And Moses, when he was asked by God to rescue His people Israel from captivity in Egypt, said to God Almighty:  

     "Who shall I say sent me and what is your name?  For they will asked the name of the one who sent me and they have many gods who all have a name."

    "Tell them I  am has sent you, and that my name is Jehovah."

This is found in most translstion of the Holy Bible within the early chapters of Exodus.

Jesus' name means: Jehovah has sent me.  I am including an Essay I wrote about how evolution devalued peoples' belief in an almighty creator.   

Question: ‘Victorian moral values applied equally to all’

Discuss this statement in relation to the lives of women in mid-Victorian texts.

(Choose two texts from the anthology provided by the Open University.)

During Victorian times, there was a tendency towards the idea that men and women could  achieve equal moral values and knew right from wrong. The British Government in its lofty speeches, especially those by Lord Palmerston, purported that everybody could live virtuous and fulfilled lives; the Church of England endorsed this idea. In order to find out how these statements applied to the lives of mid-Victorian women two texts will be discussed: ‘Prostitution among Needlewomen’, 1849, by Henry Mayhew, a journalist who became the first Editor of Punch; ‘Subjection of Women’ Chapter 11, 1869, by John Stuart Mill, MP for Westminster 1865-1868.

Mid-Victorian society contemporary writers, such as John Ruskin, portrayed women as being incorruptible and having stable home lives. However, Henry Mayhew and John Mill reported the true conditions that these women lived under.

They could reach a wide section of the public with their revelations, Mayhew through his journalism, and Mill by his speeches as MP.

Henry Mayhew was interested in exposing the mistreatment of women employees and travelled to London to investigate the working conditions of needlewomen. He records in his article:            

           `During the course of my investigation, into  the conditions

           of those who are dependant on the needle for their support,

           I had been so repeatedly assured that the young girls were

           mostly compelled into prostitution to eke out their subsistence,

           that I was compelled to test the truth of the statement.’

                                                     `Prostitution among needlewomen`, 1869 (John Mayhew)

These shocking working conditions of London’s  ‘slop workers’ workers was showed that there was no equality in mid Victorian Britain, which prided itself in being Christian country, basing many of its laws on the Ten Commandments. It could be argued that employers ignoring women workers plight made the lofty government ideal that everyone could achieve quality in moral virtue sound hypocritical.

One youn needlewoman told Mayhew that she made moleskin trowsers at 7d or 8d a pair. She only had 6s left at the end of the week after paying expenses for thread and candles for lighting. Sometimes she had no money for food and shelter because her employers did not pay her in slack periods. This obvious abuse by her employers shows the false moral values in that society. She also tells Mayhew she is pregnant. The father of her child is a tin worker, earning 14s a week, showing the vast difference in pay of women compered to men’s. This girl had her widowed mother to help who worked in a pub scrubbing pots.

Another revelation of Mayhew, was how low moral values were amongst all the needlewomen who were into prostitution, urging the pregnant girl to do the same; she tells Mayhew that she would rather die. The low wages in mid-Victotian society contributed to low moral values of these poor women, who would probably have been virtuous if they had more money for the essentials of life. Mayhew’s young needlewomen told him that she was virtuous before she became destitute, forcing her to live with her boyfriend.

After the revelations of Henry Mayhew, John Mill’s `Subjection of Women`  shows the inequity among married women in mid-Victorian society. He tells us that girls were brought up to expect marriage. Again contemporary writers glorified the role of a good wife: they were homemakers. Even the Holy Bible states that a good wife is ‘worth more than Corals’ - but men often abused their wives making them subservient. Poor women were worse off than wealthy ones, who had rich fathers to help.

John Mill’s, whose father was philosopher James Mill, spent his formative years under the influence of Bentham, publishing his System of Logic in 1843 and Principles of Political Economy in 1848. Queen Victoria’s reigned for more than 60 years 1838-1901, the mid-Victorian period spanning some time after John had gained much political experience. So he was qualified to speak out on the moral values in his day and how they related to the women’s lives. He writes in The Subjection of Womenhow the marriage contract affected these women:

                  ‘Marriage being the destination appointed by society

                   for women, the prospect they are brought up to.’

