Issue #19

March 4, 2009

Welcome to the nineteenth issue of the First Year Weekly Newsletter. The First Year Weekly Newsletter provides you with information, tips, and strategies to help you be successful at Cal Poly. Each Wednesday, you'll receive a copy of the newsletter. If you do not want to receive the newsletter, please send a reply to the email your received with "Please remove me from this list - along with your first initial and last name" as your reply message.

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Study Skills Tip of the Week: Reading Critically

Professors expect you to be a critical reader. Critical reading means to read to understand and to evaluate the argument. Hence, you need to read to find the argument. Start by identifying the author's question. What is she or he explaining or claiming to argue in the assigned passage? Why do they say the issue is important? What evidence does the author use to answer the question? How persuasive is the evidence? What question do you think the author answered in the passage?

To help you be a critical reader, look for breaks in the reading such as a paragraph, section, or chapter. Read until you come to a break and pause. At each break, ask yourself what was the main idea of the section you just read. In a sentence, write down the main idea of each section. After finishing the reading, look at all your sentences. What did the author really address? Which pieces of evidence do you find convincing? Which parts of the argument aren't fully developed?

If you have difficulty identifying the author's main point of a section, ask one or two of your classmates. If all of you are confused, go visit your instructor. Ask them to help you identify the main ideas and questions. Ask them to show you clues in the text that identify the main themes.

 

Healthy Living Tip of the Week: Facebook

Do you have a Facebook? Facebook is a great way to stay connected with friends, make new friends, renew old acquaintances, or 'check out' the cute resident down the hall. It's also a good way to announce an event or fundraiser. Facebook, however, really is a public website. Cal Poly faculty and staff can easily see the photographs you post or the photographs others post of you. Employers can gain access to Facebook through students or alumni and use that information to determine whether your personal life will positively reflect the professional standards of the company. Do you really want your professor or future employer to see that photo of you holding a beer?

While we can and should debate the ethics of using Facebook to learn about your personal life, remember, you can't control how others will use the information you post about yourself. Enjoy using Facebook, but always keep in mind that everything you post about yourself or others post about you is public information. Assume anyone with a connection to the Internet will have access to the information. So if you don't want the whole world to know it, don't post it.

If you still think Facebook is just a fun and completely safe activity, USA Today recently reported, "In the past few months, college, high school and even middle school students across the USA have been suspended or expelled, thrown off athletic teams, passed over for jobs and even arrested based on their online postings." For more information go to USA Today.

 

Resource of the Week: College Advising Centers

All students have a College Advising Center and faculty advisor to assist them with academic advising. Individual academic departments may have additional services available for their majors.

College Advisors may provide the following services:

• Guide students through course selections
• Help students plan a balanced and realistic schedule
• Help students understand all graduation requirements, including those for their majors and General Education
• Help students understand their student record
• Answer transfer and evaluation questions
• Assist students who want to change their majors
• Help students with course substitutions
• Help students improve their academic performance
• Discuss confidential situations

 

Quote of the Week:

Changing your thinking
can indeed change your world.
So choose the best thoughts
that you can possibly imagine.
-Ralph Marston