Critical Reflection draft 2

My Academic Writing Journey

  The English Academic Writing Module is coming to an end. To me, this module is more than useful and beneficial than what I have expected out of it. I was quite reluctant to take the module at first as I thought that learning English should not be made on a mandatory basis, especially when we have entered tertiary education. It should be a voluntary process that we should do every day by reading and communicating with others.

  However, I knew that I was wrong about this right from the first class. Learning English is a profound process in which I would need some professional guidance. I made a lot of mistakes in essay writing, even in the most fundamental aspect-the use of Articles.  I had  thought that I have mastered it well. Attending to this English Academic Writing class is a marvellous platform for me to re-evaluate and increase my English proficiency. 

  

  The content of the course is well-organized. The peer-review section prompted us to think critically and evaluate each other’s pieces of writing, rather than just abide to the exposed information blindly. We are encouraged to do more research and be alert to the latest issues that are happening around us. In addition, I have learned about the severity of the repercussions of plagiarism. Plagiarism is definitely an offense in academic writing. Due to the predicament of time constraint, we are bombarded with a great deal of extra resources via IVLE  to supplement our lecture. As an English learner, the ball is in our court to take the initiative to access to all the resources.

  Last but not least, the most glamorous part about this module is the stress-free learning environment. I love the amiable ambience of my class, easy going classmate and approachable tutor. My tutor is not merely attentive to our doubts and questions in English module, but at the same thing also inspires us in the case of the loss of Lee Kuan Yew. She is generous in sharing her own personal experience and point of views with us which are really insightful to me.

Problem Solution Essay draft 3

  In accordance with the advancement of technology which has led to the proliferation of Internet users, social media has become increasingly prevalent. The multiple functions of social media which serves both as an entertainment and platform for work chores have boosted its usage among teenagers and adults. It has transformed our life in an unprecedented way and deserves a credit for making our life easier. Nonetheless, it is a double-edged sword and various problems have arisen in spite of its advantages. Cyber love scam has received a whole raft of concerns among the society. Hence, this essay will discuss the problem of love scam on social media in Singapore and existing solutions to address the problem. In addition, I will further evaluate feasible and potential measurements to tackle the problem. 

   Singapore is well reputed to be a country with low crime rates. In recent years, Singapore has taken a huge leap in realising its vision of achieving a utopia, which is a country that is safe to live in. This is further substantiated by concrete statistical evidences provided by Singapore Police Force (SPF). According to the annual crime report released in year 2013, the number of crime cases in the city-state declined from 31,015 cases to 29,668 cases compared to year 2012. However, there is an upward trend in cybercrime which includes love scam. In this context, cyber love scam had display a surging of incidence from 50 to 81 cases in year 2013 (Singapore's crime rate fall to 30-years low, 2014). 

   Nowadays, social media has transformed the way of communication and relations between people tremendously. We are now able to expand our social circle without being restricted by geographical barrier and spatial restrain. Knowing new acquaintances or even potential the other half via social media is no longer novel. Thus, Internet users tend to let their guard down and exercise less caution in disclosing their personal particulars. They tend to give their true information to a new acquaintance or stranger whom they hardly know without giving a second thought. Their ignorance often lead them to become victims of love scam. 

    In Singapore, the most common tactic used by love scam swindlers is to claim themselves as Caucasians and prey on middle age single women through online dating website. They will express their infatuation towards victims after a few conversations with them to gain their attention and trust. Victims are often fooled and deceived by their glib tongues and sweet words, without even bit of awareness. Eventually, they propose a face-to-face meet up session with the victims. Then, they will pretend to be detained by immigration officers for carrying excess cash and seek monetary help from the victims to secure their release. As the victims now are emotionally attached to the suspects and blinded by virtual love, they feel guilty to reject their request. In a scam alternative, the suspect would claim that he had mail valuable present such as branded bag or jewellery for the victims and the parcel are imposed with heavy taxation (Internet Love Scam, n.d.). He would then request the victim to transfer a certain amount of money so that she can retrieve the parcel. 

  Despite the surging rate of cyber love scam, attention has been diverted from other cybercrimes to cyber love scam. Since the problem is rooted from social media, online approaches are thought to be more effective in addressing it. Singapore Police Force (SPF) has set up an officially Facebook page so that it is more approachable by community. One of its post in year 2014 has revealed the most typical tactics of cyber love scam and plausible measurements to encounter it. (Singapore Police Force, n.d.). Nonetheless, this is not an efficient approach in reducing cyber love scam as the post is only accessible to those who have subscribed to the page. Furthermore, the page is not being updated consistently. There should be a special team who is specialised in managing the page to ensure that the webpage is being adorned with useful information. In addition, the page should be boosted so that its posts are visible to most of the Facebook users. 

