Your professors will appreciate your hard work!

Around this time of year, students may begin to feel a bit of panic as they realize that final exams are rapidly approaching. Not to worry! I’ve been a college instructor for going on 16 years now and I’m going to spill the beans on how students can get better grades on their final exams. Here’s my list of insider tips on how to study and prepare for that all-important final.

Tip #1 — Think like a professor

How can you prepare for your finals? Think like your professor. What would he or she put on the final? What has been discussed and covered in depth in the course? Still not sure? Ask your professor what will be covered on the final, what kinds of questions will be asked: essay, true/false, problems, etc., and study for that type of exam.

It’s all very likely covered in your syllabus and on the web site for your course, if there is one. But it never hurts to ask. While you’re at it, ask for advice on how you can improve in areas where your performance has been weak.

Tip #2 — There are no shortcuts to success

Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts, although students still seem to look for them. One shortcut, cheating, is a tactic that I won’t ever recommend. Sooner or later you will be caught and the consequences can harm you for the rest of your life.

Claire Potter, Professor of History at The New School for Public Engagement in New York offered this advice in a December 7, 2011 post for TenuredRadical titled, “If I Had College-Age Children, I Would Give Them This Advice for the Final Weeks of School: Don’t Cheat.”

“My point is this: because cheating is evidence of rank stupidity, many people do not get away with it. In fact, many people are no better at cheating than they are at doing the work for the course. Others spend time that might have gone into conventional studying devising elaborate systems for cheating,” Potter said.

Tip #3 – Reduce your anxiety — Be honest with yourself

One reason why students don’t do well on finals is that they manage to work themselves up into a frenzy of worry and fear. Do yourself a favor and find a way to reduce your level of anxiety.

In a February 12, 2011 article for Science News, titled, “The Write Stuff for Test Anxiety: Fearful Students Score Better If They Jot Down Their Worries,” Bruce Bower described a method that might be of help to students preparing for finals. That method includes writing down your list of worries before taking the exam.

“Among test-anxious students, those who wrote about exam-related feelings scored an average of 6 percent higher on the final than those who wrote about biology topics. Expressive writers received a B+ average on the final, versus a B- for biology writers,” Bower reported.

Tip #4 — Start early

It may sound trite but the time to prepare for your final exam really begins on the first day of the semester. If you wait until a week before the exam to get serious about studying, you may be setting yourself up for failure.

In a May 16, 2006 post for CastingOutNines.com titled, “Thoughts while grading finals,” math instructor Robert Talbert expressed his thoughts as he waded through a pile of final exams.

“Final exams week is a model for how our campus should look all year long: students asking questions and coming to office hours, all the laptops checked out of the student center, people getting together to study, people talking about what’s going on in their classes [...] there’s an air of a significant undertaking being taken seriously,” Talbert mused.

Tip #5 — Take responsibility

After spending years grading final exams I can tell you that as an instructor I want my students to succeed. I don’t enjoy handing out failing grades. I don’t believe that any instructor does. But we can only assign a grade based on what the student turns in. So it’s up to each student to take responsibility for learning the material, finding out what will be required on the final and then preparing for the final to the best of their ability.

Need more ideas? The staff at Eastfield College in Dallas, Texas have come up with a list of 101 Ways to Prepare for Final Exams Now. Check it out and good luck to you on your finals!

Why cite?

A bit rusty on why you even need to list citations in your research paper? Emory University’s Emory Libraries Oxford College Library website advises students in “Citing Your Sources” that the only time you don’t need to cite a source is when “you are writing your own words, ideas, or original research. You also do not need to cite information that is considered common knowledge.” They provide the following verbatim examples of information that falls into the common knowledge category:

• Facts that are found in many sources (example: Marie Antoinette was guillotined in 1793.)
• Things that are easily observed (example: Many people talk on cell phones while driving.)
• Common sayings (example: Every man has his price.)

The site adds that research paper citations are a great way to:

1. Avoid plagiarism by properly crediting the person whose words or ideas you used as a source.
2. Make sure your professor knows which ideas presented are yours and which are not.
3. Create a more powerful argument in your paper.
4. Let your professor double check the ideas you are offering and make sure they are accurate.
5. Give people who are interested access to more information about the topic you are writing on.

Unusual citations

Not sure how to properly cite a personal interview or an oral presentation? What about citing a sculpture or a digital file, such as a MP3 or JPEG? There are rules about all of these types of sources when it comes to writing a research paper, regardless if you are writing in APA, Chicago or MLA style.

Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab offers assistance to properly cite these kinds of unusual sources. Their MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications),  MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources and Reference List: Other Non-Print Sources (for APA style) detail how to handle unique citations for research papers.

You may also be called upon to list your research paper citations using The Chicago Manual of Style. Their website details the rules for formatting bibliographic information according to their terms on the Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide page. Here you can find out about unusual citations, too, including how to credit a chapter of an edited volume originally published somewhere else, email, and text messages.

