I am writing this one day after I finished my report. After all the difficulties I have faced during the year, and after the great help, I have received from my supervisor and tutors I am happy and proud of the report I have written. I have to say that I first felt worried when I was introduced the coursework, the fact that I have never done something like this scared me because I did not know if I was going to be able to do what was required, but at the same time, I felt motivated about writing a quality report.
Once I decided my topic and it was approved by my supervisor I decided to start with my research, I tend to do my research and writing at the same time, but for this assignment, I decided that was better to research first and then start writing after having a significant number of sources, because I was advised to do so and because I felt it was the most efficient way to complete a quality assignment.
I have to say that I first panic because I was not able to find what I wanted directly, and I started thinking to myself that the topic I picked was a bad choice. I also have to say that I have never been good finding sources, and probably that made me feel less confident about my research but after facing some difficulties I managed to run a complete research.
After doing my research it was time to start writing, I was confident that my sources were good enough to start and I started the assignment extra motivated. Soon doubts and difficulties showed up but getting some advice from my supervisor helped me to stop panicking and keep motivating myself. I tried to make as much advantage of my supervisor as possible, mainly because it was the best way to solve doubts and find answers for the questions and because his support made me feel confident in continuing with the report.
When I was writing I was realizing it was not going to be as easy as I thought, especially when I reach the last part of my report. I have to say that the critique on sources is probably one of the hardest sections on an assignment I have ever done. I remember that when I finish this section my feelings about it where all negative, however now I have a different perspective. I think the section is not as bad as I felt when I finished it.
While I am writing this reflection, I am realizing how many things I could have improved throughout the year to make my report better. Considering what I have done well and what I have done wrong on the assignment gives me the chance to improve in my future assignments.
Learning log
Week 10:
During this first week, we haven´t had a workshop because it was the first week. The lecture was a detailed presentation of the module and its assignments. Mainly focusing on the coursework. It was a great help to find out what we need to do for the coursework and start organizing our ideas.
This week we have also been asked to complete a critique analysis in order to form part of the workshop next week. I don´t feel too confident about this task, as we have not done loads in the past, but I reckon it will be helpful to improve our critical writing for the coursework.
Week 11:
During our first workshop, we have been marking three critical analyses from other classmates. I think this exercise has been helpful because as I was marking these critical analyses I was comparing them with mine in my head at the same time. So, it helped me to identify the weaknesses and strengths of my work in comparison with these pieces of work.
During the lecture, we were introduced to all the supervisors and they gave us details about their specific areas. This lecture it´s been really useful for me because it has helped me identify which topics I am interested in and which ones I have definitely discarded for my piece of work.
Week 12:
During this second workshop, we have been doing some research on topics for our coursework. It has been really interesting because it was a good way to exchange ideas with my classmates and tutor and I have found some interesting areas to focus my work on. After this workshop, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do, so I can say this workshop it´s been the most helpful for me until now.
This week we have also had the opportunity to get our marks back from the critical analysis we wrote during the first week. This has been a great help to identify the weakness of the piece of work I wrote and to know what extra things I need to include next time I write a critical analysis. Overall, I feel happy about my result on this critical analysis, because even when I have missed writing some things on the work, most of the areas on my piece of work were really strong.
The lecture it´s been on research and key points to remember at the time to start doing our workshop. I feel happy because I always struggle with research and this help will be good for me at the time to start researching for the coursework.
As you can see this week it´s been really complete, we have done loads of things and I feel like all of them have been really helpful.
Week 13:
During this week workshop, we had to do a small presentation to introduce our topic to the workshop tutor. At this point, I have most of my ideas clear, so I did not struggle to make this little presentation. The tutor has helped me to identify which points of my topic are not really clear yet and to know where I can focus my research on to get the maximum of the topic. After this session, I can say I know perfectly what I am going to do, so I can say I am really happy with this session.
This lecture has been on how to use our supervisors effectively, what it has been helpful because I did not know exactly how we are meant to use the supervisor and it has helped me to clarify some doubts. We have also given feedback from the module.
Week 14:
During this week workshop, we were presented with some guidance on how to prepare the topic proposal. After this, we spent the rest of the workshop trying to find relevant articles and information for our piece of work. Now that I already have my topic chosen and I have done some research I feel quite confident about my work.
The lecture was divided into two parts, the first part of it we had a talk from a guest speaker, he told us about his postgraduate job, and about the importance of this module on his job. After that, we had guidance from the lecturers on the different works we are going to do this year.
On Friday, we received our topic supervisor and I feel quite happy with this, as I´ve been lucky with the election and I feel like my supervisor could give me a big help.
Weeks 15 and 16:
During these two weeks, the objective was to start preparing the topic proposal which is due on the 27th of November. We received our supervisor last week, so my intention was to have my first supervisor meeting during these two weeks, this is why I emailed my supervisor as soon as possible and I arranged the first meeting in the 7th of November. This first meeting had a duration of around thirty minutes and it was beneficial for me. When I went to the meeting, I had my idea pretty clear and some articles that I had found useful, but I did not have the scenario created and I did not feel really confident on how to link my idea to a scenario. My supervisor helped me to create this scenario and gave me some useful tips on how to complete a quality topic proposal. These two weeks have been important for me as I have been able to get enough information and tips to create my topic proposal. After these two weeks, I am really confident about how I want to do my topic proposal and I have no doubts about my topic idea.
