Writing ACTIVITY

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Writing ACTIVITY

• Writing is easy you just stare at a blank
  piece of paper till your eyeballs bleed!

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Writing ACTIVITY

• Some thoughts about writing
• Writing activity
• Reflecting on the activity
• Applying what youve learned to the Assignment
• Useful resources

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Student responses to writing

•  
• Ive been humiliated in ways Id never have
  put up with outside that institution
•   

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Student responses to writing

• I am still not sure if my work is considered
  academic, I still dont know what makes one of my
  essays better than another.  

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And

• Academic language, the kind of language that
  doesnt readily flow off my tongue the type of
  language I rarely use when speaking to my peers.
  The type of language that I dont readily
  understand and the type of language that means
  spending hours at a computer turning something
  quite simple into something that sounds
  moderately impressive with elitist results.

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Perhaps it is not that we cannot write, but

• We need
• Time to write to learn
• Time to practice writing
• To write little and often
• To discover that writing gets easier with
  practice.
• So

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Writing Activity

• Free writing
• Each person should have in front of them
• Two sheets of paper
• One, blank, to write upon,
• One, the commentary sheet, to note reasons for
  not writing
• Pens or pencils

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The Activity

• When asked, turn to your blank paper and write
  for ten minutes without pause on the question
  below.
• If you stop writing for any reason, write that
  reason, no matter how trivial or insignificant on
  the commentary sheet.

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The Question

• INSERT Q

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(1) Assignment Activity

• Did you enjoy that writing?
• Review it what does it tell you about
• What you already know?
• What you need to find out?
• What you will be looking for in lectures?
• What you will be looking for when reading?

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(2) Why did you STOP writing?

•   Some reasons for stopping
• Thinking
• Searching for a word, spelling, tense
• Uncomfortable
• Distracted
• Couldnt see the point
• What are you going to do about this?

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(3) Some solutions

• Get into a good physical mental space
• Be comfortable your way
• Accept the task or fake it!
• Brainstorm plan before you write
• Once you start go with the flow
• Dont stop!
• Do not search for the right word re-draft and
  improve later.

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NEXT STEPS

• How will your free write help you with the final
  part of your assessment?
• How will thinking about writing help with your
  writing?

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Writing

• Organise your DESK and your READING
• http//learning.londonmet.ac.uk/TLTC/learnhigher/d
  esk/desk.html
•  
• Check out these writing resources
• http//learning.londonmet.ac.uk/TLTC/connorj/Writi
  ngGroups/
•  
• Essay writing animation Portsmouth
• http//ondemand.port.ac.uk/central/One_way_to_writ
  e_an_essay.wmv
• Essay/report quizhttp//learning.londonmet.ac.uk
  /LMBS/study/reports_essays/
•  
• EXCELLENT site for linking phrases and for
  WRITING http//www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/
  
•  
• Our Preventing Plagiarism course in WebLearn
• http//learning.londonmet.ac.uk/TLTC/learnhigher/P
  lagiarism/