In
Semester 1, 2003, ASNS 1001 Modern Asian History and Cultures
1 was fortunate to receive funding from the Competence in
Written English (CIWE) project, facilitated by a Teaching
Improvement Fund Grant at the University of Sydney. The funding
from the CIWE project provided subject-specific, individual
support for students most at risk of failing this unit of
study because of poor language and essay-writing skills. In
Asian Studies, the provision of such support was undertaken
with the assistance of the Learning Centre and the Institute
of Teaching and Learning.
The program ran for a period of three weeks and was framed
by two writing tasks, both of which were unit of study assessments.
For the first essay, all students answered the same question;
for the second, they chose one of four set questions. The
first essay was used as a diagnostic tool to assess students’
essay-writing skills, and thus their suitability for participation
in the program. In ASNS 1001, twenty students participated
and attended individual consultations once a week, over a
period of three weeks.
The
first essay was used to assess the main strengths and weaknesses
in first year essays which were addressed in the individual
weekly sessions, within the context of preparing for the second
essay. The four main areas of weakness addressed were:
1. Problems with referencing
2. Essay structure
3. Understanding the question
4. Written expression
In each session, students were shown the mistakes they had
made in these areas and how they could correct them. They
were further asked to provide essay plans and drafts of the
second essay which were also utilised in these sessions for
the purposes of addressing the problems listed above.
Samples of work from both the first and second essays, as
well as some of the writing exercises, are provided below.
These may be useful for future students in this unit of study
to understand expectations in essay-writing and to provide
exercises and links to exercises which may help to overcome
common weaknesses in essay-writing. Please keep in mind, however,
that these are examples only and should not be used as a substitute
for your own work. |
