14 Strategies for Writing Better College Papers

14 Strategies for Writing Better College Papers Learning how to write solid college papers is literally half the battle with most majors. In this 3-minute article we’ve broken down the 14 most effective strategies involved. Breeze through each one and ingest them at your leisure. 1. Adjust Your Writing Attitude No, writing doesn’t suck, but your attitude might. College writing is actually quite fun and engaging once you get into it. Make it easy on yourself and just settle into the papers as they come. Accept them. Commit to them. 2. Get Interested Intrigued Part of adjusting your attitude is getting personally invested and interested in the subject. The more involved you are the higher the quality in most cases. Your personality will come through. The things you learn will be genuine. The paper won’t feel forced. Get it? 3. Master the Craft of Outlining Once swept away into the passion of writing (expression), it’s easy to get artsy and try to wing it. Don’t. Instead, make it a habitual practice to get an outline drawn up. Love them. Outlines are just structure to help your thoughts mold along certain parameters. Without them you can find yourself either a) mid-paper and at a dead end, or b) mid-paper and completely off the radar. 4. Get a Second Opinion Show your initial outlines and drafts to other people. If your friends and family aren’t interested, then find people who are. Or, pay someone a couple bucks. It’s worth it. A second pair of eyes can tell you things that are simply invisible to you as the writer. 5. Begin Writing Sooner rather than Later Even if the paper isn’t due for three months, be engaged and working on it from day one. However, don’t try to turn it in super early. There’s no real benefit to doing so other than saving mental space perhaps. Otherwise just take all the time you have and relax. Craft something amazing because you’ve got plenty of time. 6. Visit a Writing Center Once in a While Yeah, really! Grab your outline/draft and head over to the writing center. See what kinds of things they say. Critiques are worth their weight in proverbial gold. They’ll help you edit/polish as well as nail down your thesis. Plus, they know everything about all the small formatting details (more on this in a moment). 7. Don’t Freaking Plagiarize! It’s so tempting! Yes, you can definitely use quotes and cite small supportive paragraphs from relevant sources but there’s a limit. Now, aside from that it’s also quite tempting to try and just copy/paste someone else’s thinking†¦don’t do it. Professors these days have many tools at their disposal to find duplicate content. 8. Let Your Thesis Evolve By beginning the writing process as early as possible you give it lots of time to naturally evolve or settle on the primary thesis you’re searching for. Go with the flow, but stick to deadlines. Give your thesis room to breathe. Don’t stay so narrowed in focus/perspective that you end up with a narrow paper (something most professors are likely to dock you on). 9. Start Thinking Analyzing like a Professor Speaking of professors, look at your thesis statement, outline and drafts like a professor would. If you aren’t sure what your professor will say, then show it to them! Throughout the process try to step into their shoes and critique yourself. It helps. It’s a sobering practice. 10: Spend Serious Time on Formatting The writing center can really help here. All the many formatting details with citing courses, subtitles, adding graphs/charts, etc. can be daunting at first. Instead of wasting tons of time doing it yourself, get some help until it becomes like second nature. Little errors add up fast! 11. Be Creatively Risky In essence college really isn’t a time to strictly follow the rules and conform. Don’t be afraid to test professors and truly express yourself. Don’t be afraid to bend the rules a little as long as it doesn’t have to do with the technicalities. Like, as long as your paper is well-written, though out, formatted correctly and clear, it’s going to be hard for a professor to dock you even if you went a little left field. 12. Let Information Marinate Never underestimate the power of absorbing ideas/concepts and then letting it marinate in your mind or subconscious where ideas form. Let it sit and settle. Let the information coagulate and mold together naturally. Don’t force writing. Follow your gut instincts here. 13. Learn to Take Thorough Notes If you ditch class and skimp on notes it will translate into more hours researching. Take proper notes with your paper in mind. 14. Don’t Forget to Think Critically This is serious business and seriously lacking in America today. Be objective as possible, and then color that cold data with your subjective self. Get it? Be critical. Think critically. Deduce things critically. Okay all you aspiring and accomplished college paper writers out there, how do you do it? Share your wisdom!

