18 How Do I Use Academic Resources?
Miranda often called her school’s academic support center and staff her godsend or savior. Indeed, Miranda knew that she would not have been able to remain in good standing, advance, and graduate without them. Time and again, Miranda had rushed to the academic support center in a panic, completely lost in her studies, only to have the support-center staff gently guide her through the difficult topic, using reliable and proven techniques and tools. To Miranda, the support center’s staff seemed to know in advance which instructors and topics would challenge Miranda and exactly what to offer Miranda to help her successfully navigate the challenge. Miranda guessed rightly that the support center had seen a parade of students over the years, challenged in the same way by the same instructors and topics.
Resources
Schools, especially at the higher-education level but also in elementary and secondary school, tend to offer abundant academic resources. An academic resource is a service or activity outside of the classroom that the school invites students to access to aid and improve their studies. Instruction should supply much of what a student needs to succeed. You may not need to do anything more for your academic success than to attend class, pay attention, take good notes, prepare outlines, review your notes and outlines frequently and diligently, and prepare for and give your best effort on examinations, while completing any other assignments involving papers, problem sets, or labs. That’s the specific point of instruction, to help you prepare for and pass assessments proving that you’ve met the instructional goals. Yet students do not always find the instruction to be enough. Indeed, sometimes the instruction is deficient, and students must avail themselves of other academic resources to meet their learning goals. Use academic resources timely and wisely to supplement your course instruction.
Materials
Instructors may design abundant exercises, assignments, guides, outlines, and other tools and activities, beyond offering classroom lectures, presentations, demonstrations, group work, and discussions. You may, in other words, have your instructor’s assistance in accessing your instructor’s own resources outside of class to aid and improve your studies. Explore your instructor’s course materials through your school’s online learning-management system, or consult the course syllabus or ask your instructor or instructor’s teaching assistant how to locate your instructor’s resources. Generally, prefer your instructor’s own academic resources over resources that your school’s academic support center’s resources and over resources that you obtain online. Your instructor has designed those resources specifically for the course you are trying to complete. Take full advantage of your course materials as preferred study aids.
Centers
Schools, especially at the higher-education level, often have academic support centers specifically to aid struggling students. Schools generally staff those centers with personnel trained and experienced in academic support. Academic-support personnel may, in fact, be substantially more educated, trained, and skilled in learning tools, processes, and techniques than your course instructors who instead focus their expertise on the subject-matter and field. Your instructor may know the subject stone cold but be unable to help you effectively learn certain especially difficult aspects of it. Chances are good that academic-support personnel already know, from prior terms, how to help you learn what your instructor may seem incapable of teaching. Your school’s academic-support personnel have likely already helped other students learn the same topic from the same instructor, before you even approach them for help. Get your academic support center’s help with any course, topic, or instructor presenting you with special learning challenges.
Workshops
You may get effective individual help from your school’s academic-support personnel. But academic support centers also often offer workshops or seminars on learning techniques, applied to certain courses or subjects. Whether you are already struggling or not, check the offerings from your academic support center to see if they include a workshop related to a course in which you are enrolled. You may benefit from attending that workshop to learn about the offered tool or technique, even if you have no particular deficit in that area. Add as many tools and techniques to your arsenal as you can. Some of them may prove useful later, if not now. At the same time, don’t abandon study practices that you have found effective. Just because an academic support center says you should be doing something doesn’t mean that it will necessarily increase the effectiveness of your studies. You may already have a solid suite of tools and practices.
Advisors
Academic advisors can be a special resource for you, whether you are struggling with your studies or not. Academic advisors are generally not the school personnel assigned to support your studies or give you new study tools or techniques. That’s the role of your school’s academic support center and its personnel. Academic advisors instead guide you through the best curriculum choices to achieve your educational goals. Yet advisors also tend to know the challenges that certain programs, courses, and instructors can present to students of varying academic skills. If you anticipate special challenges with your studies, or if you don’t know if you are up to the challenges of the program or course you are considering, meet with your academic advisor for guidance. Your advisor may have alternative programs or courses in which you can enroll or may be able to reassure you of your likelihood of success with appropriate support.
