Finals

Dissertation… a word I’ve tried not to think about over the last 2 ½ years. it’s a very disheartening thinking that my writing skills could let me down especially when putting so much effort into practical. Weekly sessions with Aly, my dyslexia support tutor has been amazing for me, it has given me confidence in my abilities to write, knowing their was someone there to check over what I have done .I rely heavily on other peoples reassurance as i struggle with trusting my own instincts (something I need to work on). I couldn’t of done it without her! Because of weekly support, I have felt pretty on track with my dissertation writing and my practical developing at a steady pace, I am so glad I didn’t focus on one more than the other throughout. I feel this has worked in my favour as surprisingly to me, literature I was reading subconsciously influenced the ideas and techniques I chose to develop in my practical.

though cop is always a module I worry about starting, I have to admit to myself, I really enjoy research driven projects, especially those with a social theme as it allows me to connect personally to the issue which I feel benefits my work. saying that, gathering primary research for the sensitive social topic did put me out of my comfort zone. The prospect of interviewing Adam, a heart transplant recipient was very daunting for me as I didn’t want to come across intrusive. However the interview was the best thing I did in this project as it provided me with a strong and focused direction for my practical responses, it also opened my eyes to the reality of organ donation as I have never met anyone who has had a transplant so the concept didn’t quite hit home.

Though I am proud of myself for writing a substantial piece of writing, it is something I do not wish to do again…the pressure to present, bound, check spelling, grammar, format, references etc were all done in a particular way become to much for me towards the end. having to reprint several times finding minor mistakes was very,very stressful and frustrating considering the amount of effort I have put into the writing it. it is very disheartening knowing I could loose marks for silly mistakes I just couldn’t see myself.

 Time Management though at the start I was waiting for a specific subject/ person(s) to focus my practical response on, I used this time to develop potential drawing styles by using portraits of other organ recipients/ people on the list to inspire an emotive response which would influence my approach to the drawing – communicating sensitivity and empathy. i also worked hard to try and finish the majority of my dissertation before the Christmas break knowing I would only have 1 session left with Aly to check my work when I cam back before the hand in. it was great thinking I only had the tidying up parts to do of my dissertation when I cam back to uni, however I massively under estimated how long this would take me and actually how difficult it was. I planned to print and binned on Friday the 8th, giving me the weekend and a few days to blog and sort my practical out. Unfortunately due to mistakes I didn’t see, this didn’t happen and It left me stressed!

 on a more positive note, I remembered to book 2 digital printing slots before Christmas, one the week before my deadline to print all my final responses, and one the week of my deadline to re-print anything I needed to change/improve on after the peer review crit on Friday 8th! I feel this has benefited the quality and professionalism of my final pieces. I plan to get in touch with organ donation organizations to see if my project could be put to good use in raising awareness.