Psychology

Appendix A

Final Project Overview and Timeline

Final Project Overview
Your final project for GEN 105 is a Student Survival Guide. To complete your project, you will draw from skills and information you learned in the course. Your Student Survival Guide will be composed of personal action plans designed to achieve success in six primary areas Using Axias Educational Resources, Upholding Academic Honesty, Setting and Achieving Goals, Managing Time Wisely, Fostering Reading Comprehension and Retention, and Applying Personality and Learning Styles. Your Student Survival Guide should be a functional tool for you to use throughout your programinclude specific details to make your action plans as realistic as possible.

Topics
Using Axias Educational Resources
Downloading files for use on your machine or portable device
Navigating the University Library
Identifying key information within articles
Upholding Academic Honesty
Understanding Axias academic honesty policy
Understanding consequences of plagiarism
Avoiding plagiarism
Setting and Achieving Goals
Identifying long- and short-term educational and career goals
How to reach goals despite obstacles
How an Axia degree relates to goals
Managing Time Wisely
Balancing time between courses at Axia
Juggling school, work, and family responsibilities
Prioritizing and avoiding time-wasters
Fostering Reading Comprehension and Retention
Using reading comprehension techniques for successful reading
Using SQ3R and other study habits
Applying Personality and Learning Styles
Using your personality type for distance learning success
Developing your multiple intelligences
Relating to others who have different personality types and intelligences

Learning is a lifetime achievement, it doesnt stop the moment you get out of the classroom rather it continues all the way till the day you die. Adopting the proper mindset to learning is important to a persons career since they way you, think, act and apply what youve learned will result in where you will wind up. What is needed is a persistent will, a desire to learn and a passion for what you are learning. The most important learning experience is one wherein you are learning what you want to learn, find where your passions and accomplishing those goals. I am creating this study guide as means for myself to adapt to an academic environment and to focus my mind on what I must do in order to succeed on my academic goals .

I will start discussing my study plan off in the usage of Axias educational resources as a means of studying. First off before I start gathering any information I will make a list of everything that I need to study. After that I will arrange it with the most important subjects to be studied on top and the least important at the bottom. On each subject I will create another list with the parameters being online research, journal articles, books, magazines and newspaper articles. It will go something like this
AMERICAN HISTORY

Online research
Journal Articles
Books
Magazine
Newspaper Articles

By using this method I will be able to arrange my study materials in such a way that I can follow a step by step procedure when doing researching. Starting off with online research involving Axias resources which is more convenient, then using journal articles, followed by books which is more taxing to do studying on, then finally magazines and newspaper articles. The reason Im using online research first is due to the fact that when you start off studying it is easier to remember short snippets of information rather than large portions of text. By using online research first I will be able to easily get a general idea of what I am studying then will be able to supplement that with greater amounts of information from books, journals or magazine and newspaper articles. At least this way if I do forget the majority of what I have studied or am in a rush to study I will at least have a general idea of what I can put down on a test instead of trying to remember a large volume of text which I read yet barely understood.

Using this method I plan to use my laptop as a means of downloading information using Axias online resources then filing them under specific folders for each subject. For online articles I plan to use notepad since it is much faster and easier transferring text from and online resource to notepad than using MS Word due to the fact that if you did it through MS Word you would be copying the text format and that takes time as well. Not only that you can have several notepads open at the same time will be able to compare and contrast the information that I copy and pasted at a much easier rate than opening multiple MS Word files. Before I start the term I will look through my course list and go to the library and use the catalogue to search for books that I might need in my courses. I will list down their reference numbers and reserve or borrow if possible if not I will at least try to find out their general location within the library so that I will be able to easily locate them later.

In order to maintain academic honesty I will thoroughly peruse Axias honesty policy and make sure that my actions are in accordance with the policy in order for not be reprimanded or worse expelled for my actions. I believe that ignorance of the law doesnt exempt one from punishment due to violation of the law. I will attempt to go online and see that various ways in which plagiarism can occur. While it is true that when in an academic environment what you write, say and present is based on the works on another individual you still have to say them in your own words and to give credit where credit is due in order to avoid being called a plagiarist for citing another persons idea as your own.

