Fyse Seminar Guide

BEING A DURBAN UNIVERSITY OF
TECHNOLOGY STUDENT
FYSE SEMINARS 2016
Your success is in your hands
Compiled by Associate Professor Livingstone Makondo (DLitt et Phil, MBA, MALSP, PG Dip (HE),
Grad. CE, BA Hons, BA) (CELT Academic Development Practitioner, Midlands Centre and FYSE
Leader).
Contents
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ..................................................................................................... 3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................... 5
WELCOME TO THE FYSE SEMINARS ................................................................................................. 6
INTRODUCTION TO THE FYSE SEMINARS ........................................................................................ 7
WHAT ARE THE LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR THE FYSE SEMINARS? ....................................... 7
WHAT KINDS OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES CAN YOU EXPECT? ..................................................... 8
WHAT ASSESSMENT CRITERIA DO WE USE? ............................................................................... 8
WHAT ASSESSMENT METHOD DO WE USE? ................................................................................ 8
HOW DO WE DELIVER THE SEMINARS? ........................................................................................ 8
SEMINAR ONE: LET US ENGAGE ONE ANOTHER! ......................................................................... 10
LEARNING OUTCOMES .................................................................................................................. 10
LEARNING ACTIVITIES.................................................................................................................... 10
SEMINAR TWO: MANAGING YOURSELF AND YOUR TIME SUCCESSFULLY ............................... 11
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................... 11
PREPARING TO STUDY: YOU AS A STUDENT ............................................................................. 11
Your diet ......................................................................................................................................... 13
Your sleep ...................................................................................................................................... 14
Your recreation .............................................................................................................................. 14
Your relationships .......................................................................................................................... 15
YOUR SUCCESSFUL LEARNING STRATEGIES ........................................................................... 16
Motivation ....................................................................................................................................... 17
Practice .......................................................................................................................................... 17
Engagement ................................................................................................................................... 17
Reflection ....................................................................................................................................... 17
Stress management ....................................................................................................................... 18
IDEAL LEARNING CONDITIONS ..................................................................................................... 19
Organising a place to study ........................................................................................................... 19
Organising your time ...................................................................................................................... 20
SEMINAR THREE: UNIVERSITY STUDY SUCCESS PRINCIPLES................................................... 24
Reading 1: Experiences from New Zealand .................................................................................. 24
Reading 2: On Course Success Principles .................................................................................... 25
Reading 3: The Survivors Guide ................................................................................................... 27
SEMINAR FOUR: HANDLING DIVERSITY .......................................................................................... 29
2
Reading 1: Dont touch me on my Zulu ......................................................................................... 29

Reading 2: Indian speech finds a pozi in SA English. New dictionary probes its origins ............ 31
SEMINAR FIVE: MASCULINITIES AND FEMININITIES ..................................................................... 32
Resource: Constitutional framework on equality ........................................................................... 32
Resource: Questions on masculinities and femininities ................................................................ 32
Reading: Opinions of some young students .................................................................................. 32
Task: Discussion and reflection ..................................................................................................... 33
SEMINAR SIX: ESSAY WRITING AT UNIVERSITY ............................................................................ 34
WHY WRITE ESSAYS? .................................................................................................................... 34
WRITING AS A PROCESS ............................................................................................................... 36
Writing Centre contact details ........................................................................................................ 36
The stages of the writing process .................................................................................................. 36
WHEN YOU GET YOUR ESSAY BACK ........................................................................................... 39
SOME STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF THE ACADEMIC ESSAY ..................................................... 39
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 39
Argument ....................................................................................................................................... 39
Evidence ........................................................................................................................................ 39
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 40
References ..................................................................................................................................... 40
REFERENCING ................................................................................................................................ 40
DUT Library contact details ........................................................................................................... 40
When and how do we reference? .................................................................................................. 40
Incorporating the work of others into our text ................................................................................ 41
Further advice on referencing ........................................................................................................ 43
Quoting and citations ..................................................................................................................... 44
SEMINAR SEVEN: SELF-EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE AND YOUR PORTFOLIO OF LEARNING
.............................................................................................................................................................. 45
1) Self-evaluation questionnaire .................................................................................................... 45
2) My Portfolio of Learning ............................................................................................................. 45
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................... 46
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

CELT
DUT
FYSE
Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

Durban University of Technology
First Year Student Experience
3
PMB
TMA
varsity
Pietermaritzburg
Tutor-Mentor-Advisor
university
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Seminars Two and Six are adapted from a 2014 booklet from the Fundani Centre for Higher Education
Student Learning of the University of Cape Towns Language Development Group: Studying at
University: A Guide for First Year Students (originally authored by Stella Clark in 1998 based on Study
Methods by Nan Yeld and Paddy Hobley). The 2014 work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Non-commercial-Share Alike 2.5 South Africa License. You are free to copy, communicate
and adapt the work on condition that you attribute the Language Development Group, University of
Cape Town (and Stacey Stent for the illustrations), and make your adapted work available under the
same
licensing
agreement.
To
view
a
copy
of
this
license,
visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/za/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171
Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California 94105, USA.
Part of Seminar Three: Experiences from New Zealand comes from information submitted by Trudi
Urlwin of UniSmart (www.ideasagency.biz; email: trudi@ideasagency.biz) and included as a case
study in Ruth Whittakers (2008) Quality Enhancement Themes: The First Year Experience. Transition
to and during the First Year.
Seminar Five was conceptualised by Mrs Doreen Mheta, FYSE Coordinator.
The compilation of this work has been done by Associate Professor Livingstone Makondo using the
bulk of material supplied by Associate Professor Thengani Ngwenya (DTE, DLitt et Phil, MEd, MA)
(Director, CELT).
Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (Midlands Centre)
Block 7
Indumiso Campus
033 845 8932
Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (Durban Centre)
Berwyn Court, Ground Floor
Steve Biko Campus
031 373 2860
Mariam Bee, 1st Floor
ML Sultan Campus
031 373 6810
WELCOME TO THE FYSE SEMINARS

Welcome to the Durban University of Technology (DUT). To help you to get established in your new
academic home, the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) has designed these First
Year Student Experience (FYSE) learning sessions (seminars).
The seminars will be facilitated by your peers, called Tutor-Mentor-Advisors (TMAs). The TMAs are
colleagues from your areas of study and they have successfully negotiated and been integrated into the
university system; for this reason, they can walk with you on the same journey.
These seminars are designed to help all first-year students in all faculties at the DUT understand the
way learning, teaching, and assessing are done at the university.
The seminars build a student-centred educational experience designed to prepare you as students to
be critical thinkers for an increasingly diverse and complex local, national and globalised work
environment.
The seminars nurture the formation of a community of practice of FYSE. Your TMAs will explain and
discuss this concept community of practice and its benefits.
INTRODUCTION TO THE FYSE SEMINARS

To give structure to the FYSE sessions and to get you started on university life, this FYSE workbook
includes six seminar topics, with a seventh seminar focusing on helping you compile a self-evaluation
and a Portfolio of Learning.
University terminology In this FYSE workbook:
We use the term seminars to refer to the learning sessions that focus on particular topics or
units.
We use the term learning outcomes to spell out what must be focused on or achieved during
a given seminar.
The learning activities are the tasks that are set for you to do, and that you need to actively
involve yourself in as a student to ensure that you achieve the learning outcomes for that
seminar.
Note that the learning activities are what you, as a student, must do in order to learn in other words,
the learning activities are not for the TMAs or your respective subject lecturers; they are for you. Students
who succeed in their university studies are those who are actively involved in all learning activities.
Being actively involved in all learning activities means:
Before the learning activity, you prepare for the upcoming activity which could be a lecture,
seminar, simulation, field visit, experiment or examination (to name a few).
During the learning activity, as a student you are active by paying attention, observing, taking
notes, making contributions, actively participating during pair/group sessions, and asking
questions for clarity, among other things.
After the learning activity, you go and reflect further on the just-ended learning activity. This
includes doing your own further reading (the recommended reading), spending time thinking
about what you read and making your own notes, engaging with your class-mates (your peers)
on the covered topic, and summarising the major points.
This FYSE workbook introduces you to learning habits that will help to ensure that you settle well into
the university, enjoy your studies and complete your studies in the minimum required time.
WHAT ARE THE LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR THE FYSE SEMINARS?

The aim of the FYSE seminars is to enable you to:
Discuss key learning areas that the seminar will present, and the usefulness of these key
learning areas in getting you integrated into university life.
Identify and use strategies that will help you to communicate meaningfully in oral and/or written
form in the language of learning of your study area/discipline.
Demonstrate, through oral and/or written practice, awareness of different cultures of learning
at the university.
Show abilities in critical thinking through questioning, challenging ideas, and searching for
alternatives and differences.
Demonstrate self-awareness of appropriate social skills through working together with
different kinds of people in different situations.
WHAT KINDS OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES CAN YOU EXPECT?

To foster development of the required university culture of studying, researching, academic
writing, and the development of a critical mind, the following are some but not all of the learning
activities to be done to achieve the learning outcomes:
Debates and dialogues.
Presentations.
Structured workplace visits.
Fresh-rides.
Workshops.
Seminars.
Written expression (creative writing).
WHAT ASSESSMENT CRITERIA DO WE USE?

The nature of the FYSE seminar programme requires you as a student to provide evidence of having
achieved the learning outcomes that are stated above.
The idea is to have you prepare well for your seminars and engage in robust discussions with your peers
and TMAs. As university study is about nurturing lifelong learning habits, use the stated learning
outcomes to self-assess the extent to which you have mastered the learning outcomes as set out for
each seminar.
The TMAs will facilitate the seminars in a way that requires you as a student to participate individually,
or in pairs, or in groups or in teams, to provide evidence of having achieved the learning outcomes.
These learning approaches are preferred because a university graduate must be able to work in a wide
range of ways: independently, in pairs, in groups and in teams and you will see that these habits are
supportive pillars for your university study life.
The trick to success at university is in following the advice and instructions given by your learning
facilitators, who are the TMAs, supervisors and lecturers.
WHAT ASSESSMENT METHOD DO WE USE?

