Study Tips

When I write an essay or longer work and do the research I always find interest of funny things and I think, “Man, I wish I had said that!” Usually it’s a quotation that is funny or smart and I want people to think I’m that clever. But taking credit for someone else’s words is neither funny nor smart so I always make sure to include a reference. A reference is an indication of where the quotation, statistic, fact or idea came from when it’s presented in your work. As you pursue your college degree, its import you know how to write a reference.

There are three types of references: Footnote, where the material is assigned a number by page which corresponds to an entry at the bottom of the page that tells the source, author, page number or URL. Endnote, where the material is assigned a number by chapter and the source information is compiled in a list on the back. Parenthetical, where the source author and page number is listed in parenthesis right after the source but the author is listed on the bibliography in the back. When you are earning your college degree these are the three major types you will use.

When doing your research make sure to scan the index or publishing copywriter information to make sure you have all that down, and be sure to write the page number of the source or exact title of the website page so it’s available when doing the writing. A good reference is one where the reader could find the exact quotation or idea but using your reference as a map. If they can’t come up with the source of your quotation, then the writing is not the appropriate level for a college degree.

Plagiarism is a serious academic crime and to be avoided at all costs. Even if you wish they were your words, make sure that the reader can tell if they’re not.

Like most people, I have opinions and I like to share them. Its not that I think I’m smarter or better than anyone else, but I like people to hear my point of view. I like it even better when they share it. For that reason, one of the best skills I learned in college was how to go about writing a persuasive essay. Essays are a huge part of getting a college degree. Some colleges make you write an essay just to get in to the school. Talk about the need to be persuasive! Almost every college starts you out with Freshman English where you learn the finer points of persuasive essay writing. It’s not just a degree requirement, it’s a life requirement.

The first step in writing a persuasive essay is to know what you are trying to get people to think or do. You are going to make a change in their thinking in some way. That’s a good thing because going to college is all about changing the way you think. Once you know what change you are trying to make, come up with a list of reasons why your idea is better or reasonable. I like to find reasons that aren’t just important to me, but are helpful to anyone. For example, if I want to write a persuasive essay on recycling, I don’t just talk about how I think it’s important. One of the first things I learned in college was that no one cares what I think is important. They care about what they think is important. Instead I would write about why it’s important to them not to waste the planet’s resources. Persuasion is always focused on the person you want to persuade.

The next step is to have support or back-up material for your view. Getting a college degree means you are working with high level thinking skills. It’s not enough to say, “Because I think so”. So do some research and find evidence, data, statistics or an expert to show your idea is valid and meaningful. You don’t have to be a specialist, but it’s good to have one on your side.

Finally, write your persuasive essay clearly and directly. State your position, give the reasons and back-up evidence you researched, and end with a conclusion that helps people wrap up the thought in a clear way. Remember, you start persuading the minute you get ready to go to college for a degree. You’ll still be persuading when you graduate.

Talent is a real thing, and there are many talented people around. I discovered while getting my degree in college that it’s easy to fall into the myth of talent. The myth is that some people are born with it and some people who aren’t. Somehow I got the idea talented writers came out of the womb with pens in their hands and words in their heads. They never had to struggle with grammar or awkward sentences and writing flowed out of them as effortlessly as their breath. I could not have been more wrong. Writing isn’t about some magical ability dropped on just a few lucky souls. Good writing is about researching, re-organizing, and re-writing. I learned that when I had to study the skill of academic report writing.

Writing of the academic nature involves creating an organized pathway of information that gives the reader knowledge through a series of arguments and proofs. An academic report is to a college degree what the meat is to a sandwich. The ability to take information, research facts and opinions about it, and write it in an organized fashion with an introduction, research, discussion and conclusion is the ability which shows the value of your college education to the world. Every job requires some kind of reporting, and every boss is looking for people who write factual information clearly.

An important element of academic report writing other than the organization flow of thought is re-writing. Proofread your report carefully and make sure it is free of grammar and spelling errors. Check the statistics and facts to be sure you didn’t transpose numbers or leave out a source citation. Put your report on a shelf overnight and read it the next day. Does it say what you meant for it to say? Factual writing has a collegiate standard to live up to and meeting that standard isn’t about some illusive magical talent. It’s about careful attention to detail, organization and the discipline to do the work.

Anyone getting a college degree will come across a professor or two that will change their life. I certainly had a few and one of them that I remember most was a Speech and English teacher pulling out her hair trying to get a bunch of students to learn how to write an academic report. One day, when all of her other sayings and hints had seemed to fail and the reports were still unfocused piles of words poured out on pages she said the following memorable analogy. “In writing, organization is like your underwear. No one wants to see it, but everyone wants to know you have some on.” Finally we got the point. We needed a definable organized pattern to follow.

Writing an academic report for a college degree is the essence of organized thought. Once you have a topic and researched it taking notes and creating a bibliography, an outline will help you lay out a pattern for the report. An academic report should have a title page, small introductory section that contains your thesis statement or the main point of your report, a section for background and information, and a section for discussing the thesis, and a conclusion that clearly reiterates what point is contained in the paper. Finally, endnotes (if applicable) and a bibliography are placed at the end of the report.

Academic reports are considered technical writing, not creative writing. The purpose is to impart information in a cogent and clear manner. You are getting a college degree, not writing the novel of the ages. Language should reflect the vocabulary of the topic of the report and concise sentences are a must. All thoughts should focus on be centered on the main thesis and reflect a general knowledge and direction for the ideas to flow. The conclusion should replay the information in one two sentences designed for closure and understanding.

Academic reports that you write while getting your college education are truly a time for your logical thinking to shine. Follow the model of organization and not only will your degree will progress smoothly, but people will always think you are wearing underwear.

It’s always the little things that get you. After waking up late I ran to school in the rain, raced up the stairs past friends and professors and dived in the classroom landing my wet-haired, panting self in my chair right as the bell rang for class to start. I thought I made the save of the day by not being late, until I realized my homework was still nice and dry, sitting on my desk at home. Little things. They can drive you crazy, but they matter. Even though the essays you write while earning your college degree may not seem like big works of literature, doing them correctly will make all the difference when the time comes to receive your grade. That’s why it’s so important to learn how to reference an essay.

Essays, though small, require the same amount of care and detail as a thesis or larger work. Your college professor will let you know whether your essay should be written in MLA (Modern Language Association), the way for humanities or APA (American Psychological Association), the method for sciences or by “Chicago Style” from the Chicago Manual of Style used mostly for larger scientific documents like books or dissertations. You will probably use all three styles while getting your college degree.

In MLA the books and resources you use will be listed on a back page called the “works cited” page. In your text you will list in parenthesis the author’s last name and the page number of the quote or material you used to support your documentation. In APA you may use footnotes or endnotes. You can also use a References page at the end where you list all the sources you cited in-text in alphabetical order by author. The standard for APA is usually footnotes unless the references are many. Chicago Style uses endnotes or parenthetical notation to show its sources.

It’s easy to think a little essay doesn’t require a lot of detail. But make sure you know how to reference an essay properly. Trust me; it’s the little things that always get you.

When I write an essay or paper, I want the professor to know exactly how much work I put into it. I don’t want them to think I sat down after a long night of watching TV, typed out the first thing that came to my head and finished twenty minutes before class, even if the paper is still warm from the printer when I hand it in. One way to show how much research you did on your paper, as well as provide authority to your statements and facts is to be sure to have a good bibliography attached to it. This reflects highly on your ability to sustain the kind of writing and research needed for a college degree. It’s important to know how to write a bibliography.

A bibliography is a list of all the resources you used in researching and preparing for your paper. When you are looking up facts and researching ideas for your paper, make sure the first thing you do is write down or copy the book, journal, or webpage URL that you used. Even if you don’t end up using a quotation from that source in your final draft of the paper, it was used in the creation of your work and that’s the purpose of the bibliography. In most college degree classes a bibliography will be expected as a part of your writing and research efforts.

The information to put in your bibliography includes the name of the book or resource, the author of the article, the date the book or resource was published and the publisher of the information. For websites, the full URL should be entered along with any author name and website publishing data available on the site. The bibliography is usually alphabetized by the author’s last name. This list goes a long way to add weight and respectability to the work you have completed and shows your professor you are writing at the level of someone worthy of a college degree. Make sure you and the authors, who made your paper possible, get all the credit they deserve.

I spend my entire freshman year in college getting over phobia.  It wasn’t fear of spiders, or fear of high places or even fear that I would never get a date in time for homecoming. It was a fear much deeper than those things. It was the fear of a blank page. Every time I would look at a syllabus and see to the words, “Write an essay about…” I would break out in a sweat. Another essay! Another blank page staring at me; daring me to start something.  Finally, with time and practice, I learned the formula to writing a degree essay. 

The most common college essay is the 5 paragraph essay. Look into the topic you were assigned and develop one main point you wish to make with 3 facets of thought to go with it. Make the first paragraph an introduction to the topic, the next three paragraphs show the three points of thought you have for the topic (one point each paragraph) and the final paragraph a conclusion.  This logical flow enables the reader a fast overview of your thought process, gives them supporting material for your point of view, and concludes the thought for a well rounded essay. The 5 point essay will be a critical component in getting your college degree. 

For example: I am assigned to write an essay about dogs.  I decide to write about beagles and three advantages to having one. I start my essay with an overview of beagles and why they are great.  Paragraph two informs the reader that if you have beagles you will never have to worry about leftover food. Paragraph three remarks that you will never need an alarm clock because they will wake you up every morning for breakfast and a walk, and I tell them in paragraph four about how you never feel alone or unloved when a beagle is around. Finally for the conclusion I explain beagles simply make life better. It becomes a college essay with five paragraphs, but one thought. 

The blank page never wins. Eventually when you realize your college degree means more to you than the intimidation of that silly piece of paper, you’ll get your thoughts down one paragraph at a time.

I remember the first time I tried to use logical argumentation. I was six, and I had taken gum from a store without paying for it. My mom caught me, and I tried to persuade her that since we pay taxes on all our food, it more than makes up for the price of the gum. Needless to say, I got in big trouble, had to return the gum and apologize to the clerk. While that was the end of my life in crime, it was also the beginning of my journey of persuasion. By the time I got into college I was a master of argumentation and writing persuasive essays. It’s all a formula, really.

The key to writing persuasive essays in college is to know what motivates you. If you are writing to get into college, you are motivated to get your college degree. If you are trying to create a change of policy on campus, you might be motivated by a sense of justice or fairness. Whatever motivates you will be the driving force behind writing your essay. Once you have identified it, you can proceed to look up facts and reasons to help you motivate others.

Argumentation also requires good communication, which is a must for anyone seeking a college degree or needing to write persuasive essays. Whether you are filling in a test question or sending a letter to a newspaper, the ability to communicate what motivates you to others is essential. Once you know what you think, and why you think it, set those out in a logical thought process. One of the reasons to have a college degree is to show future employers you can think and write in a reasonably logical way.

Your essay will start with your premise, provide your reasoning and conclude by inviting people to think the same way as you. After you get used to that formula, writing persuasively will be one of the easiest things you do in your college degree program, and will give you results as sweet as candy.