Tag Archives: university

moon child // Summer Update

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So, it’s not *technically* summer yet. But when it’s 30 degrees in Scotland, it is summer. My classes have come to an end and I (luckily) only had one exam which is all done and dusted, so I’m finished for third year and off until September.

Internship

Knowing I’d have a lot of time off this summer, I decided to apply for the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland Vacation Scholarship, a scheme we were encouraged to apply to in one of my English classes this year. The vacation scholarship is a scheme that students studying in Scotland in their third year of an undergraduate degree can apply for to receive funding for a research project during their summer break. I applied to do a creative writing research project and proposed to write a collection of Scottish short stories written in a variety of Strathclyde urban dialects following a group of friends studying in Glasgow. Writing in Scots is something I’ve always been interested in but it’s an area I haven’t had as much opportunity as I would like to study or practise. I outlined the plots for each story along with many other details of my project, submitted my application, and I’ve been awarded the scholarship!

I have now began my project and I am currently working on one of my short stories called ‘Cake’ which I’m really excited with so far. As well as writing the collection, I also proposed to self publish the collection and it will become available on Lulu, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble for anyone who’d like to buy a copy in August when the project is complete. You can read more about my Carnegie Project on my LinkedIn page.

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Summer School

As well as my creative writing research project, I have also been allowed the amazing opportunity by my university (Strathclyde) to study abroad for a week-long summer school at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands! I will be in Nijmegen in August this summer to study ‘Dutch Culture and Language’ for a week as well as several excursions and activities. While in Nijmegen, I will post daily, if I can, with photographs and travel/study blog entries talking about my experience of exchange study.

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Image courtesy of Ton Nolles via Flickr.

Are you doing any projects or studying abroad this summer? Let me know in the comment section below.

Peer Assessment: Is It Really Helping Us Learn?

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Published by The Strathclyde Telegraph.

Students have an array of different responses to the subject of group work and peer assessment. Some relish in being ‘the leader’, the driving force of a project where they can showcase their creativity and encourage their team members. Some quietly enjoy group tasks simply because it gives them the opportunity to hide behind the work of others, and contribute little-to-nothing to a project and get away with it. Others, however, dread group work and roll their eyes at the idea of what can sometimes feel like juvenile projects that were more appropriate at primary school.

Through a series of studies carried out in 2012 into the effectiveness of group work and peer assessment as an aid to learning, Maryellen Weimer PhD found that: ‘Our hypothesis of better learning outcomes with peer assessment was not supported. In fact, the data suggests that the opposite pattern may exist’.

Many can understand the initial logic behind allowing students to assess, and provide feedback for, each other. This kind of tasks are designed to push students out of their comfort zone, to boost their confidence when speaking to different people, improve their presentation skills, and their ability to speak coherently to a large group; all of which are traits that are deemed desirable by employers. In this essence, group work and peer assessment would appear to benefit the student body immensely. Unfortunately, however, drawbacks still remain.

As many students will admit, there is almost always one member of the team who will contribute less to the project than everyone else in the group while still receiving an equal portion of the grade and recognition that the group will ultimately be awarded at the end of the task. The solution to this issue seems simple: tell the team member to get more involved, stop slacking, and contribute as much as everyone else. Typically, however, students will be randomly put into groups with classmates they may not know too well, and telling someone you barely know to buck up and work harder isn’t going to be the easiest subject to broach, especially for introverts who may find group work challenging enough in itself.

Another disadvantage of peer assessment – and perhaps the biggest one – is simply that students are not qualified to assess anyone’s work.

While feedback from classmates can be helpful, there is only so much that students can do to help each other. We are not qualified to provide critiques or criticism, and we are certainly not qualified to mark each other’s work. The aspect of peer assessment which arguably bothers students the most is in the instances where students are responsible for providing part of their classmates overall grade. While it seems that peer assessment to this extent is more of way for teachers to save themselves time rather than a tool to aid learning, students providing each other with a percentage that will go towards their final grade is something I cannot see the need for.