You are required to show your evidence of having met the outcomes of the seminars in a Learning
Portfolio. A portfolio can be a number of things a way of writing used in the university, or a kind of file,
or a kind of journal of your experiences in the seminars but mainly it is a way of presenting evidence
of your learning, so that that evidence can be assessed.
Your TMA will explain more fully and guide you on how to prepare, write up and present your Portfolio
for assessment. The mark will be either Completed or Incomplete. If it is Incomplete you will be
required to use the feedback provided to you by the assessor of the Portfolio, in order to complete the
portfolio.
HOW DO WE DELIVER THE SEMINARS?

The FYSE seminars will be offered mainly as on-line seminar sessions (more information will be
communicated by the TMAs and the FYSE Coordinator).
Each seminar is one hour long, and will invite you to participate in conversations with your tutor and
with your fellow students.
Each seminar has a theme or themes, an aim or aims, a learning outcome or outcomes, and learning
activities/tasks for you to do. Another way of seeing a seminar is that it is about the active use of
language: sometimes you are talking, sometimes you are listening, sometimes you are reading, and
sometimes you are writing. In this way you will gain greater self-confidence in using the language(s)
used in the university the language of learning and you will also learn what it means to become a
good scholar.
There are times where you are required to engage in critical thinking; that is, to stand back and think
about (reflect on) what you are seeing and doing (experiencing), and to think for yourself. This also
requires that you keep a written record of your reflections. This can be done through taking notes or
keeping a journal that captures your experiences, using your preferred form. You are then expected to
use these notes to improve what you are doing (act on your reflections) and to deepen and widen your
understanding (knowledge). This whole process will assist you with your own learning.
Also: some of the time you will work on your own, while at other times you will work with your fellow
students either as a whole group, or in smaller groups or in pairs. At other times you will work with
your TMAs again, as a whole group, or in smaller groups, or individually. Also, you may at times be
given a task to do outside the seminar: for example, a reading task, as preparation for the next seminar.
Note well: Your TMA is there to help you with your learning. You should also now be realising how
closely connected your learning is to your ability to use language. It is important that you understand
that the different subjects/courses you are studying can be viewed as different languages, and that
learning a subject/course is like learning a new language. Therefore the more actively and
enthusiastically you engage in using the language of learning (speak, read, write and listen), the more
you will learn.
SEMINAR ONE: LET US ENGAGE ONE ANOTHER!

The TMA will begin by introducing herself/himself.
This seminar intends to get you to talk with your colleagues and to orient you to life at the DUT.
A lot of questions will be asked in this seminar and some of the answers will require further research.
The idea is to get you to begin to reflect on everything.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Doing this seminar should enable you to:
Get to know one another and your expectations in life now that you are at university.
Identify your expectations with regard to the FYSE seminars.
Discuss how you think your expectations of the FYSE seminars will feed into your study areas.
In addition, this seminar aims to give you the opportunity to:
Reflect on the history of the DUT.
Identify which values drive the DUT.
Explain the mission and vision of the DUT.
Discuss the notions of student-centredness and engagement as espoused in the DUT
Strategic Plan 20152019.
Explore what is meant when universities and the world of work talk of graduate attributes.
Discuss the graduate attributes advocated for by the DUT.
These and other issues form part of this Let us engage one another! seminar. The idea is to get you
into the type of mental gymnastics characteristic of a university.
The TMA will facilitate the session in ways that ensure that the three learning outcomes are achieved.
This will help you, as a student, to get a quick appreciation of the importance of the FYSE seminars,
especially with regard to how they can enhance student success.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
The tasks that you might do for Seminar One could include, for example, discussion and writing:
Discussion: The TMA will discuss with you the outcomes, assessment criteria, assessment
method and purpose of the seminars.
Writing task: Summarise (in one paragraph) your key experiences of your first FYSE seminar.
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SEMINAR TWO:
SUCCESSFULLY
MANAGING
YOURSELF
AND
YOUR
TIME
A popular statement goes as follows: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail (author unknown).
This seminar provides vital information on how best you can manage yourself and your time at an
institution of learning where there are no sirens or bells, no prefects, and no parents to remind you of
what to do and when to do it.
Seminar Two is quite long, but you will find that it presents lots of helpful and accessible advice that
should be useful throughout the course of your time as a student and that you will want to return to this
advice again and again.
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
Keep these questions in mind as you work through this seminar:
Why am I at university?
Why am I studying this particular programme?
What kind of a professional do I aspire to be five years from today?
What legacy would I intend to leave at the DUT?
Am I being a good role model to be followed by others?
Your TMA will ensure that you are given some time to reflect on these questions.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Discuss the importance of self-management and planning your studies.
Design your own Learning Plan using the Model of a Learning Plan provided here.
The TMA will ask the group for your understanding of self-management and time management. The
discussion will lead to the TMA highlighting the core expectations of these topics, and the group will
be given the opportunity to discuss them in relation to FYSE at the university.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
For the first task: the TMA will explain and discuss the importance of planning. It is necessary for you,
as a student, to manage both yourself and your time. It is necessary to seriously consider the idea that
if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. As a student, you can make use of particular tools to improve your
planning and your ability to manage yourself and your time. (An example of such a tool is the Model of
a Learning Plan, which is featured later in this seminar.)
For the second task: on your own, design your own Learning Plan, using the Model of a Learning Plan.
You will be asked to explain your plan (the how and why) to the class. Make use of the information that
follows in the rest of this seminar.
PREPARING TO STUDY: YOU AS A STUDENT

Your progress at university will depend very much on you:
How prepared you are.
How motivated you are.
How organised you are.
11
How responsible you are.
It is appropriate to begin your study preparation by thinking about yourself. Your ability to study and
learn successfully will depend on many personal factors, including your emotional state, your lifestyle
and your social relationships.
Your first year at university, particularly the first semester, is a time of transitions (changes, moving from
one state of being to another). For some students, it is the first time they have lived away from home.
Although almost all students are excited by this transition, and exhilarated by its possibilities, it can also
be scary. Sometimes it seems that nothing is stable and predictable anymore, and you might experience
this as a sort of identity crisis, feeling that you are becoming a different person.
Whatever you feel, it is important to recognise and acknowledge your feelings, and perhaps to discuss
them with friends (your peers) or a mentor. Similar dilemmas arise around issues of smoking, drinking,
sex, styles of clothing, music and many other things that embody personal and cultural values. If these
issues are too difficult to talk about with your peers, you can book an appointment through Student
Services and Development to talk with a counsellor:
Midlands: 033 845 8814.
Durban: 031 373 2266.
You should also consider your physical state; if you aren't healthy it will be very difficult to concentrate
and do the amount of work that university study requires. Student Services and Development can offer
detailed advice about this aspect of your life; but, in general, you need to consider whether your habits
in the following areas suit your new needs, or whether you need to change any of them: your diet, the
amount of sleep you get (or don't get!), your relationships with others, and recreational activities (how
you relax and spend your leisure time).
Where do I belong?
VS
My Home self
(and how others at home see me)
My University self
(and how others at university see me)
12
Preparing to study
Your diet
Healthy eating is not about strict nutritional dieting, wanting to stay unrealistically thin or depriving yourself of
some tasty foods that you love. Choose foods that you can enjoy and that will be beneficial to your health at the
same time.
Using the food pyramid is one tool to help you choose from the groups of food essential
to maintain a healthy eating plan. From the major food groups that are illustrated in the
food pyramid, choose a variety of foods to gain the most essential nutrients that your
body requires to promote good health and functioning.
The lifestyle of being a student may make this choice difficult, especially if you live
in a catered residence. However, you will still have choices regarding meals on
campus and snacks you may keep in your room. It is possible to eat healthily
without increasing your food costs.
Choose a variety of foods from each major group so that you ensure that
you get the nutrients your body needs.
Adapt a plan to your taste and preference: e.g. popcorn on campus can fit
into your servings of grains.
Combine food groups in one meal; experiment with different tastes to make your meals interesting.
Sweets 0-3 servings
Daily tea
Alcohol in
moderation
Meat poultry & eggs 0-7

servings
Vegetable oil & condiments

Omega foods: 1-3 servings
(fish & sunflower seeds)
Fruit: 2-4 servings
Calcium foods: 2-4 servings

(broccoli fish & dairy)
Flavonoid foods:
2-4 servings
(broccoli, fish & dairy)
Vegetables: 7-13
Servings
Rice, noodles, beans &

other whole grains 2-3
Servings
The food pyramid may be a useful guideline: it gives a suggested

number of servings per week for each type of food (adapted from:
Studying at University: A Guide for First Year Students by Stella
Clark, 1998).
13
Your sleep
Different people need different amounts of sleep, but most people can't really do with less than seven
or eight hours a night. A late night here or there won't have a long-term effect, but consistently getting
less sleep than you need will seriously undermine your ability to concentrate on your studies. It can
also make you more susceptible to illness and depression.
Think carefully about your own sleep needs and how they affect your studying. If you have early lectures
on some days, try to adjust your evening schedule so that you aren't too tired to get up in time on those
mornings or to concentrate in class when you do get there. Remember, though, that the university
residences do have rules about 'quiet time' and 'noisy hours'. Find out what the rules are in your own
residence, so that you can plan your studying and sleeping accordingly.
Your recreation
Relaxation is a necessary part of your life and the time you do spend studying will be more productive
if you are enjoying leisure pursuits as well. Don't think about recreation as something that competes
with your time; rather see relaxation or physical exercise as an essential complement to the intense
mental exercise required when studying. You do not have to spend hours running or cycling; even small
doses of regular exercise are beneficial to your health: for instance, in building up the immune system
and reducing stress.
For some people, the perfect break from studying is working out at the gym; for others, it is watching a
movie. Whatever your preference, there is a vast range of recreational activities available to choose
from on campus. There are student clubs and societies that cater for almost every need, be it sport,
exercise, outdoor pursuits, religion, arts or culture. Keep an eye on the notice boards around campus
for information on these.
14
Preparing to study
Your relationships
You may think that your personal life is separate from your intellectual life,
but disturbances in your relationships or deep unhappiness with your
personal situation can certainly affect your university work. It is important to
sort out problems before they interfere with your studies. Counsellors are
available at Student Services and Development for you to talk to about any
problems.
As a new student at a big institution, you will come into contact with many
new people, lots of whom may come from different cultures or backgrounds
to yourself. Some students find this exciting, but it can be quite overwhelming,
especially if your peer group at school was small and relatively unchanging.
It is common for first-year students to find themselves missing their family
and friends and their familiar environment at home. Some students find it
difficult to find a group of people with whom they feel comfortable, and so
they don't venture out of the circle of friends they have known for a long time.
It might be useful to remind yourself that everyone else is probably as nervous
as you are (even if you think they're hiding it better) so try to develop
relationships with your peers.
Problem is, I
was so
preoccupied
with my
relationship
that in error I
sent the
break-up SMS
to the tutor!
(recollections
of a first-year
student).
15
YOUR SUCCESSFUL LEARNING STRATEGIES

