Ideas and Exposition Courses

Description

NUS has launched an innovative model of learning and teaching for the University Town's residential colleges. Part of this initiative is the five-course University Town curriculum that includes the Ideas and Exposition Courses. The courses are designed and constructed by staff members from the Centre for English Language Communication (CELC).

CELC contributes one set of courses to the U-Town curriculum—Ideas and Exposition I (I&E I) for first year college residents. This set of courses is:

Content Specific

Each I&E course focuses on a particular topic, with readings selected to be accessible to undergraduates. Although each topic reflects the concerns of a particular discipline, all courses introduce students to principles and strategies that will help them write throughout their academic careers.

Rhetorically intensive

Argumentation is the heart of academic expository writing; therefore each I&E course focuses on how to best construct evidence-based arguments that show readers why it is reasonable to problematize a previous analysis and resolve the problem in a particular way.

The I&E I courses help students to produce expository writing that readers will recognize as increasing their understanding of a given topic. They also help students learn and apply core strategies that underlie successful scholarly research and writing.

I&E I classes are capped at 15 students each. Within this small group environment, students collaboratively negotiate alternative responses to problems they raise.

Pre-requisites

I&E I Courses

Students must have passed/been exempted from the NUS Qualifying English Test (QET) or have passed CELC English for Academic Purposes courses.

Preclusions

I&E I Courses

IEM1201%, UTW1001% or ES1501%.

Course Offerings

I&E I Course Offerings for AY2025/2026 Semester 1

Common Objectives

All I&E courses help students to produce expository writing that readers will recognize as increasing their understanding of a given topic. These courses develop five sets of core strategies that underlie successful scholarly writing in the arts, humanities, social sciences, life sciences, physical sciences, and mathematics:

Analyzing how authors problematize what other authors say and how they argue their responses to these problems,
Entering the conversations between these authors by problematizing their arguments and arguing why one's problem and response are reasonable with available evidence,
Organizing and wording ideas to help readers understand a line of reasoning,
Documenting sources so readers can check one's use of other scholars' ideas, and
Revising the content, wording, and organization of a paper, as well as surface features such as spelling, punctuation, etc.

Assignments

Assignment 1 - Collaborative essay: 800-1000 words
In groups of 3 to 4, students will research and read academic texts (e.g., journal articles, book chapters, etc.) that are relevant to the topical focus of the course. They will summarize the source texts and synthesize them in an overview essay that critically reflects on their similarities and differences in terms of perspectives, conceptual lenses or themes.
Assignment 2 - 8-minute pitch

This assignment requires students to make an 8-minute oral presentation pitch for a proposed study/paper on a topic of their choice relevant to the course. Students will conduct preliminary research on this topic and use a selection of guided moves to develop their pitch. This pitch will be presented 'live' to the class. In the pitch, students are expected to show their engagement with preliminary work that will be used as the basis for their Paper 3 assignment.

Assignment 3 - Expository essay: 1200-1500 words

This writing assignment asks students to (1) formulate an as-yet unresolved research problem on a chosen/assigned topic, (2) draw conclusions about the problem from their analysis of collected/given data, and (3) argue the contestable aspects of these conclusions. Students will need to focus their research problems so that they are able to fully explicate their arguments within the 1,500-word limit. Students should use both primary sources (sources of data to be analyzed to resolve the problem) and secondary sources (other studies used to show the research problem has not been raised but provide insights into how/if the problem might be resolved). The paper does not need to offer a final resolution, but it should advance the intended readers' understanding of the problem as described by the secondary sources.

