I want to know what an HD is too, besides a hard drive. But the article was very interesting. Scary to think that a country could be so fully in control of the information its citizens are raised on (cue the conspiracist posts saying "And you don't think that happens IN AMERIKA?!?").
My difficulties in writing academic essays, contrasted with the same difficulties by NK elites
by fulltimestudent 15 Replies latest jw friends
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Hortensia
Thanks for sharing. Interesting! If people never exercise critical thinking, they never develop it either. It withers and dies. It's a lot easier to just believe, I think, than to ask questions and maybe have to change your ideas in the face of evidence.
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fulltimestudent
Thnx for all your comments
To the queries about HD- its short hand for High Distinction, above I think 90%.
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Oubliette: what field or discipline are you trying to hone your writing skills? What level? Secondary? University? Graduate?
Let me know, I could possibly point you toward some resources that could help you develop your writing skills.
I'm an old-age undergraduate, hoping to graduate next year with a B.Arts and with majors in Chinese History, Japanese History and Ancient History with an Asian emphasis.
Which means, I will have to write three x 5000 word essays on approved topics.
At the moment I am considering the following.
Japanese: The connection between prostitution and the Kabuki Theatre.
Chinese: How Teddy Roosevelt helped the Chinese Communist Party to power in 1949.
Asian Ancient History: The north-south trade routes that were part of the Silk Road Trading Network.
All help is always appreciated.
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Oubliette
Hey, if you're getting 90% and above you're doing someting right!
Writing well is hard work, no doubt about it. One of the biggest things that I see lacking in my students' writing is evidence of clear thinking.
I work with them on the importance developing a good clear thesis statement, outlining and revising their initial drafts.
The author of the editorial you pasted above emphasized all of these things.
Here are a few resources regarding how to craft an effective thesis statment:
Thesis Statements - Writing Center, Univ. of North Carolina
- Purdue OWL: Creating a Thesis Statement
Writing Tips: Thesis Statements (Univ. of Illinois)
Check those out and see if they help.
When you have a good, well-written thesis, you are clearly focused about what you want to say and how you want to say it. Also, it helps you to determine what to put in your paper and what to leave out. Everything must support your thesis or it doesn't belong.
On the other hand, if you have a point that you feel really needs to be in the paper, but it does not strongly relate to your thesis, then maybe your thesis needs reworking.
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fulltimestudent
Thanks Oubliette, for your suggestions. They are appreciated, and the preparation of a good thesis statement is something to which I should give more attention.
The point I set out to make in this thread, was the experience I shared with the NK students and the influence of that experience on my own mind. To me it explains why I'm good at story-telling.
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Oubliette
FTS: The point I set out to make in this thread, was the experience I shared with the NK students and the influence of that experience on my own mind. To me it explains why I'm good at story-telling.
Well fiction and non-fiction are by nature two very different things. But a person can be good at both. Your conclusion doesn't follow from your premise. This is of course evidence of the point of your premise. You grew up learning to repeat colorful stories; you did not grow up learning to reason with rigor and logic.
It's never too late to learn to think clearly.