COLLEGE PAPERBUDDY IS NOW AVAILABLE!

Woo-hoo, it's the weekend! For many of you, this weekend is extra special if it marks the beginning of winter break—or at least a long week for Thanksgiving. Therefore, since football, food, and fun are on most of our minds (especially for this writer—bring on the bubbles!), we’ve decided to scale back the academic talk in this blog entry (i.e., totally slack off!).

So, for this entry, we decided to create an informal end-of-term checklist that students can use as they wrap up their classes. The main focus of the list is centered on ways students can better prepare for subsequent terms—and even gain an advantage in future classes! This is definitely not a comprehensive list, but hopefully it will provide a good foundation for when students complete a term and prepare for a new one. Enjoy, and happy Thanksgiving!

• Class Notes: If the class relates to your major, then it would be a good idea to save class notes in a binder just in case they’re needed for a review or future study guide. It might even be helpful to go on course websites to pull any PowerPoint slides or other documents before your access to the site expires.

• Papers: It’s usually a good idea to save all class papers, because you never know if you’ll be asked to write on a similar topic again. CPB recommends creating electronic folders for each term where you can move all papers and conveniently store them. Sometimes, it’s also helpful to store the research for these papers as well.

• Textbooks: Evaluate whether or not the previous term’s books will be useful for future classes or research papers. It’s important to ask yourself, “Is the refund make it worth it to part with this book?” You can also check to see if a friend or roommate might need the book for future classes—and they might have a book that you can have.

• Class Handouts: Before throwing all of your class papers into the air a la Dazed & Confused, it would be beneficial to peruse through them first to see if any handouts or other papers might be useful resources for future classes, such as for future paper assignments.