                                                      Subjection of Women, 1848.

He was married to Harriet Taylor in 1851, and saw marraige as being a good contract for all women, but adds: ‘except those too little attractive to be chosen as his companion’.  Mill gives away the inequity in the lives of women, therefore showing the attitude of men in treating women as objects of desire.

This attitude did not help mid-Victorian women`s equality. Once married, many were treated worse than a Roman slave, who  `has his own peculum` (his own money and property) Mill; any property owned by the wife became her husband’s under English Law after marriage, ‘ipso facto his’(Mill). Many countries laws protected slaves, but under the common law of England women had no such protection. Wealthy fathers were able to negotiate marriage settlements but this did not stop the husband getting access to money from property she inherited once it was sold. There was no escaped for these women. Even if divorce were made easier, there was nowhere for them to go and they could not take anything with them.  Even the children were his, even after his death. The inequity among married women was equally devastating as Mayhew’s needlewomen.

Both Mayhew and Mills were ‘cries in the wilderness’. However, compared to high society married women who were inclined to have affairs, Mayhew’s needlewoman stood out as virtuous, despite her predicament: she would not have lived with her boyfriend of two years if her income had been adequate.

Mayhew and Mill, tried to bring the inequity between men and women to light. The rich would have bought Punch, reading his articles on London’s poor. History shows that reforms were beginning to take place, so perhaps reporters like Mayhew and Mill’s were beginning to make a difference to the lives of the women in their era. John Mill represented the government and must have spoke out against abuse of women in marriage. The Churches appeared to have very little effect in improving women’s lot in marriage. As there had been forced marriages in the past they required the consent of the woman, but did little to make sure that she really had agreed to the marriage.

It has been seen by the study of the course anthology texts that mid-Victorian’s were governed by set of rules laid down by Christianity and the Ten Commandments in God’s word the Holy Bible; proof of which was the existence of the Church of  England. It has been seen that everyone in that society was expected to live by high moral standards and be virtuous. Hence the lofty speeches of Lord Palmerston. But everybody including mid-Victorian women could not and did not achieve equality in this direction, as has been seen by looking at the texts from that era. The close scrutiny of the two eye witness accounts of Henry Mayhew and John Mills has proved beyond doubt that equality in moral values in relation to the lives of mid-Victorian women could not and did not exist in that society. They were portrayed as being used and abused.

Janet Swann:  28^th April, 2005;

Question: ‘Victorian moral values applied equally to all’

Discuss this statement in relation to the lives of women in mid-Victorian texts. (Choose two main texts from the anthology provided by the Open University.)

‘Victorian moral values applied equally to all’ embodies the lofty speeches made by Victorian Tory Peer and Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston[1]. The British Government in mid-Victorian times was influenced by Christianity, and the Church of England. It was purported that everybody could be virtuous and become high achievers, knowing right from wrong. How equality in Victorian moral values related to the lives of mid-Victorian women, will now be discussed. For this purpose, two texts from that era have been chosen: ‘Prostitution among Needlewomen’, 1849, by playwright, journalist and the first Editor of Punch, Henry Mayhew (1812-87); TheSubjection of Women Chapter 11, 1869, by John Stuart Mill (1806-73).

Victorian contemporary writers, such as John Ruskin[2], portrayed women as being incorruptible and having stable home lives. However, Mayhew and Mill reported the true story. Henry Mayhew became interested in exposing the mistreatment of women employees during mid-Victorian times, while Mill wrote about the lives of married women. Mayhew traveled to London to investigate the working conditions of London’s needlewomen. He records in his article:           

           ‘I had been so repeatedly assured that the young girls were

           mostly compelled into prostitution to eke out their subsistence,

           that I was compelled to test the truth of the statement.’

                                                   Mayhew, H. (1849) ‘Prostitution among needlewomen’.

The shocking working conditions of London’s needlewomen, ‘slop workers’, prove that there was no equality in moral values among mid-Victorian women employees. Britain was a Christian country, basing many of its laws on the Ten Commandments. Therefore, it is argued that employers, who ignored their women workers needs, made the high ideals of mid-Victorian England invalid.