Not only could a student be unlucky enough to be graded by a classmate who provides overly harsh criticism and, therefore, receives a worse grade than they deserve, or unfairly awarded a better grade than their work merits by a classmate who marks leniently, peer assessment also diminishes the anonymity of grading that every student should be entitled to. When you know a tutor is grading your report, essay or project, you are safe in the knowledge that they do not know whose piece of work they are marking, and you know that you are not being unfairly discriminated against or favoured. But by handing the reigns over to students themselves who, in most cases, will know whose work they are grading, the door is opened for discriminatory assessment and, possibly, even bullying. The question also arises that: if students are peer assessing themselves and their final grades, then why have a teacher at all?

Peer assessment and group work can be valuable learning experience with many benefits. But it is important to remember that students can only help each other to a limited extent, and that under no circumstances is a student qualified to provide a mark that could impact another student’s final grade without the supervision and cross-marking of a professional.

What do you think of peer assessment? Let me know in the comment section below.

News: More Than Half of LGBT Students Experience Homophobic or Transphobic Bullying

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Published by The Strathclyde Telegraph.

More than half of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) students have experienced homophobic or transphobic abuse in further and higher education, according to a new National Union of Students (NUS) study.

The Pride and Prejudice in Education research into the extent of bullying and harassment experienced by LGBT+ students and staff at colleges and universities found that out of 1,505 respondents, 60% had experienced abuse, with a further one in 10 witnessing intimidating behaviour every day.

Out of 930 students and 575 staff surveyed, 78% also said they did not know who to go to if they experienced bullying.

Robbiie Young and Fran Cowling, LGBT+ officers at NUS, said: “It is deeply concerning to see how widespread the bullying and harassment of LGBT+ students is. Every student should feel safe while at college or university. They shouldn’t have to face name-calling and other bullying, or have to consider dropping out of their course because of the way they are treated by other students.”

They added: “NUS will be working with students’ unions to implement the recommendations in this report to create learning environments that are inclusive and welcoming for all LGBT+ students.”

NUS said the survey findings suggest that homophobic and transphobic abuse directed at LGBT+ students also has an impact on their learning and retention levels, with gay/lesbian and non-binary learners more than twice as likely as average students to consider abandoning their course.

Seth Aitken, Forum for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Equality chair, said: “This report clearly shows there is much to be done to foster confidence amongst both staff and learners, which seems to be particularly lacking when it comes to reporting bullying and harassment.’

The report calls for colleges and universities to: do more to prevent LGBT+ students from dropping out as a result of bullying, improve training and support for staff, develop inclusive curriculum content, and adopt zero tolerance policies for harassment.

Helen Carr, Head of Equality at the University and College Union, said: ‘While much has been done to address bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity in colleges and universities, there is no getting away from the fact that it is still a problem.’

Support for LGBT+ students at the University of Strathclyde is available through the Advice Hub and the Strathclyde LGBT+ Society. Information on how to report bullying and abuse based on sexual orientation or gender identity is available on the University of Strathclyde Students’ Association (USSA) website.

What do you think of this story? Let me know in the comment section below.

 

Featured on Student Journalism Blog: A Day in the Life of a Creative Degree Student

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 “A Day in the Life of a Creative Degree Student” by Sophie Dishman

We are into our fourth week of the a Day in the Life Series. To celebrate the series being around for a month, I decided to focus on students starting out in their creative careers.

This time I spoke to Sophie McNaughton, a 19-year-old student studying for a degree in English Literature, Journalism and Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. She is currently in her third year.

Here are the answers that Sophie gave to my questions!

» What is your job role?

I am the Regional Editor for Glasgow at The University Paper, a Copy-Editor for CultNoise Magazine and a contributing writer for magazines/newspapers including: The Strathclyde TelegraphScotcampusStudent Rag and Femsplain. I also have my own WordPress blog called moon child where I document all my work, both in fiction and journalism.

» How did you get into your job?

I got into writing for magazines in around December 2014 when I sent in an article to my university’s newspaper, The Strathclyde Telegraph. I wasn’t really expecting anything to come from it and I wasn’t even expecting it to get published but the editor was really happy with it and put it in the paper.

At that time, I wanted to steer clear of writing articles and focus on creative writing but, as time has passed, I have developed a keen interest in journalism. I love it now and I never thought I would. When I realised how much I enjoyed writing articles and editing, I started chasing up and pestering any and every magazine/newspaper that would let me write for them and ended up interning at Scotcampus and The National newspaper (Scotland), as well as becoming a contributing writer for several magazines.

