MEG

How to write an Assignment- when not a full timer at University

For those studying in any Open University, the challenge is to find time for all the activities involved in completion of a course. An Open University understands that you are otherwise employed and not a full timer. You have a flexible completion time and date, a nearly open-ended program – to be decided by you, according to the resources available to ‘you’. Yet, like any goal, the goal of a successfully completed Master’s Degree needs some planning ahead.

The first important hurdle is a well written Assignment.

Since an assignment is to be written at home, you can pull out all sorts of reference material, take adequate library help, write and rewrite drafts of the answer till you are perfectly satisfied and then submit the essay to the examiner.

Another great advantage, to be looked forward to, is that with a well written Assignment, that is one in which you may score an A grade, you have already assured a better aggregate score.

Here are a few pointers on how I would plan writing my assignment:

  • First of all read and re-read the assignment question. Write it down. There will most probably be more than one part to the question, and answer. Clarify to yourself which of these parts is of the utmost importance.
  • Do a cursory reading of your course ware, to see if it directly answers your question or not. Most often it will not, at least not directly – the examiners want you to read a little deep and beyond what is apparent. If yes, then read that portion of the course ware thoroughly and try to grasp at the answer. If no, then straightaway go to external help.
  • External help, to begin with, can start at your home, if you have an internet connection, or at the nearest cyber café. Type the question or its most relevant part into the browser. A long list of reading material will be searched out by the search engine. Go at it indiscriminately- that is read through, quickly. You will soon have a list of links that seem sensibly related, and also begin to make sense of how to answer your question. Keep a time allotment of not more than 3 days for this work.
  • When reading online material, always take note of the Bibliography mentioned. These are the reference books and articles used by the author. When later you go for library work, you can search for specific books that seem relevant to you. Once this phase of reading, and that involves some note making also, is done, you can now proceed for library work.
  • Before going to the library try to write out a draft answer- you will realize how far you have been able to understand and put together necessary material to answer the assignment and which are the missing areas. When you go to the library next, you easily search out only the missing information- this will lead to any correction, if necessary, of your online study too.
  • Once the notes from library have also been accumulated, you are ready to draft you answer in earnest.
  • Write and rewrite, if necessary. First, check to see that the answer has adequate material, then make sure of grammar and spelling. Even a very well written answer can miss to impress the examiner if riddled with bad grammar and wrong spellings.

I think if you keep these points in mind, you will be able to answer your assignment considerably well, and in so doing will already be a step ahead to the study of that MEG paper.

Which Blocks to take up in Second Year and Why

The topic of my post today may seem funny…and quite unnecessary. You’ll probably ask me why this question should be at all discussed. My reason is this- this question regularly appears in all the FB MEG Groups, every year, just before registration time.

In the Second year of our Masters study in English, from IGNOU, we have to make a choice of 4 papers, just as we did in the first year, with the difference that unlike the first year these 4 are not compulsory except for MEG-05; the other three are optional, to be chosen from a list of several offered papers. We can study Australian, Canadian, Indian or American English Literary works, or New Literature, which is a combination of works selected from different post-colonial countries and sub-continents.

Quite a few times I have suggested to students who want to be very thorough in their study, to take up American Literature (MEG-06) and American Novel (MEG-07) as two of these 3 optional papers. Two subject papers, more or less related, each kind of supplementary to the reading of the other- this I feel is a great way to study. American English anyway, in today’s date, demands quite a lot of attention, not next to but on parallel grounds as British English. Similarly, being Indian, if you want to know closely the Indian English Literary works- that too seems very legitimate demand.  Indian English Literature (MEG-07) and English Studies in India (MEG-10) can be taken up, two related paper that make your task a bit easier.

However, I must also point out that none of the papers that are offered in second year are less in importance, so if a student refuses to give up the privilege to study Australian (MEG-09), Canadian (MEG-12) and New Literature/American Literature all at the same time- I don’t see why he/she should not.  In this case I propose, you take up New Literature as one paper, and combine it with Australian/Canadian/American/Indian- any two of these four.

My young friends sometimes ask me, whether the choice of any paper to study should not be based on the availability of study materials. My answer to this is, that the IGNOU Block study material are self-sufficient – follow them up with some library work, the reference books mentioned in each block can be helpful, and also online material. That is adequate- and there is no need to select your papers based on the study help that you can find in the market.

Examination pattern and preparation for MEG-03

MEG-03 is all about the British Novel. Hence it had held a special place in English literature study for aeons and aeons of time, or as far as one can remember about the Indian University courses.

Similarly, for as long as one can remember, the questioning pattern for MEG-03, the British Novel, in IGNOU, has been unalterably same. Since there are nine novels prescribed, and instruction to study them all,  I consider this question pattern to be lenient and student friendly. There are 5 questions to be answered, maximum marks for each is 20, and to be chosen from a list of 9 questions, one from each block.

The easiest course would be to choose 5 novels from the syllabus – this would also need the most intensive study of the novels you choose, as you will have no option to choose from in the examination hall, and must answer all the 5 questions asked from your chosen novels (blocks).

The other safer course, though involving a little more study, would be to keep a margin for eventualities and study 6-7 novels of the prescribed 9. That way, in the examination hall you still have the flexibility of 1-2 options to choose from.

The third and final method is the extensive study, for the most scholarly student, who is bent less on passing and more on learning and scoring well. In this case you read all nine novels, as instructed by the course designer, and use your options in the examination hall, to choose those 5 questions which you think you are best prepared to answer.

In the case of MEG-03, understanding the question pattern and deciding how you will handle it is only the very tip of your problem. The real question is how should you study this vast course. The next post will discuss in detail, the merits of choosing one from the above three methods of study and how to further prepare yourself for successfully scoring.

Orientalism or Orientalist Paradigm in ‘A Passage to India’

Today, in one FB Study Group (MEG, IGNOU)  the following question was posed:

“…can anyone please explain these question from the British Novel assignments…Suggest the political and artistic implications of placing the conclusion of ‘A Passage to India’ within the Orientalist paradigm.??
…I couldn’t find any text in the study material …Any help is highly appreciated!! ”

Now, in answer to this question, I would say-

to understand and apply oneself to any question, one must first pick out the most important term around which the question has been framed…in the case of “A Passage..” it is Orientalism….what is the Orientalist Paradigm?..it is that fixation that Europeans in general, and European writers in particular, had in their mind and put across in their works, about India, China and such Oriental countries….about the difference these cultures have from the Occidental cultures (European) ..about being mysterious about religion, behavior and lifestyle….

Throughout ‘A Passage..” the relational dynamics of the 3 characters, Aziz, Godbole and Fielding is an expression or cipher of this Oriental -Occidental clash or paradigmatic inability to reach out and understand one another. While the Indian faction, Aziz and Godbole, are much different from each other in their personal beliefs and practices, they are shown to understand and hence share a kind of unison – which is reflected in their being together in the same environ at the end….the Hindu state of Mau…

However, Fielding, who has throughout been the one most inclined to be receptive and unconventionally friendly towards Indians, particularly Aziz, continues to be estranged from the psyche or thought patterns of the same, shown in his failure to be able to logically fathom Aziz or Godbole’s political and religious fervor (respectively)..even to the end, the symbolic inability of Fielding and Aziz’s horses to move together is significant of the inability of the Occidental and Oriental to be able to comprehend each other, entirely, in spite of their willingness to do so….

This is the placing of the conclusion of ‘A Passage to India’ within the Orientalist paradigm by Forster.

In order to answer this question, we will have to elaborate on the political and cultural -artistic two dimensions shown in the novel- in the persona of Aziz -Godbole and Fielding. We shall need also to reflect upon the personal dimension of the writer, who in his life too, had travailed in like fashion…..

The important thing is to also read the novel closely, particularly the concluding chapter XXXVIII, which bears much significance in concluding the expression of Forster’s complex political cultural query on India, from the European’s point of view.