Ways of Thinking (1 Viewer)

[Ziff]

Alright, considering that all the threads here are about the electives e.g. Retreat from the Global. No one has addressed the question of the actual modules. At my school, the assessments have so far focused upon the Module Statement as opposed to the Elective Statement.

In the module statement for Module B it craps on about paradigms and ways of thinking. What does it actually mean by "ways of thinking"? None of my teachers have ever explained this properly and I don't understand what it's about. I've asked for the teacher to give a specific example and they crap on and do not answer my question.

Now, some people in the class write down a bunch of cliches, proverbs, etc etc which sums up an aspect of the plot e.g. "Greed is good" and things like that (Example is for 'The Castle'). I don't feel that this is right at all and I have no idea what is actually meant by the term.

Can anyone help or explain it? Also, how do you talk about "ways of thinking" in an essay?

 

[gloria*]

a way of thinking as I understood it is a way of looking at an issue/text--- adopting a particular view (which has conventions and rules which may or may not be agreed upon) and applying that 'way of thinking' to society, literature, history, etc. ie feminist way of thinking --> feminist reading. postmodernist / modernist way of thinking --> postmodernist / modernist reading. 'ways of thinking', in relation to the question, is really giving you the okay to discuss the characteristics of the module you're doing. comparing 'ways of thinking' would be like comparing a structuralist reading of a text with a post-structuralist reading of a text. you know? way of thinking implies yes, literary theory, but also a greater connection with society, where that understanding is influenced by society; but also, in this reflection, it influences the definition of that society and how it is viewed in relation to history.

 

[Ziff]

See, we were never told this sort of thing in EE1. I sort of understand it now if I apply ExtHist ideas to it though.

 

[gloria*]

yeah that's the way to go because history ext tends to come right out with the main concepts, because you're researching people and periods instead of muddling your way through texts and their possible associated ideas.

 

[Josie]

Damn I wish our extension teachers would *teach*. When I saw that half yearly paper with ways of thinking written on it 6 times.... blerghhhhhh. And I dropped exthist.
I've got a semi-decent explanation somewhere, should have a look. (didnt get it from school).

 

[Sarah168]

have u seen the standards package with the complete syllabus? they have it explained there i think...

 

[Ziff]

You realise Retreat from the Global has NO exemplar answers!?!

 

[Sarah168]

well then... tough luck

 

[santaslayer]

Originally posted by Ziff
See, we were never told this sort of thing in EE1. I sort of understand it now if I apply ExtHist ideas to it though.

Im guessing here, but you may want to think of it as perspectives and ideaologies about a particular issue. Context would be extremely important in this case as an individual's background (therefore context) will inevitably shape the meaning of their perspectives...?

Am I on the right track?

 

[Josie]

Originally posted by santaslayer
Im guessing here, but you may want to think of it as perspectives and ideaologies about a particular issue. Context would be extremely important in this case as an individual's background (therefore context) will inevitably shape the meaning of their perspectives...?

Am I on the right track?

Your guess is as good as ours!

 

[glitterfairy]

I'm just as lost as the rest of you..

On one hand, you have all the different readings, Feminist, Marxist, Post-Modern, Narratological etc... (if you don't know the last one, it's ok...my teacher made it up...apparently they can do that?!?!?!?! lol)

BUT... on the other hand, you have the author's personal context and their personal ways of thinking and how this affects the reader in their particular way of thinking and personal context.... to an extent this could relate to the various ideologies yet at the same time, it doesn't- for example, what is the author saying and how are they saying it and how does this influence/affect/impact the text? And this changes AGAIN when the reader reads it.

I don't agree on cliches, proverbs etc either. While I feel they are examples of ways of thinking, they are not actually saying the particular 'way of thinking' at all.

It's a bit of a funny one. Most people in my class tend to base their essays on either one or the other, as it's extremely difficult to intertwine the two without focusing too heavily on one of them. What's more important, at the end of the day I guess- is that you know different ways of looking at the different ways of thinking, and can write/talk about either one of them, depending on which you feel is most appropriate.

Best wishes!

 

[Ziff]

I opened up a sociology book and it basically used almost the exact same language as the module and elective statement. What a load of fucking bullshit! God it's AWFUL!

How are we meant to combine all that into about 6 normal (non-HSC) A4 pages anyway?!

 

[santaslayer]

LoLz, your gonna have to get used to it if you want to do Law!
Clear, coherent, concise, and precise! :uhhuh:
Word/page limits are suppose to be strictly adhered to in uni!!!

 

[Ziff]

Yeah I want word limits. My last modern history assignment NO WORD LIMITS! God I was pissed off.

I'll be able to condense something that I enjoy and I'm familiar with - law. It's hard to condense bullshit because then you've just lost half of your marks!

 

[Josie]

How much did you end up writing for modern?

P.S Half of the trick is knowing which particular bits of bullshit to condense.....

 

[KarmaKitten]

our teacher is pretty good
for each text, we looked at it from different ways of thinking.
our assessment was about different ways of thinking, all our practise essays have been on different ways of thinking
im pretty safe

 

[Persephone87]

I think context will be a good major give away eg the socital conventions in the authors time, the way the author/composer responded/adhered to those conventions through their work, how the characters work as a mouthpiece...

 

[= Jennifer =]

in sociology books what are you particularly looking at? like topics as such

 

[Ziff]

Ok, I'm going with the idea of postmodernism, postcolonialism, poststructuralism etc etc. These can all be found in the other forums though.

 

[braindrainedAsh]

Paradigms is another word for ways of thinking.... for example in the individual and society module, the paradigms of the time were the ways of thinking about wealth/status, religion, women, social institutions such as marriage

Here is a definition from dictionary.com which I think sums up "paradigms" nicely: A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.

So paradigms are products of social and historical contexts (of both the author and the subjects of the texts).

I hope this helps out a bit...