Initial thoughts on presentations

First and foremost, sorry about not making it in today: my son is ill, so I need to stay home and look after him. As he's tucked up in bed at this very moment, I'll take the time to explain what I intended to cover in class.

My plan today was to first have a chat about how people are getting on with the resources that Alma showed us before the holiday. Some students have commented positively on them already. Nearly all of these resources are only available to students who set up an ATHENS account. If you missed that class, read the blog entry on "Research and sources" (16 October). You'll need to get an application form for an ATHENS account from the library as well. If you have any problems with that let me know. It's important to get your head around ATHENS now as it is an invaluable resource for research in university.

The main focus for today's class was going to be an introduction to presentations. I was going to show you a DVD on presentations and get you to discuss and write about the DVD and your feelings on presentations in general. I think my colleague Madeleine will cover part of the class and she may show the DVD. I'll take it up from there next week.

However, what I would like you to do now, is to share your initial thoughts about presentations. For example, how do you feel about having to give presentations? Have you given presentations before? You may have, but not in English. What concerns (if any) do you have about presentations? Have you learned anything from presentations you have given in the past?

Please post your comments and thoughts on presentations as a response to this blog entry.

I need to go now, I hear a frail voice whimpering "daddy" from the bedroom ...

The power of language

I've just listened to a very interesting programme on BBC Radio 4 about the social and political power of language. The programme ("PC RIP?") considered the impact of political correctness (PC) in language and, as suggested by the title, pondered on whether the PC "movement" was over.

This programme could be seen as a kind of radio "essay": it has a strong introduction and conclusion. The central voice of the author (Clive Anderson) uses evidence from experts to develop the "essay". Notice the way this evidence is weaved into his exploration of the issue. How does he set it up and/or reflect on it? Also, the title "PC RIP?" is short and snappy and gives a very clear indication of what the documentary is going to be about. The use of the question mark is very important. Can you see why?

Anyway, if you get a chance, listen to the programme again. You can use the "Listen again" function on the BBC Radio 4 website to find the programme (it's on the left-hand-side menu on the page of the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/pcrip/). I think that they take the programmes down after a while, so listen while you can.

As always, if you do listen to it and have any comments, please post them. I'm always intrigued by the power that lies behind words.

Research and sources

Today we looked at some of the resources and sources of information that are useful for research purposes.

I started the class by giving some more feedback on how to incorporate evidence and quotes into your writing (this was just a re-stressing of the last comment on the 9th October blog entry "Comments on education essay").

I also made some suggestions for the writing assignments (see previous blog entry).

I then handed out lots of yellow post-its and asked everyone to answer the very broad question (I love broad questions): "What sources do you use to broaden your knowledge of the world?"

This is what we came up with:

As is clear, the internet takes up a significant space on the page. However, as was also noted, there is a merging of media now: newspapers, televison and radio prorammes are available online.

This, I hope, got us all thinking about sources and resources - something to think about for what came next ...

We then went to the Student Learning Centre where Alma gave showed us some very interesting online resoources.

Most of these resources require you to sign up to a research gateway called Athens. You won't be able to access most of these resources without first signing up to Athens. Everyone who was in today filled out an application form for that. If you weren't in today, you'll need to sort your application out as quickly as you can.

Here are some of the sites that Alma covered:

Library catalogue http://www.stevenson.ac.uk/heritage

GALE: Journal database http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/stevensc
Gale offers translation tools and can translate the articles into Spanish and a few other languages. Gale covers all subjects, and has world wide coverage. The majority of the articles are in full-text.

Encyclopaedias http://www.credoreference.com/ and
http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/GLOBAL.html
2 online encyclopaedias, Credo and Oxford Reference. Credo has a concept map tool which organises material like mind maps. There is also a translation function on the Credo site.

Statistical sources http://www.carelpress.co.uk/
The college subscribes to Carel Press Fact file.

Yearbooks http://www.independence.co.uk/
We subscribe to the Issues Online series by Independence.

Information gateway http://www.intute.ac.uk/
Alama didn't get to this but the Intute gateway is another good resource. It is free but comes from reliable academic sources.

Darwin's struggle with academic writing

I just came across this quote from Charles Darwin which I think is pertinent:

"I am just now beginning to discover the difficulty of expressing one's ideas on paper. As long as it consists solely of description it is pretty easy: but where reasoning comes into play, to make proper connections, a clearness and a moderate fluency, is to me a difficulty of which I had no idea."

So, if you find academic writing a struggle, remember you are not alone!

(quote from http://www.wmin.ac.uk/sshl/page-981

image courtesy of Colin Purrington)

Some suggestions for writing assignments

I’d like you to use the writing assessments as an opportunity to push yourselves a bit. You should all have received some feedback from me directly and through the blog. Try to bear this feedback in mind as you work on your next written assignments.