A Lesson Plan for Teaching Rounding

A Lesson Plan for Teaching Rounding In this lesson plan, 3rd-grade students develop an understanding of the rules of rounding to the nearest 10. The lesson requires one 45-minute class period. The supplies include: PaperPencilNotecards The objective of this lesson is for students to understand simple situations in which to round up to the next 10 or down to the previous 10. The key vocabulary words of this lesson are:  estimate, rounding and nearest 10. Common Core Standard Met This lesson plan satisfies the following Common Core standard in the Number and Operations in Base Ten category and the Use Place Value Understanding and Properties of Operations to Perform Multi-Digit Arithmetic sub-category.   3.NBT.  Use place value understanding to round whole numbers to the nearest 10 or 100. Lesson Introduction Present this question to the class: The gum Sheila wanted to buy costs 26 cents. Should she give the cashier 20 cents or 30 cents? Have students discuss answers to this question in pairs and then as a whole class. After some discussion, introduce 22 34 19 81 to the class. Ask How difficult is this to do in your head? Give them some time and be sure to reward the kids who get the answer or who get close to the right answer. Say If we changed it to be 20 30 20 80, is that easier? Step-by-Step Procedure Introduce the lesson target to students: Today, we are introducing the rules of rounding. Define rounding for the students. Discuss why rounding and estimation are important. Later in the year, the class will go into situations that don’t follow these rules, but they are important to learn in the meantime.Draw a simple hill on the blackboard. Write the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 so that the one and 10 are at the bottom of the hill on opposite sides and the five ends up at the very top of the hill. This hill is used to illustrate the two 10s that the students are choosing between when they are rounding.Tell students that today the class will focus on two-digit numbers. They have two choices with a problem like Sheila’s. She could have given the cashier two dimes (20 cents) or three dimes (30 cents). What she is doing when she figures out the answer is called rounding- finding the closest 10 to the actual number.With a number like 29, this is easy. We can easily see that 29 is very close to 30, but with numbers like 24, 25 and 26, it gets more difficult. That’s where the mental hill comes in. Ask students to pretend that they are on a bike. If they ride it up to the 4 (as in 24)  and stop, where is the bike most likely to head? The answer is back down to where they started. So when you have a number like 24, and you are asked to round it to the nearest 10, the nearest 10 is backward, which sends you right back to 20.Continue to do the hill problems with the following numbers. Model for the first three with student input and then continue with guided practice  or have students do the last three in pairs: 12, 28, 31, 49, 86 and 73.What should we do with a number like 35? Discuss this as a class, and refer to Sheila’s problem at the beginning. The rule is that we round to the next highest 10, even though the five is exactly in the middle. Extra Work Have students do six problems like the ones in class. Offer an extension for students who are already doing well to round the following numbers to the nearest 10: 151189234185347 Evaluation At the end of the lesson, give each student a card with three rounding problems of your choice. You will want to wait and see how the students are faring with this topic before choosing the complexity of the problems you give them for this assessment. Use the answers on the cards to group the students and provide differentiated instruction during the next rounding class period.

Summary and response for Seaman,, How Bingeing Became the New College Essay - 1

Summary and response for Seaman,, How Bingeing Became the New College Sport - Essay Example The drink age has been fixed at 21 in order to avoid alcohol poisoning and accidents related to driving under alcohol influence. By keeping the drink age at 21, the government was succeeded in reducing unfavorable incidents related to underage drinking. But such restrictions resulted in the development of an unintended culture around prohibited alcoholism among the youths. For many American youths, college life is not only for learning alone, but for starting drinking also. The earlier beer culture in college campuses has given way for hard liquor now. Many universities have reported that there is no problem in lowering the drink age to 18 years. Montreals McGill University, which enrolls about 2,000 American undergraduates a year reported that many of the students when they first arrive at the college campus were exploiting their ability to drink legally. â€Å"But by midterms, when McGills demanding academic standards must be met, the vast majority has put drinking into its practi cal place among their priorities† (Seaman). In short, Seaman argues in favor of lowering the drink age to 18 in America. I agree with the arguments of Seaman. If a person is matured enough to select the administrators of a country, then he should be matured enough to control his emotions or feelings even under the influence of alcohol. Maturity cannot be limited to one aspect alone. It is a general thing. Maturity of a person can be visualized in all the aspect of his family, social and political life. It is difficult to believe that a person, who has maturity in electing a government, doesn’t have maturity in his personal or social life. It is a fact that when we restrict something to the children, they may develop more tendencies to break the restrictions. The stigma associated with underage drinking is a motivating factor for the youths to break the law.

