SMU Classification: Restricted

COR 1100 WRITING & REASONING

AY 2020-21, Term 2
ASSESSMENT 3 (Business Proposal)

Assessment Overview

Assessment Word Limit Deadline to submit Assessment on eLearn Weight

A3: 1000-1200 words
9 April 2021, Friday, noon 35%
Business Proposal maximum

PLEASE TAKE NOTE

The late submission policy is as follows:

Time After Deadline Maximum Grade

5min - 11h 59min C+
11h 59 min - 23h 59min D+
more than 23h 59min F

Student Declaration

You have declared at the beginning of the term in eLearn the following:

By submitting my WR assessments, I declare that these assessments are my original work and all
information obtained from other sources has been cited accordingly. I also agree to give copyright of
my assessments to CEC.

Please make sure you submit original work and uphold academic integrity by acknowledging all sources
used in your assessment.

GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSMENT SUBMISSION

Format

The required format for your assessment is as follows:

 Microsoft Word Document format (please do not use other formats e.g. PDF)
 Line spacing: double or 1.5
 Font type: Times New Roman or Arial (12 pt)
 Page number: Footer
 Use APA 7th Edition citation style for in-text citation and reference section
 Include the total number of words at the start of your assessments

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Submission

You will submit your assessments via the Assessment folder on eLearn. The file should be named as
follows:

COR 1100 Section Your_official_name Assessment number.doc

E.g., COR 1100 G9 Han_Ser_Ling_Gretel Assessment 3.docx

You are allowed one chance to submit your work through the Assessment folder on eLearn. It is your
responsibility to submit the correct assessment on eLearn. If there are any issues, your instructor will
contact you within 12 hours from the due date and time.

Please be reminded that failure to cite sources appropriately, plagiarism or other acts of academic
dishonesty will result in an F grade for the paper.

If you fail Assessment 3, you are also likely to fail the course.

Please do not wait until the last possible minute to submit your assessment. The system may crash if too
many students try to make a last-minute submission. Therefore, plan ahead and submit online well before
the end of the submission period.

If you experience any difficulty submitting your assessment on eLearn before the deadline, please email
your instructor and attach your assessment in the email as proof of your completion of the assessment.
You will be asked to resubmit on eLearn later. Do note that you should not email your assessment to your
instructor if you can submit on eLearn because it will not be accepted as the official assessment
submission.

Academic Integrity

All acts of academic dishonesty (including, but not limited to, plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, facilitation
of acts of academic dishonesty by others, unauthorized possession of exam questions, or tampering with
the academic work of other students) are serious offences. All work (whether oral or written) submitted
for purposes of assessment must be the student’s own work. Penalties for violation of the policy range
from zero marks for the component assessment to expulsion, depending on the nature of the offense. As
WR is part of the Core Curriculum, the Dean of Core Curriculum and the Office of Dean of Students will
also have to be kept informed. When in doubt, students should consult the instructors of the course.

Details on the SMU Code of Academic Integrity may be accessed at

http://smustudentcouncilofdiscipline.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/1/6/12165142/code_of_academic_integ
rity.pdf

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ASSESSMENT 3: BUSINESS PROPOSAL (35%)

Overview

You are a young business professional and you are responsible for driving a short-term project to achieve
the objective set by a client under your charge. Choose ONE of the options below and write a business
proposal for your client. Justify your recommendation to your client in your business proposal. In crafting
your arguments, you need to analyse the benefits, risks and feasibility of the business proposal. Include
an executive summary, action plan and estimated costings in your business proposal.

Your proposal must include the following:

 A discussion of relevant trend(s);
 Synthesis of evidence from relevant sources to back up your proposal;
 A clear action plan to deliver the objective, including a timeline;
 Estimated costings for the project, within the budget scope;
 Suggested methods for measuring the success of the project at the end.

You are encouraged to make use of your interests and learning from other SMU modules, including
thinking about how learning from these modules might be useful in the project.

Important note: Please be reminded that you should not be contacting any of the clients directly for
information on their company or services. This applies to all channels of communication, including
online and app-based platforms (e.g. web chats, online customer service enquires, etc).

Choose ONE option only from below.

Option 1 Client: Mrs Wong Kwok Leong Wellness Centre, SMU

2020 proved to be a challenging year and the continued prospect of the Covid-19 pandemic looming
over us for the foreseeable future has led to PM Lee expressing his concerns about “the most dangerous
crisis humanity has faced in a very long time” (2020, para. 7). As we face limitations to the ways we
normally interact with others and our economy suffers because “the global economy has virtually
ground to a halt”. Students have not been spared, with lessons being brought online and would-be
graduates worried about their job prospects after graduation.

