Survival Guide Let’s Get Started On the first day of classes with Axia College, it is important to login and download the course materials and syllabus. I have found that by making folders under My Documents labeled first with the course name, and then inside have folders labeled each week 1-9 where I save the relevant materials for the weeks work. After downloading the files to the appropriate files, it is best to break up the syllabus. I like to copy and paste each week of the syllabus to a word document filed again under the corresponding week. This makes it easy to access what is needed for the week. It is also important to download the course calendar to keep a closer watch on when assignments are due. By looking at the course calendar at the beginning of each week you will be able to manage your assignments accordingly. After reading through the course syllabus and downloading course materials the next step is to check the main forum. The main forum is where your instructor posts information about what changes may be made for the week and also posts the weekly discussion questions for you to answer. In the main forum only the instructor will post topics. This is the area in which we as students post replies to the teacher and also our classmates. These posts are the only ones that apply to your weekly participation grade. It is very important to follow the discussion through the week and post two replies a day four out of seven days. This will be your participation grade. The chat forum is where you can talk to other students and post check in messages that will go toward your academic participation. There is also an individual forum. This also holds your assignments. You can also write to your instructor here. Your instructor will post your grades from the previous week in your individual forum also. This will give you feedback so that you know how you are doing and what you may need to work on. It is important to follow all timelines as given by the syllabus and course calendar. Along with being organized there are a few other areas important to success in Axia College. Using Axia College’s Educational Resources Axia has many educational resources available to students during their educational career. Some of these resources are: * University Library – The Library provides a large amount of reliable academic content and services to help in research. The Library is made up of many databases that help in gaining information for research projects. The Ask a Librarian link also offers guidance and recommendations to assist you in your research. * Center for Writing Excellence - There are many useful tools available to students in the Center for Writing Excellence. * Grammar and Writing Guides: Writing & Style - Along with Sample papers there is a Grammar Glossary that helps you understand the many aspects to correct grammar. There are tips to writing better papers and even sample papers to give you a good idea of the layouts expected from our instructors. * WritePoint – WritePoint is a program that reviews your submitted work for grammar and other possible errors. Although this does not catch every error, it is a good starting point. It is always best to proofread your work multiple times before submitting to your instructor. * Plagiarism Checker – By submitting your papers to the Plagiarism Checker you help ensure the originality of your work. When a paper is submitted, it checks and identifies material written by another author. This enable the student to correct a properly cite information contained in the paper. When a student turns in work that is not their own there are many consequences to not citing the work properly. It is a grave offense to knowingly take credit for the work of another author. Another tool available in this section is the tutorials and guides. The tutorials and guides are designed to help students improve their grammar and writing skills by providing them with information on grammar principles, learning the writing process and formatting academic essays. While at Axia I will use the many tools available to me to write the best papers possible. In order to do this I will use the University Library to research topics for papers, and if I am having trouble I will use the Ask a Librarian link. When unsure about word usage or certain grammar rules I will use the tools available in Grammar and Writing Guides: Writing & Style. The glossary available to me there has been more than helpful already. I also feel that one of the most important tools I will use is the WritePoint and Plagiarism checker; this not only helps find grammar errors but ensures that the paper is original. I believe that with all of these wonderful tools I will be more than capable of writing academic papers.

Upholding Academic Honesty As discussed previously Plagiarism is a very serious offense. Plagiarism is defined as the process of copying another person's idea or written work and claiming it as original. It is important to avoid plagiarism at all cost. By doing being organized and making time to do your research you should be able to avoid plagiarism. It is also helpful to submit all papers to the Plagiarism Checker in the University Library. Make sure to include references and citations for everything written by someone else that you use in your paper. The consequences of not citing your paper correctly or using someone else’s work as your own is as mild as failing a paper or major as failing an entire class and being sent to administration for review. It is good to print out work that you want to use along with the web addresses so that you have a reference to follow when you need to do you citations. You may even want to save the site straight to your documents file on your computer. Just remember how you would feel if someone stole your ideas! Setting and Achieving Goals Making a list of goals you want to achieve is most important. By writing long term goals by breaking them into smaller short-term goals you can follow how well you are achieving your goals. This also helps you track where you stand on meeting your final goal. Make sure to make realistic goals. Leave yourself room for changing the end goal. Life throws so many curves you cannot say today where you will end up even tomorrow. Make sure to check in on your goal list often and make adjustments where needed. During my time at Axia college my goal is to graduate with an A average. In order to achieve this I will set Sunday’s aside for getting my school work organized. I will make a schedule at the beginning of the week to follow for assignments. The day before the assignments are due I will submit them to WritePoint and the Plagiarism checker. By submitting the papers the day before they are due, I will be able to make corrections before turning them in. I believe that reading and rereading any paper before turning it in is most important. By reading over my paper many times I will be able to find grammar errors. It is very important to me to get the most out of my education. In graduating with an A average I will have learned everything possible during my time here. Managing Time Wisely Attendance is most important. As in a traditional learning environment, you are expected to attend in order to learn. If you are not present, you will not be able to learn everything necessary to earn your degree and may be released from the program. Make a weekly schedule to follow for when to check-in to school. It will also be helpful to put when assignments are due and check off where you stand on participation for the week. This will help you keep track of where you stand and what is needed from you for the week. Fostering Reading Comprehension and Retention There are many ways to comprehend and retain information read for class work. I think that it is best to see what works best for you. In my case printing material and highlighting only areas that have importance works best. The other way that I learn is by using the audio files supplied by instructors. It seems to stick with me longer when I read the material while listening. Applying Personality and learning Styles Personality and learning styles are important to understand in order to get ahead in your coursework. In taking the assessment I learned that I learn best in a group setting and like to help teach others. I think that when I teach someone else it helps the information click in my brain. I like to learn from what others post as well as post messages that I believe will help them understand the topic of discussion. Wow it is hard to believe that I made it though my first nine weeks of college courses. I have to say I never thought I would see myself reach the goals that I have had for myself but I am proud to say that as of today I am in my 9th week of college with an A average. The guide above is my guide to continue on the path that I have started. There are many processes that need to be followed in order to make it though well educated. I hope to follow the survival guide and meet each and every goal I have set for the future.