Thursday, 29 January 2015
The mumpreneur project: An excellent A2 History coursework in 13 easy step...
The mumpreneur project: An excellent A2 History coursework in 13 easy step...: 1. Stick to your word limit, it's 2000 words for a reason. Also you do not want to be penalised for writing too much. 2. In your in...
An excellent A2 History coursework in 13 easy steps
1. Stick to your word limit, it's 2000 words for a reason. Also you do not want to be penalised for writing too much.
2. In your introduction really focus on the historic event you are assessing, make explicit reference to it, supporting with statistics or relevant historic policies.
3. Clearly concentrate on your coursework question, make clear in your introduction what the different interpretation's views of this question are. Which ones you think are the most credible and why, support with historical evidence. Then make your judgement.
4. Remember at the end of the day your coursework is indeed similar to an AS History source exam. So structure it and think of it as an essay.
5. Some schools may have given you a structure for how to tackle the sources. If they have use it, it will assist the flow and structure of your essay. If they have not given you a structure, familiarise yourself with each of the interpretation. Additionally you might find it useful to start with the interpretations which support the question.
6. In your planning stages ensure you include all of the relevant quotes from whichever of the interpretations you are examining. You might find it useful to create a table for this.
7. Then you want to briefly examine or explain this quote in your own words and demonstrate how this supports the historian's interpretation or view. Again you could include this in the table in a new column.
8. Next still using your table justify and support your analysis so far with relevant historical evidence to support the interpretation. This could be another column in your table.
9. Ensure you frequently refer to and demonstrate with quotes, explanation/analysis or historic evidence the historian's crediblity, persuasiveness or demonstrate the strength of their argument. Again use the terms "crediblity", "credible argument", "credible", "supported" etc...
10. Introduce the next interpretation by noting how it is similar to the first. E.g. "Similarly " then follow the same format as before.
11. Then highlight the limitations or weaknesses of these interpretations by explaining what they have omitted or not examined.
12. Next demonstrate how the next interpretation differs from the previous interpretation, then follow the same format for this and your final interpretation.
13. Your conclusion should explain which two sources are the most credible and why, then answer the question
Best wishes with your coursework everyone.
2. In your introduction really focus on the historic event you are assessing, make explicit reference to it, supporting with statistics or relevant historic policies.
3. Clearly concentrate on your coursework question, make clear in your introduction what the different interpretation's views of this question are. Which ones you think are the most credible and why, support with historical evidence. Then make your judgement.
4. Remember at the end of the day your coursework is indeed similar to an AS History source exam. So structure it and think of it as an essay.
5. Some schools may have given you a structure for how to tackle the sources. If they have use it, it will assist the flow and structure of your essay. If they have not given you a structure, familiarise yourself with each of the interpretation. Additionally you might find it useful to start with the interpretations which support the question.
6. In your planning stages ensure you include all of the relevant quotes from whichever of the interpretations you are examining. You might find it useful to create a table for this.
7. Then you want to briefly examine or explain this quote in your own words and demonstrate how this supports the historian's interpretation or view. Again you could include this in the table in a new column.
8. Next still using your table justify and support your analysis so far with relevant historical evidence to support the interpretation. This could be another column in your table.
9. Ensure you frequently refer to and demonstrate with quotes, explanation/analysis or historic evidence the historian's crediblity, persuasiveness or demonstrate the strength of their argument. Again use the terms "crediblity", "credible argument", "credible", "supported" etc...
10. Introduce the next interpretation by noting how it is similar to the first. E.g. "Similarly " then follow the same format as before.
11. Then highlight the limitations or weaknesses of these interpretations by explaining what they have omitted or not examined.
12. Next demonstrate how the next interpretation differs from the previous interpretation, then follow the same format for this and your final interpretation.
13. Your conclusion should explain which two sources are the most credible and why, then answer the question
Best wishes with your coursework everyone.
Friday, 16 January 2015
The mumpreneur project: 4 Study Skills Tips for Undergraduates 1
The mumpreneur project: 4 Study Skills Tips for Undergraduates 1: In previous blog posts I have generally focused on the study, revision and exam skills or dissertation skills necessary to be successful in...
4 Study Skills Tips for Undergraduates 1
In
previous blog posts I have generally focused on the study, revision and exam
skills or dissertation skills necessary to be successful in your A levels or
your dissertation. Today I shall impart
some wisdom that should prove insightful and useful to all the undergraduate
students who follow or read my blog posts.