Some students said that they’d like some suggestions of topics. Here are some ideas:
_____________________________

Argument-based essay:

Carol Ann Duffy’s poem "Education for Leisure" was recently removed from the GCSE curriculum over fears that it glamorises knife-crime.

Discuss the point of view that censorship is sometimes a necessary evil.
_____________________________

The film “Die Welle” confronts the notion that we should never become complacent about the mistakes of the past.

Discuss to what extent you believe that modern European society is capable of re-embracing the fascist ideals of the early-part of the twentieth century.

Your essay may look at arguments for and against the notion that European society is capable of a return to fascism. You might want it to be a “balanced” essay: ie. looking at the views of others, while largely keeping your own ideas to the background.

However, you may feel strongly about this and use evidence and other peoples’ views to persuade us that it is (or isn’t) possible.
_____________________________

Fact and analysis: report

Choose a popular tourist destination in Europe. Investigate the effect that tourism has had on this location. Write a short report which examines the impact of tourism (positive and negative) on this location/region.
_____________________________

The beauty and the meanings of a literary work are distorted by translation. Discuss.

_____________________________

Here are some links to sites which may give you some ideas for essays:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/ (look at the issues in the drop-down menu entitled “ethical issues”)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree (this part of The Guardian is a very good site for opinion-based articles. There is an A-Z index based on subjects and issues in the top right)
Some “green” issues: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/green_room/default.stm
http://www.spiked-online.com/ (some demanding but thought-provoking opinion articles on topical issues)
http://www.idebate.org/index.php (a site which promotes debating by considering topical issues)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/ (general learning site of BBC – explore!)

Thursday 09 October

Today I met with everyone individually to give some feedback on the education essays. While I was doing that, everyone else started their research for the writing assessments (which may have just been a case of thinking through various ideas). I also asked students to read my comments on the blog (posted earlier today) on the education essays. In particular, look at the comment on SEC (you'll need to read the post to work out what this is).

Initial ideas for writing assignment

Last week I gave out some details about the writing assignments. Please share your thoughts about possible ideas or queries for the assignments here.

Comments on education essays - 09 Oct

Please read the following comments on your education essays. Each of these comments are in response to the essays written by the class.

Over the next week, everyone should reflect on both the comments below and the individual feedback that I give. I then want everyone to write a comment which reflects on what they did and what they could improve upon.

First and foremost, I honestly enjoyed reading these essays. It was interesting to see everyone’s voice emerging in their interpretation of the purposely broad question: “what is the purpose of education?” One of the hardest things to do is to set your own limits on what you are going to discuss or focus on. I asked students to keep it to 800 – 1000 words to put boundaries on the discussion.

I’d like to make some general points, but will feedback to everyone individually as well.

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Sometimes when we are asked to write essays we react as if we were being dragged along to a wealthy relation’s house for dinner. We dress up and project a more formal style than we are used to. The result is that we feel uncomfortable; we don’t feel like ourselves. Sometimes I get this kind of impression when I read students’ essays: the individuality of the student’s voice gets lost in an overly self-conscious writing style. This often manifests as inappropriate use of complex words (possibly suggested by a thesaurus) or very long sentences (and lots of them). Such forced complexity often spoils some wonderful, insightful thoughts. Sometimes complex sentences and words are needed; but don’t overdo it.

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Purpose, purpose, purpose. Okay, I know I keep going on about purpose, but I do so for a reason. If the reader can’t work out the purpose of the essay quickly, then they will be left in a state of frustrated confusion (and as your readers will often be your markers, you want to avoid leaving them like that). The purpose of an essay is often designed by a set question (eg. "Discuss the value of running educational institutions like businesses"). Alternatively, you may be asked to define your own question or purpose (as I asked you). Two weeks ago I got everyone to write down what they considered to be the purpose of their essay: do you think this statement of purpose that you came up with was relevant to the finished essay? A sense of clear purpose will also be served well by a focussed title. Did you tailor your title to suit the specific subject of your essay?

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Your introduction is crucial in creating a sense of your essay’s purpose as well. Once you get your essay back, re-read your introduction. Is there a clear sense of the essay’s purpose in the introduction? Then read the rest of the essay: does your essay stay focussed on that purpose? The introduction should provide the reader with a comforting sense of the journey ahead: where is this essay taking us?

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I wonder how many people read their essays aloud before they handed them in? Sometimes an essay looks fine. It may even smell, feel and taste fine. However, if you read it aloud it may not sound quite right. Reading your draft aloud is a very good way of catching problems to do with grammar, syntax and general clarity in meaning. Read it slowly, with a pencil to hand to make comments or changes as you go. Only take a breath or pause when the punctuation lets you (this is crucial). As I’ve said before, this is something I always did when I returned to education as a mature student. In fact, if I have an important document to produce, I still do it.