All of these considerations around diet, sleep, relationships, leisure and exercise relate to maintaining
a healthy self in general but there are other, more specific aspects to think about in relation to your
own learning.
The Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) has educational development
practitioners and TMAs at all DUT campuses who could assist you with learning strategies. Contact
them on:
Midlands Centre: 033 845 8932.
Durban Centre: 031 373 2860.
Ask yourself the question:
What kind of student am I?
You have already spent many years of your life studying, so use this experience to help you to
understand your own needs, and to plan for a successful first year at university. It might help you to
think about your answers to the following questions:
When I study, what helps me more: support or challenge, or both?
How much feedback do I need?
When have I successfully used group work? When has individual study been better for me?
What really motivates me: the fear of failure, intellectual interest, the pressure of a deadline,
the promise of a reward?
When do I work best: early in the morning, late at night?
Your answers to these questions are unique to you, so you alone can plan appropriately for your needs.
For instance, if you recognise that you really need a supportive group environment in order to study
well, you should do your best to create one: ask a couple of people from your residence or seminar
group to join you for study sessions, or go and work with others in the library.
If you realise that you produce good essays only when you are working to a deadline, and you also do
your best work early in the mornings, then you need to make sure that you go to bed early around the
time your essays are due so that you will have enough time and energy to complete your work in time,
in the way that best suits you.
You might also realise that the way you have always studied at school will not be suitable at university.
In this case, you may have to abandon your old habits and explore new ways of studying.
What
kind of
student
would
you like
to be?
What kind
of student
am I?
16
Preparing to study
The following are very important to successful learning, and you have control
over them all (if these are absent, they could prevent you from learning
successfully):
Motivation
Your state of mind is important. Wanting to learn and having a sense of
purpose are prime requirements for successful learning. Things that can help
to keep you motivated are trying to keep a clear idea of your goals in your
learning (but being open to change as you discover new ideas through your
learning experience), being positive, and aiming high within your reach.
Your mistakes can be

great teachers!
Practice
Remember how you learned to ride a bicycle? You fell off, sometimes
laughed, sometimes hurt yourself but you got back on and you picked
up the technique. Your mistakes can be great teachers!
Engagement
Engaging with your learning community and taking part in discussions with
class-mates, teachers or others inside and outside the classroom really
does promote your learning. It gives you new ideas, generates feedback
on your own ideas and questions (which can promote your self-esteem),
and can stimulate further exploration of ideas. The existence of chat
facilities on cell phones and the internet makes it easy to take up
conversations about your course topics with others later, thereby
enhancing your learning.
Learning is about making connections!
Reflection
While community is important, time to think on your own is also essential to
learning.
Reflection is important for making sense of what you have learned what
you have read, heard, seen and expressed.
17
Stress management
All of us experience stress (pressure) and anxiety at times. In fact, a certain level of stress gives us
energy and can help us to perform to our best ability. However, too much stress affects academic
performance negatively. For example, your ability to concentrate becomes poor and you are easily
distracted, remembering information becomes difficult, you feel constantly tired and exhausted, you
may suffer from headaches, stomach aches, sleeping difficulties, and trembling or shaking, or you
may have difficulty breathing. Here are some tips on dealing with and managing stress:
Keep up with assignments and coursework

Make an assignment schedule.
Make daily 'to do' lists.
Reward yourself for completing work.
Review lecture notes each day
Take breaks while studying
Stand up after 20 minutes.
Switch to a different subject.
Write, draw, and talk out loud.
Study actively
Get enough sleep
Lack of sleep has a negative effect on your ability to remember.
Establish a good bedtime ritual to tell your body its time to sleep: read, stretch, take
a warm bath or drink warm milk.
Don't take afternoon naps.
Eat healthy food
Avoid junk/fast foods. Take multi-vitamins.
Include foods such as fish, whole grains and fruits.
Drink 2 litres of water a day.
Avoid caffeine, Bioplus, stimulants, cola and alcohol.
Visit Student Services and Development and the university clinic if you feel ill.
Take care of your body
Exercise: walk, go to gym, or dance.
Do physical activity: it is a good way to relieve stress.
Get a massage.
Do progressive relaxation techniques, visualisation and slow, deep breathing to relax.
Ensure that you have quiet time
Balance your family, social and work time to ensure that you have time for yourself.
Have a hobby.
Unwind by taking a walk on the beach, soak in the bath, listen to music, or watch the
sunset.
Use positive self-talk.
18
There will be times when you lose confidence and when you may fail at things. Keeping healthy and fit
and making use of the resources available around you can aid you in your recovery from the low
moments.
IDEAL LEARNING CONDITIONS

In order to create ideal conditions for learning, it is important to organise yourself in terms of where
you study and how you manage your time.
Organising a place to study
It is possible to learn anywhere. You may be someone who can read on the train or think through
ideas in the shower but for the kind of long-term, sustained and concentrated studying you will need
to do at university, it is probably better to set aside some place in which to study.
You will have to do lots of reading. You may argue that you find it easy to concentrate even when sitting
on a bed or in an easy chair; however, much of the reading you will do will also require you to make
notes while reading, so a table or desk is probably necessary. Working on the floor for a long time can
be very uncomfortable, and lying on your bed might tempt you to go to sleep, so it is better to make
serious provision for somewhere special that is more suitable for studying. An upright chair and a table
or desk, where you will need to spread out the various books or documents you are referring to, are
also essential for your writing tasks. These basic necessities are provided in all the residences, as well
as in various venues on campus, including the library. It is useful to have your own space so that you
can leave your things set out instead of having to pack them up every time you take a break or stop
studying for the day.
Good lighting is another essential feature of a suitable place for studying. Poor lighting can cause eyestrain, tension headaches or sleepiness. Some of the lighting problems might include a light that is too
dim, lights that are too bright and glaring, or lights that flicker. These problems can usually be solved by
changing the strength of the overhead globe or adding a desk-lamp, or both.
If you have your own laptop computer, it is also important to work at it in a position that will not cause
physical stress from odd postures: for example, bent neck, curved spine or an outstretched arm to the
mouse, or eye-strain and dryness from bad lighting or long periods of staring at the screen.
Distractions are a very real problem. Wherever you live there will probably be distracting noises: other
family members chatting, children playing outside, other students talking, laughing or arguing, even
your own television, radio or music centre, not to mention constant SMSs and so on! Exert whatever
influence you can on the environment. For instance, you could put your cell phone away and on 'silent'
for your study and work periods; you could ask your family or room-mates to keep the noise level down
for a certain time every day; you could switch off the radio or TV if it is up to you; or you could close the
door or windows to minimise the sounds coming from outside. For most of us, these options are very
limited, and it is not possible to demand silence in a home or in a residence full of hundreds of other
students. Try, instead, to find ways to work around the problems. For example, if your room-mate
always goes out for three hours on a Thursday night, use that opportunity to get some work done, or
try to work when other family members are out or asleep (as long as this doesn't deprive you of your
own sleep). Plan to spend time in the library or computer lab when you have essays or assignments to
complete, or tests to prepare for.
When you are having a hard time concentrating, almost everything can be a distraction. It is not possible
to create a distractionless environment if you are willing to be distracted; anything will seem to be more
urgent or interesting than the studying you are supposed to be doing. Studying is an exercise in selfdiscipline! Of course you can, and should, work at reducing distracting things in your study space, and
try out different places and times to find the conditions under which you will be able to do your best
work.
19
Organising your time

We are all familiar with feelings and thoughts like: 'I know I could do this well if only I had more time.'
Given the amount of work involved in studying at university, you are likely to feel this fairly often in your
first year, especially if you haven't managed your time very well. If you have come to university straight
from school, you may not have had to organise your own time very much, as schools tend to be quite
rigid and dictate when and how you study. They also require you to spend a lot more time in class, and
this leads to the mistaken belief that there is so much 'free' time at university. It is this 'free' time that
you will have to take responsibility for now. There are ways to make time more concrete.
You could begin by thinking about the year as a block of time, and of all the things that you have to
fit into that time. The university year has its own pattern and rhythm, which is embodied in the
academic calendar. It shows the semester measured in academic weeks and days.
Each student should develop a semester planner. You can buy a year planner or make one yourself,
and then fill in the basic information such as public holidays, university vacations, study week and so
on.
When you get all the information about your own timetable, fill it in, including due dates for assignments,
test dates and other important information that will help you to plan.
On the next page is an example of a partially completed calendar, which shows the semester at a
glance. It can be used to illustrate exactly when more work will be needed (for example, before the
Economics test) and when less time will be available for studying (for example, around the time of the
bursary interview), which means that you can plan for when you need more time for work, or how to
compensate for time that will be lost to other activities.
20
MODEL OF A LEARNING PLAN

