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Have you got any questions about the advice contained in How to Get a First, about this website, or about study skills and academic work more generally? Do you have your own advice you would like to share with other students? Are you having trouble with a particular essay or assignment? Are you a schoolteacher or university lecturer who would like to comment on the subjects addressed by this website and the book it accompanies?
Please do post your questions and comments using the box below. Dr Dixon will be happy to respond (time permitting). Selected messages and replies will be published below.
1 to 9 of 9
From: VICTORIA PALIK (LEEDS UNI, HISTORY OF ART, 3RD YR)
Date:
Thursday, September 23, 2004
I REALLY FOUND YOUR BOOK VERY HELPFUL AND PLAN TO APPLY YOUR IDEAS THIS YEAR. BUT I AM STRUGGLING TO EXACTLY UNDERSTAND WHAT 'PRIMARY READING' OR RESOURSES ARE IN THE FIELD OF ART HISTORY, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY IN THE FIELD OF MUSEUM STUDIES WHICH I AM LOOKING AT FOR MY DISSERTATION. AGAIN WELL DONE FOR THE BOOK, I FEEL LIKE I NOW HAVE AN EDGE OVER EVERYONE ELSE!!ITS A BIT LIKE AN ANSWER BOOK! VICTORIA
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Dear Victoria,
I'm delighted that you've found How to Get a First helpful - and many thanks for posting the first comment on Getafirst.com!
In answer to your query, although I am not an expert in art-history or museum studies, I guess that primary material in the case of art-history is:
-works of art
-contemporary documents by or about major artists (correspondence, personal papers, newspaper articles, and so on).
In the case of museum studies, primary materials would include:
-museum exhibitions themselves
-photographs, plans, descriptions of such exhibitions
-contemporary accounts, published or unpublished, describing a visit to a museum.
In both cases, secondary material would be books and articles by academics and others reflecting on the philosophical, historical, political and cultural significance, function and impact of pieces of art or museum exhibits.
I hope that helps,
Thomas
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From: James Humphreys (Kingston University)
Date:
Friday, October 15, 2004
This is an excellent book and I'll be recommending it to my students. How about another book on "How to Become a Professor"?
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Thanks for your message, James. Glad you like the book. I'm not sure I'm in a position yet to write anything on becoming a Professor, but you will be the first to know if I ever do. Good luck with your career!
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From: Angela McFarlane (MD, HealthGain Solutions Newbury, )
Date:
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Just bought your book after reading about in in the Daily Torygraph. Sending it to my daughter at Cardiff doing BSC Econ, 1st Year.
She has just done her 1st exam. She felt she knew all the answers but exam technique (too slow) let her down.
Any thoughts on how she can improve speed in exams-she scored 90% for questions she got right!
Great book, interested for your views on above
Angela McFarlane
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Thanks for your message, Angela. I hope your daughter finds the book useful! There is a chapter on revision and exams. In terms of writing faster, I think the main thing is to do practice papers regularly.
You cannot expect to be really good at something unless you practise regularly. This is as true for exams as for anything else.
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From: Tom Davies
Date:
Monday, November 29, 2004
Hi
I'm considering going to university to study aerospace engineering. Would your book be useful to me or is it geared to people studying the Arts, Humanities etc where essay writing, constructing arguments etc is more important?
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Hi Tom,
You'll get a good idea of what How to Get a First covers by going to the "Chapter Summaries" section on this website. You would find the sections on the transition from school to university, time management, and revision technique relevant, I think. However - although I'd love to tell you to buy a copy - your suspicion is right that it is geared mainly towards arts, humanities and social science students who have to know how to construct arguments and write essays. Good luck at university!
Thomas
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From: Joanne McClung (University of Brighton, BA Music and Visual arts)
Date:
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Having completed my first year on quite an unusual and unconventional degree, I turned to this book for help. I found it to be very informative and concise, and was wondering if the author could offer any more of advice concerning acedemic success in an Art degree particularly.. as it's more of a practical-based area with units in Critical Theory. I'd like to know how to improve my chances of getting a first in a course like this!
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Hi Joanne.
I'm glad you've found the book useful. I'm afraid I can't offer advice on how to get excellent marks for practical elements of music and visual arts - but you should ask your tutors, who will be more than happy to explain how you can score well in their courses - it makes them look good if their students do well!
As for Critical Theory - this is a notoriously difficult academic area to get to grips with - one that is often full of quite a lot of jargon. However, if you follow my advice about reading, skimming, taking notes and writing clearly, you should be able to produce good essays. And, as always, don't hesitate to ask your tutors for further guidance.
Good luck with the rest of your course!
Thomas
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From: mirela (mirela)
Date:
Friday, August 19, 2005
Very nice blog. It is very helpful.
From: Anon
Date:
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Very nice and informative website.
From: Matthew Smith (University of Leeds)
Date:
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Hi, I wonder whether you can tell me whether this book is useful for Law students who want to gain that extra edge to push a 2:1 up to a first. I am currently studying Law 3 year LLB and no matter how hard I work I can't seem to push my grades above 2:1.
Thanks
Matt
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Hello Matt,
Thanks for your question.
The book offers general advice on time-management, note-taking skills, essay-planning, clear thinking, good writing, and argumentation. So - in short - yes, I hope if would be useful to you as a tool to help you do even better in your legal studies.
Good luck!
Thomas
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From: Duncan Patrick (University of Glasgow (2nd Year MA in Religious and Philosophical Education with Teaching Qualification))
Date:
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Dear Thomas,
I've had a "once-through" read of your book and thought it very practical and useful. Mind you I suppose its usefulness depends on my putting it to full use and I have to remind myself to look up certain passages as I juggle essay preparation, keeping up with new ideas from continuing lectures, tutorial preparation and still being as good a husband and father as I can be.
One of the things I've found most useful so far has been your links page, especially to primary source material on the seemingly endless areas Religious and Philosophical Education types like me have to explore. With that in mind, you may like to know that http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/%7Ereligion/vri/index.html has moved to http://virtualreligion.net/vri/
I hope that's helpful to you. Also, I'm posting a link to your site on my course's Online Learning Environment like the good little co-operative learner that I am.
Cheers!
Duncan.
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Hi Duncan,
I'm glad you are finding the book useful. Thank-you for alerting me to the new URL for the 'Virtual Religion' site.
Good luck with your continuing studies!
Best wishes
Thomas
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