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Table of Contents

Part I Foundations

1. Thriving in College and Life

STUDENT PROFILE

The Value of a College Education

The Value of Your College Success Course

The Value of Your College Success Textbook

The College Experience

Why College is Important for You

Getting the Most Out of College: High-Impact Practices

Traditional Students: Making the Transition

Challenges and Opportunities for Nontraditional Students

Techtip: E-mail with Style

Communicating with Your Instructors

Exploring Purpose and Setting

Getting Started with Goal Setting

Setting SMART Goals

Academic Planning

Choosing a Major

Working with an Academic Advisor

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

2. Cultivating Motivation, Resilience, and Emotional Intelligence

STUDENT PROFILE

The Importance of Motivation, Attitude, and Mindsets

Motivation

Attitude

Mindsets

Resilience

Understanding Emotional Intelligence

Perceiving and Managing Emotions

The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Everyday Life

Improving Emotional Intelligence

Identifying Your EI Skills and Competencies

How Emotions Influence Success and Well-Being

Tech Tip: Building a Digital Persona

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

3. Time Management

STUDENT PROFILE

Managing Your Time

Taking Control of Your Time

Your Memory Cannot Be Your Only Planning Tool

Using Time-Management Tools

Procrastination

Techtip: Get Digitally Organized

Overcoming Procrastination

Dealing with Distractions

Setting Priorities

Find a Balance

Don’t Overextend Yourself

Stay Focused

Appreciating the Value of Time

Creating a Workable Class Schedule

Scheduling Your Classes in Blocks

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

4. How You Learn

STUDENT PROFILE

Learning Styles and the Tools for Measuring Them

The VARK Learning Styles Inventory

Use VARK Results to Study More Effectively

The Kolb Inventory of Learning Styles

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Multiple Intelligences

When Learning Styles and Teaching Styles Conflict

TECH TIP: Correlate Online Learning with Your Learning Style

Learning with a Learning Disability

Attention Disorders

Cognitive Learning Disabilities

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

Part II Preparing to Learn

5. Thinking in College

STUDENT PROFILE

College-Level Thinking: Higher and Deeper

Problem Solving in and out of Class

Making a Choice Between Slow and Fast Thinking

Collaboration

Creativity

Becoming a Critical Thinker

Asking Questions

Considering Multiple Points of View and Drawing

Conclusions

Making Arguments

Challenging Assumptions and Beliefs

Examining Evidence

Recognizing and Avoiding Faulty Reasoning

Applying Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Six Levels of Learning

Bloom’s Taxonomy and the First Year of College

TECH TIP: Use Your Critical Thinking Skills in

Conducting Research

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

6. Reading to Learn

STUDENT PROFILE

A Plan for Active Reading

Previewing

Mapping

Outlining or Listing

Creating Flash Cards

Strategies for Marking Your Textbook

Reading with Concentration

Reviewing

Strategies for Reading Textbooks

All Textbooks Are Not Created Equal

Math Texts

Science Texts

Social Science and Humanities

TECH TIP: Embrace the E-Book

Supplementary Material

Improving Your Reading

Monitoring Your Reading

Developing Your Vocabulary

What to Do When You Fall Behind on Your Reading

If English Is Not Your First Language

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

7. Getting the Most From Class

STUDENT PROFILE

Become Engaged in Learning

Prepare for Class

Participate in Class

Listen Critically and with an Open Mind

Speak Up

Take Effective Notes

Note-Taking Formats

Cornell Format

Outline Format

Note-Taking Techniques

Taking Notes in Nonlecture Courses

Taking Notes in Mathematics and Science Courses

TECH TIP: Take Better Notes in Better Ways

Review Your Notes

Compare Notes

Class Notes and Homework

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

8. Studying

STUDENT PROFILE

Studying in College: Making Choices and Concentrating

How Memory Works

Connecting Memory to Deep Learning

Myths about Memory

TECH TIP: Using the Cloud

Improving Your Memory

Review Sheets

Mind Maps

Flash Cards

Summaries

Mnemonics

Studying to Understand and Remember

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

9. Test-taking

STUDENT PROFILE

Getting Ready…

Prepare for Test Taking

Prepare for Math and Science Exams

Prepare Physically

Prepare Emotionally

Tips for Test Taking

Types of Tests

Problem-Solving Tests

Machine-Scored Tests

Computerized Tests

Laboratory Tests

Open-Book and Open-Notes Tests

TECH TIP: Conquer Online Tests

Take-Home Tests

Types of Questions

Essay Questions

Multiple-Choice Questions

Fill-in-the-Blank Questions

True/False Questions

Matching Questions

Overcoming Test Anxiety

Symptoms of Test Anxiety

Types of Test Anxiety

Test Anxiety Quiz

Strategies for Dealing with Test Anxiety

Getting the Test Back

Cheating

What Is Cheating?

