Writing and presentation

Today Skype sessions with a Module One focus were useful for everyone. We talked about academic writing presentation of your work.

Quotes – don’t use them to speak for you. Explain an idea or point in your own words making sure you are referencing the people and things that have helped you for that idea. Then use a quote to illustrate how someone else put it too.

References and citations – a bibliography lists the books and web-sites and things you looked at to come to the writing you are doing. In some ways, a bibliography can survive on its own as a list of books around a topic BUT an essay cannot live without a bibliography. The references in the essay are just ways to sign post us to where all the information is in the bibliography. Just the essay without the bibliography means the references are sign posting us off into nothingness!!

An Appendix is a not a tricky way to have more words than the essay word count!! You should be able to read the whole essay and for it to make sense without reading the appendix. Like the appendix in your body – you should be able to cut it out and everything still works and makes sense. An appendix is just for things we might want to read if we want to hear more about something that takes us off on a bit of a tangent from the flow of the essay.

Sub-headings help organise information. I read through my essay and see where I am shifting or making a new point then ask myself if it would help the reader to indicate where I am going with the topic by having a sub-heading. I would recommend the sub-headings coming from what you are trying to say like this rather than having fixed subheadings that follow the areas of the Module One handbook. You are meant to be synthesising across the whole module in order to discuss your practice. Having subheadings like ‘Web 2.0’ draws you away from your practice and into the structure of the handbooks. Rather use subheadings that sum-up some of the themes that have emerged about your practice from within/across all the sections of the Module.

Editing your work for word count. Sometimes it can be that you are sort of writing in an overly apologetic sort of way. This can add more words to your writing than if you write in a more direct manor, with confidence. (36 words)

Writing in a confident, direct way rather than in an apologetic manor leads to less words used. (17 words)

People in the conversation are putting links to their posts on the skype in the comments below. Please also comment: what do you feel?
Also have a look at this...
Why we cite video

Thoughts from recent group skype discussions

Module conversations

We have had a number of sessions on skype; conversations with a particular focus on Module topics. Please note a skype with a focus on Module One is open to anyone who wants to think about Module One points not just those on Module One.  From these conversations a few points to share follow below and same for the other Module focus sessions

 From the Module Two focus session on Thursday 16^th :

Making an inquiry plan is an art in itself. You can use your own artistry from your practice to create something… the ingredients or steps or parts of the inquiry that must be included are knowing what your Methodology is, your method and your analysis.

Your methodology is the way you are approaching the inquiry, how you understand the people and things involved it links to any ethical considerations you have considered. It is about explaining the why of your approach.

The method is being able to say exactly what you will be doing and explain why you are doing it that way.

The analysis explains what you will be doing with all the things you generate from doing the inquiry data collecting activity. It is not an inquiry if all you do is ask someone something and then tell us what they said. You need to compare across all the forms of data you collect, looked for significant ideas or themes or things that don’t sit together and think about why they are significant to you, why they are the same or different…

Analysis is how you will be triangulating:  1) the data you collect, 2) the literature and existing arts on the subject 3) your experiences and reflections on it (3 things like a triangle (triangulations) where you look at what hold them together and a part.

Keep asking yourself am I creating a plan that assumes I will go and ask someone the answer to a question I have. If so remind yourself if you don’t know the answer, why should they? And if they did answer it how would you know it was ‘right’. Answers are not what you are looking for. Better understanding the depth of your question is what you are looking for. So you will need to analysis everything you come across.

Look at defining what is meant by the words you are using to explore your inquiry. For instance if you are wondering what makes a good teacher, you will also need to find out what ‘teacher’ means to people and what ‘good’ means to people. Part of your inquiry is finding out if people make the same assumptions about things as you. Finding out more about something is realising not everyone thinks about it the same way as you.

