[Draft 1] Reader Response

Parker-Pope (2015) mentioned in her article “Writing Your Way to Happiness” that writing down thoughts and problems improves physical and mental health. It can change people's perception of life positively which makes them happier. A study done on 40 Duke University freshmen demonstrated that those who engage in expressive writing achieve better results and are less likely to quit college. Also, expressive writing allows people to identify life obstacles and tackle them.

The author’s claim on how writing down thoughts can help people identify their problems and obstacles and tackle them, is highly reasonable as identifying problems and obstacles is necessary in order to solve them. Writing thoughts and feelings down can help to clear one's mind of the problems and obstacles he is facing. By writing problems down, it can also help people change the perception they have of their problems and obstacles, from negative to positive.

Expressive writing allows people to pour out their thoughts and feelings that are disturbed by the problems and obstacles they face in their daily lives. It is often that when we are burdened with our problems we tend to hide them which can lead to emotional instabilities. Expressing thoughts and feelings by writing them down can clear people's minds from the problems and obstacles they face . To strengthen the point on the ability of expressive writing to clear people's minds and to make way for solutions, Park, Ramirez & Beilock (2014) as cited by Power (2014) in his article, demonstrated how “Writing can also alleviate students' anxiety about mathematics”. Students with high anxiety on mathematical problems and often perform badly in mathematics were made to pen down all their thoughts and feelings before the following test. The results proved that students who expressed their anxiety on the paper did as well as their peers who were not anxious before the test and in some cases, outdid their peers. From the study above, researchers suggested that students were now focused to working complex math problems. As a result, the students’ working memory will be free to allow “more of the transitory information students need to apply” to solve the math problems.

Writing down problems and thoughts can positively change people's perceptions of the problems and obstacles they face. Problems are commonly looked at as negative. As problems are being written down, negative feelings will be relieved which makes way for the positive ones. Klowsowski (2014) mentioned a quote by a “Mr Wilson” which goes, “Some researchers have developed a method where they say, if something is nagging at us, write about it in the third person so we can look at it as objectively as we can as opposed to immersing ourselves in a negative experience.” This will distance people from their original perception which help them look at their problems in a new and a more positive way. For example, problems will be seen as a challenge by people to improve themselves instead of  looking at them as a burden. Also, a study (Lyubomirsky, Kennon & Schkade, 2005) have shown that those who often reflect on their lives were more positive and motivated in their lives. The positive spirit may give people the strength to tackle their problems and obstacles in a light hearted manner.

 

[544 words]  

 

Reference:

Klosowski, T (2014, June 20). Recalibrate Your Reality. [Web log post] Retrieved from
http://lifehacker.com/5891564/recalibrate-your-reality
 
 Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon,KM., Schkade, D. (June, 2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, Vol 9(2), 111-131.
 Park, D., Ramirez, G. & Beilock, S. (2014). The role of expressive writing in math anxiety. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 20(2), 103-111.

 

Parker-Pope, T. (2015, January 19). Writing Your Way to Happiness. [Web log post] Retrieved from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/writing-your-way-to-happiness/?hpw&rref=health&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

Powers, S.K. (2014, August 7). What Writing Does. [Web log post] Retrieved from http://www.scottkpowers.com/2014/08/what-writing-does.html

[Draft 1] Reader Response Outline

Parker-Pope (2015) mentioned in her article “Writing Your Way to Happiness” that writing down your thoughts and problems improves physical and mental health. It can change one’s perception of life positively which makes them happier. Studies on American students proved who engage in expressive writing achieve better results and are less likely to quit college. Also, expressive writing allows one to identify life obstacles and tackle them. An example used was about someone who failed to achieve her goals for reasons she assumed only to discover the root of her problems when she wrote down her thoughts.

 

Thesis: The author’s claim on how writing down one’s thoughts can help him identify his problems and obstacles and tackle them, is highly reasonable as identifying problems and obstacles is necessary in order to solve them.

 

1^st Point : Writing down problems and obstacles can help us to clear our mind of the problems and obstacles we are facing.

 

Explanation of supporting idea: When our mind is clear from the problems and obstacles after writing them down, we can now focus completely on coming up with solutions to overcome them.

 

Examples or citation to supporting idea: Overcoming Math anxiety by writing down the stress and thoughts http://www.scottkpowers.com/2014/08/what-writing-does.html

 

2^nd Point: Writing down our problems and thoughts can positively change our perceptions of the problems and obstacles we are facing.

Explanation of supporting idea: As we write our problems down, our negative feelings are being relieved which allows us to make way for the positive ones.

Examples or citation to supporting idea: “Some researchers have developed a method where they say, if something is nagging at us, write about it in the third person so we can look at it as objectively as we can as opposed to immersing ourselves in a negative experience. That kind of distance can be really helpful to change our story and to look at it in a new way and give new meaning to it” http://lifehacker.com/5891564/recalibrate-your-reality

 

3^rd Point: Identifying obstacles and writing them down does not necessarily lead to the tackling of the obstacles.

Explanation of supporting idea: If the obstacles and problems are merely written down without any actions taken, the obstacles and problems will remain as it is.

Examples or citation to supporting idea: In the case of a problem like time management, we need to consult for advice or tips from others on how to manage our time wisely in order to tackle it. A problem as such require us to act upon it and not just merely expressing it on paper.