Personal motivation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Personal motivation - Essay Example However, all humans are small parts of a large plan. Thus, one cannot assess the long term impact of momentary hardships, bottlenecks and despairs in life. Unless, in any stage of life one evaluates optimistically that these demises were to make, nourish or groom one’s potential or to determine his life objective for him. Thus, in mature age I accepted reality and despite of becoming gloomy about my shortcomings, accepted them whole-heartedly. Therefore, I received my pleasure of life by getting married to a great man and am fortunate to be the mother of three. However, my passion for higher studies never dwindled and at the age of forty and a mother to fourteen year old daughter, I decided to resume my studies as a radiologist. I want to become a role model for my children and provide them with evidence as age is not an obstacle in achieving aims, only perseverance and personal motivation in any form is required. Therefore, I plan to join The University of Texas –MD Anderson Cancer to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in radiation. God has plan for all, I found my personal motivational element in the success of others and by aiding my family members in their time of need, I found my objective of life. I believe, living for oneself is easy and not much rewarding in its true sense, the most gratifying moments are savored when one becomes a cause of others pleasure or become a source of their ease through eliminating their pains or miseries. Therefore, I feel most fortunate to be a daughter of my beloved father, wife to my loving man and a fortunate mother who can still look after family without being pessimistic or

The Republic of Plato Case Essay Example for Free

The Republic of Plato Case Essay According to Thrasymachus, justice is interest of the rulers and the superior. His view of justice considered the whole state with someone being superior. The person superior is the ruler. Being superior, he is the one that would make the law.   The rulers would make laws that would benefit them. If his servants would refuse to obey, then they would be punished and called unjust while those who would obey would be called the just. Socrates started to refute this argument by doubting the ability of the ruler to see something as beneficial to him or not. Every man makes a mistake, even rulers. In making laws, they may not be able to recognize that what they are doing can result to their harm and to the benefit of his servants. Following this argument, justice is not always for the interest of the rulers. But Thrasymachus insist that it is, and pointed out that a ruler cannot be subjected to mistakes at the times that he is called a ruler. A ruler is perfect. At the times that he makes mistakes, the title ruler is not rightfully his and will not be consider to be a ruler. The ruler, in the stick sense, would never commit a mistake of perceiving something that would injure him as something beneficial. All the laws that he will make would be for his benefit. Justice is really for the interest of the superiors (Cornford, 1945, 14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Socrates’ argument was based on the analogy that an art is the master and that the subject of the art the servants. He viewed almost everything as a form of art, a perfect art to be exact. A perfect art is an art that does not require any art, not even itself, to fix its defect and would never have a defect. Art will always be done for the interest of the subject. The performer of a particular art will always make something, which is in line with his art, to please the subject. It is never for his benefit that art is done, but for the benefit of his subjects. Socrates made this point clear by taking healing by physicians as an art. By treating the sick, which is the subject of his art, he obtains nothing for himself. The one benefited was the sick since he will be healed. And like the art, the master would also do something that is for the benefit of his servants. Therefore, the master will always do something that is for the interest of his servants.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Socrates also added that the benefits that were acquired through ruling as not part of the art of ruling. It is a consequence of his art but not really a part of it. He states that every art has a distinct characteristic. If after performing the art, say the art of healing, he obtains something through payments, the art that he performed cannot be mistaken to be the art of paying. He may obtain something through the art of paying but still it is the art of healing that he performed. Nothing can be gained through one art only. It is also true to the art of ruling. Obtaining something that is for the interest of the ruler is not part of the art of ruling. He did not really benefit form the art of ruling but by the art of paying.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Socrates pointed out that power is not the reason that a person wants to rule, but because of the fear of punishment that awaits him upon rejecting the opportunity to rule. He claimed that there are three modes of payment that would be given to the ruler, money, honor and punishment of not ruling. For a just man, the first two modes are not of great importance but the rather the third mode. The third mode can be made clear by thinking that when an unjust man became the ruler, he would expand his power. The result would be chaos and disorder in the society. This fear of being ruled by someone that is unjust or worst that him is the reason that a just man wants to rule.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thrasymachus, aside of his claim that of justice, also said that the life of an unjust man is happier and better than the life of a just man. A just man will do something for the interest of the rulers but an unjust man for himself. A just man will always consider his ruler’s will but the unjust will just do what he please. His view of which the just and unjust man are became more specific in the sense that he classified some groups or individuals as just or unjust. The criminals, robber and swindlers were example of an unjust person and honest persons as just. The robbers, taking the properties of others, leave their victim’s life miserable. On the large scale, criminals would not only take small part of properties, but would try to take all of them. The criminals, having taken the properties of others by force, would live a better life and than the person who was left with almost nothing. The unjust will always have more than the just man.   