So
most of you have had or are having exams, however let us think about your
second semester for a moment. How can
you ensure you develop effective study skills during semester 2 to make sure
you are on top of all your learning, produce brilliant assignments and or
presentation and are well prepared for your second semester exams in the
summer?
1. Include
study and assignment preparation time in your timetable.
a.
Extend your
lecture/seminar timetable by including in your timetable, your study skills,
assignment preparation and revision sessions as soon as you have your semester
timetable.
b.
This will
mean you can prepare for your assignments and exams gradually over the course
of the semester, rather than leaving it all to the end.
Please see exemplar below
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9.00-11.00
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11.00-13.00
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13.00-15.00
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15.00-17.00
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Travel
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19.00-21.00
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Monday
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Research/Study ½/3
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Lecture
preparation deconstructing the problem of crime (study) 1
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Deconstructing the crime problem (lecture)
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Deconstructing
the crime problem (seminar)
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Consolidating
Notes, study skills, assignment /exam/essay preparation (study) 2
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Tuesday
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Work
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Work
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Work
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Work
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Work
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Research/Study ½/3
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Wednesday
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Psychological
research methods preparation (study) 1
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Psychological
research methods (Computer labs)
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Consolidating
Notes, study skills, assignment /exam/essay preparation (study) 2
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Research/Study ½/3
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Travel
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Lecture/seminar
preparation introducing Psychological approaches (study) 1
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Thursday
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Introducing
Psychological
approaches (lecture)
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Introducing Psychological approaches (seminar)
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Consolidating
Notes, study skills, assignment /exam/essay preparation (study) 2
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Research/Study ½/3
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Travel
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Free Time
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Friday
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Research/Study ½/3
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Work
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Work
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Work
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Work
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Work
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Saturday
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Work
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Work
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Work
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Work
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Travel
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Research/Study ½/3
/Social Life
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Sunday
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Work
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Work
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Work
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Work
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Travel
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Research/Study ½/3
/Social Life
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Timetable key
Black - General study or research, or
embedding independent research/learning for module lecture, lab, seminar, or
assignment or exam preparation.
Green –
reading ahead of and around the topic
Red – Lecture
Blue – seminar
Purple – consolidate your
independent notes/research, with lecture hand-outs/notes, seminar hand-outs/notes
and any additional notes or research for topic.
1 2. When creating you prep
notes before the lecture you will often use journals, research papers or
other textbooks, the same applies to your consolidation sessions or research
sessions.
a. It is
imperative that you reference the notes you have made to be included later in
your bibliography and include page numbers, this important to avoid accidental
plagiarism.
b. Additionally
you call also colour code your notes as done in the timetable to demonstrate
and distinguish your ideas from the author’s and your lecturer’s and again
avoid plagiarism.
1. 3. During your
lecture you will be given a hand-out, which will offer you a very basic
overview of the given topic. You should
notes to your lecture hand-out, this can be done in more of a number of ways. However, please don’t write out everything
single thing the lecturer says as you will find it impossible to absorb any
information and when reading it back later, you probably won’t remember
anything.
a.
Taping the
lecture and transcribing later or the lecture presentation may even be
available on the University’s intranet.
b.
Nevertheless
I would encourage you to develop your own short-hand technique (as I did) which
will enable you to take good and effective lecture notes and assist your
learning. You could learn short-hand,
devise your own with a key and abbreviation any long or words constantly used
in the lecture for instance, SLT= social learning Theory, CD= Child Development
or middle class = mc, working class = w/c, or civil rights =cr, politburo = pb,
between = btw etc… You may also find symbols
such as arrows useful, especially when concluding.
c.
Many
students find that hand-outs are not that useful, especially if they mirror the
lecture presentation. Additionally they
are often vague and general, lacking depth and any real insight, thus they
should be kept with your lecture notes but can be examined further after your
lecture.
d.
At your
earliest convenience during your consolidation study time, write the lecture
notes you made out in full and synthesis with information from your prep,
seminar and any other reading you have done, to make the notes and explicit and
detailed as possible to gain understanding on later reading.
e.
Ensure the notes
you take include any in-depth explanations that the lecturer provides as these
main not be on the intranet or hand-out and should give you a wealth of
understanding and insight into the topic. (These can be typed up and will be
returned to in another session)
1. 4. At the
start of each new semester you will be given a module outline for each module,
this should include a full list of topics to be covered weekly for each module,
it may also include a reading list for each week and seminar questions. (see separate PDF)
a.
I would
encourage you to use your study and independent research time as accommodated
in the timetable above to read around the topic ahead of your lecture and
seminar.
b.
