Bad Faery

Sunday, February 24, 2008

U211: TMA01 part 1 - done!

I have just completed the first part of my first TMA for u211. Right now I"m all butterflies and nerves. I feel like I’ve made a decent* attempt but not a brilliant one. Time got away on me, again, and thanks to a fairly mental week at work I got very little done in advance. Which meant that I spent most of today (well from around 2pm to 11.30pm) trying to write a short essay. I really should not be allowing myself to get stressed over 600 words. Yes, you read that right, 600 words.

The first part of the TMA asks you to perform a mini-investigation into a word or phrase of your choice, from either a local dialect, or an existing word that has taken on a new context (think of a word like mouse - a mammal but also now a computer peripheral) and the final option, which is the one I did, an obsolete or archaic word. You would think that 600 words would be ample room to discuss one little word but when you try to relate it to your course materials those words start to run out fast. 

There are loads of other things I could have mentioned but had no space and I’m worried that I’ll lose marks for not covering them but if I did I’d be over the word limit and lose marks anyway...it feels like a lose lose situation :(

The first TMA is a nasty little assignment. Nasty because instead of submitting it directly to your tutor you have to post it online where everyone in your tutor group gets to read it. For relative novices like myself, not at all confident in their essay writing, this is not a pleasant proposition.

The second part of the assignment is where it gets sneakier. Because after submitting your own essay you then have to choose an essay by another student and write a response to it. And try to do it without offending anyone!

To complete the assignment you assemble both parts together and send them as one document to your tutor, 1200 words in all.

The official deadline for submission of part 1 is tomorrow but since I’m expecting an above averagely crazy day at work (what’s new!) I decided to get it out of the way today. Normally I’m relieved to get an essay out of the way but I’m definitely still feeling a bit wound up - perhaps an indication of too much work in both academic and professional worlds? Roll on Thursday - I have the day off and I intend to relax, relax, relax!

Sigh! I hate writing essays...have I mentioned that?

*let’s hope my tutor agrees!

Comments:

Nice that you can look forward to some time to relax after this ordeal. Such rules you must follow. Yikes. I guess it could be looked at as an exciting challenge, if there wasn’t a grade to be gotten at the end of the trip there. I bet you do well.

Posted by Lynn on 02/28 at 06:02 AM

wow that is intense! 
From what I’ve read of your words here, however, I think you have a great style and a generous intelligence ;) so I’ll bet you’ve done well! :)

But take a deep breath and know every thing we do in life (whether done well or with room for improvement) is all part of the journey.  And even though it is never a comfortable thing, it is in the moments when we don’t do as well as we would like, that we learn the most.

Blessings to you!

Posted by Monique on 03/02 at 08:01 PM

Monique, thank you for your kind words. I am looking forward to having a more mellow week:)

Posted by Bad Faery on 03/03 at 11:55 PM

<< Back to main