A young needlewoman informed Mayhew that she made ‘moleskin trowsers at 7d or 8d a pair’. She even had to pay expenses for ‘ twist, thread, candles and coals’ (Mayhew), leaving her very little to live on at the end of the week. Because her employers did not pay during slack periods, this girl often had no money for the essentials of life. She told Mayhew that she was pregnant. The father of her child, a tin worker, earned 14s a week. This showed the vast inequality between women’s pay and men’s in that era. This needlewoman had her widowed mother, who also worked for a pittance, to support.

Mayhew’s text informs how low moral values had become among all London’s needlewomen. They supplemented their meager earnings by prostitution. These women urged the pregnant girl to do the same. She told Mayhew: ‘I would rather the Almighty take me before my child is born, I should die happy’. Therefore, according to Mayhew, low wages in mid-Victorian society contributed to low moral values in women - and men.

It could therefore be argued that low paid single mid-Victorian women were forced into satisfying the needs of depraved men in that society. Mayhew’s young needlewomen told him that she was virtuous before becoming destitute. Not being able to afford shelter, she was compelled to live with her boyfriend who wanted nothing to do with her once she became pregnant. Men’s insensitivity is seen to have contributed to the lack of virtue in the lives of single women during mid-Victorian times.

John Stuart Mill’s text on how `Victorian moral values related to married women’s lives in mid-Victorian society, will now be addressed.  Families brought up their daughters to expect marriage: ‘Marriage being the destination appointed by society for women, the prospect they are brought up to’. (Mill).

Contemporary writers glorified the role of a good wife, portraying them as homemakers. The sad fact was, according to Mill, husbands abused their wives, making them subservient. Poor women were worse off than wealthy ones who often had good fathers to help them, perhaps showing that not all men were bad in mid-Victorian times.

John Mill’s father was philosopher James Mill. John spent his formative years under the influence of English philosopher and political radical, Bentham[3].  Queen Victoria’s reign lasted more than 60 years (1838-1901), so the mid-Victorian period spanned some time after Mill had gained much political experience. He tried unsuccessfully to enable women to vote; this displayed men treating women as inferior in that society. Mill married Harriet Taylor in 1851, and saw marriage: ‘as being a good contract for all women, except those too little attractive to be chosen as his companion’ (Mill). This quote shows again the inequality that existed in the lives of mid-Victorian women, and men viewing women as objects of beauty and desire rather than human beings.

Many husbands treated their wives worse than slaves. Even a Roman slave was allowed his own property and money: `has his own peculum`, (Mill). Under English Law, any property owned by the wife before marriage became her husband’s after marriage. Other countries’ laws protected slaves, but the common law of England provided women with no such protection. Wealthy fathers could negotiate marriage settlements for their daughters, but this did not stop husbands getting access to their wives’ money from property once sold.

Mill suggests that divorce should have been made easier, but there was nowhere for most of these women to go. History shows that divorce would have left many mid-Victorian women destitute, which Mill does not address. The husband owned the children of the marriage, even after his death, proving that he was considered ‘lord and master of the wife’(Mill). Women were often forced into marriage. The Church, requiring the woman’s permission for the marriage, did not stop forced marriages.

On the other hand, high society women were inclined to ‘affairs’, which might be thought of as abuse against ‘good’ men. The texts show that Mayhew’s needlewoman, because she acted out of need, stood out virtuously against dissatisfied wealthy married women.

Victorian moral values were considered very high. Even piano legs were covered. But everyone did not practice the high Christian morality being preached by the Church and Government leaders. This society did not obey the command laid down in  the scriptures: ‘Husbands continue loving your wives, just as Christ loved the congregation and delivered himself up for it.’ (Ephesians 5: 24,25 KJV.).

Mid-Victorian England was being challenged by `ideas` such as Darwin’s selection of the species. These `new` philosophies had a weakening effect on people’s faith in God and moral values. Evidence in the two ‘eye witness’ accounts of Henry Mayhew and John Stuart Mill, invalidates the statement: ‘Victorian moral values applied equally to all’. Mid-Victorian women could not and did not have equality of moral values in their lives.

