Abbreviating in the comparative?

cianclarke

Can you abbreviate in the comparitave study? My english teacher never told me of this, and its only now, looking over notes online (RTE Getting It Right) that I see they abbreviate the titles. First mention of the texts, they say:
Of Mice and Men (MM), Death and Nightingales (DN), Juno and the Paycock (JP) for example.
Never heard of this one, is it OK?

Dagnir Glaurung

Yep, everyone does it.

cianclarke

Now I find out..! Would save a lot of time, and help with flow of thought...

casanova_kid

Anybody doing humourous abbreviations.

smemon

no, use full titles. examiners hate when you shorten things.

cianclarke

Oh dear, conflicting advice. Anybody else?

Setun

Write the full titles at the top of your essay, with the abrev. in brackets, then when you're writing the main body abreviate to yer 's content.

Enjoi.

smemon

if in doubt, don't take chances.

it looks messy and can result in confusion so i dont do it. ive been nailed for it in other subjects as well.

max time you'll save is 1/2 mins so it's better to be on the safe side.

these evil people are trying to make you fail

casanova_kid

smemon wrote:

if in doubt, don't take chances.

it looks messy and can result in confusion so i dont do it. ive been nailed for it in other subjects as well.

max time you'll save is 1/2 mins so it's better to be on the safe side.

these evil people are trying to make you fail

You're off their mate, they'l let you abbreviate, they always have. There ain't no doubt.

PrettyInPunk

smemon wrote:

no, use full titles. examiners hate when you shorten things.

that is most certainly NOT true.abbreviating is expected.

michelle_ie

PrettyInPunk wrote:

that is most certainly NOT true.abbreviating is expected.

true just in your introduction to your essay say "im my answer i shall abberiate my texts:- the cultural context of Silas Marner shall be referred to as "SM", Homesick Garden as "HG" and Juno and the Paycock as "JP"

sariane

How much are you all writing for the comparatives? like how many A4 pages?? and making how many points??

Setun

smemon wrote:

if in doubt, don't take chances.

it looks messy and can result in confusion so i dont do it. ive been nailed for it in other subjects as well.

max time you'll save is 1/2 mins so it's better to be on the safe side.

these evil people are trying to make you fail

You can't really do it for Business - Ratio's Q etc.

michelle_ie

i usually write 5-6 pages on introduction of my understanding of cultural context, introduction to my texts, men, woman, alcohol, religion, work and conclusion...

Attractive Nun

Hopefully somewhere between 4-5 pages, with my reasonably small handwriting. Tends to scrawl out in exams though, so who knows really? I make about 10-12 main points, each one backed up from the three texts. Some people say that isn't enough but I just can't fit in any more.

And, yes, abbreviate definitely. Especially when you're doing How Many Miles to Babylon?

PrettyInPunk

michelle_ie wrote:

true just in your introduction to your essay say "im my answer i shall abberiate my texts:- the cultural context of Silas Marner shall be referred to as "SM", Homesick Garden as "HG" and Juno and the Paycock as "JP"

yep thats exactly it!:p

im...LOST

As long as you do it at the start of your answer straight after you first mention the text then you are allowed to do it,But I repeat,only if you have written it after the first time you write the full title.

eg.The play "Death of a salesman"[DOS]..........etc

roberta c

if you do the comparitive well, you will be constantly mentioning the texts, comparing them! so the examiner would get sick of reading the text names, especially long ones... so long as they know what your talking about, n its done clearly...
im doing 'girl with a pearl earring'... not a hope am i writing out that title ever 2 minutes!

DemonOfTheFall

We're told to abbreviate anyway. I am absolutely screwed for the comparative. I'd be really lucky to be able to write 4 pages... Here's all of you talkign about 5 and 6 pages. Eek. That and i haven't even looked over the comparative yet...

PrettyInPunk

what r people doing?would just cultural context be a safe bet?

Attractive Nun

Theme/Issue and Cultural Context are virtual certainties. And if the department were to throw in a surprise, they would most likely take off Theme/Issue since it came up more recently, and people would be pissed off enough as it is. At this stage, if you haven't done comparative, you're probably better off taking the gamble and just doing Cultural Context.