Top 10 Tips for Academic Success at University
1. Ask Questions
The art of being in the academic world is to ask questions and take nothing for granted. Being curious leads us to greater understanding and encourages others to question what they know in response. So ask questions of professors and teaching assistants – when you don’t understand their expectations, when you don’t follow their logic, and when you disagree with them (not always easy but be brave).
2. Go to Class and Participate
Regular attendance at lectures, labs, seminars and online components makes it easier for you to stay engaged with the course and understand how it works together as a coherent whole. Sharing ideas in seminars, tutorials and labs is part of the dynamic process of university learning. Attending and participating just plain make you look good.
3. Read the Syllabus and all Assignments Carefully
The syllabus is your contract with the instructor and all the information you need to know is presented here. Professors expect you to read and follow the guidelines in the syllabus and often won’t tell you to do so, so put your course outlines in a safe place and refer to them often.
4. Be Flexible and Open to Changing Your Work Habits
What worked for you in high school or college may not at university. So regularly ask yourself if your approach is working for you. Are you managing your time effectively? Are you reading efficiently and getting the reading done each week? If you think you need to change the way you are doing certain things but don’t know how exactly, talk to upper-year students, professors, or come to the Academic Skills Centre for suggestions.
5. Buy and Hang Up a Big Four Month Wall-Planner
Put assignment due dates, test/exam days, and seminar presentation dates on the calendar in colour and notice the ebb and flow of your term. Note the very busy periods so you can plan for them.
6. Learn and Practise the Skill of Summarizing
Summarizing well means you have learned something thoroughly enough to present it clearly yourself. To summarize, read and listen carefully, thinking as you take notes in point form. Then, on your own, write about what you have learned using only the point-form notes to help you. Check your version by comparing it to the original.
7. Plan all Writing Assignments in an Outline
There are different kinds of outlines – some emphasize the linear progression of ideas, others are more pictorial representations of ideas, still others are a combination. All types ensure you have thought through a logical structure for your paper, making the actual writing of the paper much easier and the end product much better.
8. Don’t Become Dependent on the Computer’s Writing Tools (spell and grammar checkers) Computer writing tools are not always correct, since spell-check cannot distinguish among homophones (to, two, too) and can’t discern correctly spelled but wrongly used words. Grammar- checkers are often downright wrong. Use the tools but also edit and proofread all your work yourself on a hard copy.
9. Read Instructors’ Comments
Don’t look on the comments and corrections on your work as complaints about what you’ve done wrong but as learning opportunities. The more comments you have, the more seriously the instructor is taking both you as a writer and student, and his/her job, by providing useful response on content, structure, and style as well as ideas and suggestions about how to think about the topic in the future.
10. Become familiar with Trent’s Support Services
Trent has many helpful support departments to help with academic and other issues, both big and small. Before you get caught up in the year, find out what help is available and don’t be shy about seeking it out when you need it. They exist to help you.
Top 10 tips in a nutshell: Be engaged.
Meet with an Academic Skills Instructor to discuss more strategies for your academic success.
The Academic Skills Centre, TrentUniversity
705-748-1720