Reference:

Best, G. (1979) ‘Lord Palmerston, (1865) April Speech at the South London Industrial Exhibition, Illustrated London News 8 April’, in MID-Victorian Britain 1851-75, pp.256-8, London: Fontana

James, King. Version of the Holy Bible, London and New York,Toronto: Cambridge University Press, The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited.

Robson, A. P., Robson, J.M. (1994) ‘Mill, J.S. The Subjection of Women, Chapter 11 1869’, in Sexual Equality; Writings by John Stuart Mill, Harriet Taylor Mill, and Helen Taylor, pp. 332-5. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Ruskin, J. (1909) [1865] Sesame and Lilies, pp.72-4, 87-95.

Thompson, E.P. and Yeo, E. (1971) ‘Mayhew, H. Prostitution among needlewomen 1849’, in The Unknown Mayhew: Selections  from the Morning Chronicle, pp.147-9.

The above texts were obtained from Victorian Anthology, www.open.ac.uk/students.

Bentham, J. The Internet Encyclopedia of  Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/b/bentham.htm

Part 2b. Question: Reflect on the parts that have made most

sense to your particular writing process, and the parts that have

made less sense. This section draws on work done in all five

Blocks.

• It should reflect on the improvement in your writing over length of course.

• Reflect on former faults, and ways in which future improvements could be made.

• It should be more detailed than a list of likes and dislikes.

• There should be a degree of analysis.

• It can be written in Essay format and structure, though brief.

• Not compulsory to write this section as an Essay.

• It is a more personal form of writing, but must maintain a level of objectivity. [none1] 

  My reflection on the OU A172 Start Writing Essays course.

  The Start Writing Essays course comprises of: 5 blocks; Anthology;

  Plain English; CD; The Arts Good Study Guide; Student Tool Kit Books

  1 and 5; Course Guide; course website. The course parts that made most sense and made ‘less sense’ to my ‘kind of writing’, will now be discussed.

   

  This course teaches that an Essay is written in academic language for the ‘ordinary intelligent uninformed person in the street’(Blck 1,GSG p145). Essay writing is sensibly broken down into seven stages(Block1 p13, S.T.Kit Bk5 pp.1). The first stage is ‘taking in the title’(Block 2 pp.1-10) by writing a short response; this helped me to understand the question. Looking up the title’s key words in a dictionary, and underlining the content and instruction words, helped in making sure the question was answered correctly.

   

  Having a schedule kept the ‘seven stages of Essay writing  in proportion, reducing stress. Writing the introduction and conclusion first[4] made good ‘sense’ and proved helpful, as was Tutorial 1’s instruction of not using the first person in Essays.

   

  I found finding a place to study, as suggested in the beginning of the Arts  Guide to Good Study book, very helpful in keeping an eye on the course

  title and the copied list of ‘Seven stages in Essay writing’. I pinned these lists to my calendar with the schedule. I read the audio CD notes and found Beth Lewis discussions on Essays very meaningful. Also the Plain English website helped in reviewing my English language.

   

  Researching and generating ideas (3rd and 4^thstages) for the Essay

  plan was good. But planning the essay[5](5th stage) was harder for me to understand. This course, in my opinion, did not give enough detailed examples of plans, inducing me to write my plan in note form which was not conducive to a strong argument. The eTMA guidelines on the OU Student Website did suggest that note form could be used. However, the tutor’s comments on my eTMA 01 were helpful in pointing that I should make a stronger debate. If fellow students had debated more on the conferencing website, planning an Essay may have been discussed.

   

  I found the various activities helpful. Writing anything for five minutes[6] first thing in the morning made a lot of sense: it loosened up my thinking processes, preparing me for my day’s study.  The section in the Guide to Good Study book[7]on different speeds in reading for different tasks was most helpful. I skimmed through the anthology texts and read slowly my two chosen texts.

   

  Block 4, revising and editing (6^th stage), taught me to paraphrase and annotate, which I very clearly understood. Reducing verbiage in  magazine articles was good practice for editing my first Essay draft; I am now able to recognize redundant words and phrases. Footnoting, and referencing[8], is new to me. However, I am beginning to grasp their usefulness. I also found ‘spidergrams’[9]helpful in gathering information. Recognizing ‘signpost’[10] words and phrases in examples was difficult; practice in this field will help improve integration of my exposition and critical analysis in future final drafts (7^thstage).