Why Students Cheat and the Consequences of Cheating

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

10. Information Literacy and Communication

STUDENT PROFILE

Information Literacy

Learning to Be Information Literate

What’s Research—and What’s Not?

Choosing, Narrowing, and Researching a Topic

Using the Library

The 20-Minute Rule

Scholarly Articles and Journals

TECH TIP: Effective Searching

Periodicals

Books

Evaluating Sources

Relevance

Authority

Bias

Using Your Research in Writing

The Writing Process

Steps to Good Writing

Know Your Audience

The Importance of Time in the Writing Process

Citing Your Sources

About Plagiarism

Using Your Research in Presentations

Guidelines for Successful Speaking

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

Part III Preparing for Life

11. Majors and Careers

STUDENT PROFILE

Careers and the New Economy

Characteristics of Today’s Economy

Building a Professional Mindset for Life after College

Working with an Academic Adviser

Know the Right Questions to Ask about Your Major

Learn How to Select Your Classes

Explore Course Options and Pay Attention to Your Grades

Finding Career Resources on Your Campus

Getting to Know Yourself

Assess Your Career Competencies

Clarify Your Personal and Workplace Values

Understand Your Skills, Aptitudes, Personality, and Interests

Using the Holland Model

Gaining Professional Experience

Internships and Other Professional Work Experiences

Part-Time Work in College

TECH TIP: Join the Professional Community

Marketing Yourself and Putting it All Together

Branding "You, Inc."

Building a Résumé

Writing a Cover Letter

Putting It All Together

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

USE YOUR RESOURCES

12. Relationships

STUDENT PROFILE

Building Relationships with College Instructors

What Your Instructors Expect from You

What You Can Expect from Your Instructors

What You Can Expect from Your Peer Leader

Make the Most of the Learning Relationship

Understanding Academic Freedom

Handling a Conflict between You and an Instructor

Personal Relationships

Roommates

Romantic Relationships

Family Connections

Marriage and Parenting during College

Relationships with Your Parents

Communicating in a Digital Age

Get Involved

To Greek or Not to Greek?

Working

Tech Tip: Build a Digital Persona

Community Service

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

13. Diversity

STUDENT PROFILE

Exploring Diversity

Ethnicity, Culture, Race, and Religion

Other Differences You Will Encounter in College

Stereotyping and Microaggressions

Overcoming Discrimination, Prejudice, and Insensitivity on College Campuses

Raising Awareness

What You Can Do to Fight Hate on Campus

Seeking Diversity

Seeking Diversity in College

Seeking Diversity in the Workplace

Seeking Diversity in Life

TECH TIP: Go Beyond the Filter

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

14. Wellness

STUDENT PROFILE

Understanding Wellness

Managing Stress to Maintain Wellness

The Importance of Good Nutrition

Exercising to Maintain Wellness

Getting Enough Sleep to Maintain Wellness

Emotional Health

Maintaining Sexual Health

Communicating about Safe Sex

Avoiding Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)

Using Birth Control

Protecting Yourself and Others against Sexual Assault and Violence

Alcohol and Other Substances

The Use and Abuse of Alcohol

Tobacco and Marijuana

TECH TIP: Surf for Health

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

15. Money

STUDENT PROFILE

Living on a Budget

Creating a Budget

Cutting Costs

Understanding Financial Aid

Types of Aid

Navigating Financial Aid

Qualifying for Aid

How to Keep Your Funding

Achieving a Balance between Working and Borrowing

Advantages and Disadvantages of Working

Student Loans

Managing Credit Wisely

Understanding Credit

TECH TIP: Master Budgeting, Version 2.0

Debit Cards

Frequently Asked Questions about Credit Cards and Identity Theft

Planning for the Future

BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE

Authors

John N. Gardner

John N. Gardner brings unparalleled experience to students as an author. The recipient of his institution's highest award for teaching excellence, John has over forty years of experience directing and teaching in the most widely emulated first-year seminar in the country, the University 101 course at the University of South Carolina (USC), Columbia. John is universally recognized as one of the country's leading educators for his role in initiating and orchestrating an international reform movement to improve the beginning college experience, a concept he coined as "the first-year experience." He is the founding executive director of the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at USC, as well as the Policy Center on the First Year of College and the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education (www.jngi.org), both based in Brevard, N.C.

Betsy O. Barefoot

Betsy O. Barefoot is a writer, researcher, and teacher whose special area of scholarship is the first-year seminar. During her tenure at USC from 1988 to 1999, she served as co-director for research and publications at the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. She also taught University 101 and graduate courses on the first-year experience and the principles of college teaching. She conducts first-year seminar faculty training workshops around the world and is frequently called on to evaluate first-year seminar outcomes. Betsy is co-director and senior scholar in the Policy Center on the First Year of College and Vice President of the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education both in Brevard, N.C. In her Policy Center role she led a major national research project to identify institutions of excellence in the first college year. She currently works with both two- and four-year campuses in evaluating all components of the first year.

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