Student Survival Guide
In order to become a successful distance learner, and maintain a high degree of information absorption, I will need a series of tools to assist me. In my effort to combine these tools into an easily accessible format, I am creating this Student Survival Guide This guide will serve as a consistent tool available to me in times of crisis. By depending on this guide I will be able to repeatedly draw from skills I have learned in each block of classes throughout my educational career. In this guide I will address five major points of positive behavior that will ensure my success. These points include: conducting successful library and internet searches; upholding ...view middle of the document...
I will need to know how to navigate this site to find my information. The first thing I will need to determine is whether I am seeking a peer reviewed document; a specialized legal document; a magazine article; or a newspaper article. Once this determination is made I will need to navigate the categories available within the library system. These categories include:
Article Databases – Major
Article Databases – Specialized
Books, Dissertations, and Theses
Canadian Content
Company Directories and Financials
Country Profiles and Economic Data
Specific Periodicals
Specific Books
Subject Guides
Alphabetical Databases
Requesting a Specific Document
There are sub-categories within each of these primary categories. I also have the option of asking the librarian for assistance. The reliability of the documents I find in the college library far exceeds documents I can generally find on the internet.
Evaluating the strength and bias of a source
In evaluating the strength and bias of a source, I will need to determine the author’s connection to the information he or she is providing. If the author is connected to the information by personal experience or business association, the information he or she is sharing will most likely be biased to his point of view. This does not minimize the information. It does however determine how I will use the information presented by that author. I will also need to determine the accuracy of the information provided. My personal choice in confirming accessible information regarding any subject includes comparing five sources which provide the facts regarding that topic. I consider facts as actual once they line up on four of the five sources I have compared. I then use the most complete source for documentation purposes.
Upholding Academic Honesty
Upholding academic honesty includes many aspects of my actual work. The most important aspect to academic honesty is being responsible for work that I have completed. This means completing each assignment I have been given and never turning in work someone else has completed for me. Academic honesty also has several other ramifications including understanding what academic dishonesty means. There are three main groups to understanding this concept. These categories include:
Understanding WIU’s Academic Honesty Policy
This academic honesty policy of WIU is no tolerance. There is no room for stealing work that other people have done. WIU will flunk a student or give a non-grade on a paper that has been plagiarized, inadvertently or intentional. It is essential that each author be given the credit he is due, when utilizing his works in a paper I am completing.
Avoiding plagiarism
Good time management, a proper outline, and copious note taking will avoid this dangerous problem. In my note taking, I will need to document the title of an article or book, the date it was published, the publisher’s name, and the author’s name. I will also need to know how to...