   

  This course’s writing skills, sensible advice on plagiarism (blck 3 p. 11), referencing, varying sentence lengths (GSG.p.167), will help me in all areas of writing, progressing towards better Essays in future assignments.

   

  Reference:

   

  A172 Start Writing Essays (2005) Blocks 1-5 from Student website; www.open.ac.uk/students: Open University.

  CD (2004), Arts Level 1, Supplementary material A172, United Kingdom: Open University.

  Chambers, E. Northedge, A. The Arts Good Study Guide, Milton Keynes: Open University.

  Conferencing Website, First Class: Open University.

  Student Toolkit 5, Essay and report writing skills: Open University.

  Student Toolkit 1 The effective use of English: Open University.

  Student Website, www.open.ac.uk/students; `Plain English`: Open University.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Janet Swann:  28^th April, 2005; A172 Start Writing Essays;

Question: ‘Victorian moral values applied equally to all’

Discuss this statement in relation to the lives of women in mid-Victorian texts. (Choose two texts from the anthology provided by the Open University.)

‘Victorian moral values applied equally to all’ embodies the lofty speeches made by Victorian Tory Peer and Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston[1]. The British Government in mid-Victorian times, influenced by Christianity, purported the idea that everybody could be virtuous, and become high achievers, knowing right from wrong. How equality in Victorian moral values related to the lives of mid-Victorian women will now be discussed. For this purpose, two texts from that era have been chosen: ‘Prostitution among Needlewomen’, 1849, by playwright, journalist and the first Editor of Punch, Henry Mayhew (1812-87); The Subjection of Women Chapter 11, 1869, by John Stuart Mill (1806-73).

Victorian contemporary writers, such as John Ruskin[2], portrayed women as being incorruptible and having stable home lives. However, Mayhew and Mill reported the true story. Henry Mayhew became interested in exposing the mistreatment of women employees, while Mill wrote about the lives of married women in mid-Victorian times. Mayhew traveled to London to investigate the working conditions of London’s needlewomen. He records in his article:           

           ‘I had been so repeatedly assured that the young girls were

           mostly compelled into prostitution to eke out their subsistence,

           that I was compelled to test the truth of the statement.’

                                                   Mayhew, H. (1869) ‘Prostitution among needlewomen’.

The shocking working conditions of London’s needlewomen, ‘slop workers’, prove that there was no equality in moral values among mid-Victorian women employees. Britain was a Christian country, basing many of its laws on the Ten Commandments. It is argued that employers, who ignored women workers needs, made the high ideals of mid-Victorian England invalid.

A young needlewoman informed Mayhew that she made ‘moleskin trowsers at 7d or 8d a pair’. She even had to pay expenses for ‘ twist, thread, and candles’ (Mayhew); this left her very little to live on at the end of the week. Because her employers did not pay during slack periods, this girl often had no money for the essentials of life. She told Mayhew that she was pregnant. The father of her child, a tin worker, earned 14s a week, thus showing the vast inequality between women’s pay and men’s in that era. This needlewoman had her widowed mother, who also worked for a pittance, to support.

Mayhew’s text shows how low moral values had become among all London’s needlewomen. They supplemented their meagre earnings by prostitution. These women urged the pregnant girl to do the same. She told Mayhew: ‘I would rather the Almighty take me before my child is born, I should die happy’. Therefore, according to Mayhew, low wages in mid-Victorian society contributed to low moral values in women - and men.

It could therefore be argued that low paid single mid-Victorian women were being portrayed as forced into satisfying the needs of depraved men in that society. The young needlewomen told Mayhew she was virtuous before she became destitute. Not being able to afford shelter, she was forced into living with her boyfriend who wanted nothing to do with her once she became pregnant. Men’s insensitivity is seen to have contributed to the lack of virtue in the lives of single women during mid-Victorian times.

