Essay Structure Help - RFTG (1 Viewer)

[scuba.me]

I have my trial on Tuesday... yeah i know... it sucks.

I HAVE been studying though, but i was just wondering what exactly should be going into our essays?? And how they should be structured??

I'm doing Retreat from the Global.

Can anybody help with me with essay structure??

Also,

From the syllabus it says:

HSC Extension 1 Outcomes
A student explains different ways of valuing texts.

and...


Students explore the ways that values are inscribed in particular texts and how they are reflected by texts. They consider whether and why texts are valued in their own time. They also consider why and by whom those texts are valued today.

From the Hsc online it says:
Readings

Students should acquaint themselves with the views of various theorists such as Jean-Francois Lyotard... blah blah blah

How do we incorporate this into our essays??

Thanks!!!!

 

[scuba.me]

Oh, and also, i can't seem to find the resource list. My computer is a little stupid at the moment.

Can anyone give me a link to it?

Thanks!

 

[glitterfairy]

rambling

Your first point of call is to answer the question. So if it says something like "How has your notion of values been affected by studying the RFTG module?" then you instant reaction is ______________________ (insert opinion here).

Of course, you can't answer an essay question with a one-sentence answer

So you have to branch out a bit. What examples/issues/concepts etc can you pull from the texts to support your opinion? Please note the use of support your opinion[/I]. This is not Eng Adv where you pull as much from the texts as you can possibly remember - there's a lot more focus on how you answer the question.

It's a bit hardcore to leap straight into "form an opinion then provide examples from the texts to support this argument" so let's try another exercise instead.

Simply because I'm bored/have just eaten some AMAZING strawberries (ie I've had sugar! haha), I'm going to call this "pull an example and look at the HOW and WHY". I'm not sure what text you're studying, but for the purpose of this exercise let's look at Heaney's poem entitled Digging.

What have we pulled? "Digging" by Seamus Heaney. It's a poem where he idolises his ancestor, who was a peat-cutter (or something like that)

How is this done? There's lots of alliteration, imagery, yadda yadda (insert various techniques and their appropriateness/value here)

Why is this done? *this is where you get a lot of scope for personal opinion* In a world where our heros are sportstars and film stars and basically anyone clever enough or pretty enough to endear themselves to the world. In the poem, a simple peat-cutter looks as cool as a rock god. Oooooh ahhh, how awesome! Now *I* want to be a peat-cutter when I grow up! (ok, maybe not really) But let's think about it. Why would Heaney make his forefather look so awesome? Could it be because he's delusional, or might it be an attempt to make the world see that the "local" heros of old are worth considering? (bear in mind that Heaney is one of the most famous poems and basically anything he writes gets read by a LOT of people)


Well, isn't this interesting. So now we've read a poem, been affected by it, and given a bit of thought to how and why Heaney might have written it (if there's a lack of specifics here, it's because I hate spoonfeeding. I'd much rather you come up with "answers" of your own, or discuss them here and I'll give you the "getting warmer/getting colder!" deal). So now, let us adapt what we have here to the original question I posted earlier, ie "How has your notion of values been affected by studying the RFTG module?"

There's two - three actually - you need to know here. This is why they give you reading time - it's time to digest the question and break it down

a) You'll need to know what YOUR values are. They could be things like "get rich quickly and buy three cars so I look cool", or "stay close to my family forever", or "find the cure for cancer and help achieve World Peace". Whatever rocks your boat.

b) You'll need to know the values Heaney presents/shares (because after all, the question states VALUES and we are looking at Heaney )

c) You'll need to know how your values CHANGED after studying Heaney. Maybe you haven't changed a bit and the module bores you to tears (if this is the case, then unforuntunately you're not allowed to say as such and will simply have to pretent), maybe you've been converted into a "Heaney fan" and plan on sharing his poetry to change the world. Or maybe you're just much more aware of local communities and are more open-minded as a result of studying RFTG. Whatever your opinion is post-change, THIS IS WHAT YOUR ESSAY IS BASED ON. You draw on examples to support this opinion - which is ALWAYS relevant to the essay question. Don't get overexcited and loose the plot - something my teacher suggested we do was to write the essay question at the top of every single page to remind us what we were supposed to be talking about in the essay (however you can also just get yourself into the habit of constantly flicking back to the exam paper to remind yourself). You would be suprised how many people loose the plot and write a beautiful essay that doesn't answer the question (this is where generic pre-memorised essay writers loose out). You MUST MUST MUST answer the question!




And now onto the second part of the OP's question.

From the syllabus it says:

HSC Extension 1 Outcomes
A student explains different ways of valuing texts.

and...


Students explore the ways that values are inscribed in particular texts and how they are reflected by texts. They consider whether and why texts are valued in their own time. They also consider why and by whom those texts are valued today.

From the Hsc online it says:
Readings

Students should acquaint themselves with the views of various theorists such as Jean-Francois Lyotard... blah blah blah

How do we incorporate this into our essays??

I think I've covered most of the first half. RFTG is a nice, compact module - you have a pretty good chance of knowing that almost every question they ask you will be about the comparison of local/global perspectives and values raised. Literally - break things down. Go through every single text you study and ask yourselves "what has this author written?" then "how have they written it?" (look at techniques, remember that different techniques will make things look and feel different" then "Why have they written this in this way?" (think about their background, their own values, what they know about their intended audience etc etc. No writer is dumb enough to write something for their own amusement and try to sell it off to a publisher. They've written your prescribed texts for a damn good reason - consider that!)

I'd ignore the HSC online thing for now (sorry Mr E). Whilst I think it's a good thing to have, most people haven't covered the whole theorist thing and that's really a uni-level essay thing anyway (where you pull other people's opinions to support your own, even if it means you have to argue that your opinion is more valid ie Dr Frankenstein says ___________ however I argue that it is invalid due to ______ and therefore my theory of ______________ is far more appropriate due to ___________). You'll be able to get top marks without drawing in other people's opinions



EDIT: BOS Resources are avaliable from the main Bored Of Studies page. You may be suprised to know this, but the forums are NOT the main page. You are currently on http://www.boredofstudies.org/community, if you go to http://www.boredofstudies.org you should be able to navigate to the resource section with relative ease

I believe there is a link to the main page on the main forum page somewhere, but it's in a weird place (ie right at the very bottom, or something like that).

 

[scuba.me]

grr. i can NEVER get the resources downloaded. my computer keeps telling me i need to log in before i can access it, even though i AM logged in.

any ideas??

and thank you SO much for the essay help - very helpful

 

[glitterfairy]

Have you tried logging in again? It could be that the BOS forums and main site aren't totally linked (I remember they used to have a problem with Bigblogger because of this, and then the coding was fixed). If you've tried logging in from there and still no luck, might be worth pming an admin or writing up something in contact mods forum about it

Something else - by all means, feel free to bounce ideas around about RFTG both in this thread and this forum eg "do you think I'll be screwed if I try to say _______? How do you think it could be improved?" The more of a "grip" you have on what you're trying to say, the better you will be at retaining it AND refining it on the spot, even in stressful exam conditions

But otherwise - good luck in your Trials!