We are using a form of triangulation in Module One as well. We are asking you to look at what your practice is. How your practice peels away from the background of your training, current work situation – how your practice is a thing in its own right. In the module, we ask you to triangulate:  1) your practice in terms of communication (inc. web 2:0) 2) your practice in terms of with reflection 3) your practice in terms of networks

In the Module One focus chats both groups talked about networks and the feedback one gets from people – how much of that you allow to shape your practice and how much and when to let it go. There is something here about the transition between being a student in training (when all feedback is expected to be taken on board) to when you are a professional when you need to decide what you will let define you.

We also talked about how sharing and hearing the experience of others can help you start to see yourself more clearly against the backdrop of the experience you had training or working cyurrently. This especially true if your training experience was more negative than positive.

We acknowledged the small word count for the essay in Module One is part of what is hard. You cannot waffle on about your practice or spend too much time just reciting the Module handbook information back to us. You have to have thought about a clear articulation of what your practice is and how it is growing and shaped particularly using communication, reflection and networks. Do not use the appendix to extend the word count!!! (Imagine no one will bother looking at the appendix.) The essay should be clear and make sense with no appendix.

We are more than half way through the term so now is the time to start thinking about what you are handing in and making sense of how it is relevant and meaningful to you/your practice and to the Module Handbooks information. Keep blogging and commenting on each others posts.

For Module One's about drafts

Module One drafts are being accepted from Monday. Some people have met the Monday draft due date. The draft due date is a guide line for you in terms of organising your time. But don’t worry if you have not yet sent one. This date is reminding you you need to start to think about what you will be handing in. Thisis to do with thinking and working out so you may not know how to approach it yet – great start now so you can work it out. We have a skype session with a Module One focus on Monday 20^th so sign up for that too (look out for the sign-up post on Adesola’s blog at the end of this week). Here are some notes on darfts:

1) You send drafts to your Advisor (Hopal (Helen) or Adesola depending on who you have as your advisor). Send them via email.

Turnit-in is only for the final University submission in January.

2) A draft send for feedback is a tool you use. It is so that you can ask questions about your work so: only send things that you want feedback on!! If it is not finished your feedback is going to be

‘it is not finished’!!!

and you know that already so direct the feedback you want. You could ask:

‘I know this is not yet finished, I intend to add a bit about xxxx, but could you look at and feedback on whether you feel my discussion of my practice is clear and have I used citations correctly? Do you feel I have connected the web 2:0 information to my practice or does it seem unconnected? ‘

3) The tasks in the handbook are suggestions for you to develop ideas about your practice in order to write the essay. If you are bogged down in the tasks then maybe lighten up a bit. They do not all have to be done and they do not all have to be done perfectly! The only thing you are being graded on is the essay.

4) Have a go at the essay and see where you are. Then maybe one of the tasks will make more sense or you might think I’ll do that task again to help we write this bit. Or you might feel you do not need to do any more tasks now you are writing the essay.

5) The blog posts you make are a way for you all to connect with each other. If you are not getting any comments on your blog maybe make some comments on someone else’s post. Advisors will not be posting on your blogs much but we are looking at your blogs to see where you are. If your blog address is not in Unihub yet in the ‘Learning Community’ folder PLEASE SEND your blog address to us straight away.

6) If you have something you really want your advisor to read or feedback on email us directly or add it as a comment on one of our posts if it is about the topic in the post.

7) Make sure drafts have page numbers, your name and student number on them. Please send as a word doc (NOT a pdf). Then Advisors can feedback onto the text is appropriate. Name the file saying what it is and who it is from i.e. Akinleye_1draftreflective essay.doc

8) Get connected - come to skype sessions make comments on other peoples blog posts. 

Module One is about articulating and 'seeing' and describing your professional practice - what your unique practice is. 

The Module is about being able to see your practice as a separate 'thing' from what you were taught as you trained, what you do to make money, what people said it should be - what makes your practice yours - YOU. 

The module is about how what you do, how you connect, how you present yourself and your work , how you appear , how you reflect and network  and how these all shape the unique emerging 'thing' thats your professional practice. Then you write about it and that is what you hand in. That is what you can start to send drafts of now.