Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to hate academic essay writing

28 replies

JesuslovesmethisIknow · 24/06/2013 10:33

Am doing an undergrad course in nursing.

KNOW academia is important but really some of the essays are at best tedious and at worse, almost irrelevant. 3000 words... time after time....

Being dyslexic doesn't help.

Wish the course would teach us MORE practical and LESS of the nit picky academia (not talking anatomy and physiology - talking, cycles of reflection etc)

Stresses me right out!

OP posts:
MalenkyRusskyDrakonchik · 25/06/2013 19:26

Good luck! Smile

TimeofChange · 25/06/2013 19:35

I sympathise with you.
I can write sentences and have a reasonable knowledge of grammer, but my writing doesn't flow. Essay writing would be a nightmare for me.

I'm not quite sure how writing an excellent flowing essay proves that you would make a better nurse than someone whose writing skills are lacking.

Best wishes to you.

aldiwhore · 25/06/2013 19:41

YANBU.

Not all nurses need to be great academics, and this is an issue within nursing training as the degree needs to both prepare for the actual role of nursing, as well as meet higher education academic remits.

Of course you need to be able to reflect, and be able to criticise but academic writing STYLE isn't for everyone, even those who would make wonderful nurses. Most HEIs strive to strike a balance, turning out duty ready nurses and capable academics. Most HEI also look at what range of assessment methods they employ, a whole pre-reg degree that only assesses via 3000 word essays is a bit rubbish. Most HEIs acknowledge that when it comes to both teaching and learning, it's beneficial for everyone to use a wide range of assessment criteria.

Once you are registered you may never have to write another academic paper again, and you may well be a fantastic nurse, but it's worth remembering that more and more, for career progression you will need to keep up to date with academia so it's something you need to find your groove with.

There is masses of help that you can get from your Student Support office. So long as you can both read and write correct dosages, and have a process whereby you can check and re-check (if you're dyslexia causes you a problem) then your learning problems will not hold you back or impact on how good a nurse you will be.

It's sucky I know, I loathe academic writing, but it does serve an important purpose, it is recognised, it's clear, and it works.

I do think it's a shame that your institution doesn't offer many assessment styles (essays and OSCES aren't enough in my opinion), at ours, a range of teaching methods, learning tools and assessments are utilised for each module in each programme that runs.

Obviously being concise isn't one of my strong points, and I struggled with essays (the shorter the worserererer) but still got a 1st so don't fret, use the help that is available, READ the marking criteria and tick every box, your grades will improve massively.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page