Being admitted in the college, the early few months have really been full of fun, excitement and enjoyable. Once the days are moving on and the professors have started pacing up their speed in completing the stipulated syllabus, you really feel the heat and the push to join the rat race!
By this time, few of the
coursework have also started coming in. It is at this point that you have
started working how to complete… no wait… how to even start them???? Right?
Moreover, the professors blurt
out few words which really do not understand. While some say make your work informational others demand it to be analytical. The words like argumentative, expressive and reflective have also come to your ears at some
point or the other. You really do not know what to do with them!!!!
First of all, it is important
for you to know that all these terms indicate variant approaches to work on
academic assignments. Just imagine you are a team leader in an organisation,
thereby having 5 employees working under you. While 1 of your subordinates is
obedient enough to listen and follow your instructions, the other 2 are
stubborn and have no interest to learn. The fourth one is absolutely ignorant
of what occurs around and the fifth one knows nothing except flattering his
seniors. Now, you need to have different approaches to handle each one of them.
One particular approach will not be apt for everyone. Similarly different
assignments demand different approaches
Let’s disclose the meanings of
the approaches:
Informational: In case your professor wants
your work to be informational,
he demands your assignment to be summarised and synthesised with detailed
information depending on a particular subject. It is obvious that none of us
would prefer an adulterated whisky! It has to be neat whisky on the rocks! Each
of your sentences should be weighed with concrete facts. DO NOT USE FILLERS!
You cannot pull one concept sentence after sentence and write a huge paragraph
on it. REMEMBER if you pull a rubber band continuously, it will tear after a
point!
Analytical: When a professor asks you to
be analytical he expects you to closely examine
the relation between the different parts as well as between the parts and the whole
assignment. You need to showcase your ability to compare and contrast between
different ideas. Always REMEMBER! Your work should not be a patchwork of information.
It should link between each of the tasks and even in its entirety.
Argumentative: Be careful this time! If your professor
stresses to make your assignment, it means he wants to judge your ability of
making a stand in either of the sides and then backing up your claim with
concrete facts and evidences. Developing an argumentative paper is not same as quarrelling
with your friend over a trivial issue like colour of the bike!
Expressive: In order to make your paper expressive, you need to
concentrate on the significance and applicability of personal experiences. You
can give details of the personal experiences (considering yourself to be
the learner).
Reflective: Simply focussing on the term, it is clear
enough that reflective approach refers to the reflection
of the obtained knowledge. In fact, it stresses on the learner’s ability to
view the experiences on a retrospective note and then signify what has been
learnt from them. It is all about learning processes involved, the contribution
of the obtained knowledge in making developments in a learner. It refers to
personal and professional development.
Please note, you are not
supposed to write about the experiences; rather you have to write what you have
learnt from those experiences!
Since you are well-acquainted
with the approaches now, therefore you know which style can be applied where!
DO NOT be scare anymore!
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