical choice and and punctuation, which and punctuation that lexical choice
punctuation, which do not may impede seriously impair and punctuation
seriously impede understanding and understanding and are too
understanding and clarity. clarity. clarity. frequent and
severe, making
it highly difficult
to understand
the message.
Most of the references are References are References are References are 6
effectively used, correctly sometimes not effectively inappropriately/unclearl not
cited and correctly listed in used, and/or correctly y incorporated. incorporated or
the reference list according cited and/or correctly incorporated
to APA style. listed in the reference list inappropriately.
according to APA style.
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 Total 15 60
*QN = Question Number