PM Lee has stressed that “the unity and resilience of our people” (2020, para. 28) remains the key
ingredient to recovering from this crisis. Resilience is about the ability to survive and “bounce back”
from adversity and the ability to thrive and develop in-depth personal growth. Like many overseas
universities and institutions which have developed resilience projects, the Mrs Wong Kwok Leong
Student Wellness Centre at SMU focuses on four aspects of Wellness: Physical Wellness, Intellectual
Wellness, Emotional Wellness and Social Wellness to build resilience.

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The centre is planning to focus on promoting Social Wellness in 2021, and increase the awareness of
both Social Wellness and resilience building.

The Centre would like to invite students to submit a proposal providing the centre with some ideas and
strategies to promote the building of resilience in SMU. Themes and ideas which the centre would like
to explore include, but are not limited to, the following:

 What defines Social Wellness? Why is it important?

 What can we learn from the overseas experience to contextualise a resilience project for SMU?
 Who are the community partners who promote social wellness and resilience building in
Singapore?
 How can the Centre promote social wellness and resilience building in the SMU community?

The amount allocated for this project is S$10,000 and the proposal should include an action plan, a
budget and ways of measuring the success of the proposed approach(es).

Option 2 Client: Mrs Wong Kwok Leong Wellness Centre, SMU

Given the upheaval caused by Covid-19 globally and locally, the Mrs Wong Kwok Leong Student
Wellness Centre at SMU is deeply aware of the need for students to be resilient in the face of this
challenge. The Centre focuses on four aspects of wellness for building resilience: Physical Wellness,
Intellectual Wellness, Emotional Wellness and Social Wellness.

As part of its overall efforts to build resilience, the Centre is planning to promote Social Wellness in
2021, particularly among SMU students. To do this, the Centre intends to host a two-day programme
for the SMU community. The objective of this programme is to increase awareness of Social Wellness
and the role it plays in resilience building.

The Centre is seeking proposals for how this two-day programme can be designed to be the most
effective at promoting the concept of Social Wellness among SMU students.

Your proposal should be written after considering the following:

 Who are the various stakeholders of this programme?

 Who are the community partners who promote social wellness and resilience building in
Singapore?
 How should the Centre engage these stakeholders and community partners?
 How should the Centre publicise this programme?
 What format should this two-day programme take?
 What activities should be included in the two-day programme?

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The amount allocated to conduct this two-day programme is S$10,000 and the proposal should include
an action plan, a budget and ways of measuring the success of the programme.

Option 3 Client: Swanz

Swanz is a local company specialising in porcelain household ware. Having established itself in
Singapore for the past ten years, Swanz also sells its products in Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea
and Taiwan.

Swanz is interested in differentiating itself in the thermal bottle market, and its latest product, the Nest
Cup, was launched in 2020. It is keen to explore how it can continue to gain a foothold in various
overseas markets through the digital marketing of the Nest Cup. In particular, it would like to reach out
to a younger market and promote the Nest Cup in this way.

Swanz is seeking proposals for how the nest cup can be promoted to young adults in Singapore and its
overseas markets.

Your proposal should be written with the following questions in mind:

 What is the age range of the consumers Swanz should reach out to and why?
 What features of the nest cup should Swanz promote?
 What digital platforms should Swanz use to promote its new product?
 Which markets should Swanz focus on in the short- to medium-run?

The amount allocated to conduct this marketing campaign is S$10,000 and the proposal should include
an action plan, a budget and ways of measuring the success of the programme.

Skills tested

 Clear, succinct and complete executive summary

 Thesis statement
 Persuasive recommendation- Clear connection between premise and conclusion, OR claims,
reasons and evidence
 Awareness of context, audience and purpose
 Clear, coherent and concise writing
 Expression & grammatical accuracy
 Use of sources

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Secondary focus

Word Limit
The word limit for the assessment, inclusive from the start of the Executive Summary to the end of the
Conclusion, is 1000-1200 words, including in-text citation, excluding the reference page. Do note that
subheadings are included in the word count. Students who exceed the word limit will be penalised.

The following are not included in the word count. Use them if necessary in your proposal.
 Numbers, data, captions in visuals and tables. Note that you will be penalised if visuals and tables are
wordy or redundant as communication is unclear.
 Contents page
 Appendices
 Title page

Deadline

The soft copy of the assessment should be submitted via eLearn Assessment folder by 9 April 2021,
Friday, noon.

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COR 1100 WRITING & REASONING

AY 2020-21, Term 2
ASSESSMENT 3 (Business Proposal)

Rubrics for Assessment 3: BUSINESS PROPOSAL (35%)

Do note the weightage for each component:

Content : 60%
Clarity, Coherence & Conciseness (3Cs) : 15%
Expression & Grammatical Accuracy : 15%
Use of Sources : 10%

Grade Weightage (%)

A Writes an executive summary that analyzes the opportunity/problem and proposes with a persuasive recommendation.

