Nut's Academic Tip of the Week

[NutBrnHair]

Here we go...

Tip #1:

Get to know your professors -- talk to them -- either a formal meeting in their office or after class. In my experience, many professors assume you don't care, unless you prove otherwise.

[NutBrnHair]

When you are selecting your seat in the classroom, sit in the "T." (Anywhere on the front row or any seat down the middle ailse of the classroom.) Studies show the speaker will make eye contact with these areas most.

[Optimist Prime]

Great thread Nut!! Thanks for the tips.

[EagleChick19]

Nut, your tips are on the money. I've used them and they've worked for me.

[NutBrnHair]

Tip #3

Go to class. An empty desk sends a powerful message. Plus, don't think you can rely on someone else's notes, you may not understand everything that they write down and you'll learn the best by taking your own notes.

[NutBrnHair]

Read the directions carefully before beginning a test. Briefly flip through the entire test first, and then start by answering the easier questions.

[NutBrnHair]

Utilize "free-time" during the day for study time.

I know everyone has a different schedule, but for me (when I was in school) I wasted a lot of time in the morning & afternoon -- between & after classes -- by just goofing off. Too often I would save homework for the evenings.

The library is usually not as busy during the day & you can get a great deal accomplished (and save your evenings for other things!)

[NutBrnHair]

While Taking the Test...

Keep your work neat -- write legibly -- print and/or write on every other line if necessary -- and use good grammar.

Studies show neat work tends to be graded higher.

(My personal pet peeve as a teacher were "bubble writers" -- those who would dot their "i"s with a circle! ARGH! Often they would use pepto pink pens -- which I also despise!)

[NutBrnHair]

Richard M. Felder of NC State & James E. Stice of UT-Austin give the following advice on test-taking:

STAY IN MOTION!!! Work on a problem until you get stuck. Think about it for a minute or two, and if nothing comes to you then drop it and go on to another problem. Don't spend 30 minutes sweating out an additional five points on a problem and run out of time, leaving a 40-point problem untouched. You may later have time to return to the first one and you're much more likely to think of how to do it then.

[Sahara]

Originally posted by NutBrnHair
Tip #3

Go to class. An empty desk sends a powerful message. Plus, don't think you can rely on someone else's notes, you may not understand everything that they write down and you'll learn the best by taking your own notes.

As a undergrad, I had one of those huge classes (you know) where the attendance dwindled. I went because I thought the professor was funny. He told personal stories that related to what we were learning.
On a day that some of us came to class during a storm, he gave us extra credits.
During the final exam, a LOT of the questions referenced his personal stories (eg. "The lost toy bunny story is an example of _______")

Great advice!!

[NutBrnHair]

Writing the Paper

Remember that if a paper fails to communicate well, then its research--no matter how well done--will have little impact. There is an old piece of advice that says, "write like you speak." This is terrible advice, at least for formal papers. Good written communication is somewhat different from good spoken communication.

1. Watch your sentence structure. Students and scholars too often seem to assume that long, complex sentences are symbolic of profundity. They are not; they are mostly just cumbersome. Simple, subject-verb-object sentences are best. They are powerful. Still, if you do not vary them occasionally, numerous short sentences do not "read" well. So, after several simple sentences, add a longer one. But do not go too far the other way. Consider "Rourke's Rule of 2s": "Sentences more than two lines long or with more than two commas are probably too long to be understood easily, especially if there have been two in a row."

2. Rely on active tense, action verbs. Avoid the passive tense (No: "Politicians are disliked by many people." Yes: "Many people dislike politicians."). Similarly, action verbs (made, jumped, went) are better than verbs of being (is, are, were). In general, active/action verbs generate more interest.

3. Use standard English. Colloquial English typically does not make a good impression unless you are writing fiction. Obscenities and other forms of gutter English are almost never acceptable.

4. Avoid starting too many sentences with adverbial or adjectival clauses or phrases. These are the short phrases (such as "In the morning, we went...") that are often followed by a comma. Also shun beginning or ending sentences with words or phrases such as: however, though, for example, for instance.

5. Watch your paragraph length. Paragraphs over one page in length are usually too long. They may contain redundant statements or more than one major idea. Rework such paragraphs to delete unnecessary text or to separate ideas into additional paragraphs. At the other extreme, one-sentence paragraphs are not acceptable. Remember that each paragraph should have a topic sentence and several others that explain or develop that topic.

6. Rely on transitions between paragraphs. Conventions like "On the other hand," "Still," "Also," "Nevertheless," "Thus," "However," or "As a result" help the reader get from one thought to another. They smooth the reading process.

7. Avoid clichés. "They fought like cats and dogs over which policy to adopt." Ugh!

8. Get to the point. Do not beat around the bush; save a tree; avoid word pollution.




Copyright ©2003 The McGraw-Hill Companies

[Not a Mezzo]

Nut, these tips are great. They're easy to incorporate and simple, unlike a lot of the more complicated study strategies you get as study tips. It's given me some ideas for things to do this year as VP Scholarship for our school's CPH! Thanks a million!

[DolphinChicaDDD]

Originally posted by NutBrnHair
Writing the Paper

Remember that if a paper fails to communicate well, then its research--no matter how well done--will have little impact. There is an old piece of advice that says, "write like you speak." This is terrible advice, at least for formal papers. Good written communication is somewhat different from good spoken communication.

1. Watch your sentence structure....

2. Rely on active tense, action verbs. Avoid the passive tense (No: "Politicians are disliked by many people." Yes: "Many people dislike politicians."). Similarly, action verbs (made, jumped, went) are better than verbs of being (is, are, were). In general, active/action verbs generate more interest....

8. Get to the point. Do not beat around the bush; save a tree; avoid word pollution.


Copyright ©2003 The McGraw-Hill Companies

I work as a tutor in my college's writing lab, and points 1 and 8 are the problems that we see most often. But as a science major... WATCH OUT FOR #2!!!!!!!! As part of my web project, I wrote a "How to Write a Lab Report" thing, and 98% of the science faculty wanted passive tense and no personal pronouns.

Overall, that was great advice. I'll have to pass that along to the coordinator.

[NutBrnHair]

Originally posted by DolphinChicaDDD
But as a science major... WATCH OUT FOR #2!!!!!!!! As part of my web project, I wrote a "How to Write a Lab Report" thing, and 98% of the science faculty wanted passive tense and no personal pronouns.

Overall, that was great advice. I'll have to pass that along to the coordinator.

DolphinChica, thanks for your comment -- I'm a history/English person, so I admit that I know very little about science.

[NutBrnHair]

Success is 99% sweat & 1% intelligence.