HSS Minor

This document provides information about HSS courses and the minor program at IIT Guwahati. It discusses what HSS courses are, the fields they are offered in, and tips for choosing courses. It also provides course summaries for several specific HSS courses, describing the instructors, course content, workload, and grading. The document concludes by listing new HSS courses being offered and providing guidance on factors to consider for choosing a minor, including workload and how it could help with placements.

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HSS Minor

Uploaded by

Ashish Fugare

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CEPSTRUM

PRESENTS
HSS and MINOR Guidance Talk 2018
WHAT IS AN HSS COURSE?
▪A course offered by Humanities and Social Sciences
Department from 3rd semester to 5th semester and
8th semester.
▪Every course has 6 credits which means 3 one hour
lectures per week.
▪The HSS courses are aimed at developing your
non-technical knowledge in some fields that you
may be interested in.
BROADLY THE HSS COURSES OFFERED ARE IN
FOLLOWING FIELDS (NOT ALL HAVE BEEN OFFERED THIS
TIME)
▪ Economics
▪ Psychology
▪ Philosophy
▪ Language
▪ History
▪ Sociology
▪ Archaeology
▪ Phonetics
▪ Aren’t all these fields quite intriguing? :D
HOW TO MAKE AN INFORMED
DECISION?
▪ It would be advisable that you take an interest oriented approach
while making a decision.
▪ HSS generally has very interesting courses to offer.
▪ Read the course content of all courses offered properly before
making a choice.
▪ Do not simply go by popular choice.
▪ It is best to follow up with HSS course of same discipline every
semester. However you can change the discipline in next semester if
you find some other course more interesting.
SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENCE
▪ About the Instructor:
Professor is lenient and cool. Lectures can get boring but the discussion is
interesting. He takes suggestions from the students on how the marks distribution
and paper pattern should be. He doesn’t put importance on attendance and makes
sure everyone receives printed notes from core 1 stationary.

▪ About the course:

Sociology of science examines how we created the current method of scientific
research. It starts off with history and examines the very first methods, how they
were wrong and how the scientific community eventually reached this stage. It also
includes the study of the effect everything other than science has on scientific
research like politics, society, culture and religion.
Language Culture Cognition
▪ About the Instructor:
▪ She is lenient , dedicated, knows everyone in the class , better that you don’t bunk
classes .
▪ Provides handouts (slides ) plus research papers .Though reading handouts are
sufficient to score well
▪ Encourages class participation .Tries to give examples from day to day life to
make lectures relatable.
▪ No attendance issue .
▪ About the course:
▪ course is interesting .It approaches language studies from the perspective of
cognitive science by positioning itself as a pillar of the discipline
▪ The pre midsem part is all about how language is an integral part of Cognitive
Science and how different figure of speech like metaphors , frames , motion verbs
▪ etc varies from language to language.
▪ The post midsem part is all about brain and language , different theories relating to
it and various tasks carried on to prove it .
▪ The course is purely scientific based on facts and theories , so no need of
memorising long answers .
Marking
▪ Relative grading .
▪ Attending all the classes , preparing notes and reading handouts would ensure an
AS .
▪ If you want to take hss lightly , this course is not for you because reading one day
before exam wouldn’t be helpful unless you attend all the classes because post
midsem the course seems to get a bit difficult and mugging up would be the least
option .
▪ Simply being in good books with Maam wouldn’t fetch you a good grade .
Ethnic Conflict and Management
▪ About the Instructor:
▪ The teacher is quite dedicated and puts in effort, but the classes get boring. (The Prof. stays the same for this
course, she is quite invested in the course).
▪ She keeps an eye on the students, sometimes roams around, cant use phones
▪ Tries to make the class interactive
▪ Didn’t give slides in our year (even though she used slides in the class), instead sent us link or articles and journal
papers (which had the entire content for the exams but there is A LOT of content there which is useless but cannot
be filtered out without reading).

