Which of the following is the stage in the learning process when you can successfully complete something almost without even thinking about it?

The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot. —Audre Lorde, writer and civil rights activist

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify the stages of the learning process
• Define learning styles, and identify your preferred learning style(s)
• Define multimodal learning
• Describe how you might apply your preferred learning strategies to classroom scenarios

1. Unconscious incompetence: This will likely be the easiest learning stage—you don't know what you don't know yet. During this stage, a learner mainly shows interest in something or prepares for learning. For example, if you wanted to learn how to dance, you might watch a video, talk to an instructor, or sign up for a future class. Stage 1 might not take long.
2. Conscious incompetence: This stage can be the most difficult for learners, because you begin to register how much you need to learn—you know what you don't know. Think about the saying “It's easier said than done.” In stage 1 the learner only has to discuss or show interest in a new experience, but in stage 2, he or she begins to apply new skills that contribute to reaching the learning goal. In the dance example above, you would now be learning basic dance steps. Successful completion of this stage relies on practice.
3. Conscious competence: You are beginning to master some parts of the learning goal and are feeling some confidence about what you do know. For example, you might now be able to complete basic dance steps with few mistakes and without your instructor reminding you how to do them. Stage 3 requires skill repetition.
4. Unconscious competence: This is the final stage in which learners have successfully practiced and repeated the process they learned so many times that they can do it almost without thinking. At this point in your dancing, you might be able to apply your dance skills to a freestyle dance routine that you create yourself. However, to feel you are a "master" of a particular skill by the time you reach stage 4, you still need to practice constantly and reevaluate which stage you are in so you can keep learning. For example, if you now felt confident in basic dance skills and could perform your own dance routine, perhaps you'd want to explore other kinds of dance, such as tango or swing. That would return you to stage 1 or 2, but you might progress through the stages more quickly this time on account of the dance skills you acquired earlier.

Take a moment to watch the following video by Kristos called The Process of Learning. As you watch, consider how painful it can be—literally!—to learn something new, but also how much joy can be experienced after it's learned. Note that the video has no audio.

Kyle was excited to take a beginning Spanish class to prepare for a semester abroad in Spain. Before his first vocabulary quiz, he reviewed his notes many times. Kyle took the quiz, but when he got the results, he was surprised to see that he had earned a B-, despite having studied so much. 

Kyle’s professor suggested that he experiment with different ways of studying. For example, in addition to studying his written notes, he might listen to a tape of the vocabulary words, as well.

Learning styles are also called learning modalities. Walter Burke Barbe and his colleagues proposed the following three learning modalities (often identified by the acronym VAK):

1. Visual
2. Auditory
3. Kinesthetic

1. Visual learning
2. Auditory learning
3. Read/write learning
4. Kinesthetic learning

• 10 percent of content they read
• 20 percent of content they hear
• 30 percent of content they visualize
• 50 percent of what they both visualize and hear
• 70 percent of what they say
• 90 percent of what they say and do

• Define learning styles, and recognize your preferred learning style(s)

• Now it's time to consider your preferred learning style(s). Take the VARK Questionnaire here.
• Review the types of learning preferences.
• Identify three different classes and describe what types of activities you typically do in these classes. Which learning style(s) do these activities relate to?
• Describe what you think your preferred learning style(s) is/are. How do you know?
• Explain how you could apply your preferred learning style(s) to studying.
• What might your preferred learning style(s) tell you about your interests? Consider which subjects and eventual careers you might like.
• Follow your instructor’s guidelines for submitting your assignment.

• Define multimodal learning
• Apply your preferred learning styles to classroom scenarios

• Review the three main learning styles and the definition of multimodal learning.
• Identify a class you are currently taking that requires studying.
• Describe how you could study for this class using visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile learning skills.
• Follow your instructor’s guidelines for submitting your activity.

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Page 2

To be prepared is half the victory. —Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist and playwright

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify effective mental and physical strategies to prepare for an individual class session
• Describe typical ratios of in-class to out-of-class work per credit hour

Kai feels like he is struggling through his first semester of college. He works long hours at a job every night, lives at home, and helps care for his younger sister. When he gets home from work, he is ready for bed and is often too tired for homework or studying. He has trouble focusing in class and occasionally drifts off during lectures. Kai knows he needs to change some of his habits, but he feels too overwhelmed to know where to start.

After speaking to his guidance counselor about his stress and difficulty balancing his activities, Kai decides to tell his work supervisor that he needs to reduce the number of hours he's working. He shifts from 30 hours a week to 15 hours and obtains a loan to help cover the loss of income. He now has more time to work out, sleep, and visit friends. Feeling confident about his new work arrangement, Kai is surprised to find that his grades are still lower than he would like. He talks to his guidance counselor again, who recommends that Kai create a schedule. This will help him set time for homework, studying, and leisure activities so that he avoids procrastinating on his schoolwork.

• Calculate typical ratios of in-class to out-of-class work per credit hour

• Refer to your class schedule, work schedule, and any other documents you have that indicate the day and time of your weekly obligations.
• Using a 1:2 or 1:3 in-class–to–out-of-class-study ratio, determine how many hours per week you need to study for each class, given your current course schedule.
• Create a weekly schedule in a digital document. You can use Word, Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or any other format you prefer.
• Be sure to include at least class sessions, homework and study time, and leisure time in your schedule.
• When you are finished, write a paragraph summarizing how you created your class schedule and why you think it will be effective.
• Follow your instructor’s guidelines for submitting your assignment.

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Page 3

Eighty percent of success is showing up. —Woody Allen, actor and comedian

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Explain why regular class attendance class is important
• Identify effective listening strategies
• Identify effective participation strategies
• Compare different note-taking strategies and assess which is most effective for you
• Convert notes to study guides
• Evaluate different teaching styles and how your personal learning style fit with each
• Identify strategies for obtaining content from a class you missed

• Class participation: If you don't attend class, you can't participate in class activities. Class activities are usually part of your final grade, and they can help you apply concepts you learn from lectures and reading assignments.
• Class interaction: If you rely on learning on your own (by doing the reading assignments outside of class, for example), you'll miss out on class discussions with fellow students. Your classmates will often have the same questions as you, so going to class enables you to learn from them and ask your instructor about topics you all find difficult.
• Interaction with the instructor: There is a reason why classes are taught by instructors. Instructors specialize in the subjects they teach, and they can provide extra insight and perspective on the material you're studying. Going to class gives you the chance to take notes and ask questions about the lectures. Also, the more you participate, the more your instructors will come to know you and be aware of any help or support you might need. This will make you feel more comfortable to approach them outside of class if you need advice or are struggling with the course material.
• Increased learning: Even though you will typically spend more time on coursework outside of the classroom, this makes class sessions even more valuable. Typically, in-class time will be devoted to the most challenging or key concepts covered in your textbooks. It's important to know what these are so you can master them—also they're likely to show up on exams. 

• focus your full attention on the speaker
• ask questions, either out loud or internally, in response to what is being said
• paraphrase ideas in notes
• listen nonjudgmentally
• show empathy for the speaker

Effective listening skills start outside of the classroom with the students coming prepared with questions and comments.

• Be a team player: Although most students have classmates they prefer to work with, they should be willing to collaborate in different types of groups. Teamwork demonstrates that a student can adapt to and learn in different situations.
• Share meaningful questions and comments: Some students speak up in class repeatedly if they know that participation is part of their grade. Although there isn't necessarily anything wrong with this, it's a good practice to focus on quality vs. quantity. For instance, a quieter student who raises her hand only twice during a discussion but provides thoughtful comments might be more noticeable to an instructor than a student who chimes in with everything that's said.
• Be prepared: As with listening, effective participation relies on coming to class prepared. Students should complete all reading assignments beforehand and also review any notes from the previous meeting. This way they can come to class ready to discuss and engage. Be sure to write down any questions or comments you have—this is an especially good strategy for quieter students or those who need practice thinking on their fee.

• Stay organized: Keep your notes and handouts separate for each class. For example, you might have a different notebook and folder for each class, or a large notebook with a different tab for each class. This will save you the time of trying to organize and locate your notes when studying for an exam.
• Use visual cues: Try highlighting, underlining, or drawing arrows or exclamation points next to any main or difficult concepts. This will call attention to these sections and remind you to spend more time reviewing them.
• Group together similar concepts: Grouping or "chunking" material is a good way to make studying and memorization easier. You can try drawing the main concept and connecting it to smaller, related concepts or making an outline of the information. Either one can serve as an effective study guide.
• Make notes legible: Some people have messy handwriting. However, writing as clearly as possible when you take notes will make it easier to review them later. It's also helpful if you're asked to share your notes with another student who missed class. If laptop use is permitted during class, you can also type your notes.

• Compare different note-taking strategies and assess which is most effective for you
• Develop notes into study guides

• Review note-taking strategies.
• Take notes during one of your classes.
• Using the notes you took from class, create a study guide. "Creating Study Guides" from Utah State University's Academic Success Center has examples of study-guide formats that might be useful. Or, you can develop your own.
• Write a one-paragraph summary describing your note-taking strategy and explaining why you created the study guide the way you did.
• Follow your instructor’s guidelines for submitting your assignment.

• Authority style: Instructors with an authority style of teaching prefer to give lectures while standing in front of class, often doing a combination of talking and writing information on the board. Students are expected to listen and take notes. While the authority style may work for active/reflective students who can take notes to review later, it may be difficult for kinesthetic learners. These students could take advantage of their learning style by drawing study guides in their notes and creating and playing review games when they study with friends.
• Demonstrator style: Instructors with a demonstrator style of teaching prefer to lecture, also, but they prefer to "show" students what they're explaining, often by using visual aids such as Powerpoint presentations, handouts, and demos. While this teaching style may appeal to visual learners and auditory learners who can simultaneously hear and visualize the information, this approach may not be as appealing to kinesthetic learners. These students might offer to assist instructors during demonstrations, so they can be more active while learning.
• Facilitator style: Instructors with a facilitator style rely heavily on class discussion, asking students to participate a lot while they provide prompts and guiding questions. While this learning style is effective for auditory learners, visual students may want to create concept maps in their notes, which they can review later, while kinesthetic/tactile learners may want to write their notes on index cards to use for studying outside of class.
• Delegator style: Instructors with a delegator approach prefer to structure their classes around student-run projects and presentations—their own teaching takes a backseat to students teaching one another. While this learning style may be beneficial for auditory and kinesthetic learners, visual learners may need to take notes throughout the projects and presentations so that they have study guides they can visualize.
• Hybrid style: Instructors with a hybrid teaching style use a combination of the learning styles above. For example, during an hourlong class session, they might schedule twenty minutes for a lecture, twenty minutes for class discussion, and twenty minutes for a class activity. While this teaching style can potentially appeal to all learning styles, some students may have trouble adjusting to the shifts in format or activities. Still, such classes—especially the group activities—provide opportunities for different learning styles: Visual learners might take notes or record everyone’s ideas, auditory learners could facilitate their group’s conversation, and the kinesthetic/tactile learners could be responsible for creating any props or presentations to share the group work with the rest of the class.

What type of teaching style do you think this instructor has?

• Plan in advance: Although nobody can plan to be sick, students should give their instructors advanced notice if they know they will need to miss class for something like a doctor’s appointment. This is not only respectful to the instructor, but he or she may be able to give you any handouts or assignments that you might otherwise miss. If you anticipate that class will be canceled on account of bad weather, etc., make sure you have all the materials, notes, etc. that you need to work at home. In college, "snow days" are rarely "free days"—i.e., expect that you will be responsible for all the work due on those days when school reopens.
• Talk to fellow students: Ask to borrow class notes from one or two classmates who are reliable note takers. Be sure to also ask them about any announcements or assignments the instructor made during the class you missed.
• Do the reading assignment(s) and any other homework. Take notes on any readings to be discussed in the class you missed. If you have questions on the reading or homework, seek help from your classmates. Completing the homework and coming prepared for the next session will demonstrate to your instructor that you are still dedicated to the class.

If you have to miss a class, find a trustworthy, responsible classmate who will lend you their notes.

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Page 4

Memory is more indelible than ink. ―Anita Loos, author and screenwriter

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

1. Describe strategies for deciding which course content to learn and retain
2. Differentiate between short-term and long-term memory, and describe the role of each in effective studying
3. Identify memory-strengthening strategies

Jennifer felt anxious about an upcoming history exam. This would be her first test in a college class, and she wanted to do well. Jennifer took lots of notes during class and while reading the textbook. In preparation for the exam, she had tried to review all five textbook chapters along with all of her notes. 

The morning of the exam, Jennifer felt nervous and unprepared. After so much studying and review, why wasn't she more confident? 

• Think about concepts rather than facts: From time to time, you'll need to memorize cold, hard facts—like a list of math equations or a vocabulary list in a Spanish class. Most of the time, though, instructors will care much more that you are learning about the key concepts in a subject or course—i.e., how photosynthesis works, how to write a thesis statement, the causes of the French Revolution, and so on. For example, Jennifer might have been more successful with her studying—and felt better about it—if she had focused on the important historical developments (the "big ideas") discussed in class, as opposed to trying to memorize a long list of dates and facts.
• Take cues from your instructor: Pay attention to what your instructor writes on the board or includes in study guides and handouts. Although these may be short—just a list of words and phrases, say—they are likely core concepts that you'll want to focus on. Also, instructors tend to refer to important concepts repeatedly during class, and they may even tell you what's important to know before an exam or other assessment.
• Look for key terms: Textbooks will often put key terms in bold or italics. These terms and their definitions are usually important and can help you remember larger concepts.
• Use summaries: Textbooks often have summaries or study guides at the end of each chapter. These summaries are a good way to check in and see whether you grasp the main elements of the reading. If no summary is available, try to write your own—you'll learn much more by writing about what you read than by reading alone.

• Describe strategies for deciding which course content to learn and retain

• Describe several situations in which you struggled to learn and retain new material in a class. Was there a particular type of content that was more challenging compared with others?
• Explain at least two strategies for identifying the main course content that you could use moving forward for studying.
• Follow your instructor’s guidelines for submitting your assignment.

Research indicates that people forget 80 percent of what they learn only a day later. This statistic may not sound very encouraging, given all that you're expected to learn and remember as a college student. Really, though, it points to the importance of a different studying approach—besides waiting until the night before a final exam to review a semester's worth of readings and notes. When you learn something new, the goal is to "lock it in" and move it from short-term memory, where it starts out, to long-term memory, where it can be accessed much later (like at the end of the semester or maybe years from now). Below are some strategies for transferring short-term memory to long-term memory:

• Start reviewing new material immediately: Remember that people typically forget a significant amount of new information not too long after learning it. As a student, you can benefit from starting to study new material right away. If you're introduced to new concepts in class, for example, don't wait to start reviewing your notes and doing the related reading assignments—the sooner the better.
• Study frequently for shorter periods of time: Once information becomes a part of long-term memory, you're more likely to remember it. If you want to improve the odds of recalling course material by the time of an exam (or a future class, say), try reviewing it a little bit every day. Building up your knowledge and recall this way can also help you avoid needing to "cram" and feeling overwhelmed by everything you've may have forgotten.
• Use repetition: This strategy is linked to studying material frequently for shorter periods of time. You may not remember when or how you learned skills like riding a bike or tying your shoes. Mastery came with practice, and at some point the skills became second nature. Academic learning is no different: If you spend enough time with important course concepts and practice them often, you will know them in the same way you know how to ride a bike—almost without thinking about them.

Studying notes and writing questions or comments about what you learned right after class can help keep new information fresh in your mind.

• Incorporate visuals: Visual aids like note cards, concept maps, and highlighted text are ways of making information stand out. Because they are shorter and more concise, they have the advantage of making the information to be memorized seem more manageable and less daunting (than an entire textbook chapter, for example). Some students write key terms on note cards and hang them around their desk or mirror so that they routinely see them and study them without even trying.
• Create mnemonics: Memory devices known as mnemonics can help students retain information while only needing to remember a unique phrase or letter pattern that stands out. For example, the mnemonic “ROYGBIV” could help students remember the order of the colors of a rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet).
• Get quality sleep: Although some people require more or less sleep than the recommended amount, most people should aim for six–eight hours every night. School puts a lot of demands on the brain, and, like tired muscles after a long workout, your brain needs to rest after being exercised and taking in all sorts of new information during the day. A good night's rest can helps you remember more and feel prepared for learning the next day.
• Connect new information to old information: Take stock of what you already know—information that's already stored in long-term memory—and use it as a foundation for learning newer information. It's easier to remember new information if you can connect it to old information or to a familiar frame of reference. For example, if you are taking a sociology class and are learning about different types of social groups, you may be able to think of examples from your own experience that relate to the different types.

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Page 5

We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself. —Lloyd Alexander, author

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

1. Define active learning
2. Explain the value of hands-on, interactive learning
3. Identify resources for applying active learning strategies to your studies, both in and out of the classroom

Megan is currently taking two classes: geology and American literature. In her geology class, the instructor lectures for the full class time and gives reading assignments. In Megan’s literature class, however, the instructor relies on class discussions, small group discussions, and occasionally even review games. Megan enjoys her literature class, but she struggles to feel engaged and interested in geology.

What strategies can Megan use to stay motivated and involved in both of her courses?

• Class discussions: Class discussions can help students stay focused because they feature different voices besides that of the instructor. Students can also hear one another’s questions and comments and learn from one another. Such discussions may involve the entire class, or the instructor may organize smaller groups, giving quieter students a greater chance to talk. Another method is to create online discussion boards so that students have more time to develop their ideas and comments and keep the conversation going.
• Writing assignments: Instructors may ask students to write short reaction papers or journal entries about lessons or reading assignments. Such assignments can help students review or reflect on what they just learned to help them understand and remember the material, and also provide a means of communicating questions and concerns to their instructors.
• Student-led teaching: Many instructors believe that a true test of whether students understand concepts is being able to teach the material to others. For that reason, instructors will sometimes have students work in groups and research a topic or review assigned readings, and then prepare a minipresentation and teach it to the rest of the class. This activity can help students feel more accountable for their learning and work harder, since classmates will be relying on them.

Group discussions are examples of active learning that encourage students to participate in their education.

• Write in your books: You can underline and circle key terms, or write questions and comments in the margins of their books. The writing serves as a visual aid for studying and makes it easier for you to remember what you've read or what you'd like to discuss in class. If you are borrowing a book or want to keep it unmarked so you can resell it later, try writing key words and notes on Post-its and sticking them on the relevant pages.
• Annotate a text: Annotations typically mean writing a brief summary of a text and recording the works-cited information (title, author, publisher, etc.). This is a great way to "digest" and evaluate the sources you're collecting for a research paper, but it's also invaluable for shorter assignments and texts, since it requires you to actively think and write about what you read. The activity, below, will give you practice annotating texts.
• Create mind maps: Mind maps are effective visuals tools for students, as they highlight the main points of readings or lessons. Think of a mind map as an outline with more graphics than words. For example, if a student were reading an article about America’s First Ladies, she might write, “First Ladies” in a large circle in the center of a piece of paper. Connected to the middle circle would be lines or arrows leading to smaller circles with visual representations of the women discussed in the article. Then, these circles might branch out to even smaller circles containing the attributes of each of these women.

• Work when you are fully awake, and give yourself enough time to read a text more than once.  

• Read with a pen or highlighter in hand, and underline or highlight significant ideas as you read.

• Interact with the ideas in the margins (summarize ideas; ask questions; paraphrase difficult sentences; make personal connections; answer questions asked earlier; challenge the author; etc.).

• As you read, keep the following in mind :
  • What is the CONTEXT in which this text was written? (This writing contributes to what topic, discussion, or controversy?  Context is bigger than this one written text.)
  • Who is the intended AUDIENCE? (There’s often more than one intended audience.)
  • What is the author’s PURPOSE? To entertain? To explain? To persuade?  (There’s usually more than one purpose, and essays almost always have an element of persuasion.)
  • How is this writing ORGANIZED? Compare and contrast? Classification? Chronological?  Cause and effect?  (There’s often more than one organizational form.)
  • What is the author’s TONE? (What are the emotions behind the words? Are there places where the tone changes or shifts?)
  • What TOOLS does the author use to accomplish her/his purpose?  Facts and figures? Direct quotations? Fallacies in logic? Personal experience? Repetition? Sarcasm? Humor? Brevity?
  • What is the author’s THESIS—the main argument or idea, condensed into one or two sentences?

• Foster an attitude of intellectual curiosity. You might not love all of the writing you're asked to read and analyze, but you should have something interesting to say about it, even if that "something" is critical.

• Identify resources for applying active learning strategies to your studies

• Read the article "Looking for Trouble: Finding Your Way into a Writing Assignment" by Catherine Savini.
• Develop an annotation of the chapter.
• Follow your instructor’s guidelines for submitting your assignment.

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Page 6

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting. —Edmund Burke, author and philosopher

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify common types of reading tasks assigned in a college class
• Describe the purpose and instructor expectations of academic reading
• Identify effective reading strategies for academic texts: previewing, reading, summarizing, reviewing
• Explore strategies for approaching specialized texts, such as math, and specialized platforms, such as online text
• Identify vocabulary-building techniques to strengthen your reading comprehension

• Information comes from reputable sources: Web sites and blogs can be a source of insight and information, but not all are useful as academic resources. They may be written by people or companies whose main purpose is to share an opinion or sell you something. Academic sources such as textbooks and scholarly journal articles, on the other hand, are usually written by experts in the field and have to pass stringent peer review requirements in order to get published.
• Learn how to form arguments: In most college classes except for creating writing, when instructors ask you to write a paper, they expect it to be argumentative in style. This means that the goal of the paper is to research a topic and develop an argument about it using evidence and facts to support your position. Since many college reading assignments (especially journal articles) are written in a similar style, you'll gain experience studying their strategies and learning to emulate them.
• Exposure to different viewpoints: One purpose of assigned academic readings is to give students exposure to different viewpoints and ideas. For example, in an ethics class, you might be asked to read a series of articles written by medical professionals and religious leaders who are pro-life or pro-choice and consider the validity of their arguments. Such experience can help you wrestle with ideas and beliefs in new ways and develop a better understanding of how others' views differ from your own.

• Describe the purpose of academic reading and what an instructor might expect of you after reading

• Review the main types of academic reading and the purpose of academic reading.
• Imagine you are an instructor for a class. This could be a class you are currently taking or one you would like to see offered.
• Identify three academic readings that you would assign to your students.
• Explain why you would assign these works and what you would expect your students to learn or do after reading them.
• Follow your instructor’s guidelines for submitting assignments.

• Preview: You can gain insight from an academic text before you even begin the reading assignment. For example, if you are assigned a nonfiction book, read the title, the back of the book, and table of contents. Scanning this information can give you an initial idea of what you'll be reading and some useful context for thinking about it. You can also start to make connections between the new reading and knowledge you already have, which is another strategy for retaining information.
• Read: While you read an academic text, you should have a pen or pencil in hand. Circle or highlight key concepts. Write questions or comments in the margins or in a notebook.  This will help you remember what you are reading and also build a personal connection with the subject matter.
• Summarize: After you an read academic text, it's worth taking the time to write a short summary—even if your instructor doesn't require it. The exercise of jotting down a few sentences or a short paragraph capturing the main ideas of the reading is enormously beneficial: it not only helps you understand and absorb what you read but gives you ready study and review materials for exams and other writing assignments.
• Review: It always helps to revisit what you've read for a quick refresher. It may not be practical to thoroughly reread assignments from start to finish, but before class discussions or tests, it's a good idea to skim through them to identify the main points, reread any notes at the ends of chapters, and review any summaries you've written.

• Where possible, download the reading as a PDF, Word document, etc., so you can read it offline.
• Get one of the apps that allow you to disable your social media sites for specified periods of time.
• Adjust your screen to avoid glare and eye strain, and change the text font to be less distracting (for those essays written in Comic Sans).
• Install an annotation tool in your Web browser so you can highlight and make notes on online text. One to try is hypothes.is. A low-tech option is to have a notebook handy to write in as you read.

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Page 7

It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it. —Jack Kerouac, author

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Describe the purpose of writing assignments and what an instructor might expect to see from your writing
• Identify common types of writing tasks in a college class
• Understand and utilize writing-process steps for the development of academic writing
• Differentiate between revision and proofreading, and explain the value of each
• Identify strategies for ethical use of sources in writing

Obviously you can write. And in the age of Facebook and smartphones, you may be writing all the time—perhaps more often than speaking. Many students today are awash in text like no other generation before.

So why spend yet more time and attention on writing skills? Research shows that deliberate practice—that is, close focus on improving one’s skills—makes all the difference in how one performs. Revisiting the craft of writing—especially early in college—will improve your writing much more than simply producing page after page in the same old way. Becoming an excellent communicator will save you a lot of time and hassle in your studies, advance your career, and promote better relationships and a higher quality of life off the job. Honing your writing is a good use of your scarce time.

Also, consider this: a recent survey of employers conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities found that 89 percent of employers say that colleges and universities should place more emphasis on “the ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing.” It was the single-most favored skill in this survey. In addition, several of the other valued skills are grounded in written communication: “Critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills” (81 percent); “The ability to analyze and solve complex problems” (75 percent); and “The ability to locate, organize, and evaluate information from multiple sources” (68 percent). This emphasis on communication probably reflects the changing reality of work in the professions. Employers also reported that employees will have to “take on more responsibilities,” “use a broader set of skills,” “work harder to coordinate with other departments,” face “more complex” challenges, and mobilize “higher levels of learning and knowledge.”

If you want to be a professional who interacts frequently with others, you have to be someone who can anticipate and solve complex problems and coordinate your work with others, all of which depend on effective communication.

The pay-off from improving your writing comes much sooner than graduation. Suppose you complete about 40 classes for a 120-credit bachelors’ degree, and—averaging across writing-intensive and non-writing-intensive courses—you produce about 2,500 words of formal writing per class. Even with that low estimate, you’ll write 100,000 words during your college career. That’s roughly equivalent to a 330-page book.

Spending a few hours sharpening your writing skills will make those 100,000 words much easier and more rewarding to write. All of your professors care about good writing.

It's Different from High School

Because most professors have different expectations, it can be tricky knowing what exactly they’re looking for. Pay attention to the comments they leave on your paper, and make sure to use these as a reference for your next assignment. I try to pay attention and adapt to the professor’s style and preferences. —Aly Button, SUNY student

By the end of high school you probably mastered many of the key conventions of standard academic English, such as paragraphing, sentence-level mechanics, and the use of thesis statements. The essay portion of the SAT measures important skills such as organizing evidence within paragraphs that relate to a clear, consistent thesis, and choosing words and sentence structures to effectively convey your meaning. These practices are foundational, and your teachers have given you a wonderful gift in helping you master them. However, college writing assignments require you to apply those skills to new intellectual challenges. Professors assign papers because they want you to think rigorously and deeply about important questions in their fields.

To your instructors, writing is for working out complex ideas, not just explaining them. A paper that would earn a top score on the SAT might only get a C or D in a college class if it doesn’t show original and ambitious thinking.

Professors look at you as independent junior scholars and expect you to write as someone who has a genuine, driving interest in tackling a complex question. They envision you approaching an assignment without a preexisting thesis. They expect you to look deep into the evidence, consider several alternative explanations, and work out an original, insightful argument that you actually care about. 

• Describe the purpose of writing assignments and what an instructor might expect to see from your writing
• Identify common types of writing tasks in a college class

• Review the syllabi for courses you're taking this term. Make note of the writing-based assignments you'll be asked to complete for each course you're taking. For each one, identify the following:
  • what kind of writing task it is (essay, journal, memo, annotated bibliography, online discussion, scientific report, etc.)
  • how much of your course grade it represents
  • how much time you estimate it will take you to complete
  • what the purpose of the assignment seems to be - why it is a graded requirement of the class
• Compare the list you've generated with a small group of your classmates. How do their lists of writing assignments compare to your own? What are some common factors across writing assignments? What are some notable differences?

What to Do With Essay Assignments

Writing assignments can be as varied as the instructors who assign them. Some assignments are explicit about what exactly you'll need to do, in what order, and how it will be graded. Some assignments are very open-ended, leaving you to determine the best path toward answering the project. Most fall somewhere in the middle, containing details about some aspects but leaving other assumptions unstated. It's important to remember that your first resource for getting clarification about an assignment is your instructor—she or he will be very willing to talk out ideas with you, to be sure you're prepared at each step to do well with the writing.

Most writing in college will be a direct response to class materials—an assigned reading, a discussion in class, an experiment in a lab. Generally speaking, these writing tasks can be divided into three broad categories.

Summary Assignments

Being asked to summarize a source is a common task in many types of writing. It can also seem like a straightforward task: simply restate, in shorter form, what the source says. A lot of advanced skills are hidden in this seemingly simple assignment, however.

An effective summary does the following:

• reflects your accurate understanding of a source's thesis or purpose
• differentiates between major and minor ideas in a source
• demonstrates your ability to identify key phrases to quote
• demonstrates your ability to effectively paraphrase most of the source's ideas
• captures the tone, style, and distinguishing features of a source
• does not reflect your personal opinion about the source

In college-level writing, assignments that are only summary are rare. That said, many types of writing tasks contain at least some element of summary, from a biology report that explains what happened during a chemical process, to an analysis essay that requires you to explain what several prominent positions about gun control are, as a component of comparing them against one another.

Defined-Topic Assignments

Many writing tasks will ask you to address a particular topic or a narrow set of topic options. Even with the topic identified, however, it can sometimes be difficult to determine what aspects of the writing will be most important when it comes to grading.

Often, the handout or other written text explaining the assignment—what professors call the assignment prompt—will explain the purpose of the assignment, the required parameters (length, number and type of sources, referencing style, etc.), and the criteria for evaluation. Sometimes, though—especially when you are new to a field—you will encounter the baffling situation in which you comprehend every single sentence in the prompt but still have absolutely no idea how to approach the assignment. No one is doing anything wrong in a situation like that. It just means that further discussion of the assignment is in order. Below are some tips:

1. Focus on the verbs. Look for verbs like compare, explain, justify, reflect, or the all-purpose analyze. You’re not just producing a paper as an artifact; you’re conveying, in written communication, some intellectual work you have done. So the question is, what kind of thinking are you supposed to do to deepen your learning?
2. Put the assignment in context. Many professors think in terms of assignment sequences. For example, a social science professor may ask you to write about a controversial issue three times: first, arguing for one side of the debate; second, arguing for another; and finally, from a more comprehensive and nuanced perspective, incorporating text produced in the first two assignments. A sequence like that is designed to help you think through a complex issue. If the assignment isn’t part of a sequence, think about where it falls in the span of the course (early, midterm, or toward the end), and how it relates to readings and other assignments. For example, if you see that a paper comes at the end of a three-week unit on the role of the Internet in organizational behavior, then your professor likely wants you to synthesize that material in your own way.
3. Try a free-write. A free-write is when you just write, without stopping, for a set period of time. That doesn’t sound very “free"; it actually sounds kind of coerced, right? The “free” part is what you write—it can be whatever comes to mind. Professional writers use free-writing to get started on a challenging (or distasteful) writing task or to overcome writer's block or a powerful urge to procrastinate. The idea is that if you just make yourself write, you can’t help but produce some kind of useful nugget. Thus, even if the first eight sentences of your free write are all variations on “I don’t understand this” or “I’d really rather be doing something else,” eventually you’ll write something like “I guess the main point of this is . . . ,” and—booyah!—you’re off and running.
4. Ask for clarification. Even the most carefully crafted assignments may need some verbal clarification, especially if you're new to a course or field. Try to convey to your instructor that you want to learn and you’re ready to work, and not just looking for advice on how to get an A.

Although the topic may be defined, you can't just grind out four or five pages of discussion, explanation, or analysis. It may seem strange, but even when you're asked to "show how" or "illustrate," you're still being asked to make an argument. You must shape and focus that discussion or analysis so that it supports a claim that you discovered and formulated and that all of your discussion and explanation develops and supports. 

Defined-topic writing assignments are used primarily to identify your familiarity with the subject matter.

Undefined-Topic Assignments

Where defined-topic essays demonstrate your knowledge of the content, undefined-topic assignments are used to demonstrate your skills—your ability to perform academic research, to synthesize ideas, and to apply the various stages of the writing process.

The first hurdle with this type of task is to find a focus that interests you. Don't just pick something you feel will be "easy to write about"—that almost always turns out to be a false assumption. Instead, you'll get the most value out of, and find it easier to work on, a topic that intrigues you personally in some way.

The same getting-started ideas described for defined-topic assignments will help with these kinds of projects, too.  You can also try talking with your instructor or a writing tutor (at your college's writing center) to help brainstorm ideas and make sure you're on track. You want to feel confident that you've got a clear idea of what it means to be successful in the writing and not waste time working in a direction that won't be fruitful.

The Writing Process

That's not to say that you won't still need to follow these steps on your own time. It helps to recognize that these steps, commonly referred to as the writing process, aren't rigid and prescribed.  Instead, it can be liberating to see them as flexible, allowing you to adapt them to your own personal habits, preferences, and the topic at hand.  You will probably find that your process changes, depending on the type of writing you're doing and your comfort level with the subject matter.

Revision is literally "reseeing." It asks a writer to step away from a piece of work for a significant amount of time and return later to see it with new eyes.  This is why the process of producing multiple drafts of an essay is so important.  It allows some space in between, to let thoughts mature, connections to arise, and gaps in content or an argument to appear. It's also difficult to do, especially given that most college students face tight time lines to get big writing projects done. Still, there are some tricks to help you "resee" a piece of writing when you're short on time, such as reading a paper backward, sentence by sentence, and reading your work aloud.  Both are ways of reconceptualizing your own writing so you approach it from a fresh perspective. Whenever possible, though, build in at least a day or two to set a draft aside before returning to work on the final version.

Proofreading, on the other hand, is the very last step taken before turning in a project. This is the point where spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting all take center stage.

Learn these rules, and if you hate them, learn to love them. In college, writing stops being about “how well did you understand fill-in-the-blank” and becomes “how professionally and strongly do you argue your point.” Professionalism, I have found, is the key to the real world, and college is, in part, preparing you for it. If you do not learn how to write in a way that projects professionalism (i.e., these rules), then expect to get, at best, Cs on your papers. —Kaethe Leonard, SUNY student

A person can be the best writer in the world and still be a terrible proofreader. It's okay not to memorize every rule out there, but know where to turn for help. Utilizing the grammar-check feature of your word processor is a good start, but it won't solve every issue (and may even cause a few itself).

Your campus tutoring or writing center is a good place to turn for support and help.  They will NOT proofread your paper for you, but they will offer you strategies for how to spot issues that are a pattern in your writing.

Finding a trusted person to help you edit is perfectly ethical, as long as that person offers you advice and doesn't actually do any of the writing for you. Professional writers rely on outside readers for both the revision and editing process, and it's a good practice for you to do so, too.

Using Sources

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Page 8

Do every day or two something for no other reason than you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.” —William James, American philosopher and psychologist

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Define test anxiety
• Identify sources of test anxiety and techniques for preventing and controlling it
• Identify common types of tests given in a college class
• Describe the purpose of tests and what an instructor might expect to see from your work
• Identify strategies for answering typical kinds of test questions (multiple choice, listing, true/false, short answer, essay, and others)
• Identify test-taking strategies to improve your performance

• Spelling tests
• Reading tests
• Math tests
• Language tests
• Laboratory tests
• Typing tests
• Physical fitness tests
• Driving tests
• Intelligence tests
• Personality tests
• "Self" tests
• Standardized tests
• Placement tests
• Achievement tests
• College entrance tests!

• In total, you may have taken an average of 113 standardized tests between pre-K and twelfth grade, according to the Council of the Great City Schools, which studied students in large urban districts.
• In the 2014–15 school year, 401 unique tests were administered across subjects in the 66 large urban school systems that the council studied.

My fears are like thundering elephants. Then when I get them out and really look at them, I see that they are actually mice with megaphones. —Bruce Rahtje, author and Biblical scholar

• Roughly 16–20 percent of students have high test anxiety.
• Another 18 percent have moderately high test anxiety.
• Test anxiety is the most common academic impairment in grade school, high school, and college.

Below are some effects of moderate anxiety:

• Being distracted during a test
• Having difficulty comprehending relatively simple instructions
• Having trouble organizing or recalling relevant information
• Crying
• Illness
• Eating disturbance
• High blood pressure
• Acting out
• Toileting accidents
• Sleep disturbance
• Cheating
• Negative attitudes towards self, school, subjects

Below are some effects of extreme test anxiety:

• Overanxious disorder
• Social phobia

Why does test anxiety occur? Inferior performance arises not because of intellectual problems or poor academic preparation. It occurs because testing situations create a sense of threat for those who experience test anxiety. The sense of threat then disrupts the learner’s attention and memory.

1. Ask about the exam (materials covered, format, points, level of detail, etc.)
2. Take inventory of your notes
3. Set a study schedule
4. Keep your diet consistent
5. Don't stop exercising
6. Get regular sleep
7. Make a five-day study plan for each exam

1. Try a minimeditation to reduce stress and improve focus. Breathe in deeply, count to five, and exhale slowly. Watch your lower abdomen expand and deflate. Repeat five times. Learn more about how to proactively manage stress.
2. Know when to stop. Although some students may stay up until 4 a.m. studying, it’s not a healthy habit. Your mind is more efficient when you get enough quality sleep, so make sure to schedule enough time for rest.
3. Don’t try to be perfect. You'll alleviate a lot of anxiety by learning that just "doing your best" is something to be proud of—it doesn't have to be perfect.
4. Reach out for help. If you feel you need assistance with your mental or physical health, talk to a counselor or visit a doctor.

Everyone feels some anxiety about tests. However, too much anxiety can interfere with your test preparation and test taking. Take this 5-minute assessment to determine how much test anxiety you may have and what you can do about it.

• Gain insight to your level of test anxiety
• Determine your best strategies for lessening test anxiety

• Visit the Test Anxiety Assessment at HowToStudy.com.
• Click on the “Continue to Assessment” button. You have the option to take the test in Spanish.
• Click on the best answer to each of the 35 questions.
• When you're finished, you'll receive a brief assessment of your level of text anxiety. You can also click on a link to learn 20 ways to reduce your test anxiety.

1. Preassessment
2. Formative assessment
3. Summative assessment

Preassessments: Tests in this category are used to measure the beliefs, assumptions, knowledge, and skills that you have when you begin a class or before you begin working on a new topic. With preassessments, your professor gathers baseline data to use at a later time to evaluate change—that is, by comparing former knowledge or skills against what you learn in class.

Formative assessments: Tests in this category are typically quizzes, pop quizzes, review questions, and practice tests. With formative assessments, your professor’s goal is to monitor what you are learning and get feedback from you about what is needed next in teaching. Did students do well on the quiz? If so, it's probably time to move to the next topic. If they didn't do well, it suggests that more teaching time should be devoted to the concept. Formative assessments help the instructor to better meet your needs as a learner.

Summative assessments: Tests in this category are the assessments that students are most familiar with: midterm and final exams. In a summative assessment, a professor is evaluating how much you actually learned at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it with a benchmark of what you should have learned. Summative assessments can be stressful, but they can be an effective measurement tool. Most summative assessments are graded.

Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.—Albert Einstein

• Guidelines for Answering True/false Questions: Click here for practice test on true false questions
• Guidelines for Answering Multiple-choice Questions: Click here for a practice test on multiple choice questions
• Guidelines for Answering Matching Questions: Click here for a practice test on matching questions.
• Guidelines for Answering Sentence Completion or Fill-in-the-blank Question: Click here for a practice test on fill-in-the-blank questions
• Guidelines for Essay Questions: Click here for a practice test on essay questions

• Identify sources of test anxiety and techniques for preventing and controlling it
• Identify test-taking strategies to improve your performance

• Review the set of questions, below. Think about how you prepare (or don't prepare) for tests and exams. What do you struggle with? What steps can you take to better prepare for your exams this semester?
• Make a list of what you feel are your main worries or concerns about tests or what you find most difficult to cope with. You might consider contacting your tutor to ask for advice,or find out if there are any exam-preparation workshops at your college.
• Make another list of any good ideas and strategies you intend to try as you prepare for your next test.

1. How would you summarize your overall feelings about tests?
2. How long is your study period? How long before the actual exam would you start studying?
3. What sort of pattern does your study take? Do you work in phases, small bits or longer periods?
4. How close to the test do you study? Up to the night before, or do you have a break?
5. How carefully do you plan or structure your study period? Do you plan a detailed outline of what you will do, or do you just start and work through?
6. If you need to memorize material, do you have any particular way of doing it?
7. Do you record material in any way, perhaps summarize it on cards or paper, or record it?
8. Do you try to include any new material while studying, or do you stick with what you have already studied?
9. Do you try to reorganize your material, perhaps rewrite notes?
10. Do you make use of back papers? Do you practice answering actual questions?
11. What do you do on the night before and the morning of the test?
12. What do you think and feel as you journey to the test location?
13. Do you stand outside talking with others, or so you stand alone?
14. Between going into the room and starting the test, do you have rituals such as where you place the things you've taken with you? Do you meditate, pray, or practice relaxation?
15. Once the test starts, do you have a particular pattern of work?
16. Do you have a problem with timing?
17. Do you check back through your work before you submit it?
18. What do you do immediately after the test?
19. Do you contact other students or your tutor after the exam?
20. Looking back at the tests you have taken, do you feel you have learned anything that has helped you or might help you to do better?

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Page 9

The very best impromptu speeches are the ones written well in advance. —Ruth Gordon, actress and playwright

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify common types of presentation tasks in a college class, including individual and group projects
• Describe the purpose of presentation assignments and what an instructor might expect to see from your delivery
• Explain how to avoid common pitfalls of visual aids in presentations
• Identify techniques to reduce anxiety prior to and during presentation delivery

Individual presentations put all of the responsibility for preparation, research, and delivery on you. You rightfully take all the credit for the final product you produce.

Group presentations, in contrast, often involve more complicated tasks and therefore require more participants to make them. Your instructor may make suggestions about how the work should be divided, or the group may delegate tasks internally. Grades may be assigned equally to everyone in the group, though many instructors assign individual grades based on some participation-level factor to inspire each member to pull his or her own weight.

Think About Audience

1. Choosing a font that is too small. The person in the very back of the room should be able to see the same thing as the person in the front of the room.
2. Putting too many words on a slide. Remember it’s called PowerPoint, not PowerParagraph! Keep your bullet points clear and succinct.
3. Having spelling errors. Have somebody proofread your slides. Any typos will detract from your presentation.
4. Choosing distracting colors that make it hard to read the information. PowerPoint gives you a lot of color choices in their design templates. The ideas in your brilliant presentation will be lost if your audience is struggling to read the content.
5. Selecting images or visuals that do not clearly align with the content. For instance, a cute photo of your cat may look lovely up on the screen, but if it doesn’t connect to your topic, it’s just fluff that detracts from your message. Every slide counts, so make sure the visuals support your message.

• Practice techniques to reduce anxiety prior to and during presentation delivery

• As you plan for your presentation, it's helpful to reflect on the challenges you may face when you present to your audience. Jot down a quick list of strengths and weaknesses. Be honest!
• Now that you have an honest reflection of those strengths and weakness, it's time to practice. Ask a friend or family member to watch you present. Request that they be honest with you and give constructive criticism about the strengths and weaknesses of your presentation. Have them jot down quick notes.
• After the practice presentation, compare notes with the friend or family member. Compare and contrast how you felt about the quality of your presentation with the feedback you received. Use this information to help improve your presentation delivery.

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Page 10

One repays a teacher badly if one always remains nothing but a pupil. —Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify options for communicating with instructors
• Discuss the benefits of utilizing instructor office hours
• Evaluate effective email communication strategies with instructors
• Identify strategies for resolving conflicts with an instructor

• Prepare before meeting with the instructor. Go over your notes on readings and lectures and write down your specific questions. You’ll feel more comfortable, and the instructor will appreciate your being organized.
• Be sure to introduce yourself. Especially near the beginning of the term, don’t assume that your instructor has learned everyone’s name yet, and don’t make him or her have to ask you. Unless the instructor has already asked you to address him or her as “Dr. ____,” “Ms. _____,” or Mr. _______,” or something similar, it’s appropriate to say “Professor _______.”
• Respect the instructor’s time. In addition to teaching, college instructors participate in committees, conduct research and other professional work, and have personal lives. It's not appropriate to arrive several minutes before the end of an office hour and expect the instructor to stay late to talk with you.
• Understand that the instructor will recognize you from class. If you spent a lecture hour not paying attention, it will reflect badly on you to come to an office hour to find out what you missed.
• Don’t try to fool an instructor. Insincere praise or making excuses for not doing an assignment will rarely play in your favor (they've heard it all before!). Nor is it a good idea to act like you’re “too cool” to take your classwork seriously—another attitude that's sure to put off an instructor. To earn your instructor’s respect, come to class prepared, do the work, genuinely participate in class, and show respect—and the instructor will be happy to see you when you come to office hours or need some extra help.
• Try to see things from the instructor’s point of view. Imagine that you spent hours preparing for class, on a topic that you find very interesting and exciting. You are gratified when people understand what you’re saying—they really get it! And then a student after class asks, “Is this going to be on the test?” How would you feel?
• Be professional when talking to an instructor. You can be cordial and friendly, but it’s ideal to keep it professional and on an adult level. Come to office hours prepared with your questions—not just to chat or joke around. (Don’t wear sunglasses or earphones in the office or check your cell phone for messages.) Be prepared to accept constructive criticism in a professional way, without taking it personally or complaining.

• Use a professional email name. If you have a nickname you use with friends, create a different account with a professional name for use with instructors, work supervisors, and others. “BoatyMcBoatface” is not an appropriate, professional email name.
• Include something in the subject line that readily communicates the purpose/topic of your email: “May I make an appointment?” says something; “Help!” doesn’t.
• Address digital messages as you do a letter, beginning “Dear Professor ____.” Include your full name in the closing.
• Get to your point quickly and concisely.
• Write as you would in a paper for class, avoiding sarcasm, criticism, or negative language.
• Avoid abbreviations, nonstandard spelling, slang, and emoticons like smiley faces.
• Be courteous, accommodating, and respectful. Avoid stating expectations like, “I’ll expect to hear from you soon” or “If I haven’t heard by 4 p.m., I’ll assume you’ll accept my late paper.”
• When you reply to a message, leave the original message within yours.
• End the message with a “Thank you” or something similar.
• Proofread your message before sending it.
• Wait to send if you are upset. With any important message, it’s a good idea to wait and review the message later before sending it. You may have expressed an emotion or thought that you will think better about later. Many problems have resulted when people send messages too quickly without thinking.

• Go over the requirements for the paper or test and the instructor’s comments. Be sure you actually have a reason to evaluate the grade—not just that you didn’t do well. Be prepared with specific points you want to discuss.
• Make an appointment with your instructor. For face-to-face classes, don’t try to talk about your concern before or after class.
• Be polite. Begin by politely explaining that you thought you did better on the assignment or test (not simply that you think you deserve a better grade) and that you’d like to go over it to better understand the result.
• Allow the instructor to explain his or her comments on the assignment or grading of the test. Don’t complain or whine; instead, show your appreciation for the explanation. Raise any specific questions, or make comments at this time. For example, you might say, “I really thought I was being clear here when I wrote . . .”
• Use good listening skills. Whatever you do, don’t argue!
• Ask what you can do to improve the grade, if possible. Can you rewrite the paper or do any extra-credit work to help make up for a test score? While you are showing that you would like to earn a higher grade in the course, also make it clear that you’re willing to put in the effort and that you want to learn more, not just get the higher grade.
• If there is no opportunity to improve on this specific project, ask the instructor for advice on what you might do on the next assignment or when preparing for the next test. You may be offered some individual help or receive good study advice, and your instructor will respect your willingness to make the effort—as long as it’s clear that you’re more interested in learning than getting a good grade.

• Go the extra mile: Talk to your professor when you
  • Need an extension
  • Need clarification on course material
  • Are experiencing challenges in your personal life that impact your academic performance
  • Are considering pursuing a major or graduate degree in their subject area
• Visit early: Building rapport with your professors early in the semester will pay off if you need an extension or extra help later on. Professors like it when you visit office hours, but they don't appreciate it when panicked students ask for an extension an hour before an assignment is due. Most professors will be very accommodating if you ask for help well in advance.
• Show your interest: Professors want you to be as interested in their subject as they are. Nothing excites them more than knowing you are passionate about what they teach. You can show your interest by participating in class, attending office hours, and emailing your professors if you have questions.
• Meet your professor: Professors have many responsibilities to juggle including research, teaching, traveling to conferences, and administrative tasks. However, they DO want to talk with you. Go to office hours and meet your professors!
• Build relationships: Believe it or not, your professors are really interesting people. You might just enjoy their company. They can also open doors to academic research, serve as mentors, and may write you a reference letter down the road. Build strong relationships with your profs while you have the chance.

• Identify options for communicating with instructors
• Discuss the benefits of utilizing instructor office hours

• The word instructor comes from the Latin word struere, meaning build, construct. Make a list of ten ways in which you could take advantage of communicating with your instructor to help build and construct a powerful learning experience.

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Page 11

Learning never exhausts the mind. —Leonardo da Vinci

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify differences between passing a test and gaining knowledge (cramming versus learning)
• List study techniques that help long-term retention of knowledge
• Explain how peer groups can aid in class preparation

The formula is probably a combination of all these things and more. Each student, though, will have unique stories to tell about how deep learning has occurred for them. In fact, stories about deep learning are the basis of What the Best College Students Do, a book by historian and educator Dr. Ken Bain. In writing this book, Dr. Bain conducted more than one hundred interviews with notable lifelong learners, like Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report and astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Dr. Bain asked each interviewee to talk about how they used their college experience to develop and feed their curiosity about topics that interested them—topics that came to define them in many ways. The deep learning each person experienced helped them go on to lead focused and purposeful lives.

If Dr. Bain were to interview you, what would you tell him about an experience you had in which you learned deeply? What factors account for how you absorbed knowledge during that experience and how you used the knowledge for something that mattered a lot to you? Conversely, which factors were missing when you had the experience of not learning deeply?

• Surface learners: They do as little as possible to get by.
• Strategic learners: They aim for the highest grades rather than for true understanding.
• Deep learners: They gain a real, rich education in college because they pursue their passions more than grades. They are also comfortable with experimenting more than with “getting it right,” and they develop a personal connection to their studies.

But students who have a “growth mindset” toward learning, and who believe they can really improve over time and with effort, are the ones who who tend to take more chances, progress faster, and see risk and failure as part of the learning process. "Research suggests that students who view intelligence as innate focus on their ability and its adequacy/inadequacy, whereas students who view intelligence as malleable use strategy and effort as they work toward mastery."

• Know that your beliefs affect your behaviors. Cognitive psychologist Dr. Stephen Chew calls these "beliefs that make you stupid." Watch his video, below, for suggestions on how to overcome these beliefs.

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• Apply what you learn in practice. Practice builds accuracy and fluency. This fluency also builds the confidence and flexibility to apply what you've learned in different situations. Professor of mathematics, Michael Starbird, describes how practice leads to deeper understanding in the following video:

• Feed your curiosity. Ask questions, perform experiments, talk to experts, work with others, make mistakes, and explore your questions from many different angles. This helps develop a mindset of growth and will take you farther in your development.

• Reflect on your studying by asking yourself these three questions: What did you do? Was it effective? What can you change? Practice self-testing, described in the following video:

• Test your perceptions. After an exam, make a prediction of how many questions/problems you answered correctly. When you get the test back, see how your score matched with your prediction. If you were way off, consider changing your study strategy to incorporate more self-testing, spaced study sessions and varied approaches to practice.
• Use strategies like generating your own questions and creating concept maps. Need some guidance? Take a look at the following video by Dr. Stephen Chew:

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Try not to let yourself get discouraged if it feels like you aren't understanding something. Not understanding can be a good sign. For a brief explanation, see Learning Goes Through the Land of Confusion by Rhett Alan, a physics professor at Southern Louisiana University.

• Retrieve—don't regurgitate. Develop your own test questions, ask yourself questions, solve sample problems, and analyze for deeper meanings. Need some good questions to ask yourself? Try this: Why is this answer important? What does it relate to? How does this answer connect with what I already know? Can I elaborate this answer? Can I illustrate it with an example? Retrieving what you’ve learned from your memory helps you strengthen connections and relearn each time you do it, that is, every time you retrieve something from memory, you’re essentially re-learning it and creating different pathways for retrieval. The more paths you create to knowledge, the more likely it is that you’ll find a way there when you need it. You can find some more at the Teaching Professor Blog.
• If you're confused, don't give up. Working hard to understand a problem or to figure something out isn't a bad thing, and it will likely lead to a deeper understanding of the material, which will stay with you for a long time. This is especially important if your other courses build on that concept you are grappling with. If you need help developing new strategies, the following video might do the trick.

Planning can also help you develop a workable schedule for studying. "Research shows spacing study episodes out with breaks in between study sessions or repetitions of the same material is more effective than massing such study episodes. Massing practice is akin to cramming all night before the test."

• Target your studying: Try to study key themes, and take what you know about the exam structure into account when you're planning. If you know you'll have an essay, write outlines! If you have to solve problems, go over homework or make up your own problems.
• Review or practice throughout the term. Without regular review, you may have to relearn a large portion of the course right before the final.

• Use failure as an opportunity to rethink and relearn. Ask yourself why you got it wrong and what happened. What is an alternative approach? How might a new approach be more successful? Watch Prof. Michael Starbird's video about making mistakes as a strategy for learning:

• Give yourself permission to fail. When working through problems or studying unfamiliar concepts, consider allowing yourself to fail nine times before getting it right. This may free your mind to think creatively about solutions without the pressure to "get it right." You may find that repeated failures may actually lead you to new insights about the problem that you can take into other contexts.

• Consider real-world applications. Use what you are learning when tackling real world events or problems, or consider real-world applications of what you’re learning. Reflect on how the skills and knowledge you are building can be used beyond college. This creates more pathways in your brain and can help keep you motivated.
• Monitor your learning. Self-monitoring your learning includes evaluating, planning, and reflecting on your learning strategies and approaches. Reflecting on what you’ve done helps you see the value of certain strategies that leverage your strengths and improve on your weaknesses. It also increases your sense of control over outcomes.
• Seek specific and meaningful feedback. Ask for and use feedback from instructors, teaching assistants, and peers to adjust your learning and studying techniques. This can help you avoid studying and working very hard without results.
• Chunk the information you’re studying. With chunking, you break the concept you’re struggling with into smaller pieces, and sort those pieces by theme. Focus on understanding these chunks and they’ll be much easier to digest. Test yourself 5–15 minutes later. Mind maps and visual note taking can help with chunking.
• Set priorities. Set realistic goals and prioritize your studying by surveying your syllabus, reviewing material, and identifying the most important topics covered in the class, or areas you’re struggling with.
• Create association maps. Mind maps and concept maps can lead to meaningful learning, as they force you to reorganize and make sense of the information. Redo your notes as a diagram or as a concept map.
• Make connections. What you’re learning ideally applies to the real world. Make connections between course concepts, different courses, and real-world situations. If you’re having trouble understanding something, ask yourself how these concepts apply to your life.
• Ask questions to reduce bias. Check your thinking by asking questions about what you’re learning. What’s being said? Who is saying it? Why are they saying it? Who else says this? What do I believe? Why do I believe it? What’s missing? Asking good questions helps us solve problems, make thoughtful decisions, and think creatively.

• Identify differences between passing a test and gaining knowledge (cramming versus learning)

• Review the list below of attributes of experiences that led to deep learning. Which of them remind you of an experience you had in which you learned deeply?
• Write a journal-style reflection (1–2 pages) of the deep-learning experience you remember. When and where did it take place? How old were you? Were you with peers? Was it a classroom experience or did it take place in another environment—perhaps not a formal learning environment? What were your feelings at the time? What did you learn? Were you able to apply your newly gained knowledge to a real-world situation?
• Follow your instructor's guidelines for submitting assignments.

• Be actively involved with your learning.
• Be engaged in real and meaningful learning activities.
• Understand how the learning fits into a bigger picture beyond the structure of a course or class.
• Engage in reflective writing that personalizes your learning.
• Sense or believe that you are in a supportive environment without fear of making mistakes or fear of taking risks.
• Sense a freedom from judgment of others.
• Actively synthesize concepts.
• Actively relate the information to your life and experience.
• Actively integrate new ideas and knowledge with existing knowledge.
• Engage in discussion with peers or others.
• Take deep interest in the subject.
• Reflect on your learning.

Getting the most out of working in a group, though, itself requires some special skills. The following video, Group Work, from the University of British Columbia, offers some pointers.

• Know your strengths and learn what others can bring to the table. Consider these strengths when assigning roles or project tasks.
• First meetings are key to setting a good tone. Plan enough time to
  • Learn people's goals for the group
  • Learn people's strengths
  • Assign roles
  • Set up a meeting schedule
  • Review the tools you will need to support your work (Google docs, Wiki page, etc.)
• Be clear about everyone's goals so that the group has a clear idea of what people expect to get from the group study process. Goals are important to motivation.
• Get everyone working:
  • Assign tasks that play to individual strengths
  • Assign a progress-checker role to follow up on progress
  • Use meetings to review progress and provide guidance and support where needed.
  • Choose a good online tool to help you collect and respond to one another's ideas and questions between meetings.
• Conflict is natural and can be necessary to achieve collaboration. Learn to manage it.
  • Develop effective communication skills.
  • Work toward mutual understanding.
  • Keep group interests at the forefront.
  • Be flexible in looking for solutions.
  • Make sure solutions work for everyone.

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• How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 1 of 5, Beliefs That Make You Fail... Or Succeed. Provided by: Samford University. License: All Rights Reserved. License terms: Standard YouTube license
• The First Element of Effective Thinking: Understand Deeply. Provided by: College of Natural Sciences Video. License: All Rights Reserved. License terms: Standard YouTube license
• Self-Testing. Provided by: UTSchoolUGS. License: All Rights Reserved. License terms: Standard YouTube license
• How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 4 of 5, Putting Principles for Learning into Practice. Provided by: Samford University. License: All Rights Reserved. License terms: Standard YouTube license
• How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 3 of 5, Cognitive Principles for Optimizing Learning. Provided by: Samford University. License: All Rights Reserved. License terms: Standard YouTube license
• The Second Element of Effective Thinking: Make Mistakes. Provided by: College of Natural Sciences Video. License: All Rights Reserved. License terms: Standard YouTube license

Page 12

I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating. —Sophocles

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Define academic honesty and common forms of academic dishonesty
• Identify common scenarios that can lead to academic dishonesty, and possible consequences
• Identify strategies for avoiding plagiarism

1. Submitting someone else's work as their own.
2. Taking passages from their own previous work without adding citations.
3. Rewriting someone’s work without properly citing sources.
4. Using quotations, but not citing the source.
5. Interweaving various sources together in the work without citing.
6. Citing some, but not all passages that should be cited.
7. Melding together cited and uncited sections of the piece.
8. Providing proper citations, but failing to change the structure and wording of the borrowed ideas enough.
9. Inaccurately citing the source.
10. Relying too heavily on other people’s work. Failing to bring original thought into the text.

• Quotes: If you quote another work directly in your work, cite your source.
• Paraphrase: If put someone else's idea into your own words, you still need to cite the author.
• Visual Materials: If you cite statistics, graphs, or charts from a study, cite the source. Keep in mind that if you didn’t do the original research, then you need to credit the person(s) or institution, etc. that did.

There are many handy online tools to help you create and track references as you go. For example, you can try using Son of Citation Machine. Keeping careful notes will not only help you avoid inadvertent plagiarism; it will also help you if you need to return to a source later (to check or get more information). If you use citation tools like Son of Citation, be sure to check the accuracy of the citations before you submit your assignment.

• Identify common scenarios that can lead to academic dishonesty, and possible consequences

• Indiana University has a clever list of different types of plagiarism. Their names for different types of plagiarism can help you learn how to avoid situations of academic dishonesty. Go to this link and read through the various examples. Jot down a few notes on examples that are new to you.
• Start by finding information about plagiarism in one of your courses. You may find information on the course syllabus and/or the course Web site. You may want to bookmark this information or make a note to yourself. Knowing your rights as a student may help if there is a misunderstanding.

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Page 13

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. —Winston Churchill

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify the learning benefits of test taking
• Identify strategies for learning from mistakes and from doing poorly on tests or exams

In this section we offer a response to that thought: believe it or not, testing benefits you, too. Consider the following:

• You may learn more when you take a test than when you study for it or are just taught the material. For example, if you are asked to learn five formulas for a math test, you will likely remember the three formulas you are actually tested on better than the others.
• When you are tested—especially often—it encourages you to study more and procrastinate less.
• The more you retrieve information, as you do during a test or quiz, the more likely you are to retain it in the long run.
• Taking a test helps your brain organize knowledge better, and that helps you retrieve the knowledge more efficiently.

I recently took a general biology exam and I was so certain that I got all questions right—that I got a 100 percent on the exam. Then I found out this morning that I got a 94 percent! And what annoys me more than the grade is the fact that my mistakes were dumb. Why did I make dumb mistakes? The tests are timed and I don’t have much time to check my answers.

I’m so mad at myself. I've tried everything, I come back to look at the answer after I've completed the rest of the test. I go over the answers carefully. It seems as though no matter what I do I can't catch my mistakes. I just did it on an accounting test. I missed one question because I didn't notice the answer was "All of the above." I have the same problem in another class.

What not to do:

• Don't panic
• Don't go into denial

What to do:

• Do examine how you prepared; be honest with yourself
• Do review the exam; compare errors with notes taken
• Do talk with your professor
• Do examine your study habits
• Do develop a plan

Helpful strategies to raise your grade:

• Commit time and effort
• Minimize distractions
• Attend class
• Set realistic goals
• Don't begin to slide
• Don't give away points

Don't be the student who . . .

• Keeps studying the same way, hoping to improve
• Waits until the end of the term to ask for help
• Skips class to focus on other classes
• Falls further behind waiting to find time to catch up
• Crams at the last minute
• Doesn't do assignments because they are small or late
• Panics and gives up

• Identify strategies for learning from mistakes and from doing poorly on tests or exams

• Visit Duquesne University’s Web site, Help Students to Learn from Returned Tests. It has exam wrappers, post-test surveys, and error-analysis exercises you can use to help you learn from returned exams and perform better on future tests.
• Keep in mind this sage advice: "All too often when students receive a graded exam, they focus on a single feature—the score they earned. Although this focus on ‘the grade' is understandable, it can lead students to miss out on several learning opportunities that such an assessment can provide." (Ambrose, et al, 2010)

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• How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 5 of 5, I Blew the Exam, Now What?. Provided by: Samford University. License: All Rights Reserved. License terms: Standard YouTube license

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