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Week
00
Registration Week
01
No lectures
02
03
04
05
POLS
assignment
ENG
essay
HISTORY
test
ECON
test
06
07
08
POLS
assignment
HISTORY
project
09
10
HISTORY
test
ECON
test
11
12
13
14
POLS
assignment
Bursary
interview
POLS
project
Study Week
15
Exams
16
Exams
When you have blocked in the time commitments at this level, it is time to start planning at a smaller
scale. You should begin by looking at your daily and weekly time use. Try for a week to keep a detailed
timetable of what you do. This means taking note of how much time you spend doing the following
things:
Attending lectures, tutorials/seminars and practicals, studying, reading, online browsing or
doing other work related to your courses.
Working in a part-time job.
Travelling to and from university and your job, sport, recreation and hobbies.
Relaxing at home (reading the newspaper, watching TV, listening to music, browsing the web).
Socialising (including Mix-it, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Skyping, emailing and talking on
the telephone), domestic duties (cleaning, cooking, laundry, going to town to pay accounts),
and sleeping.
21
When you review this information, you'll need to identify where you're spending a lot of time. If it's in
front of the TV, or in the student union playing cards, then you will know that you can afford to spend
a lot more time studying. Remember that relaxation is a necessary part of a healthy lifestyle, and try
to find a more sustainable pattern of work. If you are spending too much time on domestic chores (for
yourself or others), you need to think about why this is so, and whether you can do anything to change
it.
With your own requirements in mind, draw up a weekly timetable that will suit you. If you need to study
in long, uninterrupted sessions, then plan for those; if you can get a lot done in short bursts of time,
make full use of the time between classes and other bits of time that would otherwise be wasted. If you
study best at night, make sure you get all sorts of other time-consuming activities out of the way during
the day; if your residence is too noisy in the evenings, plan to spend Saturday mornings in the library
doing the work that needs the most concentration.
Be honest with yourself. If you sit at your desk for the two hours every evening that you have allotted
for studying, but you chat on WhatsApp, re-read old love letters, or fill the margins of your paper with
sketches of cars, then you cannot count this time as 'studying' time.
Try to stick to your timetable, but don't be totally inflexible: sometimes you might learn more by watching
a debate on television, or having a discussion with a friend who comes around unexpectedly, than by
sitting resentfully in front of your books. Good planning means that you should never get behind with
your work, and so you can afford to be spontaneous now and then.
22
Overall, it is important for you to assess whether you are spending enough time on your university work.
Remember also that this can change as the year progresses. The pressure of work increases through the
year, especially if you have not used your time wisely at the beginning, and have allowed things to pile up
till the last minute.
Your time management depends on your understanding of how much work you need to do, and how long it
will take you to do it. This might be more or less time than is needed by your friends and class-mates, and
it is up to you to put in as much work as you need to, in order to achieve what you want to achieve.
One way of making the most of your time is to make productive use of free periods on campus and quiet
spaces like the library and learning commons. Use your timetable to allocate regular slots for reading for
each of your courses. Generally, course lecture and tutorial and seminar times are arranged according to
the following periods (some practicals for example, in Science or Engineering laboratory sessions may
be arranged over a few hours):
TIMETABLE
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Period
Week
1st
08.00-8.50
2nd
09.00-9.50
3rd
10.00-10.50
4th
11.00-11.50
5th
12.00-12.50
13.00-13.55
6th
14.00-14.50
7th
15.00-15.50
8th
16.00-16.50
9th
17.00-17.50
10th 18.00-18.50
As you can see, the periods are numbered 110, with a median slot at lunch time. The lecture slots
each last 50 minutes and there are 10 minutes between each slot to enable you to change venues.
23
SEMINAR THREE: UNIVERSITY STUDY SUCCESS PRINCIPLES

Successfully managing yourself and your time at university will mean that you are ready to start handling
the challenges characteristic of university studies. In this seminar we focus on some proven principles
for university success.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Identify and discuss the eight tools or choices for becoming a successful student.
Evaluate advice for surviving the first year of study at university.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
This is a text-heavy seminar, meaning that it gives you an opportunity to engage with several readings,
which will help you to think about and attain the learning outcomes set out above.
Read the three readings that follow. For Reading 1, discuss what emerges from it and its application to
our context at the DUT.
Reading 1: Experiences from New Zealand
UniSmart programme Supporting transition to the university experience
Brief description of project/development/practice
UniSmart is an initiative developed in New Zealand with the primary purpose of easing transition for
first-year tertiary students. UniSmart aims to provide students with the tools to make it through the often
tough first year and go on to achieve the qualification they seek. Since 1999, UniSmart has developed
content in response to ongoing dialogue with university clients throughout New Zealand, Australia and
the UK. Some universities have been booking the programme annually for eight years.
The programme takes the form of a 75-minute dynamic presentation. Upon booking, universities are
provided with a questionnaire in order to have the content tailored to their specific needs. By naming
tough, hard-to-talk-about issues, the presentation encourages students to seek help early, opens minds
and builds empathy for fellow students. This is a major factor in creating more supportive and
responsible student communities.
A sample of issues covered includes: accepting diversity, personal safety, sexual behaviour, drink
spiking, date rape, public nuisance, alcohol and drug abuse, study habits and self-worth. However,
UniSmart is not a 'don't do this, don't do that' lecture. It is 'a high energy performance blast of serious
content, street theatre tactics, whip cracking, sound track, lighting and comedy'.
As UniSmart uses such a fresh and contemporary format, it can relate effectively to young students.
UniSmart is therefore a key strategy for instigating the change of traditionally negative behaviours.
Students who find settling into university the biggest challenge of their life so far may be helped by
experiencing this presentation.
What are the transferable key features?
An approach to induction support that focuses on the personal and social transition of new
students.
Use of a dynamic approach that promotes positive, socially responsible behaviour, but does so
in an accessible and non-patronising manner.
24
The programme can be tailored to the specific needs/issues of the institution.
Source of case study: information submitted by Trudi Urlwin of UniSmart. www.ideasagency.biz. Email
trudi@ideasagency.biz. In: Whittaker (2008).
Now read on your own the two articles that follow. This habit or reading before a lecture, tutorial or
seminar is key for helping you to master university studies. When you come to a lecture, tutorial or
seminar having read the material beforehand, you will be able to participate meaningfully in the
proceedings and ask questions for clarity as well as make meaningful contributions when you engage
with the TMAs and your class-mates.
Reading 2: On Course Success Principles
The source of this reading is an article titled On Course Success Principles on the website On Course
Workshop (http://oncourseworkshop.com).
Students fail to do well in college for a variety of reasons, and only one of them is lack of
academic preparedness. Factors such as personal autonomy, self-confidence, ability to
deal with racism, study behaviours, or social competence have as much or more to do
with grades, retention, and graduation than how well a student writes or how competent
a student is in mathematics. Hunter R Boylan, director of the National Centre for
Developmental Education
The Challenge for Today's College Educators

You know the problem. Many college students today fall far short of their potential. Pass rates, especially
in developmental and first-year courses, are painfully low. The consequence is poor retention and
declining graduation rates. Everyone loses students forfeit their dreams, faculty [lecturers] are
frustrated, and colleges scramble to improve retention.
No panacea exists, but educators Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner offered a valuable insight
when they wrote: "Good learners are good learners precisely because they believe and do certain
things that less effective learners do not believe and do. And therein lies the key."*
But, just what is it that good learners believe and do? And, how can educators get students to believe
and do them? The On Course Success Principles offer practical answers.
The On Course Success Principles
Synthesizing the best wisdom from innovators in psychology, education, business, sports, and personal
effectiveness, the On Course Success Principles represent eight of the essential things that good
learners believe and do. Founded on these timeless principles, the On Course text and the On Course
Workshops give students and instructors alike a collection of practical success tools.
By guiding students to adopt these principles and tools, you'll empower them to become effective
partners in their own education, giving them the outer behaviors and inner qualities to create greater
success in college and in life. Here are the eight On Course Success Principles:
25
Choices of Successful Students:

SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS...
STRUGGLING STUDENTS...
1. ...ACCEPT SELF-RESPONSIBILITY, seeing

themselves as the primary cause of their
outcomes and experiences.
1. ...see themselves as Victims, believing that

what happens to them is determined primarily by
external forces such as fate, luck, and powerful
others.
2. ...DISCOVER SELF-MOTIVATION, finding

purpose in their lives by discovering personally
meaningful goals and dreams.
2. ...have difficulty sustaining motivation, often

feeling depressed, frustrated, and/or resentful
about a lack of direction in their lives.
3. ...MASTER SELF-MANAGEMENT,
consistently planning and taking purposeful
actions in pursuit of their goals and dreams.
3. ...seldom identify specific actions needed to

accomplish a desired outcome. And when they
do, they tend to procrastinate.
4. ...EMPLOY INTERDEPENDENCE, building

mutually supportive relationships that help them
achieve their goals and dreams (while helping
others to do the same).
4. ...are solitary, seldom requesting, even

rejecting offers of assistance from those who
could help.
5. ...GAIN SELF-AWARENESS, consciously

employing behaviours, beliefs, and attitudes that
keep them on course.
5. ...make important choices unconsciously,

being directed by self-sabotaging habits and
outdated life scripts.
6. ...ADOPT LIFE-LONG LEARNING, finding

valuable lessons and wisdom in nearly every
experience they have.
6. ...resist learning new ideas and skills, viewing

learning as fearful or boring rather than as mental
play.
7. ...DEVELOP EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE,

effectively managing their emotions in support of
their goals and dreams.
7. ...live at the mercy of strong emotions such as

anger, depression, anxiety, or a need for instant
gratification.
8. ...BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES, seeing

themselves as capable, lovable, and
unconditionally worthy as human beings.
8. ...doubt their competence and personal value,

feeling inadequate to create their desired
outcomes and experiences.
The On Course Instructional Principles