» What do you like about your job?

I like how much creative freedom I have to write about things I’m really passionate about. CultNoise Magazine, for example, are really supportive when it comes to the subject matter I want to tackle. They provide me with a platform to do a lot of humorous, light-hearted pieces but I’m also able to write about bigger issues at CultNoise as well. I enjoy writing about current affairs and the causes I believe in, such as: animal welfare, LGBTQ issues, feminism, equality and everything else that I believe should be written and read about more.

I also really enjoy editing because I can be a bit of a perfectionist (or at least I try to be) so making tweaks and taking a piece of work to that next level of looking polished and presentable is something I enjoy. I sound like such a geek but it’s actually quite fun. I enjoy working on the whole technical side too as I get to source and edit images, learn about copyright and media law, and help to manage social media links. If I ever decide to go into editing full-time after university, it’s all great experience and it’s good to be able to get some practise.

» What are some of the challenges of your job?

The biggest challenges with the work I do is probably trying to maintain a balance between my coursework and my work outside of my studies. Since I write for magazines and have a lot of deadlines outside of university, it’s sometimes hard to manage my time well and make sure I’m not spreading myself too thin. I’ve become a bit of a workaholic over the last year and I’m always taking on new projects and chasing new opportunities that I probably don’t have time for but somehow I manage to squeeze everything in, along with a few meltdowns.

I like to be challenged and I sometimes think a little bit of stress can actually be a good thing because it pushes you to work hard and make a real effort. One of the biggest things I struggle with in terms of university is keeping up with all the reading we are assigned. As I do a literature course, naturally, there is a lot of reading involved but a lot of my free time goes to creating stories and articles and my other writing commitments so keeping up with the reading lists is sometimes a bit of a push but I still study hard and make sure I get the best possibly grades I am capable of. I think it’s important to make an effort at school/college/university but I think gaining work experience outside of your studies is essential if you want to succeed in a competitive field when you graduate.

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» What do you think are some of the challenges in the creative sector?

I think the creative sector is rife with challenges because a lot of the courses in creative industries don’t necessarily lead to one set, stable career like a lot of other types of courses do, so you really need to figure out how you want to utilise your degree and make it work for you. Another hurdle to get over is that a lot of people have a preconceived idea of those who have creative/humanity degrees and don’t consider them to be as significant as a degree in the sciences for example which is completely inaccurate and disrespectful. So there will be a certain stigma when you tell people “my degree is in…” but it’s important to remember that this is just ignorance and something you shouldn’t waste your time dwelling on. You should always do whatever makes you happy, no matter what anyone else thinks.

I think it’s important to always make choices with your education to suit you. If you follow the path someone else wants for you, then you’ll never really be happy in what you do. Another big challenge in journalism specifically is finding paid work. As a student, almost all the work I do is unpaid, which I don’t mind at this stage because I love what I do and I know that a lot of the publications I write for are free and most of the other writers work on an unpaid basis too. But, once I graduate, I can’t see myself working for free because I think everyone should be paid for their services, no matter what kind of work it is.

» How has your degree helped you?

My degree has helped me learn: the basics of examining and analysing literature, the rules and formulas for writing journalistic articles, and how to enhance my fiction writing. But I also think that all the extracurricular work I’ve done in the past year has been immensely valuable because I’ve learned so much in such a short space of time. I would advise anyone doing this type of degree to gain experience outside of university because it allows you to develop skills and learn things that you probably won’t get in the classroom. Just being at university and meeting new people has really helped too because a lot of the opportunities I’ve had have come from lectures, tutors and fellow students. CultNoise Magazine is an example as I first heard of them when a university email was sent out to us appealing for student writers so I’m glad I responded to that!

» Why did you pick to work the sector that you work in?

I don’t think I even really “picked” this section. I kind of stumbled into it when I was trying my hand at journalism and discovered that I really enjoyed it. I plan to keep on writing for magazines and newspapers but I also enjoy writing fiction and it was definitely the first thing I really loved in terms of writing. I think making it in fiction is a lot harder because there are so many amazing fiction writers out there and opportunities to get published might not be few and far between but they’re definitely hard to get into. Most literary magazines/journals are so specific with the style and genre they want that it’s really creatively restrictive and stifling which isn’t a good thing at all. I also think there is a certain degree of pretention and snobbery within literary magazines which isn’t fair and actually damages a publication’s reputation in the long-term. I definitely think there needs to be more in the way of inclusive literary magazines and students should definitely get more involved with contributing and creating them themselves.

