My last week of class

I have enjoyed this class.  I have learned many ways to help me study and pass exams and also how to use my time and resources effectively.  I have also learned that I am a procrastinator who needs to remember the end goal and stay on top of things.  I appreciate all the Dr. Nichols has provided to me and the lessons that I have learned.  Wish me luck with my next series of classes.

10/20/30 Power Point Presentation

A power point presentation should be to the point and easy to understand.  If you get carried away with slides and animation your audience can get lost and not follow what you are saying.  To ensure that you have an effective presentation you should follow the 10/20/30 rule for power points.  No more than 10 slides in the presentation.  These ten slides should be as follows.
1. Problem
2. Your Solution
3. Business Model
4. Technology
5. Marketing and Sales
6. Competition
7. Team
8. Projections/Milestones
9. Status/Timeline
10. Summary and Call to Action
Next your presentation should be no more than 20 minutes long.  This give you time to get your point across while maintaining the audience attention.  Any longer than this and you may begin to loose your audience to other things.  Lastly the font on your slides should be no smaller than 30 point.  This makes any text large enough that is can easily be read by all and keeps the focus on what you are saying.

Using Keywords to do a Literature Search

Keywords for Literature Search

                By using keywords in a literature search you can narrow down the amount of articles, books, and journals that are pulled.  The use of keywords allow you to take a general topic like science and narrow it down to the study of plants.  You can look at articles that are generally associated with your topic and not in the larger topic of science.  This takes the amount of time spent on research way down.  Using a five day plan you can allow more time for putting the paper together and proof reading if you use keyword searches in your work.

Many schools have online library resources that you can search for information in.  The keyword search can help you narrow down the search results and give you many articles to choose from.  This is great if you need a large number of resources for a paper.

5-Day Study Plan

5-Day Study Plan

                The five day study plan is a plan designed to help you space your learning out over a few days so that you are not cramming at the last minute.  This five day plan gives a structure to follow so that you allow enough time for each section for review and practice.  Step one is to increase your study time.  Many students do not do well on test because they do not allow enough time to study and prepare for exams.  By breaking your study time up over five days you can allow yourself more time to study and review the material without being overwhelmed.  Next you need to space your study time.  If you know you want to study eight to ten hours for your exam, do a couple hours a day.  This helps you retain what you are reading and no get overwhelmed in the process.  Third you will need to divide the material.  Divide the material into groups to study so that you are studying similar information in your smaller one or two hour sessions.  If you have four chapters that will be covered on the exam you may break it down and study one chapter each day then do a final review on day five.  Modifying the plan is the next step.  If you have already written down some possible questions you may not need so much preparation time, prepare less and review more.  Next you will plan active study tasks.  This allows you to expand your study time to more specific tasks, like reading questions and answering them out loud.    Lastly you will use active review strategies.  Self test yourself.  Have someone read your questions to you and you answer.  Reciting the information helps you remember it when it comes time for the test.  By using these steps over a five day period you can increase your grade and retention of the information presented.

3 Preparation and Review Strategies that I love.

3 preparation and review strategies

1. Condense your text and notes.

                By reading over your text and notes again you can make a list of the information you need to review or read again.  After several weeks in a course some material should be second nature therefore you may not need to re-read it again for review.  You can simplify what you need to study based on what you have marked for further review.

2. Prepare word cards.

                If you have a large list of vocabulary words, or words you may have to define during your exam word cards are a great study tool.  By reading and reciting the information during your study time you will be able to recall it better on the day of your exam.

3. Create a study sheet.

                Study sheets are a great way to organize the important information you will need to know on exam day.  Many times professors will mention that this may be a test question, flag that information so that you can add it to  your study sheet later.  As a visual learner study sheets work great for me.

Goals

Below is an example of my personal goal.  Step one is to list my goal.  Step two is to cover any obstacles that I will be faced with.  Step three is to list all resources that I have.  Step four is revise my goal based on the obstacles and resources that I have.  Step five is to finalize my goal into a more specific and polished goal.

My Goal:

Step 1: I want to graduate with my Master's Degree in Accounting.

Step 2: Obstacles

                1. A four year old who wants to be involved with sports.

                2. A second baby on the way.

                3. Money, I do not get financial aid so my student loans are growing by the minute.

                4. Working a full time job.

Step 3: Resources

                1. My mother

                2. My husband

                3. My teachers

                4. My boss

Step 4: Revised Goal.  I will graduate with my Master's Degree in Accounting.

Step 5: Polished Goal.  I will graduate with my Master's Degree in Accounting from Shorter University by December  2014.

Seven Habits

The following are the Seven Habits to be successful.

1.  Be Proactive.   Change starts from within so one must be proactive and make changes today.  For example; I know that I tend to put things off until the last minute, this is a behavior that I need to correct to be successful.

2.  Begin with the End in Mind.  Develop a mission statement and extend that mission statement into long term goals.

3. Put First Things First.   Spend time doing what fits into your personal mission first.  Make time for each thing you need to do.  Using a calendar with your day broken down by the hour helps.

