Critical Study Tips for Graduate School Students Part 1

CRITICAL STUDY TIPS FOR GRADUATE SCHOOL

Graduate school requires reading, writing, laboratory work, and other homework at a level you have never experienced before. You will need to read quickly, comprehend fully, and draw conclusions based upon your reading. You will need to take clear notes from both your reading and class lectures that will enhance your study time and help you ace graduate-level exams. The study tips in the next articles will help you develop the study skills you need for graduate school. For example, read the article about active listening to improve your listening, note-taking, and comprehension skills.

Learn general writing tips so you can prepare clear and concise papers. Develop the SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) approach to reading to help you improve your reading comprehension. Find tips on studying before an exam, doing well on an exam, and evaluating your work after an exam. In short, these articles provide comprehensive and generous tips to help you develop the study habits you need in order to do well in graduate school.

General Writing Tips

A lot of graduate school work involves writing: not just writing your thesis or dissertation but writing research papers, laboratory reports, articles, summaries, and more. Follow these tips to strengthen your writing skills:

* Make sure you know what you're saying. Don't use a big word just to sound impressive. Your goal should be to communicate clearly and concisely.

* Have someone else proofread and edit your papers for you. No matter how carefully you look over a paper, you are bound to miss something because you'll see what you meant to type, not what the paper actually says.

* Figure out who your audience is and write for that audience. Your audience will affect not only what you write, but also how you write it. Are you writing for a technical audience that will understand professional terminology and jargon, or do you need to avoid such terms (or at least...