Survival Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Using Axia’s Educational Resources

Upholding Academic Honesty

Setting and Achieving Goals

Managing Time Wisely

Fostering Reading Comprehension and Retention

Applying Personality and Learning Styles

Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

This survival guide is designed to help you achieve success while attending Axia College. This guide covers six areas: Using Axia’s Educational Resources, Upholding Academic Honesty, Setting and Achieving Goals, Managing Time Wisely, Fostering Reading Comprehension and Retention, and Applying personality and Learning Styles.

• USING AXIA’S EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

Axia College provides the technological tools to keep up with the continuous advancements in distance learning. Remember to keep an open mind that you can download files to your Ipod so that you can do assignments on the go. This can also give you a head start on planning the assignment.

When researching make sure to checkout the University library, it has all the resources you need to complete an assignment. If you ever get lost use the tutorial, it is a great way to refresh your memory on how to use it.

The best way to find key information is to start by reading all of the titles and subheadings. Then continue by skimming the sections for key words or phrases that you find to be relevant to the information you are looking for.

• UPHOLDING ACADEMIC HONESTY

An important part of succeeding is by understanding the Academic Honesty Policy. There are three major portions in the academic honesty policy that need to be understood: (1) No student is allowed to plagiarize; (2) No one else should be completing a student's work; (3) No student is allowed to take credit for someone else's work. In simple terms that means that no form of cheating is allowed. There are many reasons that drive a student to violate the policy. I believe the most common are, (1) The student did not understand the assignment, (2) The student lacks confidence in their abilities, and (3) They are not motivated to complete their assignments. I'm sure there are other reasons that motivate students to cheat just remember that cheating is unacceptable behavior, and will not be tolerated! Understanding plagiarism and the consequences is the first step for avoiding it. Plagiarism is stealing someone else’s ideas or words and trying to pass them off as your own, without giving credit to the source.

Plagiarism is too easy to avoid at Axia, I plan to refer to the Axia College Writing Style Handbook if there is ever any question about writing or creating citations for sources. Axia also provides a plagiarism checker located at the Center for Writing Excellence, just upload your paper here and the plagiarism checker runs a check for similar documents. Consequences for plagiarism are severe and can lead to expulsion from Axia, so just don’t do it.

• SETTING AND ACHIEVING GOALS

In order to set a goal you first need to understand your priorities. Whether your goal is educational or career based, what is important is that the goal is important to you. Long term goals are goals that take awhile to accomplish. This may include anything from graduating, to obtaining the career you want, or buying a home. Short term goals are stepping stones for achieving your long term goals. Always break down your long term goals so that you can track your progress.

To reach your goals despite obstacles that may arise you have to stay focused and determined. Always write your goals down. It also helps to have some one around who supports you, encourages you to keep going, and even reminds you of your goal. Also, keep in mind the reason you set those goals in the first place. Whatever the reason, you should always keep it in mind and use it as a motivator.

An Axia degree is directly related to setting and achieving goals because it is a goal I set. I wanted to better educate myself but never found the time for going to school. A degree at Axia would make me more educated in life. My long term educational goal is go get my associates of criminal justice; I broke this goal down into several short term goals or classes. Then when I take my classes and they are already broken down into easy to follow weeks.

• MANAGING TIME WISELY

It's very important to learn the skill of time management so that there can be a good balance between school, work, and personal life. A schedule and a list