John Stuart Mill’s text, showing how Victorian moral values `related` to married women’s lives in the mid-Victorian era, will now be addressed.  Families in that society brought up their daughters to expect marriage: ‘Marriage being the destination appointed by society for women, the prospect they are brought up to’ (Mill).

Contemporary writers glorified the role of a good wife, portraying them as homemakers. The sad fact was, according to Mill, husbands abused their wives, making them subservient. Poor women were worse off than wealthy ones who often had good fathers to help them, perhaps showing that not all men were bad in mid-Victorian times.

John Mill’s father was philosopher James Mill. John spent his formative years under the influence of Bentham, making him more than qualified  to speak out on women’s issues. Queen Victoria’s reign lasted more than 60 years (1838-1901), so the mid-Victorian period spanned some time after Mill had gained much political experience. He tried unsuccessfully to enable women to vote. Mill married Harriet Taylor in 1851, and saw marriage: ‘as being a good contract for all women, except those too little attractive to be chosen as his companion’ (Mill). This quote shows again the inequality that existed in the lives of mid-Victorian women, and men treating women as objects of beauty and desire rather than human beings.

Many husbands treated their wives worse than slaves. Even a Roman slave was allowed his own property and money: `has his own peculum` (Mill). Any property owned by the wife before marriage became her husband’s, under English Law, after marriage. Other countries’ laws protected slaves, but under the common law of England women had no such protection. Wealthy fathers could negotiate marriage settlements for their daughters, but this did not stop husbands getting access to their wives’ money from property once it was sold.

Mill suggested in his text that divorce should be made easier, but there was nowhere for these women to go. Divorce would have left many mid-Victorian women destitute, which Mill does not address. The husband owned the children of the marriage, even after his death, proving that he was considered ‘lord and master of the wife’(Mill) in those times. Women were often forced into marriage. The Church, requiring permission from the woman for the marriage, did not stop forced marriages. High society women were inclined to ‘affairs’, which might be thought of as abuse against ‘good’ men. Because of this, the texts show that Mayhew’s needlewoman, who acted out of need, stood out virtuously against these dissatisfied wealthy married women.

Victorian moral values were considered very high; even piano legs were covered, thought to be obscene. Everyone did not practice the high Christian morality being preached by the Church and leaders of that society: ‘Husbands continue loving your wives, just as Christ loved the congregation and delivered himself up for it.’ (Ephesians 5: 24,25. KJV.). External influences in mid-Victorian England, such as Darwin’s selection of the species, were beginning to challenge people’s faith in God. The two ‘eye witness accounts’ of Henry Mayhew and John Stuart Mill refute the statement: ‘Victorian moral values applied equally to all’. Equality in moral values did not apply in mid-Victorian women’s lives.

Reference:

Best, G. (1979) ‘Lord Palmerston, (1865) April Speech at the South

London Industrial Exhibition, Illustrated London News 8 April’, in

 MID-Victorian Britain 1851-75, pp.256-8, London: Fontana

James, King. Version of the Holy Bible, London and New York,

Toronto: Cambridge University Press, The Macmillan Company of

Canada Limited.

Robson, A. P., Robson, J.M. (1994) ‘Mill, J.S. The Subjection of

Women, Chapter 11 1869’, in Sexual Equality; Writings by John Stuart

Mill, Harriet Taylor Mill, and Helen Taylor, pp. 332-5. Toronto:

University of Toronto Press.

Ruskin, J. (1909) [1865] Sesame and Lilies, pp.72-4, 87-95.

Thompson, E.P. and Yeo, E. (1971) ‘Mayhew, H.

Prostitution among needlewomen 1849’, in The Unknown

Mayhew: Selections  from the Morning Chronicle, pp.147-9.

The texts were obtained from Victorian Anthology, www.open.ac.uk/students.

Part 2b question: Reflect on the parts that have made most

sense to your particular writing process, and the parts that have

made less sense. This section draws on work done in all 5

Blocks.

• It should reflect on the improvement in your writing over length of course.

• Reflect on former faults, and ways in which future improvements could be made.

• It should be more detailed than a list of likes and dislikes.

• There should be a degree of analysis.

• It can be written in Essay format and structure, though brief.

• Not compulsory to write this section as an Essay.