4. Think Win/Win.  Seek agreements and relationships that are beneficial to you and your goal.

5.  Seek First to Understand, Then be Understood.  First seek to understand what the other party is telling you.  Once you have understanding of what they are saying, then you can begin to have that party understand what you are conveying.

6.  Synergize.  Communicate and  find way for everyone to benefit from each others differences.  One persons weakness may be another persons strong suit.  Use each other for help and everyone will benefit.

7. Sharpen the Saw.  Take time out to build production capacity through personal renewal of  the physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual dimensions.

Cornell Note Taking System

Below are the instructions for the Cornell Note Taking System given to us by our professor.  This is a great way to outline a chapter so that you can study for a test.  I used this to outline a chapter for one of our assignments and it was so easy.  Much easier than the traditional outline format.  I recommend this to any college student.

The Cornell Note Taking System

Recall Main

------2 1/2”-------- ----------------6”--------------------

Reduce

concise jottings and

summaries as cues for

ideas and facts toRecord the lecture as fully and as

Reciting, Reviewing,

and

meaningfully as possible.Reflecting.

The format provides the perfect opportunity for following through with the 5 R's of note-taking. Here they

are:

1.

Write legibly.

2.

Summarizing clarifies meanings and relationships, reinforces continuity, and strengthens memory. Also, it

is a way of preparing for examinations gradually and well ahead of time.

3.

you recall, say over facts and ideas of the lecture as fully as you can, not mechanically, but in your own

words and with as much appreciation of the meaning as you can. Then, uncovering your notes, verify what

you have said. This procedure helps to transfer the facts and ideas of your long term memory.

4.

point for their own musings upon the subjects they are studying. Such musings aid them in making sense

out of their courses and academic experiences by finding relationships among them. Reflective students

continually label and index their experiences and ideas, put them into structures, outlines, summaries, and

frames of reference. They rearrange and file them. Best of all, they have an eye for the vital-for the

essential. Unless ideas are placed in categories, unless they are taken up from time to time for reexamination,

they will become inert and soon forgotten.

5.

most of what you have learned, and you will be able to use your knowledge currently to greater and

greater effectiveness.

©Academic Skills Center, Dartmouth College 2001Record. During the lecture, record in the main column as many meaningful facts and ideas as you can.Reduce. As soon after as possible, summarize these ideas and facts concisely in the Recall Column.Recite. Now cover the column, using only your jottings in the Recall Column as cues or "flags" to helpReflect. Reflective students distill their opinions from their notes. They make such opinions the startingReview. If you will spend 10 minutes every week or so in a quick review of these notes, you will retain

S-RUN-R

S-RUN-R is a study system that helps with your retention on the information.

S- Survery.  You will survey the entire document, chapter, etc. paying attention to the headings as well as any highlighted text or subjects.
R- Read.  Write down the heading in your notes, to help you focus your thoughts on the specfici topic then read the section for comprehension.
U- Underline.  After reading each paragraph underline or highlight the important information.
N- Notes.  Take notes on the key information in each section.  You can do this in the margin of the text or on a seperate peice of paper.
R- Review.  When you finish the entire document, chapter, etc review.  Go over the key points, answers questions at the end of the chapter, review key terms.

I enjoy this study system because you are looking at the information more than once.  I noticed that I am able to answer more of the questions at the end of the chapter without having to look back in the text.

Microsoft Word

Using Microsoft Word is a basic skill that any student needs.  Taking online tutorials or using the help function within Microsoft Word are great places to start.  Microsoft has many tools that can help you format a paper correctly, insert information, and ensure you have correct spelling and grammar within your paper.  Microsoft Word 2007 is different from Microsoft Word 2003.  2007 has updated features which allow the user to use all funcations in an easier manner.  2007 is more user freindly for students who do not have much experince with Microsoft products.  Also in 2007 you can save documents in a compatible format so that users with the older version of Microsoft Word can open your files.  If you are new to Microsoft Word I would recommend 2007 and the different online tutorials available.  It is very user freindly and a great asset for your learning.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a huge topic among college students today.  Many wonder what exactly plagiarism is and others are not sure if they are citing information correctly.  I believe that the problem with plagiarism is a lack of education in high schools regarding this.  Many students enter their first year of college unaware of what exactly plagiarism is and how they need to correct the problem until it to too late.  Many students are unaware that their actions are inappropriate until they are being disciplined for it.  I believe that plagiarism is very wrong and credit should be given to the appropriate parties; however I do also believe that students need more education on plagiarism and correct citing techniques while they are still in high school.  In the state of Georgia the no child left behind rule has gotten in the way of teaching students all they need.  The fact that teachers have to cater to the students who are falling behind more, rather than challenging the students who are getting bored is part of the problem.  The high school just does not allow room for the education students need for plagiarism and appropriate paper writing skills.