Topical Overview

UTW1001A: Identities and Ideas in Modern Market-Driven Societies Dr Marissa E Kwan Lin	‘Innovation,’ ‘growth’ and ‘development’ are some buzzwords shaping our understanding of social realities. What do they reveal about the values upheld in modern consumer societies? In this course, we examine how themes like competition, self-responsibilization, rational profit-and-loss thinking and the constant impetus towards self-improvement operate as predominant frames in our daily lives. We explore how the identities and ideas of living in modern market-driven societies are constructed in relation to consumer lifestyles, life-long learning, and education. Students will develop academic reading and writing skills aimed at clear and persuasive articulation of arguments associated with the idea of the market-driven society.
UTW1001C: At the Edges of the Law: Ethics, Morality and Society Dr Zhou Ziqian Jan	What should be the reach of the arms of the law? Most find it unproblematic if a state punishes distributors of child pornography; but what if the punitive muscle of the state is also used to enforce public morality? Can the law intrude on the private lives of citizens? Should euthanasia be legal? In this course we shall be putting these and other pressing issues that are at the centre of political debate to critical enquiry. This course will appeal to students interested in the study of applied ethics, the criminal law, public policy and socio-political theory.
UTW1001I: Science and popular narratives Ms Brenda Yuen	In an era of instant digital mass communication, the scientific and technological ideas disseminated via mainstream news, entertainment, social media and other online platforms may result in the sharing of contagious narratives which are not necessarily consistent with the underlying science. Such narratives can affect public attitudes and behaviour, often with far-reaching social and economic consequences. This course aims to evaluate some of these narratives to enable students to determine the degree to which they represent scientific 'truth'. By the end of the course, students should be in a better position to engage with media representations of science in general.
UTW1001J: How do we frame the Climate Crisis? Dr Nina Venkataraman	How do we raise questions about our collective responsibility as a species towards our planet? How do we deliberate about uncertainty regarding climate change’s effects? In this course, we discuss issues ranging from Siberian fires to climate refugees to investigate how some perspectives of the climate crisis become salient and prominent while others are silenced in dynamic socio-political environments. By analysing the discourse of an article and examining its presentation, we understand the ‘spin’ on a particular perspective. We then investigate what makes some of these perspectives popular ways of understanding the climate crisis, while others are absent.
UTW1001K: Meaning of Home and Identity in the Diaspora Dr. Uma Jayaraman	The term, Diaspora, originally referred to the forced dispersal of Jews from Israel, and connoted loss of homeland. Now, it is applied to people who have moved away from homeland and live elsewhere. Studies have shown that such movements have displaced people and led to a loss of identity for them. By engaging with issues of diasporic movements, the students will learn to view global identities in insightful ways and be enabled to empathetically evaluate identity formations. Using the framework of hybridity, the course explores diasporic displacement from an interdisciplinary perspective to understand complex meanings of home, belonging and identity.
UTW1001P: Heroes Dr. Jason Banta	This module will explore the development and transformation of heroic figures across time and cultures, how people have reacted to these figures, and how these figures have been adapted. Students will engage with multiple versions of the "hero," both male and female, from a variety of media (literature, film, television, graphic novel) and scholarly literature on the subject as a means to develop critical writing skills. Some questions we will ask include: What defines a heroic character? What do a society's heroes reflect about its own values? What are the dangers of uncritical acceptance of heroes?
UTW1001Q: English, Singlish and intercultural communication Dr. Wong Jock Onn	Students will explore how a language is shaped by the culture in which it is used and how it in turn shapes its users’ views of other cultures. They will investigate the culture-specific aspects of language, how they colour speakers’ worldviews, and how differences in worldviews may lead to intercultural misunderstanding. Students will develop reasoned positions on particular issues in intercultural communication and formulate arguments to defend their points of view. The focus will be on English and Singlish but other varieties of English and other languages will be used for comparison.
UTW1001T: How Rich Should Anyone Be? Mr Jason Phan	Is it wrong for eight men to have as much wealth as 3.6 billion people? If so, what should we do about it? This course offers a deep dive into the nature and ethics of wealth inequality. It has two parts. We first address a theoretical question: When, if ever, is inequality morally wrong? This lays the foundation for the second part, where we examine the causes and consequences of wealth inequality, along with possible responses. The aim is to critically examine our attitudes and policies as we strive for a just and practical distribution of wealth.
UTW1001X: Ecospirituality: Religion, Nature, Culture Dr. Owen Harry	What is the nature of the world? What is our place within it? How should we act accordingly? These fundamental questions animate both religious and ecological thinking. Religious traditions are often criticised by environmental theorists for emphasising the supernatural over the natural, but is this always the case? In this course, we will explore the relationship of the major religions of Singapore to aspects of environmental philosophy, politics, and popular culture. You will learn how to articulate complex ideas effectively and persuasively, developing essential academic communication skills as you consider the potential role of “ecospirituality” for cultural transformations towards sustainability.