COM353e End-of-Course Assessment 2026

Instruction of Students

1. This End-of-Course Assessment paper contains ONE (1) question and comprises SIX (6) pages (including cover page).
2. You are to include the following particulars in your submission: Course Title, Your PI, Your Name, and Submission Date.
3. Ensure that you submit your End-of-Course Assessment by the deadline. After the 12-hour grace period, 10% of the total End-of-Course Assessment mark will be deducted for each 24-hour block or part thereof by which your submission is late. Submissions with more than 50 marks deducted will be awarded 0 marks.
4. You are allowed multiple submissions to Turnitin before the deadline. After the deadline, only one submission is allowed, and only if you have not already made a prior submission.
5. If you fail to submit your End-of-Course Assessment, you will be deemed to have withdrawn from the course.

Important Note

ECA Submission Deadline: 9 April 2026 (Thursday) 12:00 pm

Question 1

Answer the following question. (Total 100 marks)

In his National Day Rally speech on 17 August 2025, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong acknowledged the ambivalence and even anxiety that many Singaporeans have about the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI). He said in his speech, “In the past, technological change created disruption, but also new opportunities – and people were able to upgrade to higherskilled, and better-paying jobs. Many worry that this time things will be different. Because AI can do more than just help us at work. It can potentially replace many tasks – even entire jobs. I understand these concerns.”

Reference

Prime Minister’s Office (2025, August 17). Beyond SG60: Writing Our Next Chapter.

https://www.pmo.gov.sg/Newsroom/National-Day-Rally-2025  

Your task

You are a feature journalist with The Straits Times. Your editor has assigned you to write a human-interest feature story examining the evolving attitudes and concerns that youths have towards AI, particularly its potential impact on their careers.

Your editor’s brief to you is to humanise this topic through the perspectives and experiences of three Singaporean youths of different demographic profiles. These could be, for example, a university student on the cusp of graduation in his/her early-twenties, a fresh entrant in the job market in his/her mid- or late-twenties, and a mid-career professional in his/her thirties.

In order to incorporate a diversity of views, you should ensure a spread of genders and profiles among the three Singaporeans you interview for this feature story.

You need to demonstrate the ability to effectively use rich media elements to enrich your feature story. Minimally, your feature story needs to be accompanied by at least one appropriate photograph which you have taken of your interviewees and hence have the right to use and publish. Please incorporate the photographs into your feature story, with appropriate captions.

Propose a suitable headline for your story, which will be published in the weekend edition of The Straits Times.

This ECA provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate the ability to translate the conceptual frameworks of feature writing into an integrated, finished story and apply an appropriate style and structure in developing the feature story. This ECA, together with your TMA, will provide you with writing samples that allow you to construct a beginning portfolio of completed feature stories.

You should write no more than 1,200 words. Markers will not mark any work beyond the word limit. Pictures, captions, headlines, and references, if any, are excluded from the word count.

Additional Notes

• Remember to take notes during the interview so that you can note and remember key points, etc.
• Besides developing a catchy headline, you need to formulate an interesting lead.
• The feature story should employ direct and indirect quotes.
• Take note that a good feature story must elicit an emotional response from readers.
• Please be sure you have the consent of your interviewees before the interview and for taking their photographs.
• Up to 20 marks will be deducted if you fail to submit the Consent Forms.
• Please do not reuse materials or research findings collected for assessments of other courses, or you may run the risk of self-plagiarism.
• If you incorporate secondary sources in your article, be sure to cite them as part of your article.

While your ECA will be marked holistically, the following table provides an approximate guide to the relative importance of each criterion.

— END OF ECA Paper —