▪ About the course:

▪ Starts off boring, become more interesting after midsems.
▪ A lot like social studies in school (with concentrated emphasis on one area, of course).
▪ First few weeks definitions and theories, after that case studies from around the world. The topic itself is quite
interesting(case studies at least) but the portion for mid-sems and end-sems is more than that of other HSSs.
▪ Take it if you have an interest in wars, conflicts, world history and world
dynamics, rebellions, uprisings, politics, etc.
▪ There were case studies from Africa, Europe, and particular emphasis
on North-Eastern conflicts.
▪ Marking:
▪ Puts heavy emphasis on students who know her, you have to
participate in class and interact with her for good marks.
▪ Has marks set aside for class interaction.
▪ Has been known to do absolute grading in the past, our year she gave
2-3 people 10, 3-4 people 9, and so on, pyramid structure marking.
▪ Everyone studies one day before only, but this subject has the potential
to ruin your spi because you cannot write bullshit in the answers and
expect to get marks. You have to write proper content.
Introduction to Psychology
▪ About the Instructor:
Explains properly but the classes get monotonous.
Long-long answers expected in the paper.
Encourages interaction in class.
▪ About the course:
Course is interesting.
Attending the classes regularly is suggested as the course might feel vast.
Slides , notes not provided.
The course contains topics like memory,emotion, motivation, personality, learning
etc. So, yeah it might not be about what you think it is about.
▪ About the grading:
1)Understanding concepts is not enough, you should be able to express it properly
in the paper.Not only what is asked has to be written, but also everything related to
it. Basically, your answers should be thorough and should include graphs, figure
whenever possible. That ensured, getting a good grade is easy.
2)If you don’t attend classes and find difficulty in writing answers , things might get
difficult for you in this course.
3) Had a lab of about 10-20 marks , which required almost zero efforts but was very
interesting.
Introduction to Phonetics
▪ About the Instructor:
● The instructor is very much devoted to the course. Explains the slides very
efficiently. So it is advised to listen to him to understand the course.
● Very strict on discipline. No talking, no sleeping and yeah...NO CELLPHONES
during class.

▪ About the course:

● The course basically consists of study and classification of human sounds.
● Not so interesting at all.
● Choose this course only if you are willing to mug up everything in the slides and
the handouts (provided 2-3 days before exams).
■ About the Grading:
● Questions are very short answer types in exams.
● Relative Grading. About 10% students get an AA and about 10% get an F too.
Majority of class lies in between BB and CD.
● Marks on attendance too. So make sure you don’t miss classes too much.
● You’ll have to memorise everything given in the slides to be sure enough to get
good grades.
Leadership and Communication in
Historical Drama
About the Instructor:
She’s one of the best teachers we’ve had. Engages in discussion. Helps a lot before
exams. Rohini Ma’am simply rocks.
About the course:
Two books are read in class. Julius Caesar and Tughlaq
Plays are performed and graded instead of quizzes
Interesting discussions take place
Performing drama is one of the unique things you will get to do in this course
Attendance is taken and carries marks
Drama - Grading

1. If the instructor knows you by name, she will definitely give good
marks.
2. Lenient grading for people who have good reputation with Maam.
3. Scorable exams
4. Maam even holds a session telling the students how to prepare for
exams
5. Many people got 8’s and some got 9’s. 10’s were low in number
though.
New Courses offered:
1. Introduction to Microeconomics
2. Introduction to India’s Health System
3. Perspectives on the History of Modern Europe
4. Economic Development, Problem And Policy
5. From Aristotle to Goethe
All about Minor
What is a Minor?
An additional course from other department aimed at
helping you in interdepartmental research work.
To know about various Minor course structures and
syllabus follow this link and search for ‘Minor Course
Structure and Syllabi’ :
http://shilloi.iitg.ernet.in/~acad/intranet/index.php#
Factors to consider while
choosing a Minor
1. Are you capable of handling one extra course every
semester apart from the regular departmental courses?
If yes then you may consider other factors.
Otherwise it is advisable that you don’t opt for Minor.
2. Visit the link given on earlier slide for Minor Syllabi
and see which Minor Discipline interests you the most.
1.Please be careful not to opt for popular
choices if you are not interested. Again here it
is advisable to take an interest oriented
approach while deciding to opt for a Minor.
2. If interested talk to seniors who have opted
for the same Minor and get all your doubts
cleared, instead of making a blurred decision
just based upon your interests.
Computer Science Minor
Coursework
1. Foundations of CS : Interesting and Important
2. DS and Algo : Very Important from Placement perspective
3. Digital Logic : Very Important for Understanding Computer
Architecture
4. Computer Systems : Networks and Peripherals knowledge. Not that
Interesting
5. Software Engineering : Front And Back End Interaction so very
important from Placements point of view
Workload
If you pay attention in class and write notes properly you won't face a problem.
Course might turn out even boring for some who have earlier knowledge of the
course.
Courses are interesting and if you build up proper interest then you would love to
study this.

