Writing Essays by Pictures: A Workbook. This item is unavailable.Writing Essays by Pictures: A Workbook

So you have to write an essay for university?

Ever thought of designing a postcard that reminded you of your essay questions, so that you wouldn’t get sidetracked?

Ever thought of how alike referencing is to a forensic investigation?

Ever thought of analysing the type of source you were using by likening it to different types of sea creatures?

This book introduces all these strategies and more because essay writing isn’t just about writing. It uses visual analogies to explain all the bits that go into researching and writing at degree level - particularly those steps that often remain hidden to students at their first try.

Going through the book step-by-step you are taken through the process of putting together your own research essay, not unlike a painting-by-numbers approach.

Writing Essays by Pictures explains the basics of academic research to the beginner - and to people who have always wished for a way to make these things visual... and fun!

Dr Alke Gröppel-Wegener's main role is to teach students in creative studio-based disciplines how to research and write - a challenge that she tackles through highly visual and engaged sessions. Depending on the objective of the session, students might find themselves discussing how the reader of their essays could be likened to a polar bear (and the essays to an iceberg), exploring secondary sources by visualising them as sea creatures or understanding the concept of a literature review by thinking about playing cards. Students might also find themselves handling objects from Staffordshire University's research collection, on a treasure hunt or doing a spot of documentary drawing. These, and many more, learning and teaching strategies are part of the innovative and creative approach Alke has developed under the umbrella term of 'tactile academia', which is based on the exploration of the links between academic and creative practice. And it is all for the purpose of making academic conventions accessible to students, effectively done by utilising visual analogies and metaphors, and incorporating object-based learning, thinking-through-making and exploratory writing tasks.