Expert: Dr.Paul Skett - 8/15/2005

Question
Do you have any suggestions for what type of book?
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Followup To
Question -
Hi Dr. Paul
I hope I'm finding you in the best of health.I have one final question that will make up my decision about Medical school:
Besides the MCats, Are there any other times where I would have to write an essay?When?Are they "medical" essays or real "English" essays like the Mcats?

Is it natural for me to feel like I have nothing to write about on the essay.(I just started college)(I looked inside the Kaplan book on Amazon.com and saw that those questions are really difficult to write an essay about(for me).Like,"The best kind of education encourages students to question authority.")Do you think I would have more to write about once I finish college.Are there any courses that help people brainstorm what to write about on a specific topic?(kaplan,college,any?)
Thank you so much for your help and insight into Medical school
Answer -
Hi, Jeff!

Thanks for your questions concerning Med.School. You are right to get these sorts of things clear before starting.

You are not likely to have to write many formal essays although there will be many times when extended, reasoned answers are required. This will continue on into your professional career - long reports etc. So you need to be able to find, sort, analyse and summarise a lot of information and write it down in a logical, readable style (i.e. exactly what you would do with an essay).

Also, as a medic, you need to have a wider view on life than simply the medical aspects - culture, ethics, society etc. - so you need to read widely and be able to discuss widely - hence the need for the apparently non-medical essays.

Essay and report writing is a difficult skill and can only be gained by experience - some ideas and methods, however, can help - such as mind-mapping - take a central idea and write it in the middle of the page and then put branches off this as you think of related ideas and see how they inter-link (i.e. map your thoughts). Get a book on this and see if it suits you.

Hope these thoughts help you.

Best wishes,

Paul  

Answer
Jeff,
Try the original, The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain's Untapped Potential by Tony Buzan, Barry Buzan (Paperback) - you can get this on Amazon.

There are also some very good websites:

http://www.jcu.edu.au/studying/services/studyskills/mindmap/

http://www.peterussell.com/mindmaps/mindmap.html

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_01.htm


Best wishes,

Paul