 

 

 

[Draft 1] Summary

Parker-Pope (2015) mentions in her article “Writing Your Way to Happiness” that writing down thoughts and problems improves physical and mental health. It can change people's perception of life positively which makes them happier. Parker-Pope quotes a study performed on 40 Duke University freshmen illustrated that those who engage in expressive writing achieve better results and are less likely to quit college. Also, expressive writing allows people to identify obstacles and tackle them. The author cites a story of Siri who discovered the actual cause of her failure in achieving her fitness goal.

[93 words]

 

Parker-Pope, T. (2015, January 19). Writing Your Way to Happiness. [Web log post]

Retrieved from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/writing-your-way-to-happiness/?hpw&rref=health&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=1

Paraphrasing & Summmarising Practice

A3 Paraphrasing Practice

1.       According to Crystal (1997), Latin was used during the Roman Empire due to the great amount of the power they had instead of the population size they conquered.

2.       Butler (2004) mentioned that the new reactors operate at extreme temperatures which would enhance the reactors’ performance. The safety mechanisms of the new reactors will  be user-friendly. The new reactors may not certainly require any manpower to reduce its temperature during a mishap. However, the cost to activate these reactors needs to be lower and the radioactive output should be reduced in spaces that are secured against terrorists.

B3 Summmarising Practice

1.      Sociologists uses statistics obtained by World Bank and United Nations, which were measured using indicators of the standard of living, to study a nation’s income gap. (Kendall, 2004)

2.      How a language becomes international is determine by the status of the speakers instead of the magnitude of them (Crystal, 1997).

C1 Reporting Verbs

Certain: argue, assert, believe, claim, insist, reject, allege, propose, imply

Neutral: comment, observe, note, remark, say, survey, write, mention, suggest, state, find

Tentative: examine, discuss, postulate, hypothesize

(underlined words are those that needs to be followed with a “that”)

C1 Reporting Verb Choices

 comment, observe, note, remark, say, mention,suggest, state, find, believe, claim and propose

C2 Citation Conventions

“Children conceived via assisted reproductive technology are more likely to be plagued with obesity, hypertension and Type 2 diabetes later in life (Moisse, 2010).”

Surname: Moisse                         

Date: 2010

Summary: Children conceived via assisted reproductive technology are more likely to be plagued with obesity, hypertension and Type 2 diabetes later in life

C3 Reporting Information Practice

1.       Lester (1076) asserts that students should only make a limited amount of notes in direct quotation in order to help minimize the amount of quotes used.

2.       Purdue Online Writing Lab (2013) believes that while the first half of the year has been profitable, the next six months are not expected to be as lucrative.

 

 Done by: Anvis & Hazwani

[Edited] My English Language Journey

 

I was never that child who loved reading Enid Blyton or Roald Dahl books. I recall my mum nagging to me about the importance of reading and complaining about how I never bothered opening any of those books. I spoke broken English and only used basic English in my essays whereas my classmates' essays were flooded with a wide range of vocabulary. Up till today, I regret for not having the love to read since young.

As I advanced to secondary education, I chose english literature as one of my core subjects. Attending Literature classes really changed my attitude towards reading. Even though we were only required to examine 2 texts for O Levels, my tutor consistently recommended classic novels to the class. I was really curious and interested in those classic novels which led me to buy novels such as Dracula and Frankenstein. I was amazed by the writing techniques as well as flow of the story itself. Reading classic novels gave me an insight of how life was centuries ago. Since then I have always been intrigued by classic writings and I could not bring myself to appreciate modern writers such as Nicholas Sparks.

From the new interest and love I had for reading, my English improved. I was able to write academically decent narratives. However, I still faced problems with argumentative essays which resulted in my unsatisfactory grade for General Paper. Sadly, I have been trained to only focus on achieving a good final grade. I was unable to enjoy the process of learning which led me to think that English will always be a burden in my life. My journey to improve English is still a long way ahead and I hope that ES1102 lessons will encourage me to persevere and work harder in the near future.

 

[301 words]

 

 

My English Language Journey

Just something I came across which I would like to share :)

I was never that child whom had her face plastered onto Enid Blyton or Roald Dahl books. I recall my mum nagging to me about the importance of reading and complaining about how I never bothered opening any of those books. I spoke broken English and only used basic English in my essays whereas my classmates' essays were flooded with a wide range of vocabulary. Up till today, I still regret for not  developing the love for reading since young.

As I advanced to Secondary education, I chose English Literature as one of my core subjects. Attending Literature classes really changed my attitude towards reading. Even though we were only required to examine 2 texts for O Levels, my tutor consistently recommended classic novels to the class. I was really curious and interested hence I bought books such as Dracula and Frankenstein. The flow of the writings and how the phrases are connected fluidly amazed me. When reading such novels, I feel as though I am in another era. Since then I have always been intrigued by classic writings and I could not bring myself to appreciate modern writers such as Nicholas Sparks.

From the new interest and love for reading, my English definitely improved. I was able to write academically decent narratives. However, I still faced problems with argumentative essays which resulted in my unsatisfactory grade for General Paper. Unfortunately, I have been trained to only focus on my grade at the end and I was unable to enjoy the process of learning which led me to think that English will always be a burden in my life. My journey to improve English is still a long way ahead and I hope that ES1102 lessons will fuel me to persevere thus keep heading forward.

(295 words)