Weeks 17,18 and 19:
During these three weeks, the objective was to complete the topic proposal that was due on the 27th of November. I had the supervisor meeting the weeks before what allowed to have a clear idea of how to complete the topic proposal. I had some doubts during these two weeks that I solved emailing my supervisor and Susan. I did not know about the importance of the timescale on the topic proposal, and I felt like I was just focusing on proposing the idea and I did not give enough importance to this part of the proposal, but after having a conversation with Susan I realized about the importance of this part and I will focus more on it.
I feel quite confident about my topic proposal and I believe I did a good job while writing it. I included everything the proposal was asking for what makes me think that topic proposal was quite complete, including enough information to give a clear idea of the scenario of my question and the information that my piece of work is going to include. Overall, I feel really happy about how my topic proposal went, and I feel confident enough to start focusing on my final piece of work.
Weeks 20 and 21:
During these two weeks, my objective was to have a clear idea of how I am going to start my project and how I want to develop my topic. We had a lecture on ethics during the first week that I found really beneficial to have an idea on the topic because until that lecture we never had a lecture based on ethics and I believe it was useful.
The second week we have a session with Susan instead of the lecture, during the session she gave us tips and asked some questions to solve doubts on the project. This session was useful for me, it helped me to solve some doubts and it give me an idea on how to structure my coursework. During these two weeks, I have also done some research on my topic and found some useful articles that I can use. This has made me feel happy and confident because I am starting to see things are starting to work out. In conclusion, these two weeks have been really useful for me and I feel more confident than ever to continue with my project.
Christmas period (Weeks 22, 23, and 24) :
Christmas period has been tough in terms of the dissertation because it is important to remember that I have three exams right after Christmas, what has now allowed me to complete as much work as I would have liked. My objective during the period was to start writing because I already had a significant amount of research done in order to start writing. Therefore, I decided to focus on the introduction as the first thing to write, and I have been able to finish it.
I have to say that I was expecting to get some more work done during Christmas period, but the truth is I have not been able to find the time because I have struggled with my revision more than what I thought. I am still confident about my piece of work because I have my ideas clear, but I feel a bit more stress about the amount of work I have completed.
Exams period (Weeks 25 and 26):
During the two weeks of exams period, I did not have any time to do any work on the coursework because my first exam was on the first day of the period and my last exam has been on the last day of the period. I am really stressed because I feel like I am not meeting the deadlines I scheduled for my topic proposal, so I know the following weeks I must put some extra effort on the coursework if I want to meet my objectives.
Week 27:
This has probably been the busiest week for me so far in terms of coursework. The reason as I said is that I did not do enough work during the Christmas period and I was running behind on my timescale. First thing I did was to contact my supervisor in order to arrange our second meeting, and we both decided to do it next week, as that gave me some time in order to complete a significant amount of work and create myself more doubts and questions to get his help.
After this week I completed almost 25% of the coursework, the competition of this much amount of work has made me feel more confident and relief my stress. I did not find loads of difficulties on it because as it was the first part of the coursework and I had complete research done it was not hard for me to start writing.
Week 28:
The meeting I arranged with my supervisor was supposed to be this week on Friday, but the campus was closed due to the weather, so we had to rearrange the meeting for next week. It has been annoying for me because I had some doubts I wanted to solve in order to keep going with my report, but at the same time, it has let me some more time to keep working and find out more questions or doubts to discuss with my supervisor.
This week we did not have a lecture, so that hour was free for independent study, but the tutorial was really useful to understand the criteria for the coursework and for the reflection. This tutorial was probably the most useful we have had in my opinion because the criteria is something essential that I do not understand completely for certain assessments so for me it was a big help and a relief at the same time.
As we had Friday off this week due to the weather I took advantage of this situation and kept working on the coursework. I had face some difficult situations as I am not sure on how to structure the report. I believe the content I have been including is rich, but I have doubts on how to structure the information. I have also encountered some trouble in determining which information I need to include, and which information is not necessary. Overall, I am still happy on how things are going on and I am hoping to resolve my doubts during the meeting with my supervisor.
Week 29:
This week has been key for the process of my report, as I commented last week I was struggling with the structure and the information that I needed to include in each section of the report, but during the meeting I had with Bola I solved all of these doubts, what has allowed me to keep writing the report smoothly and has also made me relieve the stress I was feeling due to these doubts. After this week I can say I am confident in writing my report and I believe the final report could be what I was looking for since September.
Weeks 30 and 31:
These past two weeks have been intense for me as my intention was to complete the report to discuss final doubts with my supervisor and complete the reflection during week 32.
I have to say that things have not gone as smoothly as I thought after my second meeting with Bola, and I have encountered some doubts and difficulties while writing the report that I am hoping to solve next week during my meeting.
As I see the deadline of the assessment closer I am becoming to stress a bit more and I keep asking myself if I am doing things right, but in terms of the timescale I prepared for my topic proposal I am almost meeting every deadline what makes me feel confident.
Week 32:
At the beginning of the week, I was about to finish the report, I just had some doubts I needed to solve on my last meeting with my supervisor. During the meeting, I presented Bola my introduction as I thought it was one of the weakest sections on my report, and together we discussed which improvements could be made to make it look better. I also had some doubts on how to critique the sources on the relevance and reliability question, but all doubts where solved after Bola gave me some advice.
After the meeting, I completed the changes and I used the advice that I obtained from Bola to complete the relevance and reliability section. At the end of the week, the report was finished.
Currently, I feel happy because I have managed the deadlines efficiently to finish the report and, but I still have the feeling I could improve some points of the report, so from now until Wednesday my objective is to try to improve the weaknesses of the report and write the reflection.