• It is a more personal form of writing, but must maintain a level of objectivity. [none1] 

   

   

   

   

  My reflection on the OU A172 Start Writing Essays course.

   

  The Start Writing Essays course comprises of: 5 blocks; Anthology;

  Plain English; CD; The Arts Good Study Guide; Student Tool Kit Books

  1 and 5; Course Guide; course website. The course parts that made most sense and made ‘less sense’ to my ‘kind of writing’, will now be discussed.

   

  This course teaches that an Essay is written in academic language for the ‘ordinary intelligent uninformed person in the street’(Blck 1,GSG p145). It is sensibly broken down into seven stages(Block1 p13, S.T.Kit Bk5 pp.1-9 ). The first stage is ‘taking in the title’(Block 2 pp.1-10) by writing a short response and helped me to understand the question. Looking up the title’s key words in a dictionary, and underlining the content and instruction words also helped in making sure the question was answered correctly. Having a schedule kept the ‘seven stages of Essay writing’,  in proportion, reducing stress. Writing the introduction and conclusion first[3] made good ‘sense’ and proved helpful, as was Tutorial 1’s instruction of not using the first person in Essays.

   

  I found finding a place to study, as suggested in the beginning of the Arts  Guide to Good Study book, very helpful in keeping an eye on the course

  title and the copied list of ‘Seven stages in Essay writing’. I pinned these lists to my calendar with the schedule. I read the audio CD notes and found Beth Lewis discussions on Essays very meaningful. Also the Plain English website helped in reviewing my English language.

   

  Researching and generating ideas (3rd and 4^thstages) for the Essay

  plan was good. But planning the essay[4](5th stage) was harder for me to understand. This course, in my opinion, did not give detailed examples, inducing me to write my plan in note form which, I was told, was not conducive to a strong argument. The eTMA guidelines on the OU Student Website did suggest that note form could be used. However, the tutor’s comments on my eTMA 01 were helpful in pointing that I should make a stronger debate. If fellow students had debated on the conferencing website, planning an Essay may have been discussed.

   

  Writing anything for five minutes[5]first thing in the morning made a lot of sense: it helped loosen up my thinking processes, preparing me for my day’s study.  The section in the Guide to Good Study book[6]on different speeds in reading for different tasks was most helpful. I skimmed through the anthology texts and read slowly my two chosen texts.

   

  Block 4, revising and editing (6^th stage), taught me to paraphrase and annotate, which I very clearly understood. Reducing verbiage in  magazine articles was good practice for editing my first Essay draft; I am now able to recognize redundant words and phrases. Footnoting, and referencing[7], is new to me. However, I am beginning to grasp their usefulness. I also found ‘spidergrams’[8]helpful in gathering information. Recognizing ‘signpost’[9] words and phrases in examples was difficult; practice in this field will help improve integration of my exposition and critical analysis of my final drafts (7^thstage).

   

  This course’s writing skills, advice on plagiarism (blck 3 p. 11), referencing, varying sentence lengths (GSG.p.167), will help me in all areas of writing, progressing towards better Essays in future assignments.

   

  Reference:

   

  A172 Start Writing Essays (2005) Blocks 1-5 from Student website, www.open.ac.uk/students: Open University.

  CD (2004), Arts Level 1,Supplementary material A172, United Kingdom: Open University.

  Chambers, E. Northedge, A. The Arts Good Study Guide, Milton Keynes: Open University.

  Conferencing Website, First Class: Open University.

  Student Website, www.open.ac.uk/students, `Plain English`: Open University

  Student Toolkit 5, Essay and report writing skills: The Open University.

  Student Toolkit 1 The effective use of English: The Open University.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

God so loved the World, Cosmos, that he gave his only begotten Son.

                   WMA

   Jesus the Good Shepherd

   Please click on the picture of Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha to hear my music composition. It has words, but I shall have to print them out.

                       Intro

Verse 1  Jesus the Good shepherd.

               We know he loves us so,

               Guides us with a shepherds crook,

                Which is his father's word----!

                He is the son of  God,

                The soil this World he trod.

I will clean up the sound between the verses and put it in mp3 format.