Edited by Christopher Douce, Wednesday 29 April 2026 at 17:03
8 April 2026
I’m back from an easter holiday which passed in a blur. During my break, I managed to read two of the texts that I will be basing my EMA on. I tried to give them both a second read, but I didn’t quite have enough time. I have about two thirds of the second text to go through. My tutor shared some practical advice about how much of the texts I should use; we can’t cover two books with the word count that we have to play with.
Whilst I was away, I also had a quick read of a few critical articles, and skim read Aspects of the Novel (Project Gutenberg) by Forster, which I uploaded to my Kindle. I need to sit down properly with this text, which I’m aware is pretty famous (I’ve heard that Zadie Smith is a fan). I’m also aware that I need to find a few more critical articles that relate to the texts that I’ve chosen. I think I’m going to add this point to my TODO list.
Before digging into the library again, I’m going to get my second text reread. I had better get my virtual highlighter out. I also need to do a final proofread and check of my TMA 4 submission, which I feel I’ve completely forgotten about.
9 April 2026
I’ve been procrastinating doing my day job for an hour by doing a bit of cheeky A335 study. I had a dig into the Gale Literature database to see if I can find some critical sources that relate to my chosen texts. It didn’t take me long to find a bunch of reviews, and an academic article. All in all, I found five articles (six, if I were to include an interview with an author, which is tacked onto one of the PDF files that I’ve downloaded).
It’s all very well finding stuff, what I have to do next is to read them. To set me up, I’ve sent them all over to my Kindle, in anticipation for an evening cup of tea. I’m just hoping that the academic articles are not too theory heavy, since I’m travelling without my ‘heavy Norton book of literary theory’ as I call it.
Right: I have no choice. Back to my day job. I have an important deadline to work to.
10 April 2026
I have five days to turn something around, but before starting my day job this morning, I managed to read all the new articles that I submitted to my Kindle. I can probably work with the critical articles I have spotted, which is a relief. One of them turned out to be an abstract for an article that doesn’t appear to be in any digital libraries I can easily get hold of.
Whilst browsing through the papers that I’ve downloaded, I’ve realised I have a few more I need to read; articles about character, narrative, and so on; articles that I downloaded from a Cambridge Companion. I had hoped to read them whilst I was away. A final note to self is that I need to get back to reading the second text that I’m going to use.
Before doing anything further, I’m going to make a cup of tea.
14 April 2026
I’m struggling to find any time to carry out any of my study. It is nuisance having a day job!
This said, this afternoon I’ve managed to do a proofread of my TMA 4 submission. My conclusion: it reads better than expected. No changes. It has got a sensible structure and makes a series of reasonable points (in my humble opinion). I’m glad I got it in early.
My aim for the rest of this week (in terms of my study) is to finish reading all the remaining stories in the second text. Then it’s onto the process of making notes.
15 April 2026
I’m back onto the reading again. Before starting work, I had a rummage in an online library to try to find some critical sources about the short story. I couldn’t find anything that appealed, but what I did find was very useful. A feature of the Gales database allows you to download collections of critical articles that relate to the work of particular authors. After a bit of clicking on buttons, I managed to download two big PDF files that relate to the authors of my chosen texts. The thing is, they were too big to easily email to my Kindle, so I had to connect it via a USB port and manually transfer the files across.
I’ve now got even more reading to do. And I have still not found anything more general about the genre of the short story.
Another thing I did this morning was to reread the EMA question (which I’ve also transferred to my Kindle). I feel it’s a bit clearer than it was before.
16 April 2026
This morning, I read an article by Stuart Hall (who is formerly of this parish) about cultural identity, since I had noticed his work coming up time and time again. He’s a cracking writer, and made some really clear arguments. I then asked a question: are there any videos of Hall talking about what he had been writing about? I haven’t found a video that matches what he covers in his article, but I have found a video entitled Globalization and Diaspora (YouTube). He packs a lot in; it is certainly worth a listen (irrespective of whether you had an assessment to write).
My next actions will be to continue to read the critical sources that I’ve downloaded. It’ll then be time to begin to make notes, and to stir the pot, to see what structure emerges from whatever I’ve found to be interesting.
I haven’t quite decided on which bits of the texts I’m going to focus on. Hopefully I’ll have that sorted over the weekend.
17 April 2026
When I was driving yesterday, I had an idea. I had an idea about what argument I should use in my EMA. Whilst I was waiting at a set of traffic lights I made a quick note on the back of a receipt. I also think I know which stories I’m going to pick on. I just need to remember what their titles are, and begin to make notes about them.
