How do I work on my essay?
June 27, 2024
“Okay settle down everyone, I have an announcement to make! The assessments are now approaching. And the thought of essays is starting to haunt us,” Observer Yasmin declared as she sat at the big round table with all the other Yasmins. Yes, there was nothing else in the room except for that round table and …
Little beasts: experiments with nature writing
June 25, 2024
I discovered a love of lyric essays during my MA in Creative Writing at Nottingham. Before this, I wrote mostly fiction, and toiled on novels. But there was also a weird form of writing I couldn’t categorise, which was more instinctive. I would write these little stream-of-consciousness prose poems but I didn’t really know that’s …
How I Get Started With Independent Study
June 19, 2024
The biggest change when coming to university is the increased level of independent study that is expected of us. This ranges from seminar preparation, reading or completing further research. We are also expected to juggle our social calendars and find time for ourselves. This often leaves me with the question, ‘where do I start?’. However, …
Taking on The Big PhD: Full-Time or Part-Time?
June 14, 2024
So, you’ve decided to take on a PhD… Your Nan’s told everyone at bingo how “our Nelly’s going to be a doctor!”, your Uncle Steve can’t see the point unless ‘Doctor’ means you can sort out his ingrowing toenail situation, and your Mum’s ecstatic. At least her ‘clever genes’ have passed on to one of …
The Balancing Path
June 5, 2024
University, the land of opportunity. You finally crested the hill of qualifications, applications, decisions, and dilemmas; it’s time to choose your own path. You breathe a sigh of relief and gaze out at the horizon ahead; its shifting colours and flashes of light are indistinct, but promising. As September arrives and the leaves start to …
Connecting Online at UoN
May 24, 2024
As a mature student, the University of Nottingham’s English (Online) MA fitted my requirements for a post-graduate program of study. The reasons for my choice included: the flexibility around time and location; ability to choose my study pathway; academic rigour, and consistent support. However, there are challenges, or at least things to be aware of …
Walking up the hill
May 14, 2024
It’s already feeling like winter, late October bites and drives its breath down the wide walkway. I’ve just got off the tram and I’m heading up to the Trent Building; onwards to the clock tower. The geese are a thick flock, stretching and strutting around on the lawns; the lake a black shimmer, occasional ducks …
Rhizome Thinking
May 3, 2024
One of the joys of university is learning how to think differently. In this blog, I’d like to offer Study is a Rhizomeas as a rich conceptual metaphor for thinking about studying. Conceptual metaphors are useful for understanding abstract concepts. They were investigated by Lakoff and Johnson in Metaphors We Live By and today are …
Now and then
April 30, 2024
I had never thought that The Beatles would release a song in my own lifetime. I suppose I consider them something of the past that I could never feel close too, something that reminds me of my dad because “there will never be a love song quite like The Long and Winding Road”. Maybe I …
Moving From a Small Town to a City for University: Why it’s Not as Daunting as it Might Seem
April 24, 2024
When starting university, it can feel like everyone you meet is from London or bigger cities around the UK. They’re used to the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life; they know the transport network systems and they don’t even bat an eyelid when it comes to having Uber at your disposal. Even though everyone gets …
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