On Course Workshops model current understandings of how meaningful learning occurs. As such, they
are designed to engage learners in the active construction of knowledge. Instructional methods in the
workshop demonstrate how educators can address the varied learning styles of today's students. The
workshops are guided by the following instructional principles:
Students construct learning primarily as a result of what they think, feel, and do (and less so by what
their instructors say and do). Consequently, in formal education, the deepest learning is provided by
a well-designed educational experience.
The most effective learners are empowered learners, those characterized by self-responsibility, selfmotivation, self-management, interdependence, self-awareness, life-long learning, emotional
intelligence, and high self-esteem.
At the intersection of a well-designed educational experience and an empowered learner lies the
opportunity for deep and transformational learning and the path to success academic, personal,
and professional.
The On Course Instructional Principles are antithetical [opposite] to the beliefs that the instructor's
primary role is to profess knowledge and that what the teacher speaks is what the student learns.
Consequently, On Course Workshops have much to offer educators who seek innovative ways to
26
engage students in active learning, helping them to relinquish [give up] learned passivity or defiance
and once again become responsible and empowered partners in their own education and growth.
* The quotation in the passages above from Neil Postman and Charles Weingarter is from: Postman, and
Weingarter (1969).
You might wish to use the table, Choices of Successful Students, to rate yourself on the eight principles
of human achievement. (You can also choose to go to the website and do an on-line self-assessment.)
Now read the following and evaluate the advice that it provides.
Reading 3: The Survivors Guide
The Survivors Guide to First Year (Mail & Guardian, 2010)
Adjusting to freedom
Many students say they were at first overwhelmed by the degree of freedom that came with varsity. No
longer having parents and teachers to guard their every move, they had to take a crash course in
personal responsibility.
Finding a balance
Siobhan Swart, an international relations student at Stellenbosch University, found that striking a
balance between studying and socializing was quite challenging in her first year: The workload is large
and your social life becomes even larger than at school, she said.
Meeting like-minded people
But varsity is not only about being cautious and careful. Alika Visser, who is studying for a creative
brand communications degree at Verga, said: Varsity life is more enjoyable as you are studying to
better yourself in your own special way.
Meeting more like-minded people and experiencing many new and exciting things is also part and parcel
of the adventure. For Naude, varsity is a bright collage of individuals, people who are more comfortable
in themselves who are free to express themselves.
Stepping up academically
Fogel did his matric at a private school in Cape Town and is now majoring in philosophy and politics.
He said he despised high school, especially the outcomes-based education system. I hated the way
education was just a rubric, a set formula which you had to follow for marks. It was so uninspiring.
Overcoming the language barrier
After Onceya got to Fort Hare, she discovered that English was a problem. At school we were taught
mostly in isiXhosa. Different lecturers from different areas speak English differently, which makes it
even harder, she said.
Getting there
Just making it to university was a major challenge for Onceya, who went to school in Grahamstown. In
township schools you dont have access to computers or the internet, so its hard to research, get
bursaries and to apply to universities, she said.
The way around it is to ask your teachers for help: I was good at maths and science and so those
teachers were happy to research universities and courses for me. There are so many bursaries and so
many opportunities out there. Check with your local municipality about municipal bursaries, or with local
NGOs in your town or area.
27
Loving what you study

Over and above the high-speed life of varsity, with cheap alcohol, a busy social life and great
opportunities, Visser would tell matrics to study what they are passionate about. Dont let anyone dictate
to you their own ideas of what you should study. Being forced to study a course you are not really
interested in will more than likely results in failure.
(Adapted from Beyond Matric, Mail & Guardian, October 814, 2010.)
28
SEMINAR FOUR: HANDLING DIVERSITY

South Africa is a rainbow nation. Your TMA will facilitate discussions on some of the following
questions.
What do you understand by rainbow nation?
How many languages are spoken in South Africa?
How many official languages does the South African Constitution recognise?
In your view, are languages equal?
How best can a language be preserved and developed?
In fact, do you think it is important to safeguard all these languages, or only one or two or three?
Discuss.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Discuss the benefits of having language(s).
Identify ways of preserving and developing language(s).
Specify the role of culture in nation building.
Identify the benefits to the DUT from having students from different cultures, religions, political
persuasions, nationalities and continents.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Read Reading 1 and Reading 2, below, keeping in mind the learning outcomes stated for this seminar.
The TMAs will engage with you in a discussion on the reading tasks.
Reading 1: Dont touch me on my Zulu
by Fred Khumalo
A writer riled by reduction of proud prose to parody.
I hate the sound of English in the morning. Especially over the weekend. I mean, I spend the bulk of the
week twisting my tongue and honking my nose in my earnest attempt at speaking English as it is spoke
by my white colleagues. I hate it when white people keep saying: I beg your pardon? simply because
a darkie has mispronounced an English word, so I try my best to be as close to the real pronunciation
as possible. But much as I love the English language, I hate the sound of it on a Saturday or Sunday
morning. I want to dream and wake up in Zulu over the weekend.
So, when my children come to my bedroom on a Saturday morning and speak English to me, I want to
run out of the house, down the street and, like Wesley Snipes in the closing segments of the movie
Jungle Fever scream: Nooooooooo!
For crying out loud, I miss my mother tongue and I try my best to protect it because even my black
colleagues, many of whom are Johannesburgers by birth, do not give me the satisfaction of speaking
Zulu to me. We communicate in English most of the time. If they do speak Zulu, it is the Joburg variety
which makes my hair bristle. Joburg Zulu reminds me of fanakalo (some say fanagalo), the white mans
corruption of my mother tongue. For example, a Joburg guy will speak about babazala when he means
umukhwe (father-in-law). You see, in the Zulu language, when you are a man, your father-in-law is
umukhwe, and your mother-in-law is umkhwekazi. However, if you are a woman, your father-in-law is
ubabezala and your mother-in-law is umamezala. But these Joburgers dont get the point. The Lord
knows I have tried to teach them, Lord I have. But they continue to butcher my language, saying things
29
that remind me of fanagalo. Now theres a language I hate with a passion. I dont even know why I am
calling it a language. It is not.
I recall some hilarious fanagalo phrases from the Fanagalo Phrasebook, Grammar and Dictionary
(Kitchen Kafir) by JD Bold: Wena azi lo golof? Mina hayifuna lo mampara mfan. (Have you caddied
before? I dont want a useless boy.) Tata lo saka gamina. (Take my bag of clubs.) Tata mabol, yena
doti. Susa yena ngalo manzi. (These balls are dirty. Clean them with water.) Muhle wena tula lo skati
lo-mlungu ena beta lo bol. (You must be quiet when my partner plays a shot). Tula! (Be quiet). Noko
wena lahlenga lo futi bol, hayikona mali. (If you lose another ball, there will be no tip for you) Susalomtunzi gawena. Hayikona shukumisa lo saka. (Move your shadow. Dont rattle the bag.)
Needles to say, this dictionary was first published when we still had countries such as Nyasaland
(Malawi since 1964), Bechuanaland (Botswana since 1966), Southern Rhodesia (Zambia since 1964).
The dictionary is outdated and colonialist and offensive to first-language Zulu speakers. Note the
subtitle, Kitchen Kafir!. You see, fanagalo was the tongue the baas used when dispensing instructions
to his workers. You cant have a civil conversation in fanagalo. I am aware that mineworkers some years
ago did try to converse in fanagalo among themselves.
This is so because many of them were not educated, and English is very difficult for them. Many came
from countries such as Malawi, Lesotho and so on, and resorted to fanagalo to facilitate communication
among themselves. Imagine a homesick miner telling his friend: Eyi, chomee gamina. Mina kumbula
lobafazi gamina (My friend, I am missing my wives). In real Zulu that would be: Mngan ami,
ngikhumbule amakhosikazi ami. Short, simple.
The funny thing not funny haha, but funny irritating is that I have had a number of runins with white
people who, after studying the fanagalo phrase book, thought they were speaking Zulu. I recall a white
guy who was amused by the fact that I couldnt understand what he was saying. He was speaking
fanagalo, which I refuse to understand because it insults my language.
I miss the Zulu as she is spake in the kingdom along the coast. As a result, I cherish every moment
when I can indulge in this beautiful language. So, dont speak English to me over the weekend, if you
can help it. Speaking Zulu over the weekend also gives me a respite from some difficult English sounds
and/or letters of the alphabet. The most troublesome letter to a Zulu is the r. We dont have an r in my
language. As a result, the rand becomes ilandi. Land Rover is Land Lover. All my flends call me Fled
over the weekend because I have told them I dont want to hear the letter r then.
If you truly want a Zulu guy to reach out for his knobkerrie in utter irritation, you must ask him to say the
following sentence quickly: Lady, lets have eleven long brown rolls with thick layers of Rama low fat
margarine and a litre of raspberry cold drink. Ah, thats tongue twister to a Zulu guy especially the
rural type. If its any consolation to my people, even the innovative Chinese also have issues with the
letter r, so my people are in good company.
It was therefore an honour and a pleasure to be invited last Friday to the launch of the Oxford Bilingual
School Dictionary: IsiZulu and English. It is the first Zulu & English dictionary in 40 years. It is quite a
decent tome, which will help English speakers learn Zulu words at their own pace. The beautiful thing
about this dictionary is that it doesnt just give the new learner of Zulu the meaning of words, but it
teaches how one can use the words in a sentence. It will also teach the Zulu language speaker new
words in English, and how to use them.
The examples given are based on contemporary developments stuff that you can get from Zululanguage newspapers or TV programmes. As a result, the examples are not stilted, but very much alive.
Words that we use on a daily basis would include imishanguzo (antiretrovirals), umakhalekhukhwini
(cellular phone), and isikhahlamezi (fax), altogether, there are 5000 Zulu words to be learnt from the
dictionary, according to the managing director of Oxford University Press Southern Africa, Lieze Kotze,
30
who says it took her company just three years to complete the book. The publication of this tome is a
long way towards nation-building at its most basic.
(Fred Khumalo, Dont touch me on my Zulu, October 2010.)
Reading 2: Indian speech finds a pozi in SA English. New dictionary probes its origins
by Tenesha Naidoo
The origin of words and phrases such as vai pozi and lahnee are explained in a new dictionary of Indian
slang compiled by a Cape Town linguist. Professor Rajend Mesthrie will launch A Dictionary of South
African Indian English next month. Mesthrie takes an in-depth look at the origins of South African Indian
English and explains some of the more common slang words and phrases.
The dictionary includes slang such as pozi (home), lahnee (wealthy person), food terms such as vada,
dhal and roti, kinship terms such as mama (uncle), thangechi (younger sister) and even proverbs such
as Money growing on chilli trees. Mesthrie said the dictionary celebrated the creation of the major
dialect of South African English. He said slang word such as lakker and vai were associated with Durban
Indian Speech. This is definitely the aspect of the dialect that most people lawyers and doctors too!
have been most interested in. And it has been fun to research. But it must be emphasized that the
dialect has more serious words (culture, clothing, food, etc) than just slang, he said.
Mesthrie, who has been researching the book since 1984, said English spoken by Indians in South
African, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, provided a robust example of how the language adapted to culture.
The majority of people of Indian descent in South Africa speak English as a home language now, apart
from the eldest or very new arrivals post-1994. Yet, English is not the home culture by any means,
since there is a strong continuity between Indian cultures, that is, of India, and its South African
manifestations. He said Indian school childrens English was once deemed problematic.
However, people had a different view today because of multiculturalism, said Mesthrie. The majority of
educated Indians use English with confidence, but have not abandoned important cultural vocabulary
pertaining to the home culture. At the same time, Indians have retained some words that developed a
special nuance in their parents or grandparents usage. The dictionary will list the origins of popular
phrases and words.
The flying ant or termite that comes out in early summer in KZN, around the time of Diwali, since it is
greatly attracted by lightswhere does the word isel come from? Many people are surprised to hear
that it comes from Tamil and Telugu (isal or isullu), he said. Other communities in South Africa would
also find the dictionary interesting, he said, as some words had passed into general usage, such as roti,
dhania (coriander) and thanni (card game).
31
SEMINAR FIVE: MASCULINITIES AND FEMININITIES