This is the reason that he classified unjust as wise and good, and the just ignorant. This is because the just would not consider the ruler us unjust. The rulers would also take the properties of others and enslave other people and other state but never will the just consider him a criminal. He also claimed that justice is a vice while injustice a virtue. It is a vice since he believed that a person would gain nothing for being just. His view of happiness is based on the desire of the human body and is very dependent on physical wealth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the other hand, Socrates thought that the opposite is true. A just man has characteristics that are stronger, live a life that is freer and happier than the unjust. In his argument to prove this, he used the analogy of the artisan. In this analogy, he classified men to be either artisan or non-artisan. One of this two would be considered as wise or ignorant. Surely, the person that is capable of performing the art is the wise one. By looking at the characteristics of a just man and the unjust man, it would be clear who is the real wise and the real ignorant. A just man, being simple, would want to exceed the talents that the unjust man has, but never the talents of another just man while the unjust man will try to do better than the just man and to all other unjust men. The artisan will never claim that adjusting something in performing his art can make him superior to another person performing the same art but he would claim to be better than those who do not practice his art. On he contrary, the person ignorant of the art would try to be better than the actual artisan and those that are non-artisan. Because this person, who is the artisan, will try to be better than those who are non-artisan and the just person will try to exceed the ability of an unjust person, it is logical to say that the just person is the same as the artisan while the unjust is the same as the non-artisan. Being wise, which is a characteristic of an artisan, is good, and so therefore the artisan is wise and good. The just man, having the same characteristics of an artisan, is wise and good. This directly contradicts Thrasymachus’ view of a just man as someone that is ignorant (Jowett, 1946, 12).   An intriguing flaw on Socrates can be noticed. This flaw is when Socrates did not consider ambition as a driving force that could lead to the artisan to do better than his fellow artisan. It is quite excusable since both Socrates and Thrasymachus considered the artisan in a strict view. The artisan is perfect and is not capable of doing error. In this case, the artisan can no longer be better that his fellow artisan (Retrieved December 9,2007 from http://sesquipadalianmusings.blogspot.com/).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Injustice, as being agreed by Socrates and Thrasymachus, can cause hatred and disorderliness wherever it is found. But Socrates claimed that there is still a form of justice existing in a group of unjust men. There can never be a perfect injustice. In a group of unjust men, the injustice that they possess would cause each one of them to injure one another. But in doing so, they would be less capable. Having this in mind, they would work together. Since unity in a group can only be acquired through justice, justice still exists in this group of unjust men. But not only in a large group can injustice creates hatred, but also to the persons own self. The injustice existing in him would disorganize the cooperation of his body parts, and that it can cause hatred towards one’s own self. And this form of injustice existing in the person is equally fatal as the injustice present at a larger group. The strongest part of Socrates argument is when he linked the soul to the happiness of a person. Unlike Thrasymachus’ view of happiness as something brought about by physical things, Socrates view happenings as something that can be obtained through peaceful interaction between of a person to his society and to his own self, and something that can only be experienced when the soul is at its proper use and excellence. He claimed that injustice is a defect in the soul that deteriorates its excellence. Everything in the world has its own function. The function of one thing can never be done better than any other thing. The ability or characteristic that allow it to do its function is its excellence. Once its excellence has been damaged or deteriorated, it cannot perform its function. Socrates believes that the function of the soul is to command and its excellence is justice. He recognized injustice as a form of defect of the soul. Because of this defect, the soul lost its ability to command. The injustice that the soul possesses would destroy the harmony of the soul and the body. A just man will live happy and free and will be an excellent ruler while the unjust man will live ill and will be an evil ruler. He added that being happy is profitable and so the life of a just man is more profitable than the life of an unjust man. This argument of Socrates refuted Thrasymachus view that injustice is more profitable and unjust the stronger and that justice is truly the sum of all virtues (Cornford, 1945, 1). References Cornford, F. M. (1945). The Republic of Plato. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved December 9, 2007 from http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=od= 12288563#. Inkling. (October 23, 2007). Socrates vs. Thrasymachus. Retrieved December 9,2007 from http://sesquipadalianmusings.blogspot.com. Jowett,B. (1946). The Republic of Plato. Cleveland: Fine Edition Press. Retrieved December 9, 2007 from Electronic Text Center database.

