College+Success

BEING IN COLLEGE AND WRITING IN COLLEGE
What we can learn from Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels: IT MAY BE IMPORTANT TO WRITE AS THOUGH THE WHOLE WORLD MAY READ IT
 * What are the implications of writing for a large, faceless, completely unknown demographic when. ..
 * You have an English teacher or college professor lurking in the background with a fresh package of red pens?

IMPORTANT NOTE: College professors who are not in the English department do not seem to think that teaching or correcting grammar and mechanics is part of their responsibility and that you come to their classes as fully formed writers and completely competent in the nuances of writing in that content area.


 * Stuff you might already know but need to be sure you retain **

__Writing triangle __ Before you start writing and as you are writing, you need to be thinking about your audience, your purpose for writing, and the style/tone you want to use to convey your purpose or message. Imagine an isosceles triangle.

Your audience: for whom or to whom are you writing? Try to ignore the teacher or professor behind the red pen and try to concentrate on who you might really want or need to read this writing project.

Your purpose: what do you want to accomplish with this project? Is it a call to action? Is it informative? What do you want your reader to think or do having read your work?

Your style or tone helps you convey your purpose to your particular audience. While there are some instructors who suggest that the writer or rhetor should be one of the points, I think the writer is represented by the writer's style and tone of voice. If, for example, you are writing to a group of elementary school children to help them understand the repercussions of cyberbullying, you would use vocabulary and sentence structure appropriate to that audience.

__Three questions __ As you write, think about these questions: The last question is tricky because you have to try to guess what your reader might want to know about your topic, but keep your purpose in mind and imagine the kinds of questions your reader might ask. For example, at what points might the reader ask "why"? At the same time, though, be careful not to be lead off track. Keep focused on your purpose and your audience as that will help drive how you think about these questions.
 * 1) What does your reader know about your topic or subject? You want to treat your reader with respect so you need to try to avoid talking down to the reader or talking over the reader's head. Finding that "just right" approach can be difficult, so err on speaking a little above your reader's ability. But you also need to be careful not to state the obvious. If you are writing to physicists, you don't have to explain some of the fundamental laws of physics. If you are writing to students who are just beginning to learn about physics, however, you might have to explain a few things. Thinking about your audience and your purpose and what your reader knows logically leads to the next two questions:
 * 2) What does your reader **need** to know?
 * 3) What does your reader **want** to know?

Once you’re in college, how can you be successful?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">READ THE SYLLABUS
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">This may seem like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how many students don't really pay attention when the professor hands out the syllabus on the first day of class. Some profs go over the syllabus page by page; some hand it out and hit the high points.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Some of your syllabi will be a page or two; some will be multi-page tomes. No matter the length or the attention given, the professor understand the syllabus is a contract of expectations for the semester, and that would the professor's expectations of the students.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Do not underestimate it's importance.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Every once in a while I would give a quiz on the syllabus, especially if I had a class full of students who seemed not to be paying attention as I reviewed the syllabus.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">OFFICE HOURS
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Be aware that "office hours" is a term that might not be representative of a professor's actual time in his or her office.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Most universities have a requirement for a minimum number of office hours a professor is to schedule for each week, but it's not always enforced.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">GRADING
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Understand that you may have only three (** 3! **) opportunities for a grade in a college class: midterm, final, and some potentially massive research project for which you are likely to get little direction, though you might find what you need in the syllabus.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">If the final exam is cumulative, make sure you find out to what extent the midterm is helpful in preparing the final.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Because there is so much information presented in the second half of a semester, cumulative finals are fairly rare.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">However, if the professor runs out of semester before he runs out of syllabus, find out if anything not covered in class is likely to be on the exam.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">EXTRA CREDIT is rare in college. If you're not doing well in a class, do NOT ask for extra credit. You might ask your professor what you can do to raise your grade, but you're likely to get something like "Study harder." That's when you locate a student who has had the professor and/or form a study group and/or find a tutor.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">GO TO CLASS. Seriously.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">If you’re going to a big public university, no one is going to check on you to make sure you go to class.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Once you hit 18, you’re an adult which seems to mean you have been magically transformed into someone who is accountable and responsible for all of your actions (not that a lot of grownups who are more experienced at being adults are accountable or responsible, but that's a different story).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">If you miss class--and you will--do NOT ask a professor if you missed anything important. Think about it. You should instead ask what you missed and what your professor recommends you do to get the material or whatever seems appropriate.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">If you know you're going to miss class and there is time, send an email to let your professor know you won't be in class and why but be careful of TMI. (Dr. -: I won't be in class today as I'm very sick. As soon as I'm feeling better, I'll contact you to find out what I missed and how best I can get the information.) Better yet if you've made arrangements with a fellow student to get the information/notes, but still suggest you'll check-in with the professor just in case your fellow student isn't quite the stickler for details you are.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">DO YOUR HOMEWORK
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">If you can work with a group, be sure to form a study group for classes or subjects that give you a hard time
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">If you’re not a fan of study groups, still try to take advantage of any on-campus academic support: tutoring centers, writing centers, upperclassmen
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Juniors and seniors who are majoring in courses that give you difficulty //may// be willing to give you pointers about a particular professor, tutor you, point you to resources that helped them be successful
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">READ THE SYLLABUS. Yes, it's worth repeating.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">If there is an attendance, tardy, and/or participation policy, make sure you know the policy exists and the details. Each of them can make a difference between success and failure.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">If you play a collegiate sport, make sure you know the compliance regulations and make sure you know the makeup policy if you have to miss class for practice or a game/match/tournament. This does NOT apply to intramurals.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Compliance refers to both grade point average and credits completed so if you are fortunate enough to be on athletic scholarship, you have to keep your grades up and you have to keep making academic progress.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">GO TO CLASS
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Before you challenge a professor or try to show off what you think you know, talk to someone who has had the professor or wait a week or so to get an impression of the professor’s ego or self-perception. Let me suggest that grading might not always be objective in college.


 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;">DISCLAIMER: THERE IS RISK OF GROSS GENERALIZATION IN THE FOLLOWING **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">If you get a graduate or teaching assistant (GA or TA)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Keep in mind that the graduate student is teaching because it allows her to pursue her own graduate education and research, not necessarily because she likes to teach
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">If your TA does not plan to teach, accept the fact that he’s likely to be a mediocre instructor and a very aggressive grader
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Find out his office hours and make nice; you are learning how to negotiate office politics
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Remember the TA’s own education and research comes first, especially if you are at a Tier 1 research institution such as University of Illinois
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Should you decide to go Greek
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">There is some value in the Greek system and how it can pay off post graduation
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">While fraternities and sororities are national organizations, all of them are not at every university in the country and some have much better national reputations than others: the national reputation matters more than the collegiate one
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Some fraternities and sororities have test banks, libraries of resources/information for specific classes and/or professors, offer study halls, require a minimum GPA
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Be aware that hazing, though generally frowned upon if not banned outright, still occurs and, especially for fraternities, is absurdly juvenile and generally humiliating
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">You do not get college credit for how much alcohol you can consume, how wicked and vicious your hangovers, how badly you behave while under the influence, and/or how often you think you score as a result of alcohol consumption
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">One word: YouTube
 * You may be asked to complete some assignments by hand and many of your exams will be in-class handwritten exams
 * If your professor can’t read it, he can’t and won’t grade it
 * Even if you aren’t currently graded on your handwriting abilities, you will be graded indirectly on your ability to write legibly
 * PRACTICE WRITING LEGIBLY
 * Reading & writing is not the same in all classes
 * If you’ve been paying attention in high school, you know that: content area textbooks (math, science, etc.) look different from each other and from novels. What does that mean? There are strategies for doing well:
 * Publishers use subtitles, highlighting, sidebar graphics for a reason
 * There are styles for writing in each content area; be aware of that
 * If there is nothing in a syllabus about writing styles and preferences, ask if the professor has any preferences or pet peeves
 * Some professors may have samples of quality student work
 * Some professors have resources in the library for their students which might also include samples of quality student work
 * If the professor includes a bibliography or mentions a particular resource (especially related journals), scholar, or author, pay attention to that writing style. That does not mimic it exactly, but pay attention to the writer's approach and consider using it as a modeling your own work for that professor.
 * If the professor uses a lot of his own material, pay attention to that writing style and format
 * Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but be careful
 * The format of the writing may be more important than the style
 * Other stuff people might not tell you
 * Professors often use and reuse and reuse their notes, regardless of the textbook
 * If a professor adopts a new textbook, it is likely she a) hasn’t read the whole thing, b) doesn’t read ahead much further than her students; and/or c) doesn’t adjust her notes for the new book
 * Professors build exams based on what they know, their own research, and their own interests as well as what they think you might need to know which may or may not be based on research and/or experience
 * A corollary is that if your professor was a practitioner in his field, see if you can find out how long ago that was
 * Another corollary is that if you know your professor publishes a lot (or any), keep up with that research. You don’t have to read every word, but be familiar with it. That research will show up in class and in exams.
 * Another corollary is that your teacher might prefer to use a test bank, especially if she gives true/false and multiple choice/guess questions. The test bank makes creating a test easier and, even better for some, even easier to grade.
 * Professors often give pop quizzes when they’re ticked off
 * Students aren’t participating which suggests students aren’t prepared or students don’t seem to be doing well
 * Professors are NOT at fault if students aren’t doing well
 * There can be ego involved
 * Most professors probably don’t care about your other classes, your work load, your personal life, how much you have to work, how much debt you’re carrying, or anything else. For most professors, the focus is on their classes, their work, their research.
 * It's probably not really this bad, but best to be prepared.