I‘m proud. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud of myself as I am right now. I can certainly say this is the proudest achievement of my life: receiving my Bachelor of Arts (English) degree. Four years ago, I embarked on my my university journey starting at the Open University at the age of 19, at the beginning of this never did I think that I would be graduating with a first class degree, let alone a first class degree from a top-ten university. 




I am not going to lie - It was tough. Studying is tough. It is definitely the hardest thing I have done to date, but the most worth while. It had many ups and downs, stresses and illnesses getting in the way like hurdles. I have learnt a lot, read a lot, written a lot and cried A LOT! But I can proudly say  I am officially a graduate! 




The ceremony itself, is now such a blur. It all went so quickly! I walked up the stage nervously, my name was called out and all I could think was 'do not trip over on stage in these silly high heels' as I walked towards Seb Coe. Luckily, I didn't trip over and it was all ok in the end! 




It was a lot of hard work, but it just goes to show that anything is possible if you put your mind to it, believe, dream and work hard. 

This year has been a very challenging and difficult year, perhaps the hardest one yet. It is the year that I lost both my grandparents and then wound up in hospital myself with a kidney infection. Subsequently, this hospitalisation had a detrimental effect not only on my health and general well-being, but also my university work. I missed countless lectures and seminars, and the few I did attend towards the end were cut short by me having to go home in pain.

As a result of all this, I had to complete my third year final university essays over the summer holidays: Modernisms, Neo-Victorianism, and my dissertation. Needless to say, not been able to attend the lecturers, I was extremely concerned about the level of my abilities, and the overall grade I would achieve.

It took me quite a while to write these essays, longer than usual. I had to read all the relevant books (Neo-Victorian books in particular proved to be challenging due to the length of the novels), research the topics intently as I missed the lectures, and then sit down to write the essays. Whilst this is the usual process for writing an essay, it proved to be more challenging than expected due to the re-occuring bouts of UTIs, pain (around the kidneys) and the sheer exhaustion I was suffering.



However, I battled on and I finally completed all my essays. To my surprise all my hard work paid off and I can now say that I am going to be graduating with a FIRST CLASS honours degree in English! I still cannot quite believe it, even now! After transferring to Loughborough from the Open University into the second year, the odds were already stacked against me. It was a daunting process transferring, I did not know anybody and I did not know the brick-university conventions. I remember the summer before starting at Loughborough, I was in Romania asking Alex about university and wether or not I should transfer - I was very nervous about the whole idea, as I did not know what to expect! However, I am so glad that I took the leap and transferred! I never thought or dreamed that I would end up with a first class degree.


However, if it was not for the help of my personal tutor at university, I do not think that I would have been able to get through all of this at all - let alone achieve a first! She was like my rock, she was honestly amazing: she supported me endlessly; she was beyond kind and caring; she calmed my nerves and worries; told me to rest when I was still poorly and sent me get well soon cards, which I still have sat on my desk in my room - and which inspired me whilst writing my essays! I owe her so much, she is the light that kept me going. When you have to write personal statements for university (especially for teaching courses) and they ask, 'who inspires you?' and 'who do you aspire to be?', the first person in the education sector that comes to my mind is her. I hope that one day I too will be able to help others the way that she has helped me.

Roll on graduation. . .

Is it bad to feel depressed on your birthday? I mean I've suffered with depression now for as long as I can remember - but on today of all days...

These notes are from the Study Skills section of the OU website.

I wrote these notes down in my notebook in order to help me write my essays for the TMA's. However, I have also decided to write them here too incase I missplace the notebook or decide to write an essay in the local libary and don't have the notebook at hand. This way I can always have these notes.

Writting Essays

*Intro ~> Body ~> Conclusion*

Intro:

Body: 

Conclusion:

Other points from the videos on the study skills:

* Always write an essay plan

^ Key words or key themes that will trigger off other issues and notes

* Mindmaps are a good way to organise notes

* Write the question on a card and put it infront of you so that you have it with you 24/7

PLANNING:

Evidence you need:

Planning the essay by draft:

...planning...planning...planning....

Other things that will help:

* Read broadsheet newspapers and look at the bits where there is comments and editorials and see how it is draffted like an arugement

* think of it as an arguement

* divide up your word count

Checking the draft:

Things to think of when reading it through:

Perhaps also get someone else to check it for you and see what they think!

Second Draft

Aim: to improve on the first draft

Personally, I think that writting the drafts would be easier on a computer. Why? - because it will be easier to re-edit the work into the second draft, to add in bits you've missed and so on.

With all these notes and information I hope to be able to write good essays! :)