Success at University: What They Haven T Told You

This book is applicable to all university students. While some students will assume they have already developed the requisite skills to succeed at university, these students may be in for a surprise.Some students might read all the chapters in sequence, to help refine their performance, satisfaction, well-being and skills. Others might like to read only a subset of chapters, e.g. the chapters on how to improve motivation or mood.The recommendations in the two parts of the book are based on the latest scientific discoveries-from every psychology and scientific report that related to success at university-published since the year 2000. This research identified 1,500 discoveries, many of which diverged from the common practices and assumptions of students and employees. A subset of these discoveries is included in this book. The third part of this book focuses on writing style-perhaps the most important, and most underestimated, skill at university-and demonstrates how students can write more persuasively, professionally, concisely, precisely and fluentlyIt also summarizes the most important and common errors, and presents some simple techniques that can be applied to circumvent them, including: -phrases that are used frequently but unnecessarily extend word length-errors in grammar or deficits in structure, and-ambiguous phrases that can be misconstrued by examiners.

Moss and Fleming (psychology, Monash U., Australia) draw from psychology research on learning, concentration, memory, innovation, effort, engagement, social skills, mood, decision making, leadership, and influence to describe the skills students need to succeed at college. They make suggestions for understanding material, motivation, making decisions, being creative, relationships, mental health, taking exams, resumes and interviews, and writing style, with writing guidelines drawn from an analysis of about 5,000 assignments, theses, and job applications. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

While some students will assume they have already developed the requisite skills to succeed at university, they may be in for a surprise.