Read the
texts for your topic each week, on the reading list to engage in active
learning by creating your own study notes, key study sheets, evaluation grid,
topic posters and essay mapping (these components will be examined further in a
later session).
c.
Also have
group discussions or pair discussions on seminar topics or even when preparing
for lectures to share and gain new insight and information – this can be done
face-to-face, via Facebook, google hangout, skype or any other medium you can
think off.
Tuesday, 13 January 2015
Dissertation tips day 1
By Michele Scott-Akanbi
1. Make sure you read at least 3 dissertations from the
previous cohorts, before you start your research.
The mumpreneur project: A2 OCR History F966 How to structure essays for t...
The mumpreneur project: A2 OCR History F966 How to structure essays for t...: For those of you who have studied Russia at AS clearly there is some areas of overlap -such as content, however obviously there are also so...
A2 OCR History F966 How to structure essays for this paper 1
For those of you who have studied Russia at AS clearly
there is some areas of overlap -such as content, however obviously there are
also some distinct differences. For
instance this is a 60 mark question and last year it was only 50 marks. Additionally, this year you are looking at a
100 year time frame. Finally you need to
approach these exam questions thematically and you would never have been asked
to do that previously.
I suggest joining the student room for all your subjects
and topics, posting questions, joining threads and getting other students to
give you feedback on your essays will be useful.
Additionally I also suggest that you tackle this unit
thematically, because clearly it is thematic and thus requests you to show
synthesis in your essay writing.
Moreover it is also important to not adopt a chronological approach but
rather to use a thematic approach and synthesis, thus include, evaluation
rather than merely narrative and if possible avoid adopting a narrative
approach, please also apply equally to both questions. The
examiners are looking to see in your work, meaningful comparative arguments and
better grades will be awarded if you use, direct comparison/thematic approaches. It is also important that you assess relevant
issues of continuity and change within your essay questions, to assure
allocation to the top band of the exam mark scheme.
Your introductions and conclusions should be brief and
be mere summaries of the main points discussed in your question or to be
discussed and generally just revealing what your answer to the question
is.
Last year you would have been advised to tackle your essay
questions keeping in mind political, social and economic issues. This year I would suggest in your study
skills as well as your actual exams that each individual historical event
should be broken down into its key themes, this could be done on cards, in mind
maps in your historical timeline or any other way that works for you.
As you already know in the Russia paper there are 4
themes and these are as follows: (1) society, (2) economy, (3) nature of
government & (4) war, these can be used virtually generically for most
questions that you will answer in the exams, this then should assure you essay
is both thematic and synoptic. .
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Themes
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Society
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Economy
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Nature of Government
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War
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Next week I will be tackling History coursework tips and also how to improve previous essays which didn’t achieve the result you want without completely writing your answer. I will come back to the Russia unit tips in 2 weeks time.
Also don’t forget the January sale and to look at Newsletter from last
week which include a testimonial from a former student who is now the Head of
Economics.
The mumpreneur project: We wrestle not against flesh and blood….but supern...
The mumpreneur project: We wrestle not against flesh and blood….but supern...: Recently over the past few weeks I have been encountering some odd, perplexing and confusing situations, some have left me bemused and a bi...
We wrestle not against flesh and blood….but supernatural situations
Recently over the past few weeks I have been encountering some odd,
perplexing and confusing situations, some have left me bemused and a bit
confused. Additionally since I have started this fast at Jubilee Church, I have
found myself becoming increasingly short and upset and generally overreacting
to certain situations. At the time I
have felt justified in my response, however upon discussion with my husband he
has suggested these issues should not be taken at face value and should not be
merely reacted to. Henceforth, he has
indicated that some of these situations should be reflected upon through
spiritual eyes and prayed about. Thus
today’s reading from the “Today: refresh, refocus, renew” devotional,
has reinforced or confirmed our discussions regarding to some of the issues I
have recently encountered and according to Joel Vande Werken
“But we do not pause as often to consider the
spiritual dimensions of our suffering. The apostle Paul reminds us that “our
struggle is not against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12). Rather,
we contend with demonic powers that want us to think that our circumstances,
not our hearts, are the problem.”
So I just want to remind and encourage you as I encourage and remind
myself that whatever difficult situations we find ourselves in today or over
the next preceding weeks, that we should not see these situations as black and
white, but instead ask for Godly wisdom. Whether it be that terse and odd text
message, that argument with your spouse, that difficult client and the
challenging behaviour of your child, it has little in reality to do with your
circumstance and all to do with your altitude/faith walk. Our adversary will often throw demanding,
arduous and strenuous circumstances and situations in our path, however rather
than reacting and allowing these situations to inflame and upset us and if you
are the parent of a small child or children you will understand what I am
saying, we need to take a different approach.
