Staffordshire lecturer’s illustrated activity book introduces students to research techniques
Because of the time students arrive at university, it’s going to probably essaywriter have now been a couple of years since they came across an illustrated activity book.
But Writing Essays by Pictures is not any activity book that is ordinary. With a nautical theme, it casts essays as icebergs and sources as sea creatures in an innovative attempt to introduce first-year students towards the practice of academic research and writing.
Author Alke Grцppel-Wegener, senior lecturer in contextual studies at Staffordshire University, based the handsomely presented book on her essay-writing sessions with art and design students.
The book was launched this week and it is hoped that wider distribution will follow after raising nearly Ј2,000 from supporters on the Kickstarter crowdfunding website to fund an initial print run.
It opens because of the call for students to think about their essays as icebergs, with a focused argument “above the water” backed up by thinking and research below.
After that it introduces students to reading, note-taking and critical thinking strategies, inviting them to handle practical, creative activities on the way.
It shows that readers try drawing pictures in an attempt to demonstrate the level of engagement that texts require while they examine sources, rather than taking notes, and encourages students to walk a familiar route at a quarter of their usual speed while taking notes on what they see around them.
The book advises students to categorise sources by thinking about them as different sea creatures, and also to judge their rigour that is academic in for the depth at which they live in the ocean. המשך…
