Originating from Malaysia, English stands as my third language. Fortunately, I come from an English-speaking family. My first English story book was Little Red Riding Hood. I was captivated by Little Red Riding Hood\u2019s bravery as she walked all alone into the forest to visit her grandmother with a basket of bread.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, my academic journey led me to an English-medium school. I was exposed to the English language more than other kids. At standard one, my first textbook reading was the story of George Washington (the first President of United States) and the iconic cherry tree incident. The phrase “I cannot tell a lie” still lingers in me. This leads me to believe that I tend to remember readings that inspire me. Furthermore, to be efficient in English, my family encouraged me to read books and the newspaper.<\/p>\n
I enjoy reading self-development books, amongst many others, Soul Cravings: An Exploration of the Human Spirit by Erwin Rapheal McManus is one of my favorites. Upon my conversion to Christianity, the Bible became my life roadmap. The history, the places, the lives of the disciples as they followed Jesus \u2013 intriguing! Currently, as a Category Manager, I read, write and develop construction contracts, agreements, legal materials and compliance documents. I have to read everything in detail, I cannot skim through these documents. Therefore, I am a detailed reader, slow reader and I apply analytical reading mostly. I have difficulty relating to Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren\u2019s claim, 1<\/sup>\u201cWe do not have to know everything about something in order to understand.\u201d This statement is liberating but creates the fear that I may miss something.<\/p>\n 2<\/sup>Sonke Ahrens,\u00a0How To Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking\u00a0<\/em>has become one my favorite books. I particularly enjoyed Sonke\u2019s online materials, his emphasis on engaging <\/em>with the material actively and making meaningful connections with my own understanding.<\/p>\n I explored the Obsidian platform. In week one, I organized my reading notes, posts, and miscellaneous thoughts, ensuring that everything is conveniently located in one place.<\/p>\n It has been a while since I drafted essays at an academic level. Professionally, I constantly write reports, presentations, business cases, sermons and analytical documents but not essays. I have to refocus to cite my work according to doctoral standards. The Six Steps to Successful Writing from 3<\/sup>Sonke Ahrens,\u00a0How To Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking\u00a0<\/em>is a helpful chapter \u2013 \u2018The moment we stop making plans is the moment we start to learn.\u2019 This is a mind opening statement. <\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>I plan to develop my skills in my doctoral journey by being organized, applying critical thinking, actively learning, maintaining an open mind, and being curious.<\/p>\n [1] Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren, How To Read A Book, The Classic Guide To Intelligent Reading (New York, NY: Touchstone, A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2014), 4.<\/p>\n [2] [3] Sonke Ahrens, How To Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking (Hamburg, Germany: Sonke Ahrens, 2017), 64.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Originating from Malaysia, English stands as my third language. Fortunately, I come from an English-speaking family. My first English story book was Little Red Riding Hood. I was captivated by Little Red Riding Hood\u2019s bravery as she walked all alone into the forest to visit her grandmother with a basket of bread. Subsequently, my academic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34742,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34741\/revisions\/34742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}