Nevertheless, although it is often our first response to want to just react
or rant, I want to encourage you and myself to instead pray about the
situation, to ask God to reveal to what is really happening in this situation,
to give us spiritual eyes so we can really understand the ulterior spiritual
motive of this situation.
“James 1:5
If any of you
lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding
fault, and it will be given to him.” (http://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/wisdom-bible-verses/)
Then pray that the Lord will give you Godly wisdom and show you how to
respond and reconcile this situation.
Thus, what the devil might have wanted to use to bring you to sin,
instead the Lord will use to give you spiritual insight, he will give you victory
and provide you with a testimony.
We will always encounter difficulties and trials, however as we seek the
Lord’s face and grow in Godly wisdom, we will see the blessing in the storm and
how the Lord has taught us new skills and abilities, which we can in turn use
as our testimony and share with others.
In Jesus Name Amen
Your Sister-in-Christ
Cheli
The mumpreneur project: What is authentic worship?
The mumpreneur project: What is authentic worship?: Since I began this fast last week the words “authentic praise” was been rebounding in my mind and I have been silently assessing it and mul...
What is authentic worship?
Since I began this fast last week the words
“authentic praise” was been rebounding in my mind and I have been silently
assessing it and mulling it over in my mind.
In contemporary society today, the word “authentic”, “authenticity” and
“our authenticity” is often banded about and used described people’s actions
and behaviour. However I ponder what
being authentic truly means and how is that manifested in relation to praise
and worship.
The
dictionary defines “authentic” as of undisputed origin and not a
copy; genuine. "the letter is now accepted as an authentic
document"
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synonyms:
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So
how do we translate the idea of real, genuine and bonafide into praise and
worship an what does that look like.
Well the bible says in
John 4:24
Context: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
…23"But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." 25The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us."…
…23"But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." 25The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us."…
Therefore as followers of Jesus and children
of the Most High, what is “authentic worship”, our worship was be real, not an
act or performance in case someone is watching, because guess what God is
always watching. This true authentic
worship, can and may take many different forms, reflecting who were are as
individuals, our current journey and our individual circumstances. However the key to “authentic worship” is not
the form it take or even where it happens, but the fact that it happens, It is
the fact that it is praise worthy, it is genuine and true gratitude for the
relationship we have with God through the Holy Spirt. It is real appreciation and adoration for the
Prince of Peace, whether (and especially) in times of difficulty when we
encounter difficulty or during times of grace and prosperity when we are on the
mountaintop.
Additionally, “authentic worship” is also
about being real and honest with God about who we are, warts and all, not
holding back but as one of T.D. Jakes books was famously entitled we should be
“Naked but not Ashamed” before God.
The Lord God already knows who we are so why put on a mask and hide
behind it, pretending to be someone else entire. Who knows our true selves or our authentic
selves, so our “authentic worship”, should be open honest and true.
Sometimes worship is confounded in theatrics
of praise and worship especially within the Pentecostal faith, however there is
nothing wrong with singing worships sound loudly and enjoying them. However, I want you to recall and remember
that “authentic worship” is dynamic and be different according to the
individual and your circumstances and situation. “Authentic worship” is about thanksgiving,
adoration and genuine real adoration of our Lord Jesus Christ, lived out in our
daily lives, through our circumstance and manifest in numerous ways.
…11So He said, "Go forth and stand on the mountain before the
LORD." And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind
was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but
the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD
was not in the earthquake. 12After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the
fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. 13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out
and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and
said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"… (http://biblehub.com/1_kings/19-12.htm)
Although God was only in the still small
voice that Elijah heard, he could have easily manifested himself in any of the
devices that Elijah experienced, such as the Strong wind, earthquake or a
fire. It is the same with us and our
“authentic worship”, sometimes we may worship with screaming and shouting,
listening to worship music on YouTube; sometimes silent prayer, loud singing,
soft singing, meditating upon his word, listening to a sermon, reading a bible
devotion or the silence prayer from our heart.
God is an eclectic and diversity God, he loves all forms of worship, all
he asks it that our worship is in “Spirt and in Truth” or as we would say in
modern society it is “authentic worship”.
I am a person who panics when I encounter
difficult situations, even though I should know better, God is teaching me to
remember and to teach my children that when we encounter uncomfortable
situations, don’t panic just engage in “authentic praise”. I pray that you will be as uplifted,
encouraged and reminded by these words, as I have been. In Jesus Name.
Your Sister-In-Christ Cheli
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