Utilizing sources other than traditional books can be a bonus for your research paper in many ways. For some topics, these unusual citations may be your best source of information and show your professors a willingness to be creative in your work and thought processes. So don’t shy away from using a different source, so long as it is valid.

The ultimate research tool

So where do you go when you need to find that essential information for your upcoming research paper? Questia, of course! Our search engine contains more than 70,000 online books and more than 6 million quality, citable journal, newspaper and magazine articles. Questia can even help by creating and formatting your research paper citations for you. Simply highlight the text you want to cite and a drop down menu appears asking you if you are using MLA, APA or Chicago style. Should you need any help, Questia also offers experienced, on-staff librarians who are available to answer your questions. Now get going. Questia can help, but it can’t type that paper for you!

• Plan ahead – Procrastination may be your middle name, but don’t wait until a week (or day, yikes) before the final to begin your preparation! It may seem like common sense, but planning ahead is vital when it comes to saving you time and stress as well as retaining information. When you cram, you tend to immediately forget all that information that had cost a lot of money to obtain.

• Organize yourself – “Study Tips for Finals Week” suggests reviewing the reading and coursework that you completed during the semester and organize notes and prior assignments by topic. Rewrite sloppy notes; make flash cards or chapter summaries to find all the information you need easily.

• Ask for help – Whether you’re confused on a particular topic or just need someone to bounce ideas off of, create a study group or contact your TA to have a sit down session to review your notes. Remember to plan ahead and contact them in advance instead of the day before the final, especially since there tends to be a last minute rush and professor and TA office hours may be booked solid.

• Stay healthy - Sleep, eat properly and workout as you’re preparing! Don’t let the vending machine tempt you. Studies have shown that Omega-3 fatty acids boost energy and improve memory. Fish, walnuts, flaxseeds, beans and olive oil are the best brain foods.

• Give yourself a break – Though you may feel productive, staring at your textbooks for 13 hours straight can do more harm than good. The article, “5 Tips and Tricks to Make Your Finals Week a Success,” suggests that every couple hours you give yourself a break to do something other than studying. Watch a half hour of TV, take a nap or blow off some steam outside.

• Set multiple alarms – Have you ever had that nightmare that you missed your final? So that you don’t live that nightmare, set a few alarms to ensure that you won’t only wake up in time, but that you’ll arrive early enough to get a seat and settle in before the test begins.

• Don’t rush through the test – The faster you try to rush through the material, the more likely you are to make simple mistakes and lose valuable points. Take your time to thoroughly read and understand the question before rushing to an answer.

• Don’t stress once it’s over – Sometimes, you’ll leave a final feeling happy and triumphant. Other times, the impending doom of a poor grade is hard to shake. No matter how you’re feeling afterwards, it’s important to relax and let go without dwelling. If you didn’t feel as prepared as you were hoping to, learn from your experience and change your approach the next time around!

For all your last-minute research, sign up for a Questia free trial to get you through your final assignments.

1. Assess your workload: Start off on the right foot by taking a step back to see where you stand among your big heap of assignments. An article by Michael Sandler called “Surviving semester’s end: Expert advice for avoiding panic at the end of the semester” suggests that you put all exam dates and deadlines for papers and assignments in an excel table. If you have other responsibilities such as extracurricular activities or a job, make sure they’re on your radar, too. Excel tables help you to easily glance at what’s due and when.
2. Ration your time: According to the article “Beat the clock: Learning to manage your time,” you should budget three hours of outside class work for every hour you spend in class, as a general rule. Along with reading, reviewing and doing homework, factor in extra time for major projects or papers, while giving your hardest classes top priority.
3. Resist distractions: Health Psychologist Lynn Rossy suggests in “Ten tips to reduce end-of-semester stress,” to check email at limited times during the day and avoid other unnecessary distractions like Facebook and phones. If you can’t resist the temptations, disconnect your computer from the Internet and put your phone away in another room.
4. Organize your work space: A typical college dorm room or apartment probably looks as disheveled as your hair from all the hair pulling during finals! An article called “Testing Times to Come; as Coast Students Prepare for End-of-Year Exams, Experts Offer Some Handy Study Tips” by Hannah Busch shares tips for time-management and staying focused, including the importance of an organized study area. “Where you study has a huge impact on how you study. Having a tidy desk means you’ll spend more time studying and less time looking for things. The area should be well-lit and quiet.” If this sounds like an impossible feat for your personal desk, high-tail it to the library!
5. Stay healthy: Training your brain is like training for sports. Author Michael Sandler suggests that you take time to eat, sleep and exercise to maintain a healthy body and mind. Stay well-hydrated and snack on foods high in protein to keep you alert. Break out the shake weight if you must and exercise at least 20 minutes a day, three days a week to improve mental stamina and focus.
6. Go easy on the caffeine: Caffeine is fine in moderation, but you can recharge your mind in other ways too. Psychologist Lynn Rossy offers helpful alternatives to downing energy drinks and pulling all-nighters. “Use stretching, walking, running or other exercise as a way of re-invigorating the body and mind. Stay away from sugary snacks that give you a quick high and then have you running on empty for the next few hours.” With too much caffeine in your system, you might end up staying awake all night beyond the time needed to study and won’t get enough rest to actually take the final the next morning.
7. Remember what you learn: Eliminate the bad habit of cramming as much information into your head as possible then purging it after finals. A lot of time and money has been put into your education, so you should take the value along with you well after finals. In the article “Get the Most Out of Your Course,” Tara Kuther, Ph.D., recommends holding on to that course material. “A crucial course may become part of your basic skill set and something you refer back to often in your career. Other courses are useful in preparing for graduate admissions exams such as the Graduate Record Exam or licensure exams.” As finals week comes to a close, and all your exams and projects are finally handed in, don’t just throw away your papers and bolt for the door. Make sure you collect all your final papers and exams from your professors even if you turned them in on the last day. You never know when you’ll need to draw on them in the future.