Services
Students at all levels have available to them abundant online services offering study support and resources. Some of those services are free, while others are subscription services. Some offer notes, summaries, example papers, problem sets, worked problems, exam banks, model answers, outline banks, and similar resources. Some also offer tutorial services. While these services can provide appropriate resources and assistance, your program or instructor may discourage or outright prohibit their use. Some services have also been the source of cheating charges against students using them to draft papers and complete other assignments submitted for credit or even for unauthorized assistance on tests and exams. Don’t use an online service to substitute for your own academic work, when that work is the means by which you learn. And don’t implicate yourself in cheating charges by the misuse of an online service.
Libraries
Schools generally have libraries as an additional and traditional academic resource. Libraries obviously hold volumes of books and journals to access for studies. Your instructor and course may require that you go to the library, find specific resources, and use those resources to complete assignments. While vast quantities of published works are now available online, accessing print materials in a library can provide students with a clearer understanding of the structure and organization of text. Libraries also often offer online services with access to special databases. They may also hold special materials created or collected for specific courses or subjects that you can only find there. Librarians can also be a fount of advice and wisdom on academic materials. And libraries can have seating, carrels, and other furnishings, lighting, and solitude especially conducive to studies. Get to know your school’s library and librarians. Doing so may aid your studies in both expected and unexpected ways.
Research
Make research an integral part of your studies. Your courses and instructors may require you to complete specific research projects. To do so, you may need to access the library, consult librarians, or go online to make searches inside or outside of special databases. Various services curate and host online databases in different fields from the social sciences to the hard sciences, literature, health and medicine, technology, the arts, and other fields. Your instructor and school librarians may be able to direct you to the best databases in which to research. But make research a part of your academic practices, whether your courses and instructors require it or not. Search online or in your school’s library whenever you face an academic question, find an ambiguity, or are curious or have an interest in a topic. Independent research can increase your knowledge and skill, and improve your study habits and practices. Developing your research skills can also prepare you for further education and future careers and employment.
Groups
Some students also find study groups helpful in providing academic support. Study groups typically involve from two to five students enrolled together in a course. Study groups may meet after each class, once a week, or on another periodic schedule, to exchange notes and discuss class topics. Study groups also sometimes develop and share a common outline. They may also critique one another’s outline or other academic work and may ensure that all members are aware of available resources. Study groups can also provide a helpful measure of individual accountability and social support. Some students study more for the respect of their study group peers than for the longer-term and less-immediate rewards associated with exam scores and grades. Try a study group to measure its benefits. Even if you do not need a study group to do well with your studies, you may be a good supporter and resource for a classmate and friend. You may also learn teaching and mentoring skills by leading a study group, while gaining the respect and recognition of your peers.
Reflection
Do your instructors generally provide adequate academic resources for you to use outside of class? Or do some of your instructors provide only in-class instruction and activities, without offering resources from which you could benefit outside of class? What academic resource outside of class have you found most helpful? Have you relied on your school’s academic support center? How effective were its services and personnel? If you haven’t used your school’s academic support center, visit it to learn of its resources, or at least review online its workshops, seminars, and other offers. Do you meet periodically with your academic advisor? What questions would you have for your academic advisor today that might help guide your program, coursework, or study practices? Do you use an online tutorial service? If so, are you complying in its use with any limitations or prohibitions your school or instructor imposes? Do you regularly visit your school’s library? What library resources, services, or spaces are most useful to you? Do you regularly research subjects of interest or need? Could a librarian help you with your research needs? Are you in a study group? How is the study group helping you? How are you helping the study group?
Key Points
Academic resources outside of class can greatly aid your learning.
Use your instructor’s academic materials outside of class to best effect.
Visit your school’s academic support center for study techniques.
Academic workshops and seminars introduce you to new techniques.
Academic advisors may be able to help you navigate the curriculum.
Use online tutorial services only within program and instructor rules.
Your school library and librarians can be helpful academic resources.
Your independent research can improve your knowledge and skills.
Consider study groups to encourage your studies and team skills.