Comparative Research (English 2 & EPC)

 

This assignment is a collaboration of two subjects.

English 2 requires a report and presentation & EPC requires a presentation.

 

English 2 assignment

1. Form a group with maximum 5/6 members (one member will be the group leader).
2. Select 2 businesses within the same industry for research purposes.
3. You will conduct preliminary research (via books, internet, newspaper, etc.) and gather background information on your chosen businesses before the interview.
4. Prepare your interview questions carefully and please see your instructor to ensure that you are on the right track.
5. Each group will submit a 2500-3000-word report (excluding cover page and references) based on their chosen research area.
6. Show your findings in a verbal presentation of 10-minute length.

Effective Public Communication assignment

Choose any TWO businesses your choice and describe the following:

1. Background information about the businesses.
2. Analysis in terms of competitors, obstacles or challenges, nature of business and strategies used.
3. Recommendation – future plans, expansion and ways to sustain the business.

 

We decided to do a comparative research on two businesses from the bicycle industry. The first is Cyclon Cycle Ind Sdn Bhd and the other is KSH Bicycle (TTDI) SDN. BHD. To be able to write a research report with complete information we had to carefully plan the questions we want to ask in the interview. Asking the wrong questions or ‘weak’ questions can make the process of writing the report harder. The thing I have learned from conducting the interview is to ask the questions clearly and make sure the interviewee understands what the question means. The reason is we have some questions that aren’t answered properly and it hindered us in the preparation of the report. Besides that, I also learned that we should make sure the interviewee is relaxed and comfortable because they can’t answer properly when they are nervous. I think one useful way is to avoid having our body facing them and rather position our body that it faces the same direction as the interviewee. It creates a feeling that we’re on the same team as them rather than enemies.

During the preparation of the report, I have learned how to research a particular subject and compile them together. I also learned how to compare the information we have gathered by using a table since the difference can be seen easily. From the table, we can make a conclusion on which business is more commercially successful. The recommendations are then given based on their weakness that can be seen from the information we collected.

As for the presentation, I learned we need to ensure our slides are interesting and easy to read as our comparison table was using a small sized font. The heading should be there for each slides as well to allow the audience to know we are still on the same topic. The slides should have minimal amount of words and more visuals. This ensures the audience pays attention to what we’re presenting rather than reading from the slide. Being spontaneous and confident while presenting is important as well.

To conclude, I have learned a lot on interviewing to collect information, analysing the information to reach a conclusion and presenting the information to an audience.

 

Interview Video:

 

Presentation Video:

 

Presentation Slide:

 

Report:

In-class exercise (English 2)

This in-class exercise was about interviewing people and seeing how they would react to the questions verbally and non-verbally. The purpose of this exercise is a practice before we start our research assignment. From the videos, it can be said that we got what we wanted to know as we phrased the questions correctly. While it was only a few interviewees, we can conclude that people see male-male holding hands as gay and female-female holding hands as bestfriends. It was an interesting exercise as I learned that the way we phrase our questions in an interview is important to ensure we get the information we are looking for.

 

 

Compare/Contrast Essay (English 2)

In this project you are required to compare any two types of English language movies:

a)    Films based on true stories OR b)Superhero films

• To do a 6 paragraph 600-1000 word comparison/contrast essay of the chosen movie genre based on any two movies from the chosen movie genre.

For this assignment, I have chosen to compare superhero films which are Batman Begins and Ironman 1. The superhero film genre are typically stories about people with superhuman capabilities that fight to protect the public from villains. Justice is usually the main theme of the movie with a mix of romance. I found the two films I have chosen to be very similar as the characters are very much alike. So before I started, I had to re-watch these two films to refresh my memory. Then I go online and read the synopsis to deepen my knowledge on the movies. Only then I start to write my prewriting as a guide when I write the actual essay. Personally, I think I have improved my ability in comparing two similar films and presenting my comparison in the form of an essay. Writing this essay requires careful thought of the content of both films and how they can be related together.

 

Prewriting:

Essay: