Starting Smart

The course description can give you a guide to the main topics, concepts, and questions the course will explore. The key terms and questions in the class’s course description can direct you in readings and other coursework and prepare you for discussions.

Tips

• Before starting your reading, re-read the course description and write down terms or questions that might be related to the reading’s title.
• As you read, highlight and note any passages that seem related.
• Review your notes before lecture or class discussion. Write questions about the material and identify passages you might want to talk about.

Related Resources

• Attend Academic Strategies workshops: Reading Analytically, Managing a Heavy Reading Load, Succeeding in Seminars, and Succeeding in Lectures for more advice. 
• Meet 1-1 with an Academic Strategies Peer Mentor for individualized strategies.

The syllabus will outline a list of the main readings for the course. Skimming these texts can give you a sense of the key topics of discussion and give purpose to your reading.

Tips

• Check Orbis, Borrow Direct, Amazon and other online sources to find books for free or at a lower cost.
• Google the texts and read the abstracts and the author bios to  understand the content and perspectives they are written from.
• Consider how the books complement or differ from each other to understand the ideas at stake.

Reviewing the major assignments and due dates can help you plan out your work for the course. Assignment titles tell you what type of work you will be doing. Many faculty may give you more detailed prompts closer to the due date.

Tips

• Record all of the due dates in the class.
• Plan to set aside additional time to work on the assignment in the weeks leading up to the due date
• Make an appointment with your faculty member or TF during office hours to discuss the assignment 1-2 weeks before it is due.

The grading section lets you know how much each assignment is worth in the final grade. The percentages indicate how much work is expected for each assignment. Some faculty may include a rubric which is a description of the quality of work that earns different letter grades. Students can use rubrics to help understand the faculty’s expectations and how to work towards meeting those expectations.

Tips

• Use the percentages of the assignment to plan the amount of time you spend on a given assignment. Set aside more time for bigger assignments.
• Don’t discount the impact of “smaller” assignments as they can quickly add up to a significant part of your overall grade.

The class schedule provides a weekly guide to the readings as well as the topics and/or themes of a given week. You may also find optional readings and a reminder for any assignments due in a given week. In STEM courses, these sections will usually let you know what topics you will need to comprehend by the end of the week.

Tips

• Read the topics before beginning the week’s reading. These general topics will help you determine what is most important to focus on and what to center class discussion and reading responses on.
• When you have all your syllabi, use these sections to compare workloads between weeks. It is common for you to have multiple deadlines in the same week, especially during midterms and the last week of classes.

These are weekly times that faculty members set aside for individual meetings with students. Office hours can be used for asking questions about readings, discussing ideas for assignments, or asking for broader advice about the major, research opportunities, and career possibilities.

Tips

• Try to attend office hours for each of your classes early in the semester. 
  • Don’t be intimidated: most faculty enjoy office hours because it gives them opportunities to interact with students. 
• Make the most out of your office hours! You can attend seeking:
  • Clarification on confusing parts of the readings, on class expectations, or on comments received on past assignments
  • Advice on how to succeed in their course; you can ask questions about how to approach readings, papers, problem sets, and exams
  • Ideas for a future paper or research project
  • Insight on field as a possible major and abroad, research, and internship opportunities for students in the major

Reading responses are typically used to elicit your commentary and questions about the reading. While your emotional reaction to a text can inform and be acknowledged in an informal reading response, discuss why the argument produced that response. The goal of a reading response is to critically engage with a writer’s argument, logic, and evidence.  

There are two types of reading responses assigned: informal and formal. Both have unique expectations; if it’s not clear from the assignment whether the response is formal or informal, you should consult with your faculty member or teaching fellow.

Discussion questions serve the purpose of shaping a dialogue based off the readings. They will help you, your professor, and your classmates come up with points of discussion for class that will break down the main arguments of the readings.

To prepare for writing discussion questions as you are reading, mark points in the text that seem interesting or that seem to be in tension with other ideas or approaches in the field. These are usually points where the author is making a claim and can help you form discussion questions. Try thinking of what it is the author is challenging and why they would want to do that. Ask yourself:

• Is their new claim altering the basis of their current field? 

• Is it suggesting a new methodology? 

• Is it criticizing a common practice and why? 

If there is ever a point that confuses you in a text, make note of it. Chances are that other people are also confused about the same thing you are.

Many math and science courses assign weekly problem sets. Keep in mind, this is different than ‘homework.’ In high school, most math and science homework was assigned and completed on a daily basis. College problem sets, however, are much more complicated and cannot simply be finished the night before the problem set is due. College-level problem sets:

• Develop your conceptual understanding of the problem. 
• Require logic and thinking as you work toward the solution.
• Synthesize multiple concepts or procedures in a single problem.
• Apply what you’ve learned in class to new problems.
• Reinforce and extend knowledge learned in lecture.

Tips

• Spread your work over the week. 
  • Early in the week, try the problems yourself. 
  • At mid-week, work with peers in a study group or in TF/faculty office hours. 
  • At the end of the week, work again with peers or a tutor to help address your remaining questions. 

Resources:

• Attend the Tackling Problem Sets workshops for physics, math, or economics.

While many high school writing assignments focused on writing to show understanding about a text, writing in college is focused on engaging in the conversation in the field about a topic and offering your own ideas and research to further that conversation. College essays frequently require:

• Acknowledging and understanding how the  framing of the conversation
• Identifying a question generated by the interplay of differing perspectives or a gap in our current knowledge
• Developing an argument that responds to that question
• Supporting that argument with evidence

To write a complex and original essay, you need to spend a considerable amount of time reading, thinking, researching, and writing about the issue to develop your own argument. Find time to develop your paper in small chunks over many days rather than trying to write it all at once. Plan out a timeline that includes all the stages of the writing process.

It’s important to read your assignment prompts closely to identify the kinds of arguments you’re being asked to make. Do you need to close read a source? Provide context? Synthesize arguments from multiple readings? Do research? Keep in mind, faculty are interested in learning how you are thinking.

Resources:

• See the Writing Center’s handout on the writing process and other helpful writing guides. 
• Go to office hours at least a week before the paper is due to discuss your ideas for your essay.
• Show drafts to Residential College Writing Tutors and Drop-In Writing Partners. 
• Attend a Time Management workshop. 

At the college level, midterms and final exams don’t just test what you have learned, but also ask you to use what you have learned to address new questions and problems. The best way to prepare for exams is to do the work of the class. If you keep up with your coursework, studying for exams becomes about reviewing concepts and methods. In the weeks before an exam, spend time reviewing what you have learned in the course and talking about it with peers during review sessions.

Resources:

• Attend an Exam Study Strategies workshop