Assessment: Report (1 Viewer)

[glitterfairy]

Hello dears,

As strange as it may seem, the sky will NOT fall down because Justin wasn't the one to post up the assessment thread this time around. You see, earlier in the year we had a spoken agreement that we'd take it in turns to post up the stickies - he'd take Proposal and Viva, and I'd do Report and RS etc. He's conveniently forgotten the entire conversation, but I maintain that it did occur and that it is "MY TURN JUSTIN, MY TURN!" as stipulated on the phone earlier today.

But I digress.


The Report is the last assessment you will do prior to actually handing in your major work. In my personal opinion, the biggest hurdle this time around is NOT to fulfill the criteria - it's to actually get around to focusing enough to do it well at all. Bear in mind that you'll probably be somewhere towards the end of your first full reworking/polishing around this time, and with the addition of Trials/pre or post Trials jitters, your mind will want to be elsewhere. Keep it grounded. For the love of chocolate, start your Report at least a week before it is due, please!!! lol.

Guidelines:
I don't know whether it was just my school, but the guidelines for this assessment were significantly less specific than for previous EE2 assessments I did. Mine simply states: "Write a formal report, of no more than 500 words, outlining the impact of independant investigation on the development of your major work. NOTE: This is a formal report, not a reflection statement."

Quite a number of girls in my year (myself included) found it quite difficult to write, because we weren't really sure what we were doing. In retrospect, I realise that I would have been able to write a fantabulous Report after writing out my final draft of my Reflection Statement because the writing style/amount to be squished into x amount of words was similar. But I imagine that's what my school intended - other schools may wish for a more informal report, or perhaps one that gives you room to go as in-depth as you like (because heaven knows you won't be able to do that in your RS).

Back on topic now. I'm hesitant to draft out a "Report Structure" (because it's really far more important that you do whatever your teachers want you to do - remember, they're the ones marking this last internal assessment!), but I WILL give a couple of pointers which are intended to support the Report guidelines specified above. Enjoy!

Start the Report earlier than the night before.
As mentioned earlier, there is likely to be quite a lot of stuff going on around the time you hand in your Report. Regardless of what time of year it's due, there will always be something - whether it's HSC Trials, other assessments, burnout from studying/writing... russian roulette, really So do yourself a favour and start it at least a week in advance. This gives you a little bit of manuvering time, as well as "uh oh, this first draft kinda sucks, I'd better rewrite it!" time

I think of all the EE2 assessments, this is the one students are most likely to flunk because it's normally due around a time when you're really not interested in bothering. But come on! Pull yourself together! You can do it!

Give your Report a little bit of thought before diving in.
Unlike the previous two EE2 assessments - which to a certain extent could be winged on the spot - a formal report is just that. A formal report. You will be marked not only on presentation, but content as well - any floofing around WILL be picked up on! Spare a few moments brainstorming what you're going to say, what you think the most important points on, what you got out of each individual piece of research etc. It's always easier to spin something when you have all the tools ready to go.

Cut right to the chase!
Two limitations you should be aware of here.

One - The Report is NOT a Reflection Statement. You are here to talk about the impact of your research - NOT on your creative ideas and details on writing process (these have already been covered in your Proposal and Viva Voce).

Two - You will likely have a word limit to comply to. If it is like mine, it will seem ridiculously short but this is really there to prepare you for your Reflection Statement which as mentioned previously, will not really provide you with the opportunity to wax lyrical about your work. So in order to keep to this word limit... DO NOT WAFFLE! Do not worry about paragraphs of self-reflection, a synopsis (you are NOT here to sell your book, you're here to explain what went on behind the scenes), or lyrical interludes! Cut right to the chase with a minimum of hoo-hah, with a sentence like "My short story titled _______ explores..."

Depending on how "RS-like" your teachers want your report, you may or may not use headings. I didn't, but that doesn't mean you don't have to.

Strong beginning, strong finish
This point is really just to emphasise how important it is to get straight to the point. In a normal essay, you might have time to write a "nice" introduction, and a "nice" conclusion. Unfortunately you just really don't have the time in this assessment. Just start, and then finish! It'll probably be nice to tack on a nice one or two-sentence ending, but do NOT spend an entire paragraph thanking various texts for how helpful they've been to you.