Placement Help
CSE Minor is that final touch you need on your CV if you are going for proper
placements in coding and software engineering field are not from CSE.
Gives you a gain during interns both in terms of knowledge and credibility.

Higher Studies
Gives you a basic idea of what's in the field so that you can try it out also opens up
the field of CS for MS in foreign universities. Having CSE Minor is a tag of being
credible enough to work in multiple fields simultaneously which is a fine skill.
Final Verdict - CS Minor
Very Interesting Course Initially becomes slightly
boring later.
Very Important from the perspective of placements and
intern.
Course is easy and professors give grade easily if you
have the proper knowledge because everything is
logical and there is not ambiguous theory.
Mathematics Minor
Coursework
1. Real Analysis: Boring.
2. Mathematical Statistics: Amazingly helpful for people
going in data sciences and ML
3. Scientific Computing: Interesting course
4. Modern Algebra: Useful
5. Differential Geometry: Interesting
Workload:
Coursework demands a fair amount of time.
If you’re genuinely interested in Maths, you can pass through it.
General workload before exams is high.
Placement Help:
Not really. But ML/AI research companies or Data Science companies
have started looking for people will Statistical background.
Higher Studies:
Extremely important. Maths minor has very good high level courses
which will definitely help if you go for MS or PhD in Engineering
subjects. Good Mathematics is seen as a skill. It’s rare.
Final Verdict - Maths Minor
Take it only if you’re interested in high level Math.
Workload is high
Helps in Higher Studies Applications
Generally more helpful for people hoping to go into research
Exams are graded nicely. (Last endsem and this midsem had 2 marks for writing your
name on the question paper)

Go for it independent of your branch.

Product Design Minor
Course work
- Ergonomics
- Business models
- Product design
- Advertising
- Creative Engineering
Workload
- Depends on the instructor, can be hectic as well especially ergonomics.
- Assignments on product design, different techniques used
- Creation of an ergonomic model in fourth semester.
- Stages of product development
Will have to complete the assignments daily if Prof asks for it. Engineers are not
used to having creative energies.

Placements
Generally not much helpful. If you want to take up design or want to do inter
departmental courses, you can take up minor. Although, all the industries use the
aspects of design.

Higher studies
Big plus for MBA/ management courses and startup building.
Final Verdict
▪ Design is everywhere. Used in every industry.
▪ Will enhance the creative side of your brain.
▪ Good compliment to the engineering skills we learn
▪ Used in many engineering applications
▪ Worth a try.
ECE Minor
Subjects:
▪ Analog Circuits
▪ Digital Circuits
▪ Electromagnetic Field Theory
▪ Signal Processing : Useful
▪ Communication Systems
Workload
- Initial courses are much similar to EE101 course.
- Not much content heavy. Attending lectures regularly will be of great help.
- Attendance norms vary with course instructor.
- Engineering Physics students have some courses with similar content.
Doing assignments will give an edge in tackling exam questions.
Placements and Internships
▪ Coding companies and startups working in Deep Learning applications are open
for internships to students with ECE minor.
▪ Having a minor will make you eligible to apply for placements in CS companies.
Higher studies
Beneficial while applying for interdisciplinary subjects such as Biomedical
Engineering, Robotics, Nano electronics etc.
Final Verdict
▪ Course content is not very heavy and can be handled along with branch
subjects.
▪ The course will help in understanding various technological applications.
▪ Will definitely give an edge in multi-disciplinary research areas.
▪ If you had a pleasant time with EE101, ECE minor will be an apposite match
for you.