Today has a mix of different bits of study. I began my day by reading criticism. I then got annoyed with my Kindle; I couldn’t annotate my big PDFs. To get round this, I found a new way to transfer big PDFs to my device. There’s something called the SendToKindle service, which takes an eternity, but it seems to set up the internal file structure in away that makes annotations and highlights possible.
I’m writing this whilst listening to a session called Poetry for Lunch, where the facilitator is talking about Keats. A couple of months back, I listened to an episode of In Our Time, which was very good. When I’m in London, I sometimes walk past a blue plaque dedicated to Keats, on St Thomas’s Street.
I would like to say that I’m going to be able to get back to the criticism tonight, but a bit of marking has landed which I’m going to try to turn around as quickly as I can.
22 April 2026
There’s the first of the EMA tutorials this evening.
I’m making fair progress with the making of notes, but I still have some way to go. Plus, there’s about five or so more articles I need to read through.
29 April 2026
Over the last few days, I’ve had a good old go to write my EMA. I’ve really struggled to understand the question and how to approach it. After a night away from it, I added a paragraph I wanted to add, gave it an edit, and the submitted it. I needed to get it done, since I’ve a load of ‘day job’ work to be getting on with.
I have mixed feelings about what I’ve written. This said, I don’t think I could have written anything that was different, and I feel as if I present a reasonably coherent argument. It’s an argument that, of course, draws on evidence from the text, and uses a good number of secondary readings. Whilst I was writing, I was surprised how quickly I used up the word count.
A curious thought is that I feel as if I should feel relieved since this is the last assignment for my entire degree. The thing is, the score that I get for this EMA is likely to affect my final degree classification. All this means it that I feel on edge; I feel anxious. I want to do well, but due to the inherent (and appropriate) ambiguity within the question, it’s hard to assess whether or not I’ve answered the question well enough. Following the guidance for the EMA, I’ve read pretty widely. I do wonder whether I’ve been reading beyond what was required for the assessment. I feel as if what I’ve submitted is okay, but I don’t know whether it is okay enough.
So, what next? I feel tired, and I could really do with a break. This final stretch has been quite hard graft, but good (and useful) graft.
A335 Journal – April 2026
8 April 2026
I’m back from an easter holiday which passed in a blur. During my break, I managed to read two of the texts that I will be basing my EMA on. I tried to give them both a second read, but I didn’t quite have enough time. I have about two thirds of the second text to go through. My tutor shared some practical advice about how much of the texts I should use; we can’t cover two books with the word count that we have to play with.
Whilst I was away, I also had a quick read of a few critical articles, and skim read Aspects of the Novel (Project Gutenberg) by Forster, which I uploaded to my Kindle. I need to sit down properly with this text, which I’m aware is pretty famous (I’ve heard that Zadie Smith is a fan). I’m also aware that I need to find a few more critical articles that relate to the texts that I’ve chosen. I think I’m going to add this point to my TODO list.
Before digging into the library again, I’m going to get my second text reread. I had better get my virtual highlighter out. I also need to do a final proofread and check of my TMA 4 submission, which I feel I’ve completely forgotten about.
9 April 2026
I’ve been procrastinating doing my day job for an hour by doing a bit of cheeky A335 study. I had a dig into the Gale Literature database to see if I can find some critical sources that relate to my chosen texts. It didn’t take me long to find a bunch of reviews, and an academic article. All in all, I found five articles (six, if I were to include an interview with an author, which is tacked onto one of the PDF files that I’ve downloaded).
It’s all very well finding stuff, what I have to do next is to read them. To set me up, I’ve sent them all over to my Kindle, in anticipation for an evening cup of tea. I’m just hoping that the academic articles are not too theory heavy, since I’m travelling without my ‘heavy Norton book of literary theory’ as I call it.
Right: I have no choice. Back to my day job. I have an important deadline to work to.
10 April 2026
I have five days to turn something around, but before starting my day job this morning, I managed to read all the new articles that I submitted to my Kindle. I can probably work with the critical articles I have spotted, which is a relief. One of them turned out to be an abstract for an article that doesn’t appear to be in any digital libraries I can easily get hold of.
Whilst browsing through the papers that I’ve downloaded, I’ve realised I have a few more I need to read; articles about character, narrative, and so on; articles that I downloaded from a Cambridge Companion. I had hoped to read them whilst I was away. A final note to self is that I need to get back to reading the second text that I’m going to use.
