Need some assistance wording a thesis. (1 Viewer)

[Ethan Costello]

Hello There,

I am a Year 11 Student and I need some help wording a thesis for my first Standard English Assessment (Or Learning Task). The topic is about change and we have to have three related pieces of text. The one I am doing are "Looking for Alibrandi", "Good Will Hunting" and "Time for Change - Ronald Reagan".

The statement and questions is:


“Experiences influence an individual to alter their understanding of who they are and the ways they see and understand things.”
How has your understanding of the consequences change been shaped by the techniques used by various composers?

This seems to me like a very difficult University Standard type statement and question.
The task is to write a 5-8 minute speech. I just need some help getting started, once I am started I should be fine. I manly have troubles with writing a thesis.

Thanks,
Ethan

 

[Kat92]

Hello There,

I am a Year 11 Student and I need some help wording a thesis for my first Standard English Assessment (Or Learning Task). The topic is about change and we have to have three related pieces of text. The one I am doing are "Looking for Alibrandi", "Good Will Hunting" and "Time for Change - Ronald Reagan".

The statement and questions is:


“Experiences influence an individual to alter their understanding of who they are and the ways they see and understand things.”
How has your understanding of the consequences change been shaped by the techniques used by various composers?

This seems to me like a very difficult University Standard type statement and question.
The task is to write a 5-8 minute speech. I just need some help getting started, once I am started I should be fine. I manly have troubles with writing a thesis.

Thanks,
Ethan

Hi Ethan,

In a way these type of questions do get you to explore academic/ university style writing. However, I can assure you that it is a HSC type of question.

What you need to do is start with a scaffold such as this one (although of course you will need to use the information that you have for the task):

1. INTRODUCTION


Position statement:

Understanding social and cultural contexts is necessary because it has a radical influence on effective teaching and it creates respect for students’ identity.

Preview of arguments:
1.Constructivist nature of learning and problems affecting students who are not from mainstream society or culture.


2.Necessity of staff understanding their own social and cultural contexts.


2. BODY


Arguments (points to be elaborated):


1. Constructed nature of learning and related student difficulties
• constructed nature of learning


• difficulties caused by social and cultural differences in classroom


• social and cultural construction of literacy


• social and cultural construction of maths and computing


• government policy concerning social and cultural contexts in classrooms


2. Staff understanding of their own contexts
• staff unlearning old assumptions


• ideological and political nature of education


• examples of staff prejudice


• understanding the contexts from which staff come can create improvements to the education system which benefit all.


3. CONCLUSION


Restatement of position:

An understanding of these contexts creates an environment where students can feel secure in their identity and learn effectively.

Overview: Understanding these contexts creates an ‘ethic of caring’ which can benefit the whole society.




From there you need to turn your essay into a speech structure. Hence, you will condense the points so that they are concise, are an integrated response and in a logical order. The SEXE structure will help with your paragraph development (Statement, Example, Effect/Technique, Evaluate).


Some sites that may be of benefit to you- http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/01/ and http://www.speechtips.com/structure-of-a-speech.html

 

[Ethan Costello]

Thank You So Much! I will endeavour to look through this and start writing my assignment in this format.

Thanks Again,
Ethan

 

[Kat92]

Not a problem, you are most welcome!

Good luck, I hope it all comes together nicely!