Now it is time to discuss life issues we face day in and day out.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Discuss without prejudice the question of who you are.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
It is important to know yourself. It is necessary to understand the values of others. It is vital to respect
other peoples worldview(s).
In this seminar, we need to engage with the topic of masculinities and femininities. We need to share
our views. We need to read around this topic, and our TMA will help us.
Resource: Constitutional framework on equality
Section 9 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) affirms the right of
everyone to be equal before the law and to the equal protection and benefit of the law.
Section 12, subsection 2 of the Bill of Rights states that Everyone has the right to bodily and
psychological integrity, which includes the right (a) to make decisions concerning reproduction;
and (b) to security in and control over their body.
The Constitution is far reaching in its explicit endorsement of substantive rather than merely
formal rights and endorses affirmative measures as a means of achieving substantive equality.
Resource: Questions on masculinities and femininities

1. What comes to your mind when you hear the words masculinity and femininity? What
characteristics define a man and a woman respectively? (The TMA will help you to discuss
this, including: physical, emotional, social.)
2. What is the role of a young man/woman in his/her life? (The TMA will help you to discuss this,
including: roles in society, family, romantic relationship, personal life.)
3. How do you describe your social and personal lives at home and at university? (The TMA will
help you to discuss this, including: your life stories and daily activities, family life, romantic
relationships.)
4. Does the role (behaviour and attitude) of a young man or a young woman differ when he/she
is at university?
Reading: Opinions of some young students
Below are extracts from an article by Mutinta and Govender (2012) on discussions by other young men
and women who are first years in one of the universities in KwaZulu-Natal. Read them critically and as
you read them, decide if you agree or disagree!
The old-fashioned beliefs of one-guy-one-girl relationship are long gone. Here we get-as many freshers
as you can immediately they join varsity. The theory of and practice of free love with first years reigns
supreme on campuses.
32
If she doesnt open her legs for you think about it this way dude, just get a new model. Trade her in for
a new one, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Audi, Chrysler or Jaguar. We have many female students on
campuses than males for you to be able to make a better choice, why starve yourself?
It is not cool to be a virgin here in campus. If you are a virgin, you are perceived like a creature from
space and people tend to be distant. We believe that students of this time and age, should be having
sex because that is what is coolit is basically not in fashion to be a virgin. I am 21 years old and I am
just wondering why it is such a big deal to some people that the physical act of sex must be reserved
for legal marriage or other times. What happens if I dont want to get married till I am 30 years? So I
should be just a 30-year-old virgin? People are getting married later in this generation. So as long as
you love and care about the person what does it matter?
When people come to university they are not involved in any way sexually but barely a month of being
on campus they grow wings, a lot of things change such that they feel freedom to do things they were
not able to do at home.
Some of us in this university come from rural backgrounds. When we come to the university we change
in order to fit into the so-called campus life. One stupid thing I have observed is that we do not want to
look grungy for fear of being called names like ibhinca or villager. So we quickly but unskillfully adapt to
campus life without fully understanding what it entails just to find that we are engaging in risky sexual
activities for financial reasons which most of us regret months after coming to understand campus life
better.
I feel for students who come from single-sex schools because when they join universities, they are
excited by female and male students. Straightaway they get partners and before they know it they are
already doing it (having sex). They are at higher risk of contracting HIV than some of us who have been
studying in coeducation schools throughout our lives and we cannot be deceived like doves and fooled.
Immediately I joined varsity I had several advances from senior students promising me true love. But
soon I realised that guys who were rushing to me had other girlfriends and wanted to take advantage
of my naivety of campus life to rip off my sexual innocence and purity.
Task: Discussion and reflection

1) In groups, discuss how the perceptions of femininities and masculinities as reflected in the
quotations above will impact on these young peoples success at university.
2) As another young person, what advice would you give to the different people quoted above?
33
SEMINAR SIX: ESSAY WRITING AT UNIVERSITY

LEARNING OUTCOMES
Demonstrate mastery of good academic practices by identifying academic writing skills and
using them in your writing.
Outline both during discussions and in written drafts knowledge of academic writing
processes, including making citations and referencing.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Through individual, pair and group work, your TMA will facilitate the seminar in a way that ensures that
you can achieve mastery of the expected competencies listed in the learning outcomes above.
WHY WRITE ESSAYS?

There are two ways of looking at this question. The first is purely pragmatic you write essays because
they are required and because they constitute the primary way in which you will be evaluated as a
student at university. Lecturers and tutors use the essay (and other written assignments) as a way of
assessing your mastery of the content of your courses as well as your familiarity with the kind of
specialised language used in that discipline. Your success at university will depend very much on how
successfully you complete your assignments.
The other way of thinking about the question 'Why write essays?' centres more on your intellectual
growth and development. One of the things that you can reasonably expect to acquire at university is a
set of skills. If you think of a skill as something that can only be learned by doing, then you will quickly
realise that in order to acquire the kind of writing skills expected of a university graduate, you will have
to practise that kind of academic writing.
Every essay and written assignment offers you the opportunity to practise and improve your academic
writing skills.
Many students feel that the academic essay is boring and that it doesn't allow them any creative or
unique self-expression. It is true that academic writing is very different from the essays or compositions
written at school; it seems fairly confined, with all its rules around structure, argument, language and
referencing and it is essential that students learn the 'rules' for academic writing. However, it can be
a very creative means of exploring ideas and reaching clarity in your own opinions and in the
communication of your and others' ideas.
Here we are dealing with the idea of the 'construction of knowledge'. Similar ideas co
me up in the idea of active note-taking and interactive reading. This view of learning can also help you
to view your essays and written assignments positively, instead of simply as a chore. All the ideas and
theories that you read about and hear about in your lectures have been generated by humans, each of
them affected by his/her own context (which will include the ideas and theories they have been exposed
to, the time in which they lived and wrote, their geographical situation, their religion, their gender and
other factors). When you are asked to analyse or critique or comment on these ideas, remember that
they are not holy, untouchable or absolute. Rather, they are open to criticism.
34
Remember: You do not have to believe and accept everything that you read or are told. Once
you have understood them, you can and should question the ideas you read or hear about.
If you do this responsibly and respectfully, you will be constructing your own ideas and your
own arguments.
As you get used to writing academic essays, you will begin to see that writing about academic topics
actually allows you to come to grips with all the conceptual and theoretical aspects of the topic in a very
useful way. Writing often highlights contradictions and issues that could be ignored or vaguely
explained away in a casual conversation. For many people, writing an essay helps them to shape an
argument more forcefully and more coherently.
A positive, constructive approach to writing your essays must, of course, be accompanied by learning
the structure and the formal aspects of the academic essay. This will help you to create your arguments
and present your thoughts in a way that will be useful and acceptable to other readers and thinkers in
your discipline.
Bear in mind that there are fine differences in essay requirements for different disciplines essays in
Engineering, Chemistry, Business, Education and Communication are all dealing with different types
of 'knowledge' and 'evidence', and therefore require different conventions. Your different academic
departments will issue you with specific instructions on how to write essays appropriate to that
discipline, but here we discuss some general approaches that will be helpful in writing for any subject
or course.
Mom! How can I even think of

