Student_Survival_Guide

Student Survival Guide Courtney Wier GEN105 August 14, 2011 Christina Atkinson Student Survival Guide A student survival guide is a tool that will help student’s achieve success throughout their school experience. By following the guidelines provided, each student is sure to achieve success in every task they come across. It will not only benefit them while in school but will benefit them further in life with their career as well as any other aspect in life. The following paper will give students practical examples regarding each topic of surviving as a student. Axia College provides students with numerous educational resources at the tip of their fingers. By accessing these tools the student gets a better understanding of how to complete assignments. One of the educational resources that provide this is the Center for Writing Excellence. In this resource students are able to submit papers to determine how much plagiarism is within their text; they also are given examples of ways to better their papers by giving them tips on punctuation, spelling, and grammar. In the end students will be able to complete a paper correctly with all of these elements and will eventually maintain better communication skills. Another useful educational resource that Axia College provides is the University Library. Here students are given the opportunity to search the library for academic scholarly reviewed materials for research. Students can use one of the following search engines to research topics: EBSCOhost, Gale PowerSearch, or ProQuest. In the University Library students are also given information on how to format their papers properly using the APA format; they can access this under the APA Information tab. The last tool available for students to access in the University Library is the Reference and Citation Generator. This assists students in learning the proper way to cite references using the APA format. The last educational resource that Axia College provides that I would like to discuss would be the audio books provided. The audio books were a tremendous help for myself because I am an audio learner rather than a visual learner; I must hear information in order to retain it properly. I also was able to download these audio books onto my phone and listen to the materials anywhere from the grocery store to my car. When enrolling to Axia College each student agrees to accept responsibility for academic honesty and originality in all papers submitted. Academic honesty is crucial for each student to attain in order to successfully achieve their goals not only in school but in life. Academic honesty can be achieved by not plagiarizing when completing assignments. Plagiarism is the misrepresentation of another person’s words or ideas as one’s own thoughts; this may be on purpose of accidental. This can be avoided by not copying any information from a source; if you are to take an excerpt from another sources text you are to properly cite the information and not take credit for their words. Academic honesty is looked upon as respectful and trustful. Other forms of academic dishonesty include: self-plagiarism, fabrication, unauthorized assistance, copyright infringement, and misrepresentation. All of these behaviors constitute academic dishonesty and should be avoided. Goals are “an ending toward which effort is directed” (Carter, Bishop, & Kravits, 2007). In order to properly achieve goals, one must plan and know that the task will be challenging. Setting goals first starts by determining your long-term goals; these can be anywhere from a couple of months to a year. An example of a long-term goal would be to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. Once the long-term goal is determined, one must set short-term goals that move the student one step closer to completing their long-term goal. A short-term goal can be anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks or month. An example of a short-term goal for the same scenario would be to first enroll in college and to study vocabulary. Once long-term and short-term goals are set, one must determine the importance of each task. Some tasks may be more important than others that can possibly be skipped and returned to a later date when possible. Students must keep in mind that while in the process of achieving goals obstacles will arise without their control; for instance, unexpected doctor’s appointments, family sickness, or even a broken down car. In times such as these students must learn to cope with the task at hand calmly and in much time as possible. Once the unexpected task is completed students must be sure to continue with their goals at hand. Another aspect that students must be sure to keep in mind when completing their courses at school is to manage their time wisely. Many students have to juggle school, work, and family responsibilities; because of this it is important to determine how much time should be spent on each task. This is crucial because it will aid the student in getting more tasks accomplished in one day because they will stick to their schedule. Students should keep a day planner and refer to it daily to remind them of what tasks to accomplish daily. Also, while setting a time frame for each task students should determine the best time of the day for them to focus on their studies; this time should be the time of the day they are the most focused and awake. Yet another skill that each student should possess is reading comprehension and retention skills. Reading comprehension and retention skills are important to have because it will save students lots of time from re-reading materials. These skills will give students a better understanding at the topic at hand and better studying skills in order to tackle complicated subjects. One technique that I found really useful was the SQ3R technique. This technique involves skimming and scanning the text, asking questions that relate to each topic, and reviewing the answers. The technique helps students to comprehend materials better and to think beyond ordinary limits. No two people are the same; everyone has different personalities and reacts differently to certain situations. The personality spectrum helps students to identify how they respond to the world around them; it divides them into four different personalities; the thinker, organizer, thinker, and adventurer. The benefit of knowing which personality a student possesses is it will help them to determine which techniques to use when studying and which to avoid. According to Carter, Bishop, & Kravitz (2007), “an organizer is tactical, planning, detailed, practical, confident, and predictable, controlled, dependable, systematic, sequential, structured, administrative, procedural, organized, conservative, safekeeping, and disciplined.” The following are some study techniques that maximize an organizer: try to have tasks defined in clear, concrete terms so that you know what is required, look for a well-structured, stable environment, request feedback, use a planner to schedule tasks and dates, and organize material by rewriting and organizing class or text notes, making flash cards, or carefully highlighting. Howard Gardner developed an assessment that determines an individual’s multiple intelligences (The Multiple Pathways to Learning). The eight multiple intelligences are: verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, visual-spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, and naturalistic. According to this assessment I am strongest in the intrapersonal intelligence. This means I work best alone, have self-control over my feelings, and highly observant. By knowing which intelligence I am strongest in I can determine the best ways to maximize my study techniques. One of the best techniques I can use is to relate materials to my personal life to make the information stick in my mind. I can also assure that every time I am in a quiet setting so I can minimize all distractions. This student survival will help in achieving all my goals, long-term and short-term, in not only school but in life. I will assure that I will follow this guide throughout school and life. This is my life survival guide not just my school survival guide. References Carter, C., Bishop, J., & Kravits, S. L. (2007). Keys to College Studying: Becoming an Active Thinker (2nd ed.). : Pearson Prentice Hall.