FIRST YEAR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

FIRST YEAR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

SEPTEMBER 13, 2005

Study Skills Tip of the Week: Reading for Class

As you read for class:

Read to find the argument. Identify the author's question. What is he or she explaining or arguing in the assigned passage? What evidence does the author use to answer the question?
Look for breaks in the reading such as paragraph, section, or chapter breaks. 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.
If you have difficulty identifying the author's question or seeing the main point of a section, ask one or two of your classmates. Do they see the question or main idea? 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 helped them identify the main questions and themes.
Toss out your highlighter. Instead, write down the ideas that you would highlight using your own words. While writing down the ideas might take longer, the process of writing and putting ideas into your own words helps you learn the ideas and concepts.
When you come to a word you do not understand, look it up in a dictionary. If you don't understand a major word in the reading, you may miss the whole point.

For more reading strategies, check out the following websites:

The Healthy Lives Tip of the Week: What Every Truman Student Needs to Know About Alcohol

Making an informed decision about drinking is your personal responsibility. No one can make this decision for you. The choices you make about alcohol use could be among the most important decisions you make in college and throughout your life. The Kirksville Police, the Department of Public Safety, and Truman State University take alcohol offenses very seriously. You need to know the laws and University rules if you choose to drink. You are responsible and will have to live with the consequences of your decisions.

While some students may choose to party and not be responsible with alcohol, most Truman students are successful because they know how to use alcohol responsibly. Being responsible with alcohol means:

Knowing Missouri's laws about alcohol. The legal drinking age in Missouri is 21.
Respecting the University's policies about alcohol.
Not drinking to get wasted or smashed.
Watching how much your friends have had to drink. Help a friend if he or she appears to be in trouble.
Knowing how much you are drinking and how alcohol affects your body. For men, limit yourself to one drink per hour and for women, limit yourself to one drink per hour-and-a-half. (One drink is 12 oz. of beer, 4-5 oz. of wine, or 1 oz. of 100-proof liquor)
Using a designated driver who is sober. (Hint: A person who has had no alcohol to drink.)
Always watch your drink, never leave your drink unattended, and never accept drinks from strangers.

To learn more, consult the following:

Truman Student Conduct Code http://conduct.truman.edu/alcohol_information.htm
Department of Public Safety http://police.truman.edu/universitypolice/alcohol_rules_and_laws.htm
University Counseling Services http://ucs.truman.edu/
Student Alcohol Use at Truman http://mostdogs.truman.edu/
The Kirksville Police Department http://www.kirksvillecity.com/Police/alcoholregs.html

To assess your own drinking behaviors and your use alcohol, you can use e-chug at http://saffairs.truman.edu/e-chug.htm

Resource of the Week

Did you know that you can use TruView to keep track of your personal appointments and your to-do list? You can easily enter one-time and recurring events into your personal calendar. You can also use the task manager to keep track of your to-do list. You can use the reminder feature to receive email reminders of your tasks minutes, hours, or days in advance. Hence, if you enter all of your fall assignments for class as tasks, you can have TruView remind you of upcoming due dates. It can help keep you organized. If a student organization or club keeps a club calendar in TruView, moreover, you can subscribe to the calendar and see all of the club's activities in your personal calendar without having to enter the events.

To access the personal calendar and the task manager in TruView, click on the link in the My Calendar Box in the upper lefthand corner of the TruView screen. Once you click on the link, you'll get a new window with your calendar. To enter a new appointment or event, click on the event button. To enter a new task, click on the task button. You enter reminders using the task window. You can easily see your calendar by day, week, or month. Click on the options tab in the calendar window to see more calendar display options.

Quote of the Week

"A university is committed to free inquiry. Faculty and students are encouraged to pursue truth in an atmosphere of openness and freedom. The liberal arts seek to 'liberate' us from such things as ignorance, provincialism, and limited perspectives. Liberation from these elements requires that we be allowed to follow truth wherever it may lead us. Education dispels ignorance, which breeds fear and mistrust. We fear what we don't understand, and great evils and injustices can occur when people act out of ignorance and fear. Knowledge brings the power to effect change."

"Free and open inquiry is a cornerstone of the educational process and makes possible the flourishing of the liberal arts. The respect for freedom of the conscience, a principal supported by both democracy and religion, is fundamental. A liberal education should help us value free inquiry and a respect for the individual's right to make his or her own decisions."

--Wilburn T. Stancil from "The Goals of a Liberal Education," an essay appearing in A Student's Guide to the Liberal Arts

The First Year Weekly Newsletter is sent to all new students every Tuesday. It provides information, tips, and strategies to help you be successful at Truman. If you do not want to receive the newsletter, see the directions below on how to remove your name from the mailing list.