» Describe a typical day in your job.

If I’m not at university, I try to get up early and have one or two articles written by noon. Some days, I’ll be editing articles online for CultNoise Magazine or I’ll be scrambling around and emailing people trying to get articles together for the latest edition of The University Paper. In between that, I’ll be updating my blog with my latest articles, reviews, short stories, and/or poems when I get a chance. I’m pretty much always busy and while I like to go out with my friends or chill out and do nothing or just watch TV sometimes, I’ve started to really hate not being busy which I suppose is a good thing. If I don’t have anything to do, I’ll usually find something.

» Any advice for people wanting to get into your sector and/or the creative industry?

I’m probably not in any place to be giving advice but one of the most important things for me was developing a thick skin. You could be at university and put your heart and soul into an essay and you could think “This is my best work, I’ll definitely get an A for this” and then you could get a bad mark and harsh feedback that completely tears your work apart but I would just say, don’t let anything like this discourage you. No matter who you are or what you do, someone will always be critical of what you do and that’s okay.

I think if you become your own harshest critic, then no one else’s criticism will ever hurt your feelings and you can instead use it as ammunition to improve and learn a lesson from the experience. It’s important to be passionate and not let yourself be disheartened. If a tutor doesn’t like your coursework, arrange a meeting with them and find out what you’re doing wrong. If you editor criticises your article, write something even better to prove to them that you’re talented. Just always work hard. I think that’s the main thing.


I’d like to say a huge thank you to Sophie for allowing me to feature in her “A Day in the Life” Series.

You can also read Sophie’s guest blog for ‘moon child’ where she talks about her view on Scottish Independence.

Featured image created on Canva, edited by Sophie McNaughton.

September Musings: Self-publishing and going back to uni

1September is always a busy month what with going back to university, settling back into regular classes and a routine, and getting ready for winter (I’m desperately trying to hold myself back from buying the entire knitwear section in Primark) so I haven’t been posting as many blog posts as I ordinarily would have this month. So, to keep moon child ticking over, I thought I’d create a little September Musings post to talk about my little self-published book’s first birthday on September 25th and entering third year at university.


Self-publishing

Exactly one year (and *cough* two days *cough*) ago, I self-published my first little book: Ivy Moon and Other Short Stories. At that time, I was just starting my second year of English, Journalism and Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde and having accumulated a fairly decent sized portfolio of work in my creative writing class – where we’d write a short story, poem or dramatic scene every week – I decided I wanted to do something with that body of work.

While creating a physical portfolio in a big folder with page dividers, stickers, freshly printed pages and other assorted, colourful stationary did sound appealing, I wanted to do something different with my little collection of stories and to display my work in a different way. That’s when I discovered Lulu, a self-publishing website where you can create and design your very own books with every style from hardback and paperback to eBooks and photobooks.

Logging on to Lulu, I went to work straight away to put all my stories together in one Word document and began to build my own little book:

» Short fiction collection – “Ivy Moon & Other Short Stories

‘Her irises had the texture of reptile scales, like small circles of crinkled foil or thin flakes of gold. They burned a radioactive, liquid, lime green that morphed into a murky mustard shade of yellow with the changing sunlight.

Even her dense, muddy pupils were hypnotic with their way of dilating and stretching to inky black saucers when she was excited and shrinking to tiny, devilish slits when she was angry. She stood at five foot seven, a few inches shorter than myself with the slender body of a woman but the long, swishing tail and soft, fluffy head of a cat…’ – Extract from short story Feline.

“This collection contains nine short stories which include elements of gothic horror, fantasy, science fiction, romance, tragedy, historical fiction, surrealism, folklore, fairytale and the paranormal. These pieces were written by 18-year-old English Literature and Writing student, Sophie McNaughton during her first year at university.”

→ You can buy my short story collection from Lulu, Amazon and Barnes & Nobles.

Self-publishing has a lot of advantages. Firstly, it’s very simple to do and very quick. I put my book together essentially in one night and by the next week, I was holding my own little book with my name on it in my hands. Secondly, if you’re lucky enough to have your little self-published book go viral like Estelle Maskame, you will receive around 70% of the proceeds your book makes whereas traditional publishing would see you receiving a much smaller percentage of the dosh.

I also liked self-publishing because it’s a much more creative, artistic and innovative way of showing off your work as oppossed to the traditional portfolio. And your self-published book is a great thing to have and look back on when you’re old and grey and can’t quite remember writing it in the first place. It’s also a good thing to keep in mind when it comes to the dreaded dissertation in your last year at university. Instead of burying your dissertation when it’s done and desperately trying to forget the blood, sweat and tears it caused, you could showcase it in your own little book and be, quite rightly, proud that you managed to get through it.

So my little book has turned 1 and my new collection Moon Child: Collected Essays is still just a baby. You can view my self-published work both with Lulu and Kindle Self-Publishing here.


Going back to uni

This week marks my first week of third year. I still find it hard to believe I’m in third year (and more than half way through my degree) already when I still feel like I’m in school. The great thing about uni this year is that all my classes are great. Along with the obligatory but still enjoyable core class, Victorian Literature, I’m also doing another module of Creative Writing: Short Fiction and Poetry, a creative non-fiction class called Writing Real Life, and a literature and film class called Adaptations.

I’m particularly loving Adaptations right now as we have a film screening every week as well as a lecture and tutorial where we learn about the art of adapting a literary work into a work into a work of cinema and discuss the techniques used and principles that should be adhered to. We’re doing a lot of great texts/films including In A Lonely Place, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Crash, and I’m just counting down the weeks until we do Trainspotting towards the end of the semester which, anyone who knows me well will know, is my favourite film and one of my favourite books.

Going into third year is also a bit scary because at the end of this year I will, hopefully, have a degree. I plan to stay on to do an honours year and I imagine I’ll probably try to go on to specialise in either creative writing or feature writing in an MA course but it’s strange to think that I will have a standard degree in under a year from now. Quarter-life crisis, anyone? Why yes, I would love some. Wish me luck!

  • I have plenty of new blog posts, guest blogs, reviews, articles and works of fiction lined up to show you all soon so stay tuned the rest of this month and into November!

Featured image created with Canva, edited by Sophie McNaughton.

She’s *My* Best Friend

Published by Femsplain.

I’m sure when ancient man saw another cave dweller with a bigger piece of meat than he had from that afternoon’s hunt, he probably felt a twinge of jealousy. He may even have been so jealous that he smashed his fellow cave dweller over the head with a club, stole the meat and ran off with it. Who knows? Maybe jealousy is a quality that dates back to the days of the Flintstones, right back to the beginning of humanity. Whatever the case, it seems to be a primal part of us, but its meaning often blurs, and sometimes what would usually be protectiveness can morph into that all-too-familiar green-eyed monster: jealousy.

“Friend jealousy” is something that I’m sure most people — perhaps more so the case with girls — have experienced (although they may not admit to it). When you’re a small child and you make your first best friend, and you have fun with them, care about them, share your deepest darkest secrets (usually which boy you fancy that week) and cuddle them when they cry, a sense of protectiveness over that friend gradually builds. As your bond strengthens and you become true BFFs who know everything there is to know about each other, you start to think “Yep, this is my friend. Don’t mess with them, or you mess with me!”

But, typically, at some time or another, someone else is going to come along. Maybe they’re already in your group of close friends, and at the start of the new school year after a long summer off, they have a cool new haircut or backpack and they’re just cool this time around; everyone wants to be their new friend, including your BFF.

Though you want to cling on to your best friend — much like a spouse trying to win back the attention of their estranged partner who is looking to trade them in for a younger model — neediness is not going to help your case. You’ll get new toys, invite them over for sleepovers, make them a friendship bracelet, anything just to make yourself the “it” girl again. But, before you know it, your bestie will be playing Barbies with the new BFF at lunch times instead of you.

This is all natural. Especially when you’re young. As we grow, we are all constantly changing in every way physically and emotionally, from our fashion sense to our tastes and interests. It’s natural to outgrow friends, to drift apart from them, to discover new friendships that make you happier and to generally just change from pal to pal sometimes. But these constantly interchanging friend groups as a child can sometimes leaving a lasting impression into teenage years and even adulthood, and you may continue to feel twinges of that little green-eyed creature niggling in the back corner of your mind.