Keep these tips in mind as you approach finals week and you’ll have a great jump start on wrapping up a successful semester. You’ve made it this far, you can go the distance! The education you’re striving toward is a life-long investment. Be sure to get the very most it by preparing, staying healthy and retaining the information you worked so hard to digest.

Share with us in comments below: What are your tips and tricks for surviving finals week?

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Persevere

As this is your final research paper of the semester and likely your final grade, it’s important not to give up on it until you’re truly proud of your work. Finals week is generally the most strenuous time in your college career, and the weeks leading up to it may have you stressed out already.

Now that you’ve completed all your research, it’s time to make sure all your logic and writing is as it should be. An article by Kathy Livingston called Guide to Writing a Basic Essay suggests it may be time to rearrange some things if you’re not confident with the flow of your paper. “Look at your paragraphs. Which one is the strongest? You might want to start with the strongest paragraph, end with the second strongest, and put the weakest in the middle. Whatever order you decide on, be sure it makes sense. If your paper is describing a process, you will probably need to stick to the order in which the steps must be completed.” Keep writing and backing up your claims until you’ve removed all doubt from your argument.

Proofread

An article called Panic Paper explains that it is best to do your proofreading after a good night of rest. “Go to sleep! When you wake up in the morning, proofread your work. You will be refreshed and better able to spot typos and awkward transitions.” If it is possible for your turn-in schedule, don’t do all your final editing at the end of a long night of writing and researching. Give your poor eyes a break until morning. You’ll be far less likely to let those small errors slip by you.

Livingston goes on to give example of some finishing touches you should consider after you finish writing your research paper this semester. She suggests asking yourself the following questions as you’re deciding whether or not your paper is polished enough to hand in:

• Does it make logical sense?
• Have you run a spell checker or a grammar checker? These aids cannot catch every error, but they might catch errors that you have missed.
• Do the sentences flow smoothly from one another?

If you come up with the answer “no” for any of these, consider revising slightly. Make sure your sentences and paragraphs make sense in the order they are presented in your research paper. If they don’t, insert additional content or transition words so your reader is not confused by your thought process along the way. Author of A Rose for Emily, M. Thomas Inge, suggests that students “provide a lead-in for all quotations. Failure to do so results in a serious breakdown in coherence. The lead-in should at least name the person who is being quoted. The ideal lead-in, however, is one that not only names the person but indicates the pertinence of the quotation.”

As you’re reading over your research paper, you’ll want to look out for common spelling errors. As Kathy Livingston mentioned, spell checking tools don’t always work because they often can’t tell when you’ve simply used the wrong form of a word such as “their” vs. “they’re.” Here is a helpful list called The Most Common Spelling Errors in College with words that students tend to struggle with.

Peer-Review

Sometimes after you’ve spent so many pain-staking hours adding your own finishing touches to your research papers, you may lose perspective on it. Getting a friend or classmate to peer-review your paper may be just what you need to feel confident about turning it in to your professor. Not only can they check for errors or misspellings, but they can also give you feed back on the overall thesis of your research paper.

In a helpful book called Procrastination: Why You Do It, What To Do About It, authors Jane B. Burka and Lenora M. Yuen say, “If you feel unsure of yourself, of the validity of your own ideas, or even of creating ideas of your own, then you may feel that you can’t act without looking to other people for help–not simply in terms of feedback or brainstorming, but help that will provide a viewpoint or a structure that you can adopt as your own.”

Burka and Yuen go on to explain that “Many college students […] devote weeks to gathering research for a term paper, but never actually write it because they have to sort through so many contradictory opinions to offer a perspective of their own.” Simply gaining the overall approval from a peer can greatly reduce the anxiety that may accompany an important project.

Remember to keep trying until you’re completely happy with your final research paper. Even though you may be frustrated with your paper by now or exhausted from the last weeks of school, you’ll regret it on turn-in day if you didn’t try your hardest. Get this final project done right with these research paper hints so you can enjoy your holiday!

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