   On the other hand, private banking company in Singapore has played its role in reducing cyber love scam. Western Union is on the helm in training their working staff to identify possible money fraud. Besides, Western Union has taken the initiative to encourage victims of love scam to stand up and share their heart-wrenching stories with others. Every story heard would be a lesson learnt. It also plans to work together with women advocacy groups to uphold women interest .They hope to reach out to more victims and encouraged them to overcome their inner fear to share their past experience in person or through video recordings(Beware online love scams, women told, 2013). 

    

  To eradicate cyber love scam more thoroughly, cooperation from women advocacy groups would be much appreciated. Since women advocacy groups have the most contact with the “potential” victims of cyber love scam, they should not shrink their obligatory.  Thus, they should join hand with the relevant government organization to conduct talks and campaigns which aim to educate women on ways to protect themselves while surfing online. Over disclosure of personal information is perilous and repugnant ramification may plague on them. From an individual perspective, we should abandon our indifferent attitude and show full supportive towards the campaigns. 

   In a nutshell, social media is a marvellous platform to widen our friend zones. With just a few simple taps on the keyboard, a list of potential friend is generated within a few seconds. Simultaneously, the advantage of online socialising is confronted with the growing rate of cyber love scam. This problem is preventable if extra prudent is practised by website users. As a woman, we should be on our guard against strangers and do not trust others easily. 

Reference 

Beware online love scams, women told. (2013, May 21). Retrieved March 5, 2015, from 

             http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/beware-online-love-scams-women-told-20130521 

Internet Love Scam. (n.d.). Retrieved March 5, 2015, from http://www.scamalert.sg/scams/internet-love-scam.html 

Singapore's crime rate falls to 30-year low. (2014, February 14). Retrieved March 5, 2015, from https://sg.news.yahoo.com/singapore-s-crime-rate-falls-to-30-year-low-105825797.html 

Singapore Police Force. (n.d.). Retrieved March 5, 2015, from https://www.facebook.com/singaporepoliceforce 

My Academic Writing Journey

Embracing into week 11, my English Academic Writing Module is coming to an end. To me, this module is more than useful and beneficial that what I have expected out of it. I was quite reluctant to take the module at first as I hold the wrong dogma that learning English should not be made on a mandatory basis, especially when we had entered tertiary education. It should be an involuntary process that we should do every day by reading and communicating with others.

However, I knew that I was wrong about this right from the first class. Learning English is a profound process in which I would need some professional guidance to master it. I made a lot of mistakes in essay writing, even in the most fundamental thing-the use of Articles, that I thought I have mastered it well. Attending to this English Academic Writing class is a marvellous platform for me to re-evaluate and revise my English proficiency.  

The context of the course is well-organized. The peer-review section prompted us to think critically and evaluate on others pieces rather than just follow everything blindly. We are encouraged to do more research and be alert to the latest issues that are happening around us. In addition, I have learned about the severity of the repercussions of plagiarism. Plagiarism is definitely an offense in academic writing. Due to the predicament of time constraint, we are bombarded with a great deal of extra resources via IVLE. As an English learner, the ball is in our court to take the initiative to access to all the resources.

Last but not least, the most appraisable thing about this module is the stress-free learning environment. I love the amiable ambience of my class, easy going classmate and approachable tutor. My tutor is not merely attentive to our doubts and questions in English module, but at the same thing also inspires us in the case of the loss of Lee Kuan Yew. She is generous in sharing her own personal experience and point of views with us which are really insightful to me. 

Problem Solution Essay

  In accordance with the advancement of technology which has led to the proliferation of Internet users, social media has become increasingly prevalent. The multiple functions of social media which serves both as an entertainment and platform for work chores have boosted its usage among teenagers and adults. It has transformed our life in an unprecedented way and deserves a credit for making our life easier. Nonetheless, it is a double-edged sword and various problems have arisen in spite of its advantages. Cyber love scam has received a whole raft of concerns among the society. Hence, this essay will discuss the problem of love scam on social media in Singapore and existing solutions to address the problem. In addition, I will further evaluate feasible and potential measurements to tackle the problem.

