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Can I receive study assistance?
It is easy to want to do a tertiary course. Studying regularly in order to pass the course is often not so easy. Sometimes the end road seems so far away as to have no relevance to studying for an hour today. Don't despair if you sometimes feel uninspired or find it hard to apply yourself to the everyday routine of study.
Taking a course externally is not necessarily more difficult than taking a course on campus - but it is different. You will not experience the day-to-day contact with lecturers or fellow students, nor are you required to attend lectures at set times. In fact you will have a great deal of freedom to study at your own pace (within reason!). This in turn may require a great deal of self-discipline and certainly places more responsibility on you.
It is hoped that the suggestions on the following pages will assist you, even if you are an experienced student, to be an efficient learner and to use your time effectively. In providing these suggestions it is recognised that different people learn different things in different ways and that some suggestions may be impossible for you to implement or may not suit your particular circumstances or personality. However they have proved helpful for many students and we hope that you will find them helpful too.
Some hints and ideas for study
Getting organised
Studying externally is probably one of the many roles you will be juggling. It is important that you are able to keep a balance between different parts of your life. Study planning can help here. Try to have an overall planner for the whole semester so that you know what assessment is due each week. Then allocate tasks that you will need to complete each week prior to the assessment due date.
For example, in Week 1 analyse the question and brainstorm; Week 2 go to a library; and in Week 3 read selected articles, etc. It could help to put other major commitments on your planner so that you can identify times when your load is greatest. See the sample Semester Plan provided to help you organise your semester load.
On a weekly basis you may want to allocate specific amounts of time to your uni work. Remember that a 12-credit point unit requires about 12 hours of work per week. This amount of time includes reading, completing small tasks in your Study Guide and writing your assignments.
You may like to allocate specific periods of each day to different subjects or you may prefer to just be prepared to 'budget' a certain amount of time per week per unit. This can give you more flexibility about when you do the work.
Include in your weekly plan time to do other things that are important such as exercise and hobbies, time with family and friends. You don't want to burn out from overwork! See the weekly sample Time Budget to help you to plan your time weekly.
Keep your motivation up by working for short blocks (30 minutes to an hour) and then having a short break. Always write down exactly what you are going to do each time you sit down to study, e.g. read 20 pages of this text.
Reading
Think and question before you read e.g:
- What do you need to know?
- What do you want to find out?
- What interests you about this topic?
Think and question while you read e.g:
- What does this mean?
- How could I use this idea in practice?
- Have I ever heard of this before?
- Is this similar to anything else I know about?
Underline and highlight as you read, but never do this until you have at least read the whole sentence. Try to choose one or two key words that really sum up what the sentence is about.
Focus on opening and closing sentences: the main ideas are often here in a paragraph (keep this in mind when you write as well).
When you have read a paragraph try to jot a word or two of your own in the margin which reflects your understanding of what that paragraph is about.
When you have finished reading, try to write a summary of your own without relying heavily on the original. This will help you to think about the information and make sense of it yourself, rather than copying chunks of the author's text.?
Revision
Try to make some kind of summary of your own work in each unit each week. Look at these notes each week, just quickly, to familiarise yourself with the words and major concepts. This will help you to retain the knowledge.
The more frequently you are exposed to the knowledge, the better your chances of remembering it and being able to draw on it when you need to in your professional life.
Assignment writing
Allow time to work on your assignments over the whole semester. Read the Unit Information booklet or Study Guide, focusing on the objectives and assessment criteria.
This helps you to understand what the course is aiming to teach you and what you have to do to gain good results.
Reflect and monitor
Ask yourself from time to time:
- How am I going?
- What am I doing well?
- Where am I having difficulty?
- What do I need to do differently?
Referencing
The Written Assignment provides a useful guide to the various referencing systems used at QUT. Check which referencing system your school or faculty uses before starting an assignment.
When you use an idea from somebody else, always put the author and date of publication of the book or article in your text. You must do this whether you summarise the idea, paraphrase the idea (i.e. use very similar words to the author's words) or directly quote it (i.e. reproduce the author's words, word for word).
When you directly quote and paraphrase, you must also include the number of the page on which you found the idea.
Most assignments require a reference list at the end. The reference list contains full details of the books, articles and sources of information that you have actually referred to in your writing. You need to acknowledge the author by name (surname and date only) in your writing. The sources that you include in your reference list must be written in alphabetical order, starting with the authors´ surnames.
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