Keep it tight
Do group your statements together in a logical manner (ie don't haphazardly jump from point to point) so that you do have some flow, but don't go out of your way if it means wasting word space. Your Report-writing motto is this - "condense, condense, condense!" This is yet another reason why it's a good idea to start at least a week in advance - the more drafts you do, the tighter your Report will be as you eliminate unneccessary words and/or redundant phrases.

And by now I am sure you are all sitting there wondering "why is she such a word limit nazi?" and the answer dear ones, is because your Reflection Statement will likely draw upon things written in your Report. If you practice condensing your words now, it means less work later on when you will be MUCH more stressed out, and have even MORE words to squish into the RS word limit provided. It'll do you good to get into good habits now when you have the time and space to think clearly.

Justifications
I've critiqued a number of Eng Adv, EE1 and EE2 assessments and one of the hitches I see again and again is people not justifying their statements. It's all well and good to say you were influenced by so-and-so, and that you learnt about postmodernism/post-structuralism/post-goodnessknowswhat, but it means nothing if you don't actually justify why you mentioned the "I learnt/was influenced by" in the first place.

So if you're going to say you were influenced by someone, tell us HOW.
If you're going to say you learnt about ______, tell us EXACTLY HOW this knowledge was used in your Major Work. And so on.

Don't be afraid to be specific and quote from your own Major Work
I remember feeling a little weirded out by the thought of making references to something I'd written. And after analysing/deconstruction/de-feathering other people's (published) works for so long in other subjects I totally understand if other people are also feeling a bit mrr about quoting themselves. Try to be objective - there are points where we have to distance ourselves from our deeply personal work, and this is one of them. Besides, it's always good to give examples to emphasise a point.

Text list
In regards to how many texts you should refer to in your Report, I was told to aim for somewhere between 8 and 15. You'll be expected to actually write in the names of the texts you use as 'research' for your Major Work - furthermore, you will be expected to justify why you read them/explain their impact on your MW.

Most people do this in a massive chunk, ie "Analysing the work of _____ lead to the creation of ____ within my story, whilst the narrative styles of _______, ______ and _________ gave me the inspiration to ___________" and so on. I'm not sure there's any real 'pretty' way of doing it, but if you have the time, do what you can to create a sense of flow - rearrange, chop and change, that sort of thing. If you want to break your texts into subsections according to their "purpose", go ahead. This can be one of the technically most finicky parts of your Report, because there's so much to say (now do you understand why I was such a word nazi earlier? ).

It's the last one sweethearts - make the most of it!
Lynn.

 

[jhakka]

Greetings Chosen Ones,

Every time I try to churn one of these things out for you lot, I find it harder and harder. Maybe it's because I set a precedent in the Proposal thread, or because each assessment is progressively more difficult to generalise because each school likes to do their own thing. Or maybe I'm just getting old and have trouble trying to cover all the stuff that I went through two years ago. Not that this last really matters. An assessment is easy enough to talk about from experience if you still have the criteria list handy... which, sadly enough, I still do.

I don't know whether this is the time of the year where your teachers will be handing out another sheet with that terrible word printed on the top. The word that the dedicated have no real feeling towards, the one that the lazy kids tremble before, and the one that those who just don't care just don't care about. This word is "Assessment" and is followed soon after by an even more nasty word: "Report".

I'll be honest and say that I found this assignment a nasty piece of work, but maybe that's because of how I approached my Major Work throughout the year, rather than because the assessment was actually difficult. You never know.


What in God's name is that thing? (About the assessment):
As far as I'm concerned, this assessment is the biggest pain in the butt known to man. It is usually the third of the three assessments in this course, and is weighted at around 15 to 20% (out of 50%). Although it's probably not too difficult, its painful in the sense that a lot of the time a loose set of criteria is provided and you're sent off into the big wide world to do it all by yourself.

This one is generally quite difficult to generalise because so many teachers expect so many different things. Some schools see this assessment as a mock Reflection Statement, while others see it as formal documentation of your research and its effect on your Major Work. I'll be talking about the latter because it applies to my experience. And I figure if I talk about a Reflection Statement style assessment, that will make the eventual Reflection Statement thread a bit redundant.

We're past selling the idea now. We're past showing what we are doing. Now we have to show what we have done, and what effect it has had on our work.


That's a lot of nuts! (What to do):
So what have you achieved? If your response is "A whole lot of nothing", perhaps we should be feeling a bit sheepish now, because that's not helpful for this one. The aim in this one is to tell your teacher what approach you have taken to researching for your major work and how this has impacted on your Major Work. All in the report format (which I'll get to later). You have to tell your teacher how you got from nothing to something.

What you should be assessed on is your ability to work in an autonomous manner, your ability to monitor and reflect on your work, and how your investigation of everything under the sun has helped you out. It's really not that tough.

When discussing your investigation, I would suggest giving as many of the following as possible a fair go. This is not to suggest that these are the only things you look at (read your criteria sheet, there are probably more things there), but these are the ones that I would be looking for. They seem to justify most of the choices made in a Major Work anyway.

General information:
This one is straightforward. What do you need to know to make your Major Work credible? If you are doing a war story, for instance, you would have to research weapons. If you're doing a critical response on the influence of the Romantic period on modern poetry... I would research the Romantic period. It seems straightforward, but it needs to be done. And if it needs to be done, it needs to be spoken about. When your teacher asks how you know what machine guns the Turks used, "I just knew" is not a good reason. Research and make sure you provide the evidence.

Medium:
Show that you have researched inside your medium. What are the conventions? What makes a short story what it is? What makes a critical response what it is? Make sure you can show your teacher what you know and how you know it. I would suggest referencing works of your chosen medium as well as various style guides.

Genre:
This is for the creative folk rather than those doing critical responses. What reserach have you done into your genre? What effect has this had on decisions made in your work? Have you gone with convention or against. Why? Has this been helpful. You need to know your genre if you want to write in it. Points of reference include work written in a particular genre (I would say this is most important for this aspect of your research) and guides on "How to write x genre" or "On x genre".

People:
Not necessarily on people you have researched, because I would put that under general information, but I would use people as a resource. My friend did a "Choose your own adventure" crime story, and he interviewed a number of police officers. This stuff can be recorded and used as evidence of research, and also provides you with more relevant information than you would get out of a textbook... assuming you interview or survey or whatever the right people.

Journal:
My teachers wanted some kind of reference to my journal in my report. God knows why, but that was the deal. I would clarify this with your teacher and react accordingly. Even if you mention once or twice how your journal has been a good place for you to stick your photocopying while you go and make a milkshake, you might be winning a mark or two. This one is a bit iffy for me, so I would definitely check.

When discussing these aspects, make sure you mention how you approached them and how they have affected your Major Work.

There are a hell of a lot more that we could go into, but I would say that those are the big three (or so). You might also want to look at writing guides in general, and so on. What you need to be aware of is the fact that if you can learn something, even if you can learn it yourself, there is always a place where you can find the appropriate information. Find these things and use them in your report, because your teacher will most likely want to see it.

Also, you may be required to submit your journal and an annotated bibliography. Be aware that these will be massive factors in your report. An annotated bibliography will show that you have been investigating because you actually have opinions on each of your resources. Your journal is that piece of evidence that shows that you're more than just creative with bibliographies. It shows that you have actually held onto stuff that you have looked up or investigated and have used it in your Major Work.


I am a great magician. You're clothes are red! (Layout and format):
Like the rest of the assessment, the layout expectations of this differs from school to school, however as it is a report I would suggest a report format (who'da thunk it?), making use of a number of headings. They generally include the Introduction/Overview, Details of Research Undertaken, Effect of Research on Major Work, Conclusions and Appendix/Annotated Bibliography. Each of these, I would think are more or less self explanatory and pretty straightforward.

The only issue I have with headings is the fact that although they make it easier to divide the task up, I find it difficult to work out how much to write for each. I would just stick with common sense and instinct on this. Introduction and Conclusions would be shorter than the main body because they really are just overviews, while there really isn't a word limit on a Bibliography.

As far as the Bibliography goes, this, again, is tough. There are so many styles, and so I would see what style your teacher wants you to take. If there is no style specified, just make sure you're consistent.


I would say that that's about it. I hated this assessment because I thought it was a total pain in the butt, but I hope that my random, slightly structured ramblings have been helpful. Although I don't technicaly encourage this (because I like the idea of people working as hard as they can on their Major Works and assessments), I will leave you with something I said while working on my report and was extremely close to sticking up the top (before deciding that it probably wasn't a good idea).