   Singapore is well reputed to be a country with low crime rates. In recent years, Singapore has taken a huge leap in realising its vision of achieving a utopia, which is a country that is safe to live in. This is further substantiated by concrete statistical evidences provided by Singapore Police Force (SPF). According to the annual crime report released in year 2013, the number of crime cases in the city-state declined from 31,015 cases to 29,668 cases compared to year 2012. However, there is an upward trend in cybercrime which includes love scam. In this context, cyber love scam had display a surging of incidence from 50 to 81 cases in year 2013 (Singapore's crime rate fall to 30-years low, 2014).

   Nowadays, social media has transformed the way of communication and relations between people tremendously. We are now able to expand our social circle without being restricted by geographical barrier and spatial restrain. Knowing new acquaintances or even potential the other half via social media is no longer novel. Thus, Internet users tend to let their guard down and exercise less caution in disclosing their personal particulars. They tend to give their true information to a new acquaintance or stranger whom they hardly know without giving a second thought. Their ignorance often lead them to become victims of love scam.

    In Singapore, the most common tactic used by love scam swindlers is to claim themselves as Caucasians and prey on middle age single women through online dating website. They will express their infatuation towards victims after a few conversations with them to gain their attention and trust. Victims are often fooled and deceived by their glib tongues and sweet words, without even bit of awareness. Eventually, they propose a face-to-face meet up session with the victims. Then, they will pretend to be detained by immigration officers for carrying excess cash and seek monetary help from the victims to secure their release. As the victims now are emotionally attached to the suspects and blinded by virtual love, they feel guilty to reject their request. In a scam alternative, the suspect would claim that he had mail valuable present such as branded bag or jewellery for the victims and the parcel are imposed with heavy taxation (Internet Love Scam, n.d.). He would then request the victim to transfer a certain amount of money so that she can retrieve the parcel.

  Despite the surging rate of cyber love scam, attention has been diverted from other cybercrimes to cyber love scam. Since the problem is rooted from social media, online approaches are thought to be more effective in addressing it. Singapore Police Force (SPF) has set up an officially Facebook page so that it is more approachable by community. One of its post in year 2014 has revealed the most typical tactics of cyber love scam and plausible measurements to encounter it. (Singapore Police Force, n.d.). Nonetheless, this is not an efficient approach in reducing cyber love scam as the post is only accessible to those who have subscribed to the page. Furthermore, the page is not being updated consistently. There should be a special team who is specialised in managing the page to ensure that the webpage is being adorned with useful information. In addition, the page should be boosted so that its posts are visible to most of the Facebook users.

   On the other hand, private banking company in Singapore has played its role in reducing cyber love scam. Western Union is on the helm in training their working staff to identify possible money fraud. Besides, Western Union has taken the initiative to encourage victims of love scam to stand up and share their heart-wrenching stories with others. Every story heard would be a lesson learnt. It also plans to work together with women advocacy groups to uphold women interest .They hope to reach out to more victims and encouraged them to overcome their inner fear to share their past experience in person or through video recordings(Beware online love scams, women told, 2013).

  

  To eradicate cyber love scam more thoroughly, cooperation from women advocacy groups would be much appreciated. Since women advocacy groups have the most contact with the “potential” victims of cyber love scam, they should not shrink their obligatory.  Thus, they should join hand with the relevant government organization to conduct talks and campaigns which aim to educate women on ways to protect themselves while surfing online. Over disclosure of personal information is perilous and repugnant ramification may plague on them. From an individual perspective, we should abandon our indifferent attitude and show full supportive towards the campaigns.

   In a nutshell, social media is a marvellous platform to widen our friend zones. With just a few simple taps on the keyboard, a list of potential friend is generated within a few seconds. Simultaneously, the advantage of online socialising is confronted with the growing rate of cyber love scam. This problem is preventable if extra prudent is practised by website users. As a woman, we should be on our guard against strangers and do not trust others easily.

Reference

Beware online love scams, women told. (2013, May 21). Retrieved March 5, 2015, from

             http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/beware-online-love-scams-women-told-20130521

Internet Love Scam. (n.d.). Retrieved March 5, 2015, from http://www.scamalert.sg/scams/internet-love-scam.html

Singapore's crime rate falls to 30-year low. (2014, February 14). Retrieved March 5, 2015, from https://sg.news.yahoo.com/singapore-s-crime-rate-falls-to-30-year-low-105825797.html

Singapore Police Force. (n.d.). Retrieved March 5, 2015, from https://www.facebook.com/singaporepoliceforce

READER RESPONSE 

DRAFT 2

  In “The Perils of  Over-sharing in Social Networks’, David Emm states that social networks have become one of the most imperative medium in our life. He emphasizes that excessive usage of social media in wide array of different fields have made our life more convenient. In addition, he addresses the conflicts and debate that have arose in light of infringement of privacy by the government via social medium. David Emm recounts that we tend to over-reveal our personal information in social networks which might lead to unwanted ramifications. Nonetheless, we are not the only one who would need to account for our own actions; our organization would be affected as well. He postulates that we tend to develop a wrong notion which is it is more secure to go online with a tablet or smartphone. Nevertheless, the consequences may be devastating too when we lost our devices. David Emm has pointed out several safety measures that should be taken to ensure a more secure social networking.