eating when
you know Im considering
the deconstruction of the
statistically oriented
projection of the findings
of this highly significant
area of
exploratory study.
35
WRITING AS A PROCESS
Writing as a process is an idea about writing that is useful in dealing with most of the writing you will
be asked to do at university. It might be more realistic to say that writing is a long process and includes
many stages.
The DUT has Writing Centres that can help you with each stage of this process, whether you are
struggling to understand the question, revising a draft or formatting your references.
Writing Centre contact details
Steve Biko: 031 373 6735.
ML Sultan: 031 373 6701.
City Campus: 031 373 2365.
Indumiso: 033 845 9060.
Riverside: 033 845 8859.
The stages of the writing process
As you will see, writing as a process includes the following activities: understanding the essay question,
planning, writing, re-writing, and editing.
The first stage of the writing process will always be understanding the essay question. This can take
longer than expected at university, as it may involve re-reading some of your notes or the recommended
readings. You might need to consult your tutor or lecturer in order to clarify some of the terms or other
aspects of the question that you don't understand. Part of understanding the essay question always
involves careful reading and analysis of the essay title. The essay title will indicate what general and
specific areas of the subject should be included in the essay, and it might give you some idea of the
kind of evidence that should be used. It will also tell you what you should be doing with this content.
Should you be identifying causes of something, or should you be 'demonstrating' how something
happened? Should you simply give one side of the story, or should you be 'comparing' two
interpretations? Analysis of the essay title will reveal to you what activity you should be doing in your
essay. It is usually indicated by the action word that is used for example, 'discuss', 'analyse', 'review'
or 'explore'. (At the end of this section is a list of possible 'action words' commonly found in essay titles.)
Once you are sure that you understand the essay question, you can move into the next phase, which
is planning. This stage looks different for different people; but, in general, it must include the following
three activities:
Gathering information (from the required sources and any others you have available to you).
Thinking about how the information can be used to answer the question.
Drawing up a plan for how you think the information can best be arranged in the essay.
Reading is a major part of this early stage in essay writing. Often it takes place in a cyclical sort of way:
you might do the required readings, which might raise some questions in relation to the topic; then you
might go to the library to do some extra reading or research or look at academic articles on the internet,
before adding some ideas to your plan. As your plan gets more detailed, you might want to do a bit
more reading, or re-read something you have already read. Some people also like to talk to friends
about the topic, or discuss in their study groups or seminars how they are thinking about the essay. This
planning stage is absolutely crucial and should not be neglected.
As you write more essays you will become more familiar with your own writing rhythms some people
spend a long time thinking and talking and reading before they ever put pen to paper (or fingers to
keyboard), while others will begin sketching out plans on paper and do most of their thinking while they
draw and re-draw their plan. Some people will come up with a carefully ordered, numbered plan, while
others will be able to work from a mind map full of arrows and circles. Whatever works for you, you will
discover that it takes time!
36
So far, the essay-writing process may look familiar, except for the fact that at high school you may have
been required to produce an essay or composition overnight. You probably then handed it in to the
teacher and waited for your mark to be returned to you, after which you moved on to the next section
of the work.
The writing-as-a-process approach, however, is based on the way real, published authors go about
their writing, and its most important principle is that the first piece of writing you do in response to the
title or questions is never the final one. Your first attempt (or first draft, as it is called) should be read
by someone who will then comment on it, or give you feedback. Sometimes tutors are willing to read
and comment on first drafts, but very often students will ask a fellow student to read their first drafts. It
is also a good idea to ask a consultant at one of the DUT Writing Centres to read one of your drafts.
This reading by staff at the Writing Centre is not so much to edit or point out spelling or grammar
mistakes, but to comment on the logic, how well the information is arranged or how clear the meaning
is. The comments made by the reader will often help you to see where your argument does or does not
make sense, or where what you say is unsupported by evidence. Perhaps they will point out a
contradiction, or a weakness in your essay that you hadn't recognised while you were writing. They
might point to something you have mentioned that is worth elaborating upon or they might draw attention
to a vital piece of information that you have left out.
This leads you into the next stage, which is re-writing to produce your second draft. Some people
repeat the whole cycle so far again, getting feedback and then writing a third draft.
As you can see, the stages of the essay-writing process are not all self-contained, and some of them
can be repeated many times.
Every time you go through the loop of readingplanningwriting, you should re-read the essay title to
make sure that your new ideas and re-written arguments still fit in with the original actions required by
the title. It is quite common, as your thoughts develop, to wander a little from the central topic. Including
details that are not relevant is a serious weakness in an essay; it is always worth making quite sure
that you have kept to the required topic and completed the required activities as specified in the essay
title.
37
The final stage in the writing process is the editing that you will do before
handing in your final draft. At this stage you will have settled all the questions
about content and style and structure, and you read through simply to make
sure that the spelling, punctuation, grammar and references are correct. It is
sometimes more useful to get someone else to read it through for this edit, as
it is very easy to miss your own mistakes.
Some students don't like the writing-as-a-process approach, complaining that it
is too time-consuming. It is time-consuming, but time is always a necessary
ingredient in writing an essay that will result in a good mark for you, and also
increase your writing skills. Most faculties at the university require essays to be
typed. If you use a computer to write your essays, the whole drafting and
redrafting process becomes much less time-consuming, as changes can be
made and text moved around without having to re-write the whole essay every
time.
Another objection to the draftingfeedbackredrafting phase of writing is the
fear of showing one's writing to other students. Most of us are a little shy about
having our writing read by our peers. This is because it seems so public, and if
we've misunderstood something, or written something down in a way that isn't
appropriate, we may feel that our peers will think we are stupid.
Its
soooo
long!
The solution is to ask someone you really trust, who will take you seriously, and
not put you down for making a mistake. Sometimes the fear of sharing writing
is based on the suspicion that your reader will 'steal' your ideas or copy your
essay. Once again the idea of getting someone trustworthy comes to mind, but
also remember that you have constructed your essay yourself by putting your
understandings together in your own way, and no one can really steal that
and that this is your first draft, and you will probably alter it and improve it before
you hand it in. If trust is a big problem for you, try using the Writing Centre
where confidentiality is guaranteed.
38
WHEN YOU GET YOUR ESSAY BACK

Part of the writing-as-a-process approach to essay writing is that we never stop learning from our writing. It
is useful to remember this when you get your essays back. Many students turn straight to the page that
bears the mark. If they see 75%, they feel elated and cram the essay into the back of a file, never to be seen
again. If they see 50%, they feel disappointed, crumple up the pages, tossing them into the bin, never to be
seen again. Don't underestimate the value of feedback! You will learn more if you read through your essay
again, taking note of the comments made by the marker otherwise how will you know which parts of your
essay were correct or successful, and what aspects of it caused you to lose marks? If you don't understand
the feedback given by your tutors or lecturers, ask them to explain it this is where you can really clear up
misunderstandings and learn about writing in your discipline. You can use the insight gained by writing one
essay to help you to write the next one.
SOME STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF THE ACADEMIC ESSAY

Course guides, handbooks and departmental handouts will usually give details of how that department
expects students to write their essays and assignments (assessment tasks). In fact, some are very
detailed and helpful, and it is worthwhile reading them carefully.
The following list provides some very general definitions and guidelines about what your finished product
should look like, whatever guidelines are provided by your departments.
Introduction
The introductory paragraph tells your reader what your essay is going to be about. It should refer to the title
of the essay without merely restating it; you could think of this as the part of the introduction that contains
the information given to you. It should also indicate what direction your argument will be taking, but this
should be a general statement, not a detailed piece of your argument; you could think of this as the part of
the introduction that contains the information that you will create.
When you have finished writing your essay, you should re-read your introduction to make sure that you have
in fact done what your introduction says you will be doing.
Argument
We are all familiar with the word argument in its everyday meaning meaning disagreement, fight or
dispute. In academic writing, the word argument has a slightly different meaning. It is the logical
arrangement of information, which can include facts and interpretations, often relating different points of
view or theories, so that a certain point can be proved or disproved, confirmed or brought into question. Your
argument will always be in the main body of the essay, and will require your hardest, most creative thinking.
Evidence
Every claim you make in your essay should be supported by evidence. If you want to write, 'Women are
naturally more talkative than men', you would have to consider someone who might say, 'How do you know
that?' or 'Can you prove it?' Evidence is almost like 'proof', although real proof is often impossible, especially
in the Humanities. The evidence used in academic essays usually comes from the readings or the
information supplied in lectures. You do always need to give the source of your information in the form of a
reference (also termed a citation).
39
Here is an example where a claim is made (Gender equality in the home is still something that
needs to be achieved in modern society), which is followed by evidence to support it:
Gender equality in the home is still something that needs to be achieved in modern society.
This is evident in the fact that it is still women who do most of the household labour and
caregiving, according to research findings by Goldscheider and Waite (1991).
The citation part is where you indicate where the information is from: in this case, it is from something
written in 1991 by Goldscheider and Waite, and you would include the full details in your list of
references section at the end of your essay. (See more on referencing, below.)
Conclusion
The last paragraph is where you round off your essay. You can do this by summarising your argument
or re-stating any conclusions the argument might have reached. You should never introduce new ideas
or information in the conclusion. It is important to check that your conclusion is relevant to the essay
title. If it is not, it means that your argument has wandered away from the required topic.
References
You must always include a full and comprehensive alphabetised list of all the sources of your quotations,
where you have made use of the words or ideas of others in your essay. Referencing is dealt with in
detail in the section that follows, below.
REFERENCING
We now turn to another important component of academic writing: referencing. This is often the hardest
thing new students have to learn about writing academic essays. The DUT Library and Writing Centres
offer massive assistance in this regard. Please do attend the sessions that they offer.
DUT Library contact details
Alan Pittendrigh (Steve Biko): 031 373 2487.
BM Patel (ML Sultan Campus): 031 373 5246.
Brickfield: 031 373 3738.
Indumiso (PMB): 033 845 8964.
Riverside (PMB): 033 845 8842.
When and how do we reference?
Often we wish to use other peoples' words or ideas in our own writing. We do this because we want to
build on or discuss their ideas, or to compare different peoples' ideas, or to support our own argument.
A reference must be used whenever we refer to someone else's work or ideas in our own writing. The
reference serves to acknowledge that it is the other person's words or ideas, and to show where we
obtained our information from and where the reader could find it. It also serves to show that we are
using an authority to support what we are saying and that we are joining a conversation or debate where
other people hold particular (and sometimes different) ideas. We reference as we are writing, in the
body of our essay, as well as at the end of our essay, in the bibliography or list of references.
The bibliography or list of references contains all the details of the book or article. However, in the body
of our essay, we simply give the author's surname and the date of their publication and sometimes the
page numbers that the quotation or idea came from; this is also sometimes termed the in-text citation.
If you use the author's words, you must use quotation marks and provide page numbers as well. When
you include the author's ideas but state them in your own words, you do not need to use quotation
marks, but you still need to give the author's surname and the date of publication.
40
Incorporating the work of others into our text