Before doing anything further, I’m going to make a cup of tea.
14 April 2026
I’m struggling to find any time to carry out any of my study. It is nuisance having a day job!
This said, this afternoon I’ve managed to do a proofread of my TMA 4 submission. My conclusion: it reads better than expected. No changes. It has got a sensible structure and makes a series of reasonable points (in my humble opinion). I’m glad I got it in early.
My aim for the rest of this week (in terms of my study) is to finish reading all the remaining stories in the second text. Then it’s onto the process of making notes.
15 April 2026
I’m back onto the reading again. Before starting work, I had a rummage in an online library to try to find some critical sources about the short story. I couldn’t find anything that appealed, but what I did find was very useful. A feature of the Gales database allows you to download collections of critical articles that relate to the work of particular authors. After a bit of clicking on buttons, I managed to download two big PDF files that relate to the authors of my chosen texts. The thing is, they were too big to easily email to my Kindle, so I had to connect it via a USB port and manually transfer the files across.
I’ve now got even more reading to do. And I have still not found anything more general about the genre of the short story.
Another thing I did this morning was to reread the EMA question (which I’ve also transferred to my Kindle). I feel it’s a bit clearer than it was before.
16 April 2026
This morning, I read an article by Stuart Hall (who is formerly of this parish) about cultural identity, since I had noticed his work coming up time and time again. He’s a cracking writer, and made some really clear arguments. I then asked a question: are there any videos of Hall talking about what he had been writing about? I haven’t found a video that matches what he covers in his article, but I have found a video entitled Globalization and Diaspora (YouTube). He packs a lot in; it is certainly worth a listen (irrespective of whether you had an assessment to write).
My next actions will be to continue to read the critical sources that I’ve downloaded. It’ll then be time to begin to make notes, and to stir the pot, to see what structure emerges from whatever I’ve found to be interesting.
I haven’t quite decided on which bits of the texts I’m going to focus on. Hopefully I’ll have that sorted over the weekend.
17 April 2026
When I was driving yesterday, I had an idea. I had an idea about what argument I should use in my EMA. Whilst I was waiting at a set of traffic lights I made a quick note on the back of a receipt. I also think I know which stories I’m going to pick on. I just need to remember what their titles are, and begin to make notes about them.
Today has a mix of different bits of study. I began my day by reading criticism. I then got annoyed with my Kindle; I couldn’t annotate my big PDFs. To get round this, I found a new way to transfer big PDFs to my device. There’s something called the SendToKindle service, which takes an eternity, but it seems to set up the internal file structure in away that makes annotations and highlights possible.
I’m writing this whilst listening to a session called Poetry for Lunch, where the facilitator is talking about Keats. A couple of months back, I listened to an episode of In Our Time, which was very good. When I’m in London, I sometimes walk past a blue plaque dedicated to Keats, on St Thomas’s Street.
I would like to say that I’m going to be able to get back to the criticism tonight, but a bit of marking has landed which I’m going to try to turn around as quickly as I can.
22 April 2026
There’s the first of the EMA tutorials this evening.
I’m making fair progress with the making of notes, but I still have some way to go. Plus, there’s about five or so more articles I need to read through.
29 April 2026
Over the last few days, I’ve had a good old go to write my EMA. I’ve really struggled to understand the question and how to approach it. After a night away from it, I added a paragraph I wanted to add, gave it an edit, and the submitted it. I needed to get it done, since I’ve a load of ‘day job’ work to be getting on with.
I have mixed feelings about what I’ve written. This said, I don’t think I could have written anything that was different, and I feel as if I present a reasonably coherent argument. It’s an argument that, of course, draws on evidence from the text, and uses a good number of secondary readings. Whilst I was writing, I was surprised how quickly I used up the word count.
A curious thought is that I feel as if I should feel relieved since this is the last assignment for my entire degree. The thing is, the score that I get for this EMA is likely to affect my final degree classification. All this means it that I feel on edge; I feel anxious. I want to do well, but due to the inherent (and appropriate) ambiguity within the question, it’s hard to assess whether or not I’ve answered the question well enough. Following the guidance for the EMA, I’ve read pretty widely. I do wonder whether I’ve been reading beyond what was required for the assessment. I feel as if what I’ve submitted is okay, but I don’t know whether it is okay enough.
So, what next? I feel tired, and I could really do with a break. This final stretch has been quite hard graft, but good (and useful) graft.