With the drama, hormones and stress associated with high school, this environment could be even more difficult in the friend department than earlier years. But when you get past high school and start community college or university or get a job, and you find yourself in a more stable, committed, friend-making-friendly setting, you should be able to build those kind of solid friendships that last a lifetime. By this stage, you’ll probably think, Ah, I am so over “friend jealousy” now. Ugh, I used to be so silly and childish. Thank goodness I’m way past that. Wrong.

With your new grownup friends, secret sharing has gone deeper than just about who you have feelings for or who you dislike, and you don’t just have other friends to compete with. There are now boyfriends and girlfriends, too. You might think that you’ve locked up that jealousy monster, but as soon as you hear, “Uh, sorry. I’ll have to cancel on you tonight. I’m going on a date with Jonathan” or, “Sorry, I can’t make it to the cinema. I’m going shopping with Jessica,” you’ll start to feel it once more.

At this stage in life, the good news is: Your friend isn’t going to be stolen. If your friend is shallow enough to ditch you for someone else simply because they are new and “cool” or have a lot of nice things, then they weren’t a friend worth having. And you’ll be at a stage where you’ll have a group of friends that you’re really close with, and you’ll constantly make new friends in new social circles. You may not even have one best friend anymore, but a whole group of them.

The bottom line is, “friend jealousy” isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This particular green-eyed monster has a heart of gold and is only riddled with jealousy because at the root, there is love. When you make a friend who you instantly click with and you just think, Wow, this person is amazing! I love them! I want to hang out with them all the time, you quickly feel protectiveness and “friend love” for them. So, when someone new comes along, you naturally want to wrap your friend up in cotton wool and hold them tight. But you have to let go. If they’re a true friend, they won’t be going anywhere anyway.

I am good friends with both sexes, but I love my girlfriends and I’ll always be protective if someone threatens to hurt them. And maybe I’ll always have a bit of “friend jealousy” if someone new comes along. But nowadays, I’ll meet that new person too and think, Hey, I want to be friends with this person as well!

It’s okay to admit that you feel “friend jealousy;” it just means that you care. We just need to remember to tell this cute, lovable, little green-eyed monster that true friends are never stolen, and that everything will be okay.

Featured image courtesy of Flickr.

The Soundtrack to Your Freshers Week

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I have an article published in the print edition of the August/September issue (Fresher’s edition) of Scotcampus magazine!

Continue reading The Soundtrack to Your Freshers Week

Intern Diary: News writing at The National

In April, I did my first ever work experience writing for Scotcampus for two weeks in their Glasgow office. This internship was great because the editors at Scotcampus really gave me the creative freedom to come up with my own ideas and write in my own style. I honed my writing skills, I learned a lot (including a few techy tricks and some surprising grammar revelations) and developed my ability in writing good quality articles to meet a deadline. I have been writing for Scotcampus since around January this year so I was fairly clued up on the style of articles, set up of the website, desired content etc. and I had a head start going into the internship. But this month, I stepped into unfamiliar territory by doing work experience in news writing for The National, the Scottish national newspaper that supports an independent Scotland.

At the start of my degree, I wanted to stay as far away from journalism as possible. I, like most people, had a preconceived idea of what I thought journalists did and how they did it but when I started learning more about it at university, I realised my perception of the field couldn’t have been further from the truth. As time went on, I became a little disenchanted with the areas of my course I was expecting to enjoy the most and ended up throwing myself into journalism, writing articles regularly for anyone who would publish me. Writing feature articles and opinion pieces comes quite easily to me and I love writing them but the area of journalism I was least comfortable with was definitely news stories. There’s a certain formula to news writing that can appear straightforward but in fact it is quite technical and almost mathematic in its structure and I’ve always lacked a bit of confidence in that area.

Continue reading Intern Diary: News writing at The National

Student Profile: Studying English

Do you love writing and reading? Thinking of studying and pursuing a career in English? Read my new Student Profile: Studying English article to find out the nitty gritty details of studying literature, journalism and creative writing.

Which kind of student are you?

Are you The Geek, The Slacker, The Flake and or The Debater? Students are a strange species and we all fit into specific breeds. Read my new Scotcampus article and find out which kind of student you are!