B Writes a wordy executive summary that analyzes the opportunity/problem and proposes a recommendation.
10
C Write an executive summary that describes the opportunity/problem and has an incomplete recommendation.

D Does not provide an executive summary.

Content

A The recommendation is stated clearly and establishes a focus that clearly directs the body of the proposal.

B The recommendation is a bit too broad but adequately directs the body of the proposal.
10
C The recommendation is vague and lacks clear direction for the body of the proposal.

D The recommendation fails to establish or inadequately establishes the direction of the proposal.

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Grade Weightage (%)

A Persuades effectively by giving clear claims, reasons and evidence OR making very clear connections between premise and conclusion;
evidence is seamlessly integrated into the proposal.
B Persuades by giving most of the reasons and evidence for the claims, OR making clear connections between premise and conclusion;
most evidence is integrated into the proposal.
10
C Persuades by giving some reasons and evidence for the claims, OR making some connections between premise and conclusion; some
evidence is integrated into proposal, but some evidence (block quotations, etc.) disrupts the flow of the proposal.
D Persuades by giving claims but does not provide reasons or evidence, OR making poor connections between premise and conclusion;
most evidence (block quotations, etc.) disrupts the flow of the proposal.

A Demonstrates a strong awareness of context, audience and purpose to persuade the reader (CAP).
B Demonstrates a good awareness of context, audience and purpose to persuade the reader (CAP).
10
C Demonstrates some awareness of context, audience and purpose to persuade the reader (CAP).
Content

D Demonstrates little awareness of context, audience and purpose and does not persuade the reader (CAP).

A Analyses the benefits, risks and feasibility of the recommendation.

B Analyses the benefits, risks and feasibility of the recommendation but the discussion may be incomplete.
10
C Describes the recommendation and parts of the benefits, risks and feasibility may be incomplete.
D Describes the recommendation but omits benefits, risks and/ or feasibility.

A Includes a clear action plan (timeline, budget and method to measure success).
B Includes an action plan (includes most parts of the timeline, budget and method to measure success).
10
C Includes an action plan (includes some parts of the timeline, budget and method to measure success).
D Does not include an action plan and/ or timeline, budget and method to measure success.

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Grade Weightage (%)

A In addition to meeting the requirements for a “B,” writing flows smoothly from one idea to another. The writer has taken pains to
assist the reader in following the logic of the ideas expressed. Sentences are clear and concise. Words are effectively chosen to
communicate ideas. Word count is within the maximum range.
Clarity, Coherence and
Conciseness (3Cs)

B Sentences are structured and words are chosen to communicate ideas clearly. Sequencing of ideas within paragraphs and transitions
between paragraphs make the writer’s points easy to follow. Sentences are generally clear and readable but some details are missing
or unclear. Word count is within 5% of the maximum range. 15
C Sentence structure and/or word choice sometimes interfere with clarity. Needs to improve sequencing of ideas within paragraphs and
transitions between paragraphs to make the writing easy to follow. Some sentences are wordy or unclear. Word count is within 10%
of the maximum range.

D Sentence structure, word choice, lack of transitions and/or sequencing of ideas make reading and understanding difficult. Many
sentences are wordy or unclear. Word count exceeds 10% of the maximum range.

A Uses language that skilfully communicates meaning to readers with precision and fluency. Makes no errors in grammar,
Expression & Grammatical

mechanics, and/or spelling.

B Uses language that generally conveys meaning to readers with precision. Makes a few errors in grammar, mechanics,
Accuracy

and/or spelling, but they do not interfere with understanding.

15
C Uses language that sometimes impedes meaning because of errors in usage. Makes several errors in grammar, mechanics,
and/or spelling that interfere with understanding.

D Uses language that significantly impedes meaning (e.g., repeated errors, poor editing, etc). Makes numerous errors in
grammar, mechanics, and/or spelling that interfere with understanding.

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Grade Weightage (%)

A Sources are exceptionally well integrated and they support claims argued in the proposal very effectively. Sources cited conform to
APA style format (7th edition).
Use of Sources

B Sources are well integrated and support the proposal’s claims. There may be occasional errors, but the sources cited conform to APA
style format (7th edition).
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C Sources support some claims made in the proposal, but might not be integrated well within the proposal’s argument. There may be a
few errors in APA style format (7th edition).

D The proposal does not use adequate research or if it does, the sources are not integrated well. They are not cited correctly according
to APA style format (7th edition), nor listed correctly in the reference page.

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