The Great Ireland Potato Famine Effects Essay -- Essays Papers

The Great Ireland Potato Famine Effects The Great Ireland Potato Famine was a horrible event that had many lasting effects. Some of these effects were starvation, disease, poverty, emigration, and lost traits. These effects plagued mostly western Ireland, but had an overall effect on all of Ireland. Many of the traditional ways of economics and society changed drastically because of the famine. Many people also blamed the British for letting the famine get so bad. These effects will be discussed throughout the paper. Starvation was one of the main effects of the Great Potato Famine, which was â€Å"unlike other subsistence crises† (Crawford, 114). The Irish people were very dependant on potatoes as a source of food. â€Å"The majority of the Irish peasants did not have access to the type of land or amount of land required for wheat (grain) production, and thus the potato became the crucial staple crop† (Braa 200). When the blight struck, the Irish people lost this source of food and had nothing else to turn to. For this reason, the people starved to death. Some people were so hungry that â€Å"they ate dogs and rats, often dogs and rats that had already eaten human corpses† (Leo, 16). The Irish people had no other knowledge of farming other crops because they had become so use to growing potatoes. They also did not have the stomach to eat different foods, like seafood, which resulted in a poor nutrition that led to many more deaths not from starvation, but from diseases. Diseases played a big part in the fatalities of the Irish people. Some of these diseases were â€Å"typhus and relapsing fevers, small pox, tuberculosis, dysentery, marasmus (starvation) and other famine disorders† (Crawford 135). These diseases did not just occu... ...ttle between the Irish and the British. The Irish people were ready to get out of their slavery from the British, and were ready to start a new life. They blamed the British, so they went after them. Soon enough, the Irish would get want they have been long wanting for. Works Cited Abbot, Patrick. Ireland’s Great Famine 1845-1849. Apr. 2000. 16 Jan. 2004 . Braa, Dean M. â€Å"The Great Potato Famine and the Transformation of Irish Peasant Society.† Science & Society 61.2 (1997) : 193-215. Crawford, E. Margaret. Famine: The Irish Experience. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers LTD, 1989. Daly, Douglas C. â€Å"Famine's ghost.† Natural History 105.1 (1996) : 6 Kinealy, Christine. The Great Irish Famine. New York, NY: Palgrave, 2002. Leo, John. â€Å"Of Famine and Green Beer.† U.S. News & World Report 122.11 (1997) : 16

European History Essay

The way the eastern civilization would live is how people dream of living today. The eastern peoples put others above themselves. The way the western civilization used to live is how we live today: caring about ourselves for the most part. Even though the eastern side of living is how most people wanted to live, there are some positive characteristics of the western side that are worth incorporating. A common problem today is that we don’t think. A trait of eastern culture is the being contemplative. There are countless problems that could be avoided if thought would have gone into the situation. Life is a strategy that is filled with decisions. It is inevitable that mistakes will be made, but there will be less if you think before you act. In life there are always consequences for your actions. What most people don’t realize is that there can be positive consequences. This is something that the western civilization honored; the rewards or the positive consequences of the life they lived. Having the good things in your life isn’t as rewarding as working for the grand prize. Towards the end of your life, what will you have that reflects what you work for? In the eastern civilization, working with less is held high in standards. As the years go by, people always want more and more but is it really necessary? For example, heated seats and electronic windows are nice in our vehicles but we don’t actually need them. The eastern peoples learned to work with what they were given, even if it was less than what they wanted. Technology is taking over the world. With this new interference with human life, the beautiful art of work will soon be forgotten. There are amazing things that humans can do as long as they work for it. The western civilization figured this out and put activity high on the list of standards. Life is short and there may be things that we miss if we don’t work to see what it has in store for us. Both the eastern and western civilization contain characteristics that would benefit the human race. A mixture of the two would be a perfect way to live. Placing others higher in value than yourself is a trait that isn’t common in the world today. Even though, putting others first is something great, you need to think about yourself too. You only have one life and one chance to make it the best. Do what makes you happy and you will see that others will come with you.