The process of writing WA2 was quite a tedious one. Not only was the topic something that most of us are not familiar with, it is filled with quite a lot of technical details. Although we were provided with Butler’s “Nuclear power’s new dawn”, we were also required to use other relevant and recent sources to support our argument.
Personally, a lot of time was spent on researching the advantages and disadvantages of the different Generation IV reactor concepts. As we were required to present a roundtable discussion in front of the whole class, my group decided that we would present the VHTR as our choice of reactor. It was from the roundtable discussion that made us realise that we approached the question in a wrong manner. We presented the advantages of the VHTR but did not compare it to the other Generation IV concepts. After listening the other group which was attempting the same question present, we realised the importance of comparing our choice to other concepts.
Determined to avoid the same mistake in the WA2, I had to do further research into the other types of concepts. Once that was done, I was left with the task of writing the essay. In a way, it was largely similar to the General Paper essays that were required of us during the ‘A’ levels. Each paragraph is usually structured in the same way; topic sentence, supporting evidence and finally a conclusion. Through writing WA2, I have also learnt to do proper referencing to the sources I have used in the essay.
Lastly, I feel that having peer reviews can be quite helpful. Not only can we help our peers spot mistakes that they might have overlooked, it also allows for a swap of ideas which might provide us new insights into how we could improve our own essays.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Reflection on writing WA2
Writing the Writing Assignment 2 (WA2) was an important learning process that helped me practice the various academic writing techniques that I learnt earlier on in the module. I was also able to identify and correct many mistakes that I usually make when writing essays.
The topic for my WA2 was to write an argumentative essay supporting the use of a particular generation IV reactor, the Very High Temperature Reactor(VHTR). The learning points included comparing the chosen reactor to other reactors, comparing using the various aspects of the reactors and using sources to support my arguments.
Firstly, I learnt that it is important to compare the VHTR to other reactors instead of only listing out the advantages and disadvantages of the VHTR. This will enable me to further illustrate why I chose the VHTR and show that other reactors were also examined before I came to a conclusion.
Secondly, I learnt that various aspects such as the security, performance and cost aspects of the reactor have to be examined instead of being limited to only examining the performance of the reactor. This will give a more comprehensive comparison on the different pros and cons of the VHTR.
Thirdly, I learnt how to find and use relevant sources to support my argument. This was an important point as many sources are available on the internet and I had to organise the information from these sources before using the information to support my arguments.
Overall, I learnt that it is important to select valid objects to compare to each other in an argumentative essay. I also learnt how to cite and select various sources in an organized manner so that the sources are able to support my arguments.
The topic for my WA2 was to write an argumentative essay supporting the use of a particular generation IV reactor, the Very High Temperature Reactor(VHTR). The learning points included comparing the chosen reactor to other reactors, comparing using the various aspects of the reactors and using sources to support my arguments.
Firstly, I learnt that it is important to compare the VHTR to other reactors instead of only listing out the advantages and disadvantages of the VHTR. This will enable me to further illustrate why I chose the VHTR and show that other reactors were also examined before I came to a conclusion.
Secondly, I learnt that various aspects such as the security, performance and cost aspects of the reactor have to be examined instead of being limited to only examining the performance of the reactor. This will give a more comprehensive comparison on the different pros and cons of the VHTR.
Thirdly, I learnt how to find and use relevant sources to support my argument. This was an important point as many sources are available on the internet and I had to organise the information from these sources before using the information to support my arguments.
Overall, I learnt that it is important to select valid objects to compare to each other in an argumentative essay. I also learnt how to cite and select various sources in an organized manner so that the sources are able to support my arguments.
Reflection on writing WA2
WA2 was an argumentative essay that I have to write as part of the module. The writing assignment was useful as I was able to understand and learn about academic writing. In university, when one person writes an article, it serves to provide information on a certain topic and at the same time, provide an argument on why it should or should not be supported.
For my writing assignment, it is about nuclear energy being the future source of cheap electricity generation. In the process of writing, I need to read through several articles written by experts who are currently conducting research into various next generation of nuclear reactors. By reading through these articles, I also got to know how an academic writing would be structured and the way it was written. These have helped me in my writing assignment.
Finally, the most important of all is to cite the sources which you have obtained your information from. This is especially important as writing an academic piece is all about sharing information with other people. More importantly, it is to acknowledged the work of others.
In conclusion, WA2 has helped understand and at least prepare myself when the time come where I need to write an article about another topic in the future.
For my writing assignment, it is about nuclear energy being the future source of cheap electricity generation. In the process of writing, I need to read through several articles written by experts who are currently conducting research into various next generation of nuclear reactors. By reading through these articles, I also got to know how an academic writing would be structured and the way it was written. These have helped me in my writing assignment.
Finally, the most important of all is to cite the sources which you have obtained your information from. This is especially important as writing an academic piece is all about sharing information with other people. More importantly, it is to acknowledged the work of others.
In conclusion, WA2 has helped understand and at least prepare myself when the time come where I need to write an article about another topic in the future.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Reflection on writing WA2
The process of writing of WA2 is not easy due to some reasons. The reasons are the convincingness of my argument to support my thesis statement; the requirement of using very recently published sources as references for writing the essay; and most importantly the grammatical and sentence structuring issues.
Firstly, since I was writing on the promotion of very-high-temperature-reactor (VHTR) as the next generation nuclear reactor, I was not totally sure whether the readers will be totally convinced by my argument and support using the VHTR. This is because, as writers are unable to lift whole sentences exactly from any source, the actual fundamental explanation from the source may be lost through the explanation by their own words. Also, I may not have rebutted the counter-arguments as sufficiently due to time constraints and the rarity of matching sources to use.
Secondly, the requirement of using very recently published sources as references for writing the essay greatly reduces the quantity of matching sources to use. Although some sources may be dated five or six years ago, like the article “Nuclear power’s new dawn” by Delcan Butler, some information in it may be still useful up to the present time. However, the fact of being a year 2004 article, writing the essay based on those information may still raise doubts on whether it is really up-to-date. To reduce the doubts, I encouraged myself not to use too much of information from these article greatly.
Last but not least, I have carelessly made some grammatical mistakes occasionally throughout the whole essay and my drafts consist of lots of run-on sentences and issues on subject-verb agreement and parallelism as well. However with the help of my module tutor, I am able to reduce such errors to the minimum for my final WA2 essay.
Firstly, since I was writing on the promotion of very-high-temperature-reactor (VHTR) as the next generation nuclear reactor, I was not totally sure whether the readers will be totally convinced by my argument and support using the VHTR. This is because, as writers are unable to lift whole sentences exactly from any source, the actual fundamental explanation from the source may be lost through the explanation by their own words. Also, I may not have rebutted the counter-arguments as sufficiently due to time constraints and the rarity of matching sources to use.
Secondly, the requirement of using very recently published sources as references for writing the essay greatly reduces the quantity of matching sources to use. Although some sources may be dated five or six years ago, like the article “Nuclear power’s new dawn” by Delcan Butler, some information in it may be still useful up to the present time. However, the fact of being a year 2004 article, writing the essay based on those information may still raise doubts on whether it is really up-to-date. To reduce the doubts, I encouraged myself not to use too much of information from these article greatly.
Last but not least, I have carelessly made some grammatical mistakes occasionally throughout the whole essay and my drafts consist of lots of run-on sentences and issues on subject-verb agreement and parallelism as well. However with the help of my module tutor, I am able to reduce such errors to the minimum for my final WA2 essay.
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