There are three main ways in which the work of others can be incorporated as part of our written text:
Quotation.
Paraphrase.
Summary.
Quotation is the reproduction of someone else's words in our own text. For example:
Dlamini (2003:53) explains, 'language is not created in a vacuum. It emerges out of a particular culture,
and as such, it is a carrier of culture'.
Paraphrase is our own formulation of the other person's argument. For example:
Dlamini (2003) argues that language is created within a culture and that because of this fact, it
also serves to carry or contain that culture.
Summary is a highly condensed form of paraphrase in which the essence of a whole essay or book is
conveyed in a few sentences or paragraphs.
A reference or citation is simply the identification of a source. In this sense it must always accompany
summary, paraphrase and quotation. A reference or citation can, however, be used to support and
clarify our own argument. For example:
Many writers emphasise that language and culture are closely linked. (See, for example, Ngugi, 1986,
Appel & Muysken, 1987, and Dlamini, 2003.)
In referencing within the body of your text (the in-text citation), you must include the author's surname,
the date of the publication (book, article or internet site), and the page numbers that you got the
quotation or idea from.
(When referencing from an internet site, if you do not have the author's name, give the first part of that
address, for example: http://www.digitrends.com/crossingcultures, and if you cannot find the date it was
written, give the date on which you accessed it, for example (accessed 27/03/2015).)
Certain disciplines will have specific aspects that require referencing in their own specific way: for
example, legal cases in Law, orchestral pieces in Music, documentaries in Film & Media. Check with
your departments on the specific formats for these.
For the in-text citation, you do not have to include the author's initials, the title of the book or article,
or any other details apart from those stated above. (However, the full details do need to be set out
in the references list/bibliography at the end of the essay.)
It is always better to try to put the author's ideas into your own words, because this helps you to absorb
the ideas. However, sometimes it feels most appropriate to quote what the author has said. If you do
quote authors, their words must be put in inverted commas, 'like this', and you must not add any extra
words of your own. Do not use too many quotations in your essay. We want to hear your voice as the
author of your own writing: we want to have an idea of how you have understood the readings and
interpreted the ideas you have come across.
It is best to use the present tense when introducing other people's ideas. The verbs (action words)
you use when doing so are also important they tell your reader how you think about, feel about
or regard the ideas you are relating. Here are some suggestions:
41
Ngugi believes
thinks
insists
feels
demonstrates
recommends
suspects
argues
says
claims
hypothesises
asserts
finds
reflects
complains
writes
suggests
notes
states
concludes
explains
continues
indicates
42
Further advice on referencing

People new to higher education often find it difficult to understand the idea of
referencing. Referencing (also sometimes called 'citing' or 'citation', as we have
already said) refers to the value and practice of always acknowledging the
ideas and work of others you have depended on to produce your assignment.
In academic writing, one of the important values expected of any writer is that
we are truthful. Part of that truthfulness is to acknowledge that we have
borrowed ideas from the work of those who have gone before us. We all do
that; after all, it would be impossible and a waste of time and energy for us
to go back and re-discover all the ideas and information that thousands of
scholars have already uncovered and developed! So, in academic writing (and
also in much professional writing) we read journal articles, books, web articles
and the like, find ideas there, and then use them to build the foundations for
our own arguments and ideas. However, following the academic value of
truthfulness, we must then signal to our readers that this is what we have done.
We do this to:
Reflect honestly what has happened.
Demonstrate that we have read about the topic and that our reading is
current and relevant.
Allow our readers to follow up on the reading and see if they agree
with how we have used the ideas of others.
Citation lays a path that shows the journey we took to reach the ideas in our
writing.
Perhaps we could borrow an idea from an ancient Western scholar called
Bernard of Chartres, who lived around the year 1126 (Merton in Muller, 2005).
Talking about how his ideas appeared greater than those who had
gone before him, Bernard commented that:
We are like dwarfs

standing on the
shoulders of giants.
Our glance can thus
take in more things
and reach farther
than theirs. It is not
because our sight is
sharper nor our
height greater than
theirs; it is that we
are carried and
elevated by the high
stature of the giants
(Oxford Reference
Online, 2009:
Bernard of
Chartres)
43
Quoting and citations

So let us say that you have been asked to write an essay for Sociology on the relationship between culture
and behaviour. Perhaps as part of your preparation you read a general sociology text and find this quotation:
To a large degree culture determines how members of society think and feel: it directs their actions and
defines their outlook on life.
If you use this quotation in your essay, you would need to show others:
That it is a quotation.
Where you found it.
You show others that it is a quotation by adding quotation marks (' and '). You show where you found it by
adding the author(s) name(s), the date the book was published, and the page number where your reader can
find the quotation. This you would do in the body of your essay. So it may appear like this:
The claim has been made: To a large degree culture determines how members of society think and feel: it
directs their actions and defines their outlook on life (Haralambos, Holborn & Heald 2000:3).
Alternatively, you may wish to put this in your own words to paraphrase it. However, you still need to
acknowledge the original idea. So, you may do something such as this:
Culture has a major effect on peoples' thoughts, feelings, actions and outlooks, according to
Haralambos, Holborn and Heald (2000:3).
But thats not enough. Now at the end of your essay you must add a list of books and sources that you have
used in preparing your essay. These give the full details that will help others find your sources. (To illustrate
what we mean, take a look at the final section of this FYSE workbook, which lists the references used in this
document and includes the publication by Haralambos, Holborn and Heald cited above.) These two parts
the in-text author/date, and the references at the end make up the two main elements of citation or
referencing.
Each department in the university may have different ways it would like you to reference. You must make
sure that you know what your lecturer expects of you.
44
SEMINAR SEVEN: SELF-EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE AND YOUR

PORTFOLIO OF LEARNING
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Complete a self-evaluation of the FYSE seminars.
Write up, compose and construct a coherent Portfolio of Learning for Assessment.
Your TMA will spell out how the two tasks of this seminar should be done. The TMA will highlight that it is
important for you to be honest, and will explain the benefits of honest self-evaluation: accurate self-evaluation
lays the foundation for module assignments, portfolios and dissertations to come. This means that you should
give the exercise the seriousness it deserves.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
1) Self-evaluation questionnaire
What did you like about the FYSE seminars?
Identify what you did not like about the seminars.
What can you use from the seminars that will improve your learning?
Specify what you would like more attention to be given to in seminars.
Give suggestions on how to improve seminars.
2) My Portfolio of Learning
You will realise that some programmes of study expect you to produce a portfolio of evidence (paper or eportfolio).
Task 1
Your TMA will explain how to write up, compose and construct a Portfolio of Learning for Assessment.
Task 2
On your own, begin the process of writing up, composing and constructing the Portfolio of Learning for
Assessment.
45
REFERENCES
Clark, S. 1998. Studying at University: A Guide for First Year Students. University of Cape Town.
Fundani Centre for Higher Education Student Learning. 2014. Studying at University: A Guide for First Year
Students (5th edition). Cape Town: University of Cape Town, UCT Language Development Group. (Seminars
Two and Six are drawn from this work.)
Haralambos, M., M. Holborn and R. Heald. 2000. Sociology: Themes and Perspectives (5th edition). London:
Hammersmith.
Leibowitz, B., A. van der Merwe and S. van Schalkwyk. 2009. Focus on First Year Success: Emerging from
South Africa and Beyond. Stellenbosch: Sun Press.
Mitinta, G. and Govender, K. 2012. The Socio-environmental Determinants of Students Sexual Risk Behaviour
and HIV Prevention at the University of Kwazulu Natal. Journal of Human Ecology, 38(1):17-29
Muller, J. 2005. The World is Not Enough: Knowledge in Question. South African Journal of Higher
Education, 19(3):89103.
Oxford Reference Online. 2009. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Available online (with
a
login)
from:
www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t218.e122
(accessed March 2015).
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WEBSITES
On Course Success Principles
http://oncourseworkshop.com
Student Services and Development
www.dut.ac.za
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BEING A DURBAN UNIVERSITY OF

Your success is in your hands

Reading 1: Dont touch me on my Zulu ......................................................................................... 29

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

WELCOME TO THE FYSE SEMINARS

INTRODUCTION TO THE FYSE SEMINARS

WHAT ARE THE LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR THE FYSE SEMINARS?

WHAT KINDS OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES CAN YOU EXPECT?

WHAT ASSESSMENT CRITERIA DO WE USE?

WHAT ASSESSMENT METHOD DO WE USE?

HOW DO WE DELIVER THE SEMINARS?

SEMINAR ONE: LET US ENGAGE ONE ANOTHER!

PREPARING TO STUDY: YOU AS A STUDENT

How responsible you are.

Meat poultry & eggs 0-7

Vegetable oil & condiments

Fruit: 2-4 servings

Calcium foods: 2-4 servings

Rice, noodles, beans &

The food pyramid may be a useful guideline: it gives a suggested

YOUR SUCCESSFUL LEARNING STRATEGIES

Your mistakes can be

Keep up with assignments and coursework

IDEAL LEARNING CONDITIONS

Organising your time

MODEL OF A LEARNING PLAN

SEMINAR THREE: UNIVERSITY STUDY SUCCESS PRINCIPLES

The programme can be tailored to the specific needs/issues of the institution.

The Challenge for Today's College Educators

Choices of Successful Students:

1. ...ACCEPT SELF-RESPONSIBILITY, seeing

1. ...see themselves as Victims, believing that

2. ...DISCOVER SELF-MOTIVATION, finding

2. ...have difficulty sustaining motivation, often

3. ...seldom identify specific actions needed to

4. ...EMPLOY INTERDEPENDENCE, building

4. ...are solitary, seldom requesting, even

5. ...GAIN SELF-AWARENESS, consciously

5. ...make important choices unconsciously,

6. ...ADOPT LIFE-LONG LEARNING, finding

6. ...resist learning new ideas and skills, viewing

7. ...DEVELOP EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE,

7. ...live at the mercy of strong emotions such as

8. ...BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES, seeing

8. ...doubt their competence and personal value,

The On Course Instructional Principles

Loving what you study

SEMINAR FOUR: HANDLING DIVERSITY

SEMINAR FIVE: MASCULINITIES AND FEMININITIES

Resource: Questions on masculinities and femininities

Task: Discussion and reflection

SEMINAR SIX: ESSAY WRITING AT UNIVERSITY

WHY WRITE ESSAYS?

Mom! How can I even think of

WHEN YOU GET YOUR ESSAY BACK

SOME STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF THE ACADEMIC ESSAY

Incorporating the work of others into our text

Further advice on referencing

We are like dwarfs

Quoting and citations

SEMINAR SEVEN: SELF-EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE AND YOUR