Reflection (24/3/12-30/2/12)

This week, we completed our BISP essays and I rewrote my whole essay as my previous thesis statement was vague and I couldn't find strong topic sentences to support my thesis statement. After carefully planning out a clear thesis statement, I was then able to write the essay with more eloquence. I also learnt how to include a bibliography with my essay for the first time. It was frustrating at first as the easybib.com application needs to be manually filled in at times but with the bibliography, I am able to cite my evidence and avoid plagiarism.

Although I personally feel that my new essay was slightly better than the previous essay, I still feel that it wasn't one of my best essays as I was unable to go in depth within my topic and analyze the evidences clearly. I hope that I would be able to read between the lines better to develop my analyzing skills. I also feel that I enjoy widening my vocabulary as I could then apply interesting and abstract words to make my essay sound more sophisticated.

 As for the Literature Circles, my group members and I are able to produce fruitful discussions on 1984 by George Orwell as everyone spoke and engage in the discussions. I find the book rich with vocabularies and realise it is important to have a dictionary handy while reading. I also recorded the new vocabularies learnt from the story into my Language Record so that I would not forget those words.

 I enjoy reading how the author imply fascist elements practised from the past and current generations( totalitarian ruling and 'newspeaks' can be seen in North Korea) into the story as these ideas make the story somewhat relatable and prevents it from feeling too fictional.

The story DOES get more interesting as it progresses. 1984 really helps by improving my vocabulary and that's definitely a challenge, not the mere amount of pages that have to be read after spring break.