Should I just fill up the words with waffle and send it regardless??????????? (OU TMA)

[FAQinglovely]

My 2nd OU assignment for K101. I've already had a weeks extension on it, and i've spent a week trying to write it and it's all coming out as bloody nonsense.

Have to submit it by 11.59pm tomorrow night but at this rate I've got 2 choices, send it half finished (and lose marks for not having enough words), or just fill up the page with general waffle about the subject, fill in the other few bits that need doing on top of the actual essay and just pretend this one never happened.

In the grand scheme of things this essay isn't worth a massive amount, and looking through the assessment guide at future options I can already see ideas forming in my head for most of them, even without having actually done the work on those units yet.

I do understand what this topic is about, but for some reason known only to, well I don't know who it's known to but it's not me , it' just not going down on paper despite having gone through all the activities, and planning the essay and all the other preparation for writing it.

I know I could fill it up with general waffle about the subject............but nothing concrete iykwim.

So what do you reckon?

Do I send a half finished, but decent essay (I'll lose marks for not having enough words)

or do I fill up the words and move swiftly onto the next Units/assignment???

I should perhaps also add that I'm now nearly a week behind with the study calendar because of this extension for the essay - I want to move on......

I got told that most of the marks are in the first bit you write & as you write more words you get less marks for them so we got told to send in what we had done (rather than nothing) & get points for what we had done

But I don't think we lost marks for writing too little just for writing too much

Send your plans too

well so far I've only (sort of) covered 2/3 of the question. We've been told to split it into 2 parts and as yet I've written absolutely nothing about the 2nd part at all .

none of it is making sense (well it does, but it's not detailed enough) even the first bit I've written (and re-written, and re-written etc etc etc) is just not right...

I could probably get something down to cover most of big points this evening and then send it off - then it gives me the rest of the week (like 2 days lol) to try and catch up with this weeks Unit).

I think I'd pad it out a little and see if any of that gains you odd the mark but don't waffle on for ages for the sake of it as it may lose you marks for style.

However, if it is a 2 part question then I am a leetle concerned.

Could you post the question here and see if anyone can help?

I see it's Social Care course, yes?

question is

What challenges are faced by a home care agency and its care workers in trying to provide sensitive, effective and safe home care services and how can those challenges be met? (Illustrate your answers using the Somebody Cares case study).

thing is I know this, I could put it into practice on a practical level - but I just can't get it down on the bloody paper.

I want to move onto Block 2

and if I submit all 7 assignments over the course of the course (that sounds odd but you know what I mean) then "my lowest assignment score is automatically substituted by our continuous assessment and examination "average" if that mark is higher".

Now my first TMA I got 76% for and the other ones I'm feeling much more confident about - its just this one feels like a brick wall trying to write it down

Okay, so what you're saying is essentially you've covered the challenges but are struggling with the section on meeting them?

I assume you use the Case Study to both illustrate where challenges are met effectively and where improvements could be made too..?

Do you know the weighting for each section or are you assmuming a 50/50 split?

I don't know enough about the subject but I expect part two will be addressing issues such as communication, risk assessment and policy review and implementation as well as specific practical solution focused working models?

When a question is set like this I do think its important to cover both sections as well as possible as not doing so for one section kinda takes away from the first iyswim.

Spend a bit of time on part 2 & send it

That way you can get the easy marks for each bit

yea I've sort of covered the challenges.

God this should be so EASY - I flew through the similar section to this when I was working towards my NVQ2 in Care (but never finished it as got pg and left my job LOL).

Listen to hobbgoblin - she is better than me

Cool. If you list them in point form can you address each one with a model for good practice or improvement policy?

I'm sure you are doing well regardless if you have got such high grades in the past.

It always helps me when I am writing essays to do it in bullet points first.

So for your essay first write a list of teh problems and the supporting evidence from the case study, then pad it out a bit for the essay.

I''m assuming 50/50 split

thankfully 7% of the marks for the whole TMA I get just for participating on the forum (which I've done) and doing the self-reflective notes (also done). So I "only" need to get 33% on the essay to "pass" LOL.

thing is it's sort of in 4 parts, and the assessment guide says to cover firstly the home care workers, their challenges and how they are met, and then do the home care agencies.

So that might give your essay structure - because surely the home care workers' challenges are what influence the agencies' policies so you can begin with challenges for workers addressing the needs of the service user and their families, moving back to policies from the care agency perspective and how they take into account the needs of both with some sort of equilibrium.

That's how I think I'd do it. Then you can add more general statutory procedure type stuff plus maybe some examples of non run of the mill stuff - maybe from the case study that can be discussed as a separate kind of interlude.

doesn't help that it's only supposed to be between 800 and 1200 words so trying to condense so much stuff into so "few" words it hards

I want to move onto the next one - already decided which option I'm doing

"Why do some people find it hard to take the first step in joining a group?" - that's totally up my street in lines of work I hope to do when I head back into the workplace - I'm not really that interested in the health care side of things, it's the social side

I have no idea what you are going on about now! lol.

I have helped my sister do essays on teaching though and I have no clue what she she was going on about either.

I have an A level in English Language if you want to email me your essay, I might be able to give you a few tips?

My email is micci underscore s underscore at hotmail dot co dot uk.

Though I would say if it is in four parts address each part seperately in bullet points first. Then use that as a guide to structure the actual essay.

So firstly how many different kinds of homecare workers are there and what are their roles/duties

Second part - what problems face each role inc supporting evidence from case studies

Third part - What can be done to solve the problems? Again inc supportive evidence

Fourth part - What are homecare agencies?

I've just sent it WOOHOOO (ok I'll probably not be "woohooing" when I get it back and it's a pretty crap score compared to my first one - but they 885 words and I did the extra bits on the template as well in addition to the essay

Well done! Good Luck with your mark when it comes

ooo I've just got it back - I'm actually pleasantly surprised, I didn't include enough examples and she said the 2nd part (about the home care agencies) seemed "rushed"

but 63% overall for the assignment - 53 of that for the essay

Damn you must have to write REALLY bad esssays to not even get a "pass" on an essay LOL

Yer big swot!

haha @ swot - god I wish, just thinking what I could do if I actually spend some reasonable time on my studying and essays instead of last minute rushing around like idiot

She did say that although it was quite "vague" (well not her words exactly) that I did show I had a good understanding of the main concepts of care so the waffle did at least show that LOL.