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Try to use gender neutral language. Avoid saying things like: “The life of a student is often difficult. Exams can be a major source of stress. However, he will need to deal with this stress if he wants to progress to a higher academic level.”

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Avoid colloquial language.

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Avoid using the second person “you”. Again, it sounds a bit too informal. “We” is more acceptable.

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Avoid contractions: ie. "don’t" is a contraction of "do not".


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There is a general rule about how to incorporate longer quotations in your writing. If a quotation runs to more than four lines, then indent it from the rest of your writing and do not use quotation marks. These indented, longer quotations are usually introduced by a colon.

For example:

O’Neill concludes that tourist texts reveal as much about their writers as their subjects:

A study of tourist texts reveals the fault-lines in the cultural imagination of the imperial and metropolitan subject. In the signification and aestheticization of the west, we can sense the anxieties of the writer, and even detect a certain fragility inherent in a privileged social and cultural origin where the authority to signify resides. [1]

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Don’t forget to reference throughout your text. Furthermore anything that appears as a footnote reference should also appear in your references at the end of your essay.

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Some students have problems with articles (“an”, “a”, “the”). Follow this link to a site which is quite good on articles: http://www.elanguages.ac.uk/activities/2EAP/02/when_do_you_need_to_use_an_article.htm
However, you may want to use the services of the Second Language Support Staff as well. They’re just beside the library.

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How to use evidence or quotes.

If you use a quote or some evidence you need to sandwich this between a statement and a comment of your own. Think SEC (Statement – Evidence – Comment)

Indeed, everything sensible that you will say in an essay (or, come to think of it, life) will, more or less, use the SEC (Statement – Evidence – Comment) method in some form or other.

Make a statement (this will set up the evidence to follow)
Back it up with evidence (sometimes a quote but not always)
Then, and this is the crucial part, link the two by commenting on both.

For example;

Take the quote from Thomas Carruthers: "A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary." Say we were writing an essay on the purpose of education and we thought that this might fit in nicely with our thoughts on the empowering nature of education. We might sandwich the quote using the SEC method.

1. The statement often makes a general point and sets up the evidence which follows: Thomas Carruthers supports the notion of education as an empowering process

2. Next we have the evidence: “A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary”

3. Now the important part: a comment on the evidence. We need to justify the inclusion of this quote into the general point we are making, by comment on the evidence: how do we interpret this evidence? How does it support the general point we are trying to make? This third and final part is crucial. So in this case we may argue that Carruthers’ idea of education puts the student at the centre of the process. The teacher is, in his view, more a facilitator than the traditional authoritative figure at the front of the class. As he suggests, a teacher should aim to move from an instructive to a supportive role as the student gains confidence though learning. Notice that this comment has, by far, the most words. It should have because this is where you prove that you are capable of independent and insightful thought based on research.

Put the three bits together and you get a nice little paragraph:

Thomas Carruthers supports the notion of education as an empowering process: “"A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary."[1] Carruthers’ idea of education puts the student at the centre of the process. The teacher is, in his view, more a facilitator than the traditional authoritative figure at the front of the class. As he suggests, a teacher should aim to move from an instructive to a supportive role as the student gains confidence though learning.

Thoughts on "Die Welle"

Thanks to everyone for making it to The Cameo last night for "Die Welle". As it finished quite late we didn't get much of a chance to discuss it.

Please use this post to share your thoughts on the film. It would be very interesting to read your reactions (you don't have to worry about structuring here - just write what pops into your head).
Just to get it started ...

... What engaged me most were the issues about politics, history and education that the film raised. I'm not convinced that it was a great film in terms of the art of film-making, however it's the kind of film that raises issues that your mind keeps wandering back to.

I liked the moment of ethical dilemma faced by the two anti-Wave girls who ran the student newspaper: should they lie about the activities of The Wave because they felt that it was the right thing to do in the context of what was happening?


I had a few brief words with Mend afterwards and he mentioned that it touched on some topical points to do with attitudes to nationalism or, maybe more accurately, national pride in modern Germany. Maybe Mend could expand on that for us.

Also I liked the very last sequence where the once confident and vocal teacher is reduced to a state of wordless shock. The final shot was interesting as well. The shot froze on his face a moment after he seemed to have a profound thought: I wonder what that thought was? Any suggestions?

Wed 02 Oct - Some reflection

Everyone handed in their essays on education - thanks for those.

Today we took a breath and thought about the ground we've covered so far.

I asked everyone to scroll down to the start of this blog and read over the entries so far.

We've been focusing on writing but much of the same principles apply to presentations which we will be looking at soon.

I've also asked people to start thinking about their two pieces of writing for the course. You can post possible suggestions here - it may help other students work out what they can do.

I gave out a handout which gave some more detailed guidelines for the writing assessments. If you missed the class today email me at jerryoneill@stevenson.ac.uk and I'll send you the handout as an attachment.