Throughout my past 2 years in NUS, I’ve never once done a major project without people I’m familiar with (that is, people whom I’ve already known beforehand) in my group before. Therefore, it had been a very interesting and new experience working with Miranda, CG, as well as Brandon, people whom I’ve only gotten to know during the course of ES2007S.
During our first informal meeting, we each took turns to voice out our expectations and agreed on transparency among group members. Transparency among members is very crucial in order for the group to work well together, and we achieved that.
Each of us had different styles of writing, citing and researching etc, but there were no major conflicts due to that. Rather, it was a great learning experience for me because I was exposed to these various styles which I believe would benefit me. It helped that everyone in the group was patient and opened to each others’ ideas, so whenever there were any disagreements, group members were most willing to hear each other out to provide useful insights. Communication among all of us was efficient, and no major conflicts or disagreements resulted. Therefore it was indeed a very positive experience working with my group mates.
I would say everyone in the group worked well together because everyone was a team player- each completed their assigned tasks on time. I believe it is such cooperation that allowed us to meet our tight deadlines.
On a more individual level, I personally find that the research skills that I had to apply here vary quite a bit from scientific research which I’m more used to. This is so because there are many online Scientific databases with vast collections of journals and scholarly articles, so researching is much easier and more general- only key words are required. However, researching for literature reviews for this report required me to be more specific. Writing this professional report incorporated Maths and Statistics with English language skills, so it was quite a challenge, no doubt enriching. Nonetheless, I believe this would better equip me with report-writing skills when I enter the workforce in future.
A major challenge that I think I might face would be the oral presentation. I feel that I might not be a very good presenter because I tend to get a little too monotonous at times, hence the audience might get bored as a result. Therefore I hope to be able to look out for cues that might indicate that they are bored. Doing so would allow me to try to gain back their attention by engaging them in my presentation. I believe a good presenter is one who is able to get her audience to listen to her actively. Therefore, I hope to have more interaction with the audience.
In past presentations, I’ve always encountered the problem of not knowing what to do with my free hands. As a result I get rather fidgety yet rather stiff at times, and that not only affects my performance but my level of confidence as well. This problem sorts of forms a barrier between me and the audience. Hence, I definitely hope to overcome this problem in the coming oral presentation.
Final Reflection
15 years ago
5 comments:
Hi Joyce, I agree with you that the research skills needed in writing a scientific lab report and doing this survey report are different.
For a scientific lab report, we just have to find out the facts and analyse the experiment hence the research process is easier because referring to any credible scientific journal or book will usually give you the same facts.
However for a survey report, the literature review requires more research because there are different viewpoints and issues covered in varying scopes and degrees of emphasis by each author. So we have to incorporate all the relevant material and give our overall opinion or stand.
I also agree with you that the oral presentation is demanding on people generally as we are not used to presenting with ease in front of a large audience. All the best for it!
Hello Joyce, I can understand how it may be difficult to work with people who you are unfamiliar with. Thus, I feel it was great that your group had an open and honest environment that helped to ease everyone into being comfortable and concentrating on what need to be accomplished. I am also impressed by how everyone in your group is so understanding and open to one another's ideas. This would definitely have made the discussion process more efficient and productive. Great job with the project!
Hi Joyce, I am very sure that it was an interesting and new experience working with people you only know for a few weeks. Sometimes we learn most when we are thrown out of our comfort zone.
I guess that working with new people is something we will have to get used to. I thought that have an informal meeting at the initial stage to share expectations and being committed to be transparent was a crucial and wise step to take. It would help minimise any misunderstandings and promote friendship to be fostered rather just keeping to only a working relationship.
I feel that oral presentation is not too hard to pick up. I think the first step to improving is our willingness. It seems that you are already aware of your possible problems. That is another great step to improvement. Let's look forward to improving. I think it will be quite fun too.
Hi Joyce,
Like what Yun Nian mentioned, researching for a lab report is so much more different than doing up this report. But it has definitely taught me a new approach to doing reports (other than lab reports). My group faced the issue with having difficulty in finding previous studies on similar topics, though we still managed to find some after Ms Kim's advice.
As for the oral presentation, I agree with you that it's something we're not very exposed to as science students compared to say, business students. I believe it is a very valuable skill to pick up as it helps us build up our confidence when speaking to a crowd.
I agree with you that it is not easy giving an oral presentation and things becomes complicated when it is a GROUP presentation. Co-ordination is thus very important and here's when knowing your group members become vital. =)
Hi Joyce, thanks for the detailed and reflective post.
Am glad it was a "great", "new", "interesting", "enriching", and "positive" learning experience for you.
What I like is how you reflected on the experience on a group level and then on an individual level.
Regarding the oral presentation, as Peng Siang has said, the fact that you are aware of your weaknesses is already a step forward in the right direction towards becoming a good presenter. There is no shortcut to oral presentations; it simply requires practice, and more practice :-)
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