  David Emm, as a Senior Security Researcher in Kaspersky Lab had develop a professional insight in malware and other Information Technology (IT) threats. He also comments on broadcast and print media in exhibitions. In light of his expertness, he had adopted a confidence tone in his article. Furthermore, he had brilliantly conducted a linkage between the hotly debated current news and our daily life chores. As a result, the article seems to be more closely related to us. Another notably point is that he had used comprehensible words which are understandable by non-IT savvy rather than the technical terms. However, the tittle of the article does not really match its content. To me, the article is more directed in offering tips on safer social networking.

From my personal vintage point, I do agree with David Emm’s view that it is rather contradictory for us to mutter about the violation of our privacy by the “big brother”. Yes, they do possess the authority to access to our personal information which we would not like to reveal to others. Meanwhile, we often disclose information that should not be expose to others or we wound not like to reveal. Even I myself had encountered this kind of experience. There was a time that I went out with my friends and my sister texted me. In her message, she bluffed that she knew about my whereabouts and was in the same place with me. At first, I was dubious for what she said. However, I did believe her after she had described the place vividly and what activity I was having during that time. Eventually, she told me that she had pranked me and she knew about all the details through my friend who had posted photos in Facebook. Do contemplate the severity of the incident that it might indirectly inflicted if your whereabouts is revealed to someone who hold ill-intention in you.

  To wrap up, we should be thankful to the invention of new technology that has enmeshed in our life which makes our life easier. However, extra cautiousness and prudential endeavour should be taken so that the advancement of technology would not jeopardize our life.

The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks

  Nowadays, social networks have become one of the most imperative medium in our life. Its excessive usage in wide array of different fields have made our life more convenient. In accordance to this, infringement of privacy by the government via social medium has been an issue of debate in recent years. Meanwhile, we tend to over-reveal our personal information in social networks which might lead to unwanted ramifications. Nonetheless, we are not the only one who would need to account for our own actions; our organization would be affected as well. We tend to develop a wrong notion which is it is more secure to go online with a tablet or smartphone. Nevertheless, the consequences may be devastating too when we lost our devices. There are several safety measures that should be taken to ensure secure social networking. 

My English Language Learning Journey

    English, is a familiar and yet a foreign language to me. I have started to learn English since primary school. Despite 14 years of English learning, I still fail to master English. English is considered as my third language, after Mandarin and Malay. For your information, this is a quite general phenomenon for Chinese in Malaysia.

    Although Malaysia and Singapore is just one causeway apart, there is a disparate culture differences in these two countries. The most observable culture difference would be our mother tongue, which is our first language being taught. In Malaysia, we usually use Mandarin as our daily conversation medium with family and friends, and Malay whenever we visit to government department or integrate with Malay friends. In my primary school education, school syllabus is being conducted in Mandarin, and it was compulsory for us to pick up English and Malay as well. In secondary school, classes are conducted in Malay except for the three sciences subjects and mathematics. Basically, I only learnt English theoretically and technically instead of practising it.

   Learning English was once a tedious and monotonous task for me. For the every new beginning of school term, we always start our English lesson with the same grammatical rule for instance simple past tense, future present tense and so on. It was a really dreadful task for me as all the teachers keep on repeating the same things. However, my mindset changed after I went into college and got in contact with native English speakers. It is really imperative to be able to communicate in English so that they feel comfortable with you and also to avoid any miscommunication. A t the same time, mastering in English is essential for me to express my idea and concept clearly for academic purpose. The only way to enhance my English proficiency is to adhere to the principle of read more, write more and speak more. Thus, it is crucial to foster the use of English in my daily life.

    As for my English performance, I have obtained an “A” for English in SPM examination, “A2” in Cambridge 1119, and overall band score of 7 in IELTS . I hope that I will be able to rectify my grammar mistakes, more familiar with the appropriate use of vocabulary and also improve my English proficiency and fluentness in daily conversation by the end of ES1102. However, I understand that picking up E