"It is not research that makes the story, but rather the story that determines how you should lie when people ask you about research."
Justin, 2004

Best of luck.
Justin


Note: You can find more info and opinions on the Report here: http://community.boredofstudies.org/9/english-extension-2/51540/documenting-report.html

 

[jhakka]

Just a bit of a disclaimer:
The things that Lynn and I post will not be the same. One of us may miss out on something that the other will mention. Sometimes we will have conflicting comments. The most important thing to remember is that what we are writing is a general guide, and that we are not more knowledgeable than your teachers. If there are issues, please take it up with them. We are not responsible for your work, and if you choose to take our advice, I strongly urge you to run it by your teacher first.

 

[nahian]

Thanks heaps guys!

 

[Nick_R]

hey guys this is great thanks very much! I'm just starting it now - I was leading down the path of a reflection statement type thing but this has set it straight, cheers

 

[Nick_R]

Woot! Submitted my report today, so relieved! Sorry to say I didn't start a week in advance, which did get me worried, but it turned out better than I thought in the end. I also think I have an advantage in that others in my class viewed this as a "draft reflection statement" when it isn't - I told some of them about the importance of "reporting" on the impact of investigations on their major work, i.e. research - I think the people who do that, as opposed to writing about their actual progress of writing will get the marks that they are after.

 

[jhakka]

I hope you checked with your teacher first. Some schools do see it as an early RS.

 

[Porcia]

this is a question open to discussion: would you stick to conventional traditional ways of presenting your report or would you be avant garde, innovative, auterial?

 

[Emph]

look at your marking scale... if a form of the word 'creative' appears then go for original. If you are marked on your ability to write in the specified text type- do what it says!

 

[jhakka]

Same as any English assessment. They want you to write in a particular form. The fact that this is a more or less free choice course doesn't change that.

 

[madelyn]

Is the report a compulsory assesment for every school? My teachers left me with the impression that the voce was the last assesment (they've never said anything about a report either), and I don't see how Its going to fit it in around all the other assesments and trials which will be due in the month...

 

[glitterfairy]

The Report could be handed in later (check with your teachers). Alternatively your Viva could have been the "viva" and "report" smushed in together. As far as internal assessments go, all EE2 ones are quite flexible and each school tends to run them a little (or a lot) differently

 

[Nick_R]

WOOOOOOOOT!!!! FULL MARKS FOR REPORT!!!! I'M SO HAPPY!!!!
Thanks heaps guys for the useful advice... Also the teacher telling us that people tended to approach it as a reflection statement, rather than a report which affected their marks (negatively)...
hey, is someone gonna put up any hints for the Reflection Statement like u did for the Proposal, Viva and Report ?

 

[Scorch]

I'm quite irritated, mine is due on friday. Even though I kind of have an idea of what to do, I won't be able to run it by my teacher because she won't be here this week (and wasn't here the last two weeks of term 2).

In fact, I didn't even find out about the thing until yesterday. Oh well, it happens. I'd be grateful if some people would be able to look over mine and see what they think.

 

[kloudsurfer]

Eeep!

Mine is due week 8 this term!

Is that early?

Its a week before my trials too.

Why does my school have to do everything different?

 

[Dave2007]

I'm just starting my Report, I'm handing it in in..........

11 hours 40 minutes.

And I still have a geography assessment tomorrow to start studying for.

Sympathy?

Personally I'm finding this report looks like a whole lot of crap. Not much really influenced me, but boy will the markers think it did when I'm through fertilising this paper.

 

[idling fire]

I swear all these assessments are the same... what I'm about to do, what I'm doing, and "oh look here, you'd never guess what I did". My school gave the same criteria for each. Lovely redundancy.

 

[Dave2007]

(Not to brag, but...) I got 95% for my report!

If anyone would like to see mine for a clue as to what to write in theirs just send me a PM!

 

[jimmayyy]

booyah, 20/20 for the report

i needed it, too. stupid viva voce got me 15/20. drag down my whole fucking internal mark

 

[stF-vampyre]

ill tell you whats horrible and ridiculous?
our report word limit is 1500 WORDS -_-
and ive done tons and tons of research but nothing....heaps important really, its a fiction story and im just winging it.
luckily i DID check this out, and its just over a week before its due =]
so thanks for posting this up guys, i got a number of helpful hints from both of your reflections!