Okay, I’ve only got about 10
minutes to write something.
Yesterday I met my personal tutor, who was very helpful and friendly to me. She offered a lot of guidance and advice to help me get over with my worries. Oh, I almost forgot, I need to set up an appointment with Ms. Monaghan, and send the tasks and schedule to my tutor, Miss Johnson as well. Living and studying here is almost completely novel experience. I got to be strict with my date and time, I had to give myself at least 3 tasks a day. I need to read books every single day because those books are essential preparations the upcoming discussion. A couple of days ago I received an email from Prof. Abrahams and I thought it was the assignment that I need to complete my analysis. It turned out that I misunderstood the task. All I had to do was just to read it and find out the strengths and weaknesses of the article and cast my own voice, in other words, my opinions towards this article in various aspects. I could think of several examples such as reliability and validity of the research, in particular the methodology, the process of researching, the samples and population of the research whether they are relevant to the points being mentioned in the author’s report. Yup, that’s how it goes, but I was a little overwhelmed at that time, so I somewhat exaggerated the assignment. I suddenly connect the mid-term test with the assignment given, hence the nervousness of how the assignment should be done.
Yesterday I met my personal tutor, who was very helpful and friendly to me. She offered a lot of guidance and advice to help me get over with my worries. Oh, I almost forgot, I need to set up an appointment with Ms. Monaghan, and send the tasks and schedule to my tutor, Miss Johnson as well. Living and studying here is almost completely novel experience. I got to be strict with my date and time, I had to give myself at least 3 tasks a day. I need to read books every single day because those books are essential preparations the upcoming discussion. A couple of days ago I received an email from Prof. Abrahams and I thought it was the assignment that I need to complete my analysis. It turned out that I misunderstood the task. All I had to do was just to read it and find out the strengths and weaknesses of the article and cast my own voice, in other words, my opinions towards this article in various aspects. I could think of several examples such as reliability and validity of the research, in particular the methodology, the process of researching, the samples and population of the research whether they are relevant to the points being mentioned in the author’s report. Yup, that’s how it goes, but I was a little overwhelmed at that time, so I somewhat exaggerated the assignment. I suddenly connect the mid-term test with the assignment given, hence the nervousness of how the assignment should be done.
Well, come to think of it again,
I felt like I should do something like that. Indeed, writing a critical
analysis is an important part of being a good researcher. This is also a good
way to help me enhance my critical thinking skill as well as my academic
writing skill. The only problem here is I do not know how can I know that those
skills I’m practising are progressing or improving day by day? Fortunately,
there are a lot of support from my university. Firstly, it’s from my tutor who
was excellent in her skills of mentoring her mentee. She demonstrated how
should a critical analysis be done in front of me persuasively. By that I find
it easier to understand the concept and start working immediately. Secondly,
each course school has one or two academic subject librarians who is also a
great source of referencing. Normally, I will have to struggle a lot with
finding the right material and stuff to read and waste a lot of my time. But
the subject librarians would help you complete that task easily. He or she will
show you how to read selectively and critically different books and choose the
right books for your module. Also, some of the assignments that require a few
preparations for the seminar or something like that would be discussed
thoroughly with the subject librarians to get myself ready and grasp the gist
of the books. Thirdly, I can take advantage of the English Language Centre from
the university. That is, every now and then if there is something I am stuck
with my writing in terms of grammar, word choice and so on, I could go to the
centre and they will give me helpful advice and correction with care. This
would dramatically increase my ability in writing academic paper in English.
I wonder when I return in
Vietnam, I would forget these things or not. Whatever may come but I’m pretty
sure that if I go on maintaining this good habit of writing, including both
informal and formal style, it would be deeply rooted in my mind and my hand for
sure. I need to take notes of every experience I have got here to learn and to
imply in my own country, but I need to adapt to the situations. That’s how it
should be. I personally find mentoring and tutoring so interesting. My personal
tutor has inspired me a lot to become a tutor for my future students. I would
study carefully this subject so that in the future, I will set up again the
tutoring and mentoring system in my university, and, it might be further that
the role of mentors or tutors will spread in Vietnam. Oh, what a big dream I am
having, it is sure that the path is not so easy to take, but to make a change,
I need to set the pace. Alright, wake up mate, it’s time for you to go now. Let’s
post this on the blog and get ready to go!
Oops, need to include some
pictures as well.