Regarding setting and achieving my goals I believe that one should live in the short term yet plan in the long term. This means that I plan to focus on things that matter most and exercise ruthless prioritization in what I must do. Planning for a lesson that wont happen till next year is useless waste of time. Prioritizing lessons that are happening within the next few days, the next week or the upcoming month is what I must do in order to accomplish them while they are still fresh in my mind. If you dont learn to prioritize what you must do you might find yourself overwhelmed with so many things that you think are important but in the end didnt matter much at all. Even with obstacles in my path I plan to reach my goals by practicing tenacity, persistence and stick-to-it-ness. By practicing these habits I will be able to focus myself on my goals and not let my mind wander on what might happen if I fail, or if I will fail or what will I do if I fail rather my mind will be focused on continuing to strive to accomplish my goals even if the likelihood is hard, that I will keep on moving forward no matter what happens, and that it will be habit of mine to always stick to what Im doing like a madman until I finally accomplish it.
An Axia degree is the end goal, it will represent all that I have worked for, all the long nights of studying, avoiding social events and striving to succeed. It is the representation of my future success and will continue to represent my ability to put my mind to something and being able to accomplish that goal.

I plan to balance my time wisely by scheduling everything that I have to study in terms of priority. By prioritizing subjects that need to be studied immediately instead of studying the subjects that I am good at this will enable me to fully comprehend all the lessons that I need to learn in order for me to fully comprehend what I must do. I plan to make a list with the subjects needing the most priority at the time and those with the least priority at the bottom. I will study those subjects that have the most priority for two hours while those with the least priority for one. At least this way I will be able to fully comprehend the subjects that I need to have information on immediately while having a general idea of the subjects that I will have to study in the future.

I plan to prioritize school work over family however weekends will be sacred days for me because those will be the days wherein I will try to spend time with my family. School work is all fine and good and will help a person achieve their goals in life however if one forgets ones family then you will have lost one of the most important forms of support that you posses.

Regarding time management I plan to exercise ruthless prioritization on my academic tasks and relax and have fun on the weekends instead and will work hard during the weekdays at least this way I will be able to relax my mind. I believe that if a person doesnt prioritize time for relaxation they will burn themselves out easily and will live a very stressful and unfulfilling life. We study in order to improve ourselves not drive our bodies to an early grave.

In order for me to successfully memorize the text I need to learn I plan to break down what I have to read into small easily read text in order for my to memorize them easily, I also plan to write them down in my own words then read them again. This way if a test should come my mind will have remembered what I had done and I will be able to recall it with ease. When it comes to my study habits I plan to study for around 5 hours only a day with a half and hour break in between. This will enable me to properly rest my mind and burn it out so quickly.

Finally as for my personality type I happen to be an individual who is comfortable in learning alone or with other people, distance for me is perfectly fine since learning is still learning no matter how it is done. By studying a wide variety of topics besides those which I am currently taking up I will be able to have a plethora of information at my disposal should the time come for its use. I plan to on occasion read different kinds of journals available in the library with interesting topics to continuously expand what I know. Continuously improving ones self by studying different topics is always a good thing for with knowledge comes an understanding of the world around you.

Being able to accept people for the way they are, that each individual as their own unique way of thinking is an important factor when it comes to learning. In life you will encounter all sorts of people and it is important to realize that you cannot choose who you will interact with in your future job, rather while you are learning it is best to develop habits of tolerance and acceptance of people for who they are. I plan to develop a personal habit of trying to understand people before I judge them to enable me to get along with them and have a high likelihood of being thought of as a cooperative and friendly individual in the future.

In conclusion, though it may be a long road ahead, I am certain that if I follow this guide that I have created I will be able to successfully accomplish my degree and will be able to succeed in my chosen profession.