summer days

Presentation for the position paper and my research paper

My presentation for the position paper is postpone to the week after the holiday. However, our assignment had been submitted the week before the holiday. I wonder why do we still need to present our position paper if we had handed in the assignment. There will be no changes can be made any more. I think it is kind of wasting the time. May be the time could be use for us to do our research paper.
For the research paper, we were suppose to have meeting with the supervisor on the Tuesday but it is postponed to next week. In writing this paper, I am very confused how are we going to write this paper. Some people said we need to devide into parts but when i read the example online or form the printed material, it is not devided into part. So, now i am not really sure which to follow. I wish that i can get a sample of a researsch paper. During the last holidays, i managed to find information that are related to my topic. But i have yet to analyze the information.

This week I didn’t have discussion with our supervisor because we have 3 assignments to be handed in this week. Furthermore, next week is a Chinese New Year holiday or semester break and I will be going back on Wednesday. For this research paper, I have finally decided to do on author, Kate Chopin. I want to analyze how her background inspires her to become a feminist writer. So, I will find more information about her during the holidays such as her biography, history of Creole society, background of feminism and commentaries or critic about her and her works. Finding her works will be not a problem for me as I have bought The Awakening and other short stories last semester. After reading through all these I will write a proposal of how I am going to conduct this research. Honestly, I am not really sure of how to write a proposal. So, I plan to write a short paragraph on every heading that the supervisor told us. I hope I will manage my time properly as I also have other assignments to do and celebrating the New Year.
As for the position paper, I have finished it. However, the presentation is postponed to week 8 which is the week after the holiday. I have been told that in this presentation, we just need to state out thesis statement, out topic sentences and also some supporting details to support our stand. So, I thought we just need to stand in front of the class and present our points. Luckily, before I went back to my holiday, my friend told me that we have to prepare PowerPoint for the presentation. Besides, for this presentation, I feel a bit worried of me unable to answer the questions posted by my friends or my lecturer. I hope I can explain well enough to persuade them to agree with my stand.

How to do the research paper!

I had been thinking for the whole week after the last meeting. In the next meeting which is tomorrow, we have to show our proposal to the supervisor. In the proposal, we have to state our topic, objective, and method of how we collect, major concern and the implication in ESL classroom. Isn’t it sound like you are doing a scientific research? I am very confused. What the method mean in doing a research paper on literature. Is it like you have to use formulas to calculate the finding? Sound wired, right? It has been bothering me. I asked almost everyone what method means in writing a research paper in literature. No one could answer my question because we are the only group that as started our research paper. Luckily, we have started earlier as we will have more time to think of what we want to do and how we want to do. Since my problem cannot be answer by anyone, so I just drafted out an outline of what I want to do and how I will arrange my paper.

On the second meeting, I presented my outline to my supervisor. He agreed with what my idea. In this meeting, my supervisor allowed us to use only one text that we had studied before. The second text must be something new. This definitely makes my life earlier as I just need to analyze only one text. However, my doubt is not answered in the discussion. After the discussion, I asked my friends what does method means. Finally, my doubt had been answer. He asked me to read the guide to write a research paper. It will give a better understanding of what a research paper is. I felt I am a fool because I never make use of the books I have. The books are too wordy that is why I dislike reading the books. Books that are wordy are the place that you can find a lot of information.

I had forgotten that the name of this course is Readings and Project Work for Teaching Literature in ESL Contexts. This course is about reading. So, I have read more.

My first meeting with my supervisor
Today 30th Jan 2007 was my first meeting with my supervisor. My supervisor is Dr. ghazali. He had taught us in second year of my degree course. He is a good lecturer as e is willing to help if you have trouble. He has many great ideas too. In the meeting he brief us about what should we do based on his past experiences of being supervisor for the same research paper. Later, he asked what topic we will do for this paper. One of my friend said he will do comparison of two literary texts by one author. The second question that my supervisor asked was have you studied the text before. I think all of us are planning to do the texts that we have studied during our degree course. After he said we should not analyze the texts that we have learned before, disappointment appeared on everyone face. If we are to choose new texts, we have to take a longer time to analyze the new text. Beside, it will be hard to get the literary texts. May be I need to buy the text as we can’t get the online. I wonder how much time do we have. We also have other assignments to do and many tests too, and personal stuff such entertainment. All works and no play make Jack a dull boy. I hope I can manage my time properly. I plan to do on an author who has a consistent theme in his or her writing. Our next meeting is on the coming Tuesday. We need to show the topic that we will do and how we are going to analyze the texts.

The journey continues……

I had my thesis statement correct last week. During the weekend, I drafted out the points to support my stand which men in Blanches life shatter her world of illusion and causes her to become insane, but not her inability to accept the reality that lead her to insanity . I plan to do this position paper according to the male characters that appear in Blanche’s life. This way of arranging the points will be easier for me to discuss how a particular male character contributes to Blanche’s insanity. First, it is her relatives. Second is her young husband. Third is Mitch, the man whom she wishes to marry. Fourth is Stanley, the brutal brother-in-law. On Tuesday class, our tutor asked one of my friends to write out the thesis statement and the supporting details. The tutor disagreed of the way the points were written. We have to write a topic sentence for every paragraph. Now only I know there are so many procedures in writing just a position paper. I think for the coming research paper will have more procedure and rules to follow. I tried to write out my topic sentence for each paragraph. Two accepted and three have to rephrase. Tonight I will think of how to phrase my topic sentences and come out with the supporting details.
Writing position paper is kind of interesting as it needs us to start of with writing a thesis statement which I thought it is a waste of time when learned it in college, then we have to write topic sentence.