The Final Push

Today we looked ahead to the time we have left and considered what needs to be done. As everyone worked away on their reading assessment, I had a chat with folk individually to let them know what they need to complete and hand in.

We agreed in class that we’d be doing the 5-8 min informative or instructional talks on the weeks of the 14th and 21st of May (ie. two weeks today). I showed people the kind of talks that students have done in the past (see previous blog entry) and some folk seemed to have settled on a topic already – good stuff.

If anyone is unclear about what they still have to do, please get in contact. Otherwise, I’ll see you all next week.

More on reading assessment

Today we continued with the reading assessment. Most people finished off the first reading assessment and some people started on the second assessment (“How wiki-wiki can get sticky”)

Remember that the same type of questions keep coming up all the time:

What are the main ideas?
What is the purpose?
Who is the text aimed at?
What type of text is it?
How effective was the text in meeting its purpose?

We have been addressing these questions all year. The only thing that changes is the text and author. Sometimes the text has been a presentation; sometimes it has been a radio programme. Of course, sometimes you have been the authors or presenters.

A greater awareness of how texts are constructed (and how well) should, I hope, help develop your own skills as writers and presenters.

I also highlighted the fact that we need to start looking at the second (for some of you) presentation assessment. This can be informative or instructional. To give you some ideas, here are some topics that have been covered by students in previous years:

Mummification
Tying knots
The off-side rule in football
Aromatherapy
Volkswagen in Germany
Mending a puncture
Learning to play the piano
Interview skills
How to sky dive
Making an omelette
A guide to Tokyo – Vancouver – Barcelona – Amsterdam - Paris
How to make money on e-bay
First aid
How to string a guitar
The Manhattan Project
How to deal with anaphylactic shock
The West Highland Way
Meditation
How to mix cocktails
How to make a cheap vegetarian curry
The Five Pillars of Islam
The dangers of sun beds
Downhill biking
How to lose weight
A brief guide to the universe
How to book a holiday online
The VW Camper van


Remember that they only need to be 5-8 minutes in length. I’ll be asking people to decide on a topic over the next couple of weeks. Some people have already decided on their topics.

Developing analysis skills - SEC method

I know we've covered this before, but I think there's no harm making the point again as we are currently analysing texts for the reading assessment.

Everything sensible that you will say in your academic work (or your life) will, more or less, use the SEC (Statement – Evidence – Comment) method in some form or other.

- You make a statement
- Back it up with evidence
- Then, and this is the crucial part, link the two by commenting on both.

Taken together, these three steps represent analysis.

Let's look at an example ...

Make a statement

I think that Sparklehorse have re-invented country music for a new generation

Back it up with evidence

For example, they will often use slide guitars and sampling in the same song

Comment on how example helps to support your statement

The use of slide guitars shows that they are indebted to the country music heritage. Yet, they re-vitalise a very traditional genre of music by their incorporation of samples: a technique that is associated with cutting-edge music.

Now just put all the bits together:

I think that Sparklehorse have re-invented country music for a new generation. For example, they will often use slide guitars and sampling in the same song. The use of slide guitars shows that they are indebted to the country music heritage. Yet, they re-vitalise a very traditional genre of music by their incorporation of samples: technique that is associated with cutting-edge music.

The paragraph above looks like the type of thing that would (I hope) pop up in your reading and listening responses; presentations; and essays.

As I have said, the statement-evidence-comment method is not just something that you should learn and then quickly forget for college work this term. All academic essays will require you to use this method in some form or other. As you progress in your education you will find that what changes (or should) is the level of sophistication and subtlety of your statements, evidence and comments.

Indeed, SEC is something that we do at every level of “argument”:

Take the scenario of a mother reading her favourite story from her childhood to her child, again:

Young child: This is boring! (Statement)
Mother Why do you say that?
Young child Because we’ve read it lots of time before. (Evidence)
Mother And?
Young child And I’m bored of doing the reading the same thing over and over again. You like it, but I don’t. (Comment – neatly linking statement and evidence)

Once you look, you start to see SEC everywhere.