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The strange places H2G2 takes you

Post 21

fords - number 1 all over heaven

Any time! I hardly need it now and it's a good excuse for a meet smiley - biggrin

Are you on a level 1 course? That'll be why it's so dumbed-down and generalised. I did a level 2 course recently and although it was nice that the text wasn't in EZ mode at times I did feel a bit lost, but then again the way my textbooks were written something that was explained with ease on say Wikipedia (the forbidden word! smiley - yikes) the OU author would totally mangle.


The strange places H2G2 takes you

Post 22

swl

Phew - that's my first essay done, but I'm a bit worried. The question set was "How far do recorded crime rates show how much crime occurs in society?" Fairly straightforward. Firstly define "crime", put it in a historical context, show the main methods of collating statistics and demonstrate the limitations of each and why they are incomplete.

But.... the whole thing is eerily reminiscent of the way I post on here. It's a bit like an opinion piece backed up by references. Is that the kind of thing they're looking for or should it just be dry, dry, dry regurgitations of course notes?

Am I going to have to change my writing style?


The strange places H2G2 takes you

Post 23

fords - number 1 all over heaven

I don't enjoy writing OU essays. Maybe it was different for me because I studied biology but whenever I tried to get a bit inventive and bring in information from outside sources I got marked down. I only tried to write something extra because my essays really did look like regurgitated course notes, but for me it seems that's what my tutor wanted smiley - erm


The strange places H2G2 takes you

Post 24

swl

I brought that point up with my tutor who assured me he wouldn't mark me down for using outside sources. However in my first assessment I lost marks because, in the limited space available (750 words), I hadn't included the points he was looking for. So it seems all I can do is regurgitate tracts from the texts. Which is a problem because so much of it is either "well, duh" or contentious (to my mind).

For example: "Gender is no longer a fixed aspect of identity as people are free to choose gender through advancements in medicine & technology". Well, really. We're talking about a vanishingly small number of people who are arguably deviant* from the norm. Is it really right to shape entire tracts of sociological practice to take into account such small deviations from the mainstream? The fact is, the vast majority of women are born female, die female and spend their whole lives female so essentially, gender *is* fixed.

Another item that gives me cause for concern is a case I read of recently where a student studying for a degree in social care was marked down in a paper on child abuse for focusing too much on the needs of the child instead of the parent. That's a judgement call that shows a bias on the part of the assessor. I was interested to see that my tutor criticised my first paper for it's "rather conservative viewpoint" smiley - sadface


*I don't intend any negative or perjorative connotations in the word 'deviant', simply the statistical fact.


The strange places H2G2 takes you

Post 25

swl

Hmm, as you may have gathered I've been struggling to come to terms with the subject material in this first year of the course. The first two TMAs I laboured over for hours and got what I considered poor marks (despite my tutor's enthusiasm). So I'd resigned myself to just "getting through" the sociology part. The latest TMA was so turgid, I just couldn't face it. The fact that my wife was seriously ill & in hospital didn't help either as I delayed and delayed. In the end I just sat down and virtually threw some words on the paper. It was real "stream of consciousness" stuff. As I finished it, I ran a spellcheck but didn't re-read it, just submitted it. So I'm quite surprised to get a pretty high mark, more in line with what I was aiming for at the outset.

It's totally bucked me up smiley - biggrin I'm now actually looking forward to the next TMA - an exam in a fortnight. I might actually get through this smiley - smiley


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