1/23/2015 Utica College Mail ­ Grad Connect ­ News from Utica College Megan Wilson <[email protected]> Grad Connect ­ News from Utica College 1 message Office of Graduate Studies <[email protected]> Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 4:01 PM Reply­To: [email protected] To: [email protected] January 2015 ­ Published periodically by the Office of Graduate Studies Issue 30 Making the Most of Discussion Forums Important Dates At some point in your education, whether you are Please note the upcoming in an online or on ground program, you will deadlines: probably need to participate in online discussion forums. In an online program the discussion January 28 ­ Last day to forum may replicate what you would experience add/drop an on campus 16 in a classroom. A discussion forum with an on week course ground class can act as a means to enhance discussions, make a point that you did not get to January 29 ­ Deadline to in class, or act as an informal way for the complete clinicals / fieldwork students to further connect and communicate and evaluative paperwork to with each other. Whether you are new to the academic program discussion forums or a seasoned poster, it can be difficult to know what is expected of you. February 16 ­ Last day to withdraw from a D1 course The requirements of a discussion forum will be dictated and vary depending on the instructor. Typically the requirements and expectations can be found in the syllabus. On average you can expect to write a response to the discussion prompt and reply to other students. Some instructors will require your initial post to be submitted by a certain day of the week. If not, it can help to make a goal to submit your initial post by the Office of middle of the week so others can respond to your post, and complete your replies by the end of the week. Graduate Studies Grand Canyon University states that the successful learner "engages Open House faculty and colleagues in substantive conversations, reflecting on other's The Office of Graduate perspectives while articulating their own views." When writing discussion posts try to write in a way that is thought provoking, factual, and Studies will be hosting an knowledgeable. Go beyond what the textbook or your sources say by open house in celebration of the new Spring semester. expanding on them, putting the message into your own words, reflecting on the reading, and relating it to your experiences. Rasmussen Join on Saturday, January 24 from 7am­9am for the recommends telling stories when relating to a source. They say that "people love to read stories, because it helps them feel an emotional weekend students and connection to the content". This can serve as a way to promote questions, Monday and Tuesday (January 26 and 27). We will https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=d4f9889c08&view=pt&search=inbox&th=14b1753e56834f00&siml=14b18992e21539e8 1/3 1/23/2015 Utica College Mail ­ Grad Connect ­ News from Utica College comments, and on­going discussion. Feel free to pull in content from be available during business another course when it applies. It may represent another view point or hours 8:00 am ­ 6:00 pm both add information that your classmates would not have otherwise been days. In the morning we will exposed to. The goal of a discussion forum is to get you thinking critically. provide coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and breakfast Now that you have an idea of what to put into your post, it is important to pastries. In the afternoons know how to format it. Even though a discussion forum can seem informal, we will have coffee, tea, hot it is still an academic setting. Unless your instructor states otherwise you chocolate, and cookies. Stop will want to stick to academic writing: using proper sentence structure, by before, after, or between avoiding spelling and grammar errors, left aligning your text, using black classes to meet the Graduate font, a readable but not over sized text, utilizing paragraphs, and proper Studies staff and grab a pick sentence structure. me up! No need to RSVP simply stop by when you can. In order to facilitate a discussion there needs to be responses, just as The staff in the Office of there would be if you spoke it in class. Over time try to respond to Graduate Studies looks everyone at least once. Read through your class mates' posts and identify forward to seeing you and posts that you find thought provoking or that add value to the discussion. wishes everyone a great and You can expand on a point they made, offer insight, ask follow up successful semester! questions, provide a different view point, or offer constructive criticism. With that said constructive criticism is welcome, but be careful, sometimes things put into text read differently than if it were spoken out loud. Keep an eye on the wording you use and the tone you are trying to convey so that your message comes across clear. Did you know? As with anything new it can take time to adjust to writing in an online discussion board. The more you do it, the more comfortable you will get, it The city of Utica boasts just takes practice. the fourth highest refugee population in the United For more information and tips check out: States, and in 2009 USA Today claimed that Utica, http://teaching.colostate.edu/tips/tip.cfm?tipid=128Â NY was among the top ten places with international http://www.rasmussen.edu/student­life/blogs/college­life/creating­the­ flair. A population this diverse perfect­discussion­post­for­online­classes/ provides great opportunities for things to do and places to eat. If you are planning a trip to Utica for residencies The Write Idea: or commencement, be sure to check out the City of Strengthen Your Utica webpage for a list of attractions and restaurants. Academic Writing Utica, NY has many hidden gems, so get out there, find With regards to academic writing you have them, and enjoy! For more probably been told not to use the first information about the gems person perspective, this means avoiding "I, that Utica has to offer check we, me, us, mine, ours, etc.". Did you know that the first person can out this blog post here. weaken the credibility of your argument? When you use the word "I" or other first person pronouns, it makes a paper sound like it is based on your opinion. It can be difficult not use the first person, for many of us it comes naturally because we write the way we speak. While the first person is appropriate in verbal communication, blog writing, or storytelling it is best to avoid it in academic writing. So how do you do that? If this newsletter was forwarded to you and The alternative to the first person perspective is to use the third person you would like to be perspective. The third person is commonly used in academic writing and on the regular mailing can be used when referring to an author, or a resource. Some third person pronoun include "she, he, it, they, them and their". An example of list, please click on this would be "It was discovered that it is easy to write without using the the button below: word "I", as opposed to "I discovered that it is easy to write without using "I". The first sentence sounds more definitive, where the second sentence sounds more like an opinion. While your opinion is valuable, there needs to be research and proven facts to back it up. "Academic writing is formal in tone and meant to be https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=d4f9889c08&view=pt&search=inbox&th=14b1753e56834f00&siml=14b18992e21539e8 2/3 1/23/2015 Utica College Mail ­ Grad Connect ­ News from Utica College objective, using cited sources to support an argument or position. This assumes the focus is not the author, but rather the writing". If you find yourself using the word "I", you might simply remove it and examine the remaining sentence. An example is "I am writing this to discuss how climate change is a major problem" a more appropriates way of saying this is "Climate change is a major problem which needs to be discussed". While, we had to re­arrange some of the words, by removing "I am writing", it puts the main focus on the topic of the paper and makes a stronger statement. One more way to avoid "I" is to use a piece of your research that supports your viewpoint. Instead of saying "I think that the sky is blue", you can find a resource that proves this. From there you can start with "The research", "The author", or "Insert the author's name" and continue with "states that the sky is blue because molecules in the air reflect blue light". This moves the statement from an observation to one that has been proven scientifically. No one wants to diminish the quality of their writing but sometimes they are un­aware it is happening. One way to avoid this is to eliminate the use of the first person in your writing. Try out a few of these tips and find out what works for you. For more information check out: http://blogs.ubc.ca/writingcentre/files/2013/01/Tutor­project­Avoid­First­ Person­POV.pdf http://elearning.homestead.com/first_person_writing.htm Office of Graduate Studies Utica College 124 White Hall 1600 Burrstone Road Utica, NY 13502­4892 Voice: (315) 792­3335 Fax: (315) 792­3170 [email protected] utica.edu/ogs Forward email This email was sent to [email protected] by [email protected] | Update Profile/Email Address | Rapid removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy.