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How I Saved $300 on Textbooks

Shawna — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:00:42 +0000

Textbook publishers are really good at one thing: making money. They frequently make minor changes in order to put out a new edition, and they love to confuse teachers, students, and bookstores alike by bundling online components, discs, workbooks, and solutions manuals with their textbooks.

Usually college bookstores work hard to lower the cost for their students, but the necessity of stocking a large quantity of the same edition of a book in decent condition and still make some profit means that they are rarely the cheapest option, even if you buy used.

Even though I love my college’s bookstore and have spent the past year working there, I haven’t bought my textbooks there since my first term as a freshman, with one exception. (There was one book I couldn’t get any cheaper and buying locally saved me shipping costs.) Instead, I’ve been buying online and routinely reducing the cost of my textbooks by 60% or more.

As an English major, I have to buy a lot of books. I needed twelve this term. It should have cost me $400-$500 (depending on used or new prices), but instead, I only paid $180. Could you use an extra $300 or so this term? Read on to find out how I did it.

Gather Information Early

If you don’t want to pay premium prices for your textbooks, you need to start looking early. As soon as you register for your classes, find out if the bookstore has information for next term’s course materials. Get the name, author, and edition, or the ISBN number for each book you need. But please note: sometimes bookstore staff cannot give you the ISBN number. No worries, however. I’ve gone without the ISBN number for six terms and I have never bought the wrong item.

No luck at the bookstore? E-mail your professors. They will usually be able to tell you what textbook is required and what is optional, and might even mention that old editions are fine. Bonus: You’ll be introducing yourself to them early and establishing yourself as a proactive student who cares about their class.

The other question you need to answer is whether or not the teacher always uses every textbook. Go to your fellow students with this one, either on campus or on a website such as RateMyProfessors.com. If you find out that a teacher consistently requires five textbooks and only uses three, you may be able to save money by waiting to purchase your books until they are needed.

Seek the Lowest Price

Once you know exactly what you need, it’s time to start searching. Your best bet for the lowest price is probably to buy online. If you prefer to deal locally, though, check the bulletin boards around school and your student e-mail to see if any students are selling for a lower price than the bookstore. It helps to know how much the books cost at your bookstore before you begin—it’s possible that you might not be able to find a lower price for a book and will save money by not having it shipped if you need to buy online.

For several terms, I did all of my comparison shopping online manually by using the shopping tab on Google and by checking Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Half.com for each book. You can certainly conduct your search this way—especially if you have a preferred store—but there are easier ways to comparison shop.

I now use BigWords.com for my comparison shopping. I can select all of my textbooks and it will search for the lowest prices across a wide range of stores. It’s a powerful searching tool with a lot of adjustable preferences. Here are some things you’ll want to consider when you’re comparing:

Condition of the book: Are you willing to use books with writing inside, frayed edges, broken spines or bent covers? As long as the pages are intact, you will get the same information out of a well used copy as you would a new copy.
Edition of the book: If the teacher said that you can use an old edition, do so. I bought an edition of the Norton Anthology of English Literature from 1996 for $1. Shipping was $3.99. It sold new for something like $80!
Shipping cost: Compare the bookstore price to your used book price + shipping. Buy multiple books from the same store to save on shipping.
Shipping speed: Ideally, you should be looking for textbooks a week or two in advance, so you should have plenty of time for them to arrive. But if you’re in a hurry, shipping may be more expensive. Look for sellers within your state or only a few states away if you don’t want to pay for next day air.
Convenience: BigWords has a feature that compares the lowest possible prices for each book to the lowest possible prices at a single store. It may be more convenient to buy from one store (and nearly as cheap). Also, if the price of the book + shipping is greater than or equal to that of the bookstore, just buy it locally.
International editions: You may encounter international editions of textbooks. Usually these have the exact same content and are a lot cheaper than the US edition, but be careful. It might not be true of your book and it’s harder to sell the book back.
Instructor editions: Sometimes you come across an instructor’s edition of a textbook. Don’t be fooled into buying one. These editions do not have the same information as the student edition. It could be a real nightmare attempting to actually learn the course material without a textbook that actually teaches.
eBooks: With the release of the iPad, these will surely become more popular. If you can find a textbook in eBook form, you might save even more.
Rentals: You can also rent textbooks for specific periods of time. You won’t be able to recoup any of your money by selling the book back and there may be other restrictions, but this might be a good option for some people.
Additional materials: Be sure to know if you need the CD, online component, etc. Check the comments about each item you look at to see if these things are included. Avoid buying the edition with the CD if you don’t need it, and be sure you get the CD if you know you do need it.
Shady sellers: If you’re buying from an individual seller on a site such as Amazon’s Marketplace, make sure they have positive feedback. Never buy from a seller with a lot of bad ratings unless you like to gamble.
Tax: Don’t forget that you may be charged sales tax depending on where you and the seller live. This is rarely a deal breaker, but it will affect your total cost, especially if you’re like me and you live in a state with sales tax but attend school in a state without.

Once you find good prices for your books, buy them. It’s true that another seller may list an item for an even lower price, but it’s just as likely (or perhaps more likely) that someone else will buy the lowest priced book before you. More importantly, you need to make sure you get all of your textbooks on time. The earlier you order, the less stressed you will be if something should go wrong with your order and cause a delay.

Other Strategies for Saving

This post has so far assumed that you want to purchase your own copy of your textbooks in the first place, but a lot of people get by without doing so. If you anticipate that you won’t be doing much reading (either because it’s unnecessary or you simply skip it), then you may want to utilize library copies when you do need the textbook. There may be other places at school where you can borrow books. Schools usually have a lot of different student support programs, some of which may lend out textbooks for free. Teachers may also have copies that they lend out to students in financial need.

If borrowing is not an option, look into sharing a textbook with a friend or a family member. The closer you are to the person and the more often you see them, the better. You need to make sure that you will have access to the book when you need it, but by sharing you can guarantee 50% savings on your textbook.

For those of you taking a course in English, History, Philosophy, or another subject where you are likely to be reading some very old books (primary sources), many of your readings may be public domain. You can find the works of Shakespeare, Plato, and many others online for free. Unless you must read the supplemental information in your textbook, or need a specific translation or abridged version of a text, never, ever, ever purchase a big expensive edition of the complete works of Shakespeare. Instead, go to Project Gutenberg.

Once the term comes to an end and book buyback rolls around, be sure to find out if you need the same book next term before selling it. Also, it may be worth it to check how much you can make by selling the book back to an online retailer and know those prices when you go to sell your book. If they only offer you $1 for a book at the buyback (this has happened, no joke!) and getting money back is important to you, sell it online instead.

And for any of those who are unsure about selling back the book they bought online, yes, you can absolutely do so. You are not returning your textbook. You are recycling it, and they are literally buying it from you. So don’t feel guilty—even if you happen to make a profit in the end!

So there is the exhaustive list of my textbook buying knowledge. Do you have any other tips for lowering the cost of your textbooks? If so, share by leaving a comment!

Photo Credit: miyagisan – licensed under Creative Commons.

If You Think Your Friend May Be An English Major

Donate Your Time (Or Money, If You Have Any)

10 Habits to Develop As An Undergraduate Student

Simple Tips for Moving (Without Losing Your Mind or Your Stuff)

Shawna — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:00:02 +0000

In just a little over a month, my husband and I will move to the big city. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I get to do almost all of the packing. Matthew is working a lot and doesn’t have much time to pack, so instead of continuing in my fruitless search for some very short term work, I now sit here wondering just how many boxes this is going to require. It’s okay, though. It could be worse, I remind myself. We could have kids and a lot more stuff.

This is only the second time I’ve had to move (not counting any moves before the age of five) and the first time I’m organizing it myself. Luckily for me, I love to organize things. I’ve been doing a lot of research and so far the process has been relatively stress free. How? Read on to find out.

Shawna’s Moving Tips

Before you do anything, you need to have a catch-all such as a binder or a notebook where you can keep every important document or piece of information. Excel spreadsheets work nicely too, but they are not portable, so you will probably want to print it out on moving day.

Once you have a place to keep all of your information, start making a rough moving timeline. How much time do you have before the big day? Months? Weeks? You might want to print out a calendar for reference. No matter how much time you have, now is a good time to research moving companies, or reserve a U-haul and start recruiting friends and family to help if you will be moving yourself.

Declutter

Before you start packing, consider how much space you have in your new place. Even if you’re moving into a larger home or apartment, this is a good time to do a little decluttering. Here is a simple rule to follow:

If you don’t absolutely love it and you don’t absolutely need it, consider getting rid of it.

Pare down your wardrobe and your DVD cabinet. Donate the old sheets that don’t match your new bedding. No, you’re never going to find the lid for that piece of Tupperware, so just get rid of it. Allow the hideous lawn gnome given to you by your overbearing relative to get “lost” in the move. These items aren’t worth the effort it takes to move them a mile away or a country away.

Pack

If at all possible, take the time to pack well. Don’t mix items from two different rooms in one box. Don’t just dump the entire junk drawer into a box and call it good. Avoid labeling every box “Bedroom Closet Junk” and “Desk Cabinet Stuff” at all costs. Develop a labeling system. Every one of my boxes has the following written on it in at least two places (the top and a side):

FRAGILE or THIS SIDE UP (if applicable—this is written on every side)
Room in which the box should be placed
Where the contents will go in the room (such as cupboard, desk, or closet)
The semi-specific contents of the box (such as Christmas ornaments, six books, or pots, frying pans, and springform pans)
The box number
A priority level such as A (open immediately), B (open within the first week), or C (open whenever)

To make labeling the boxes easier, I created printable labels in Publisher. Not only do I have to write less, but the labels are much easier to read than badly written marker on cardboard. There are several advantages to this labeling system:

You can check off box numbers as they are loaded or unloaded to ensure that nothing gets lost.
You won’t have to do as much directing on moving day because every box says exactly where it should go.
And if you have the time and patience to copy down the contents of each box into a notebook or into Excel, you can easily locate an item you need without digging through multiple boxes.

You can download a PDF file of my labels, which includes labels for kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, dining room, office, and storage, or you can download the Publisher file and edit it to suit your needs.

Graph

Another way to save some stress on moving day is to map out a floor plan ahead of time. If space is not an issue, having a general idea of where things should go is probably sufficient. But if you’re like me—moving into a small space and unsure if your stuff is going to fit or just really really ridiculously organized—you might want to take measurements and make an accurate floor plan.

First, you need to know the dimensions of each room in your home or apartment. I was given these, but you can also measure the rooms yourself. Then, measure each piece of furniture or major appliance. Write everything down.

Analog:

Get some graphing paper and decide on a scale. I used a page per room and each square was half a foot. Then draw in your walls, doors, and windows. To save yourself some trouble, draw the pieces of furniture on a separate page, cut them out and stick some double sided tape on the back. Then you can rearrange as much as you want without erasing.

Digital:

Make a new sheet in Excel and set the column width to 2 or 2.5 so that it looks like graphing paper. Use borders to create the walls, windows, and doors. I used the thickest solid border for exterior walls, the medium solid border for interior walls, the thinnest solid border for furniture and counters, the double border for doors, and the thick dashed border for windows. You can also fill in your flooring/furniture colors.

If you have enough room for all of your furniture, that’s fabulous. But if you find that you’re having difficulty cramming everything into your little apartment, you may want to eliminate the pieces that are least valuable, least sentimental, or that offer the least amount of storage space. Once your floor plan is perfect, you can label everything and make copies for everyone helping on moving day. Then you won’t have to do as much directing.

Plan

Once packing is underway and the day of the move is fast approaching, start making a checklist for the days before and moving day. If you put some thought into it and make a detailed checklist now, you won’t have as many “Oh no! I still have to do this!” moments as you’re loading up the truck. Know what you will need on moving day and keep it all in one place.

Fill a cleaning caddy and a tool caddy.
Buy new garbage cans and throw soap, paper towels, toilet paper, and garbage bags into each of them so that you can drop them off in the kitchen and bathrooms as soon as you arrive.
Pack some snacks, paper plates, napkins, and plastic cups and silverware and look up the number of a good pizza delivery service in your new neighborhood.
Consider even having groceries delivered to your new place the day after you move in to save yourself the trouble of going to the grocery store when you’re knee deep in boxes. Safeway has free shipping for your first order.

All of these are practical tips that will hopefully make the process of moving a little bit simpler, but don’t forget to do a few things for yourself in order to make yourself at home as you’re moving in. Make your bed once it’s set up. It will be one small victory even if you feel like nothing else was accomplished by the time you go pass out. Get out your lamps, curtains, real dishes, and real silverware soon after moving day. Put out a welcome mat.

Doing a few finishing touches before you’re finished will make your home feel less like a shipping warehouse in the days and weeks to come—and at least you can turn on a light when you’re digging through boxes because you realized that the one item you actually needed ended up in a box that was mislabeled.

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Mid-Year Resolutions

Shawna — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:00:18 +0000

Every year it seems that January 1st comes and goes without me even taking any notice, so I rarely make New Year’s Resolutions. It’s a shame, really, because I love to plan things and make lists. I don’t think we should let the calendar year or tradition necessarily dictate when we set goals, however. That’s why I was excited when I saw a post on SparkPeople about Mid-Year Resolutions. I feel like now is the perfect time for me to set some extra goals for myself. So here are my Mid-Year Resolutions:

Read the Bible in 90 Days: Right now close to 500 people are doing this through Mom’s Toolbox. It’s day ten, and it’s still possible to sign up, but it will take some major dedication! So far I am on track. I missed one day of reading, but I caught up again the next day. The reading is from July 5th to October 4th. I’ve already learned so much and I look forward to making it all the way through to the end.
Complete NaNoWriMo: Also known as National Novel Writing Month, this is an event that takes place every November where a bunch of crazy people try to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. This was one of the highlights of my year in 2009 because I had a fabulous support group of fellow writers. This year will be a bit different, but I know it will be just as fun. I just need to find a plot.
Earn a 3.5 for fall semester: I am now officially a student at a four year school and I’m moving in 43 days to finish my undergraduate studies. I maintained a 4.0 for the entire school year in community college, but I will be taking more credits and at a higher level in the fall, so my goal is just to continue earning an honors GPA. I have to free myself from being a perfectionist sometimes!
Achieve 5,000 fitness minutes: I have been exercising almost daily lately and I want to continue to do so. I track the amount of time I spend exercising each day on SparkPeople, and I’ve set my goal for 5,000 fitness minutes this year. That means spending a little over 90 minutes a week exercising, which is totally doable and will be great for my health.
Apply to study abroad: Phew. This is the scary one. My school has an opportunity to study abroad for five weeks in the summer at Oxford University. Studying at such a prestigious university and living in England for a while are two big dreams of mine, but the application process is competitive and it’s expensive. I’m hoping and praying I get to go. I need to work on my application toward the end of the year.
Have one date night a week: Right now, my husband and I have such crazy schedules that it seems like we’re ships passing in the night sometimes. I know that things will likely continue to be pretty crazy even after we move, so I want to dedicate one evening just to spending time with him instead of starting movies at eleven at night when we have to get up at five.
Stick to the monthly budget: We are pretty good about creating a budget, but we are often a little too flexible with it. We need to be more diligent about following our plan so that we can meet our short term and long term goals. I also need to make sure I’m updating the budget at the end of every month and consistently having budget meetings with Matthew once a month instead of just doing it myself.
Blog three times a week: I’ve let my blogging lapse lately. Sometimes I bite off a little more than I can chew, so instead of trying to blog daily, I’m going to aim for three posts a week. I think this will be much more manageable for me and I hope it will prevent a situation where I have to put too many things on the back burner for too long again.
Take Sunday off: There is a good reason God gave us a day of rest: we need it. Even though the traditional Sabbath is Saturday, it’s easier for me to take Sunday off. My husband and I learned that we get extremely burned out when we don’t have any time off. I’m going to make a commitment that I won’t be working or studying on Sundays for the rest of the year. It’s hard to uphold this commitment in the middle of midterms, but I hope I will be able to do so.
Eat fewer processed foods: I just finished reading The End of Overeating by David Kessler and I was so bothered by the amount of processing that much of our food is subjected to and the amount of preservatives and other chemicals most of us end up ingesting. I am going to try to cook more things from scratch and buy organic meats because I don’t want to be putting that kind of stuff in my body anymore.

Do you have any Mid-Year Resolutions?

Read Broadly and Write Often

Fit Exercise Into Your Day

10 Habits to Develop As An Undergraduate Student

Finals Week and Graduation

Shawna — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:23:33 +0000

There are only two more days until I graduate with my Associates degree! That, of course, means that I’m knee deep in the middle of finals week. So far so good—I’m done with two of my classes and I have three more finals to go. See you on the flip side after Thursday.

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How to Know If You’re a Music Major

Ira — Sun, 30 May 2010 14:46:50 +0000

This is a guest post by Ira from Forging Onward. You can learn more about the author at the bottom of the post, or read Shawna’s original posts that started this series: How to Tell if Your Friend is an English Major (or Spends Too Much Time Around One) and If You Think Your Friend May Be An English Major.

You Know You’re a Music Major When:

Your skin starts to pale from too many hours in the practice room.
You get excited when you hear that the orchestra will be sitting in the correct formation for a Beethoven Symphony.
You hear the “Up” soundtrack and suddenly realize that the main theme is based on a Major 13 chord.
You get depressed because you completely forgot that yesterday was Palestrina’s birthday.
The only way to get that song out of your head is to go and listen to the whole piece.
You spend more than ten hours a week on a single-credit class.
You have to transcribe your ring tone when your phone rings in class.
Your closet is full of black clothing.
You sit around comparing your conducting batons and whether or not yours has the best balance-point.
You realize that the high violins in the background of that film scene totally just made you sad.
You stand in a grocery store and suddenly exclaim: “That was a third-relation progression!” And only then do you realize that no one around you actually cares.
You make sure that your bow has enough rosin but you forgot to shampoo your hair that morning.
You have more friends with perfect pitch than friends who can understand a basketball game.
A day at the recording studio is absolute Heaven.
You can imitate the voice of any pop singer just by listening to them once.

Photo Credit: jrossol – licensed under Creative Commons.

If You Think Your Friend May Be An English Major

Speak in Public With Confidence

Shawna — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:00:09 +0000

This post is part seven of a series on the ten habits you should develop as a college student. You can find links to the rest of the habits in the introduction.

I almost passed out the first time I auditioned for a solo in high school choir. My heart began to pound the moment our teacher had announced that auditions would be held on that day, and it gradually got worse and worse as others auditioned. I focused on my breathing and tried to ignore everything that was going on around me as my mouth and throat began to feel parched. I drank half of my bottle of water, but it was still as dry as before.

Finally, it was my turn. I stood up, trembling uncontrollably. I opened my mouth and began to sing. My voice sounded good, and singing was fairly easy, but the rush of adrenaline coursing through my body was overwhelming. I finished the solo as quickly as I could and sat down. My hands continued to shake for another hour and a half.

“Man,” I said to myself. “If that’s what happens when I sing in front of the class, what’s going to happen if I get the solo?”

I don’t remember if I got that particular solo or not. For a long time, standing up in front of anyone was the most terrifying thing in the world to me. My intense stage fright has lessened quite a bit since then, but I have only accomplished that by forcing myself to face my fear.

How to Conquer Your Stage Fright

Even though we are not all destined for public service or the performing arts, we will probably have to do some public speaking at some point in our lives. If that thought makes you sick to your stomach, then you probably need to work on developing the ability to speak in public with confidence. It’s not as difficult as you may think, and it can be very rewarding.

Take a Speech Class

One of the best ways to start overcoming your fear of giving speeches is to take a speech class. My college requires every student to take Speech 111. Although many students dread the class, it seems that everyone seems to come out of it alive.

We only have one speech teacher here, and he is one of the best teachers in the school. However, at most larger schools the case may be different. Before enrolling in a speech class, go onto a website such as Rate My Professor and make sure that the teacher is a good one. If you have an awful speech teacher, you won’t have a good experience in the class—and that will only make your stage fright worse.

Join a Debate Club

We don’t have a debate club here, but I have quite a few friends who participated in debate at other schools. There are several benefits to debate clubs: First of all, you learn how to argue well, which gives you confidence. Second, you are forced to speak in public and hopefully you will start to get over your fears quickly.

If you don’t have a debate club at your school, you could start one yourself or join another club that is likely to have lively discussions.

Answer Questions in Class

One of the easiest ways to get a little “public speaking” experience without actually getting up in front of other people is simply to answer questions in class. When no one else is raising their hand and I think I might know the answer, I find my heart racing a little bit. But the more questions I answer, the more confident I feel, and I truly think that it can aid in reducing stage fright.

Remember Your Audience is Generous

Stage fright is typically an irrational kind of fear. The worst thing that could happen if you say something stupid is that the audience will laugh, and usually the people in the audience are pretty generous.

I typically find myself empathizing with someone who is blundering through their speech, not despising them. If you’re standing in front of your speech class, they know exactly how you feel.

Practice

They key thing about overcoming a fear of public speaking is, of course, simple practice. The more you practice, the easier it will get. My heart still attempts to pound itself out of my chest whenever I have to get up in front of an audience, but at least I no longer feel like I’m going to pass out—and even if I do, no one is going to laugh at that.

Photo Credit: Brendan Biele – licensed under Creative Commons.

Have a Professional Attitude

10 Habits to Develop As An Undergraduate Student

Always Be Punctual

Have a Professional Attitude

Shawna — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:09:48 +0000

This post is part six of a series on the ten habits you should develop as a college student. You can find links to the rest of the habits in the introduction.

We’ve all experienced them: the unprofessionals. The people who stand behind the desk and smack their gum and look as if they’ve never heard of the term customer service in their life. They’re personally offended that you have interrupted their phone conversation by walking into the office and daring to ask if Mr. So-and-So is in.

You wonder how they ever got hired in the first place. I’m not really sure how that happened, but it must have been a fluke. In general, employers don’t usually like to hire people who act unprofessional, and that is why professionalism is the sixth habit you should develop while you’re still in college.

What is Professionalism Anyway?

If you want to be successful in school or in the workplace, you have got to look and act professional. Now, what is considered professional will change depending on where you are. Professional attire and even, perhaps, behavior is going to be dramatically different if you’re an intern at a law firm versus an intern at a hip literary journal. But there are some elements of professionalism that are universal.

The Seven Laws of Professionalism

Be respectful of other people, especially to your boss or professor and to customers.
Avoid gossiping on the job—or even off the job. It’s a bad habit no matter where you are.
Never text in class or when you should be helping a customer.
If you have a tendency to swear, save the strong language for when you’re hanging out with your friends.
Dress appropriately, whether that means jeans and a clean shirt or a suit and a briefcase.
Always smile and say, “Have a nice day.”
Being professional does not mean being stuffy. Be confident instead.

Some of these things may be habitual to you already, but it’s likely that you could use some practice in one or two areas. My biggest issue is probably confidence. But confidence will come with enough experience.

How Can I Become More Professional?

Professionalism is yet another one of those obnoxious habits that is difficult to develop except by practice. So go out and practice. Even if you don’t have a job, it’s easy to practice the habit. Pay attention to the way you act when you are interacting with secretaries, the registrar, shopkeepers, professors, or your advisor.

If you can act professional when you walk into your professor’s office, you’ll have an easier time acting professional when you have a job interview.

You can also work while you’re in school or take on a summer internship. Some students are afraid to add to their workload while they are in school. Contrary to what you might expect, working while in college can actually boost your grades. In addition, you learn valuable skills that will help you once you get out of college.

A habit of professionalism is something that will serve you well for the rest of your life. It will improve your reputation with your teachers and increase the likelihood of getting a job or earning a promotion. It may even help you learn how to handle conflict with family or friends. The best part, however, is that professionalism can give you a huge boost in confidence—and that may turn out to be the deciding factor to success in many endeavors.

Photo Credit: Connor212 at Stock Xchng.

10 Habits to Develop As An Undergraduate Student

Always Be Punctual

Speak in Public With Confidence

Read Broadly and Write Often

Shawna — Mon, 24 May 2010 02:18:05 +0000

This post is part five of a series on the ten habits you should develop as a college student. You can find links to the rest of the habits in the introduction.

I hate the moment when I sit down and I have to start writing something. I put it off for as long as I possibly can, and then I pay for it in stress later. When I finally start to write, I second guess every word I say. Case in point: I have rewritten the opening to this post about four times.

Unfortunately, students spend a lot of time writing. In fact, our writing is often the way a professor determines whether or not we have learned the course material or the way we may communicate important information in a professional situation.

Obviously, if you want to be successful, you need to have good writing skills. Although it may seem like a daunting task, you really only need a few hours a week to start becoming a better writer.

The Two Key Habits of a Good Writer

This habit is really two combined into one, but they go hand and hand.

Read Broadly

First and foremost, good writers read. When I was first starting out in college, I read an article called “How to Do Really Well in College” that explained it like this:

By reading a lot, you soak up good writing, clear writing, polished writing, concise writing, effective writing. Copyright © (1996-2002) Honors Program of the State University of New York, College at Oswego

If I were to write in a vacuum, I would produce some pretty abysmal prose and even worse poetry. Personally, descriptive writing does not come naturally to me. Plot comes naturally to me, and I think in lists. If I didn’t read much, my NaNoWriMo novel would be a list of events, and my essays would be incredibly dull and technical.

But the English major in me insists that it’s not enough to merely read a lot of whatever is popular at the time. (Twilight is not going to improve your writing. Sorry.) Better writers read broadly. That means reading across a variety of genres and time periods. Read fantasy, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Read biographies and how-to books. Read magazines and read the classics. By limiting your reading to one small niche, you’ll also limit your writing abilities.

My suggestion is to read for at least fifteen minutes every day. That may not seem like much, but you can probably cover between fifteen and twenty pages in that small period of time. If you’re reading a relatively short book (200 pages), you can finish it in less than two weeks. That’s actually quite a bit of reading.

Write Often

According to Copyblogger, there are ten steps to becoming a better writer, and they range from, “Write” to “Keep writing.” Writing is one of those obnoxious skills that only improves by exercising it. No amount of reading about writing will save you if you never bother to write.

You don’t have to sit down and write an essay every single day if you want to improve your writing. In fact, you can even write while you read. This may seem sacrilegious to those who hold books sacred, but I write in my books. I underline things and jot down notes. I have even written, “LOL!” in the margin before. Worst of all, lately I have been using a bright purple pen.

Reading is one of the few forms of entertainment where you truly engage your critical thinking skills and I often find myself arguing with a book or connecting a statement to something else. If that happens while you’re reading, write it down, either in the book or in a notebook. You’ll find this beneficial to both your reading and writing skills.

Nothing compares to sitting down to actually write, however, so write a little every day as well. Here are some ways to do so:

Keep a journal
Start a blog
Write poetry
Send an old friend a letter
Try NaNoWriMo if you’re brave

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish reading The Chronicles of Narnia by tomorrow so that I can write my term paper this week.

Photo Credit: See-ming Lee – licensed under Creative Commons.

10 Habits to Develop As An Undergraduate Student

Donate Your Time (Or Money, If You Have Any)

Have a Professional Attitude

Version 4.0

Shawna — Sun, 23 May 2010 02:00:21 +0000

If you’re a regular visitor of Eruantale, you might notice that the website looks quite a bit different. Yesterday afternoon I took it down for an hour or two while I switched over to version 4.0. I’m very excited about this new design. It’s the first one I have made for this site since 2008, and it was desperately in need of an overhaul.

New Features

First and foremost, Eruantale is now on Facebook! If you like the site, head over and like it on Facebook as well. I have also made it easier for readers to share posts on Facebook and other social bookmarking websites. At the bottom of each post, you’ll find links to Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Digg, and StumbleUpon—as well as a link to subscribe to future posts.

Just below that is a blurb about the author of the post. I have a few guest posts planned in the future, so this should make it easy to find out more about who is writing the post. Finally, I have switched out the Lifestream plugin for a simple Twitter feed for now.

New Pages

Eruantale now has a mission statement that defines several of my goals and my focus for this blog. I have also typed up a comment policy. All of the comments posted on this website are moderated, and the comment policy merely explains the guidelines I take into consideration when I am moderating comments.

Finally, I have added a subscribe page that explains what RSS feeds are for readers who are unfamiliar with the technology. You can also subscribe via e-mail on the same page.

About the Design

If you’re super nerdy like me, you might be curious several elements of the design itself. It was inspired by the color palette “Familiar” on ColourLovers and designed in PhotoShop.

The icons are by Icon Dock, and the fonts used in the design are Learning Curve and Ripe, while the fonts used in the copy are Georgia and Trebuchet MS.

Troubleshooting

The new design has been tested in Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari for Windows, and Internet Explorer 8. Google Chrome and Opera appear to display small bold Trebuchet MS text a little oddly. Sorry about that. For best viewing I recommend Mozilla Firefox.

One last note: If you see anything that looks weird or seems to be malfunctioning, please contact me. I have tested this design, but it’s possible I have missed something.

I hope you enjoy!

No related posts.

Always Be Punctual

Shawna — Sat, 22 May 2010 16:18:28 +0000

This post is part four of a series on the ten habits you should develop as a college student. You can find links to the rest of the habits in the introduction.

I had to drag myself out of bed at 5:00am on Thursday morning for a Biology field trip. I desperately wanted more sleep. The fact that I managed to get up, shower, hit the road, get a much needed white chocolate mocha on the way, and arrive ten minutes early truly is a miracle of epic proportions. Yet I still felt like I was late, because I’m one of those obnoxious people who gets stressed out if they’re not at least fifteen minutes early.

Admittedly, I place too much importance on arriving early—but too many people also place too little emphasis on simply arriving on time, sometimes to the point of absurdity.

I’m Late! I’m Late!

Consider the following examples:

Halfway through a three hour long night class, a student deigns to grace us with her presence by walking into the room talking on her cell phone.
A math class is interrupted every single day by a student walking in ten minutes after the lecture has started.
Six students who had intended to meet and work on a group project are left waiting for over an hour for the last student in their group to arrive, only to find out that they are not coming.
A student walks into Biology class five minutes late only to realize that today is exam day and they haven’t studied.

See what I mean? Those things have actually happened to me or to friends of mine.

The problem with being perpetually late is that people feel like you’re wasting their time and start to consider you to be unreliable—two assumptions that you never, ever want a potential employer to make. Not only can it harm you indirectly by affecting another person’s opinion of you, but it can affect you directly if you start to forget important events like exams and your grades begin to drop.

How to Become More Punctual

Here are three simple strategies that will help you avoid landing in the situations mentioned above.

Do You Know What Time It Is?

I have noticed that some people are more aware of time than others. I find myself compulsively checking the time even when I have no need to do so. But some of my friends lose track of time easily. If that’s the case, I recommend forgoing the new practice of using your cell phone as a timekeeper and go back to the practice of wearing a watch. Why? Something on your wrist is bound to catch your attention more often than something in your pocket or purse.

Buffering…

Even though I always try to arrive fifteen minutes early, that doesn’t always happen. In the example above, I was still early, but not as early as I had anticipated. Things often take longer than we expect. Even if it usually takes half an hour to drive to school, traffic may be slow one day and it may take forty-five minutes instead. We need to have buffer time in case something takes longer than expected. More often than not, my practice of attempting to arrive fifteen minutes early merely gets me there on time.

Try To Remember

As college students, we have a lot of information we are attempting to cram into our brains and remember every day. So how are we supposed to remember the time and date on which we scheduled our appointment with our advisor as well? Some people rely on sticky notes. Others have planners. I use Google calendar. Everyone has a different system that may not work for other people, but there is one system that (usually) works for everyone. Set an alarm on your cell phone to remind you of important dates. Unless you frequently forget to bring or charge your phone, this strategy is practically fool proof.

Punctuality is an incredibly beneficial habit if you want to succeed in school or the workplace. Those who are perpetually late are more likely to lose credibility and be passed over for a job promotion. Additionally, people hate to be left hanging. You never want to develop a reputation of being flaky, so develop a habit of being on time instead. Then maybe I’ll have someone to talk to next time I show up to the movie twenty minutes early.

Photo Credit: Michel Filion – licensed under Creative Commons.

Have a Professional Attitude

Speak in Public With Confidence

Donate Your Time (Or Money, If You Have Any)

Feature Friday: Improv Everywhere

Shawna — Sat, 22 May 2010 02:13:18 +0000

It’s Friday night and the weekend is here. It’s been a busy, stress filled week for me as well as for many of my fellow students. So kick off your weekend with a hysterical laugh:

Improv Everywhere specializes in causing scenes such as the one above (“Who You Gonna Call?”). They have conducted many, many missions over the years, and all of them are hilarious. I first heard about them when “Frozen Grand Central” went viral, but my all time favorite has got to be “Where’s Rob?”, in which one hapless agent got lost and an entire stadium section got involved. Don’t miss any of their missions. You’ll love them all.

Friday Feature: Barats and Bereta

Friday Feature: Six Sentences

Eat a Balanced Diet

Shawna — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:17:15 +0000

This post is part three of a series on the ten habits you should develop as a college student. You can find links to the rest of the habits in the introduction.

Lunch time: the most sacred time of all for students of all ages. The time when you get to take a break from lectures, note-taking and quizzes, and instead devote your time to things like discussing last night’s episode of Chuck. The time when you pull out your bagel, bag of Cheetos, Cherry Coke, and Cup of Noodles. Delicious.

The diet principle of most college students is simply, “eat whatever is cheap and quickly attainable.” It might be something from the vending machine, a microwave burrito, or the first thing you see in the cafeteria. Today, instead of leaving campus to go get Subway, I opted to eat the slice of pizza that was already in the warmer at the cafe. I just didn’t want to waste time between classes, and, more importantly, I was hungry now.

The problem is that when we constantly fuel our bodies merely by eating “whatever” our energy level and immune system may adopt the same attitude.

Whatever.

If you want to stay healthy in college, you need to break the habit of eating whatever and become aware of what you’re eating. The best thing you can do is develop a plan. That doesn’t mean you need to count calories. KISS is the principle to which you want to adhere if you want to make this habit sustainable.

A Simple Solution

If you live on campus and have a meal plan at your school, you may be limited to the food in your cafeteria, but that doesn’t mean you can’t balance your diet. Alternatively, if you don’t have any kind of meal plan, you will need to spend more time during the week doing food preparation. But the upside is that you have a little more control.

It really doesn’t matter whether you can prepare your own food or not. What matters in both cases is what kind of choices you make.

Have a Plan (If You Can)

The best thing you can do is get some idea of what you’re going to eat before you get hungry. There is a reason they say never to shop hungry—because you end up buying “whatever”. Some schools may publish cafeteria menus online or in advance, so check out their website. If you are shopping for your own food, you should plan ahead anyway, otherwise you’re going to end up wasting a lot of money on food that isn’t eaten.

Follow the Rule of Thirds

This one is definitely super simple. At each meal, fill 1/3 of your plate with fruit or vegetables. And no, starchy vegetables like potatoes don’t count. Try incorporating both fruit and vegetables into your diet each day as well. Have a piece of fruit with your breakfast, for instance, and vegetables with lunch and dinner.

Everything in Moderation

Your diet ought to be diverse. Try to eat something from each food group at each meal. Adding protein to your breakfast, for instance, will help you to stay full longer. Furthermore, your body needs a little of everything. Don’t deprive it of essential nutrients. Finally, don’t deprive yourself either. You shouldn’t eat a donut for breakfast everyday, but neither should you agonize excessively over eating one.

So, tomorrow afternoon, don’t just grab a cup of noodles or eat a slice of pizza. At least add an apple or a salad to it. In the words of Adrian Monk, “You’ll thank me later.”

Photo Credit: Fabio Trifoni – licensed under Creative Commons.

10 Habits to Develop As An Undergraduate Student

Donate Your Time (Or Money, If You Have Any)

Have a Professional Attitude

Donate Your Time (Or Money, If You Have Any)

Shawna — Sun, 16 May 2010 15:15:42 +0000

This post is part two of a series on the ten habits you should develop as a college student. You can find links to the rest of the habits in the introduction.

When you’re eating cereal three times a day, you don’t feel very wealthy. As a college student, you don’t have a significant income, you don’t have many valuable possessions, and you probably don’t have any investments. In fact, you are likely in debt. Many of us are only able to go to school thanks to grants, scholarships, and loans. Although it feels like a struggle to get by, college students are the lucky ones. 18.2 million people were enrolled in college in 2007—out of 6.6 billion people in the world. That’s less than 1%.

Because we are given so much as students, we ought to give back. Volunteering will also look great on your scholarship or transfer application. Although we don’t have much expendable income, we do have time, and that is the most valuable thing we can give.

Start volunteering as soon as you can—this is not a habit that should be relegated to one semester of your college career. Long-term commitments will look better on your application than short ones. It demonstrates that you’re a dedicated individual.

Look for something that will be helpful to your major, or look for an opportunity where you can learn a new skill. Four years ago, I started volunteering in the children’s ministry at my church. I wanted to become better at working with kids. At the time, I also thought I might major in education. Even though that’s no longer the case, the skills I have learned are still useful to me.

Finding Volunteer Opportunities

The first thing you should do when you’re looking for an opportunity is simply let other people know. Tell your friends, family, employers, and advisors. Someone may already know of an organization that needs help. If they don’t, however, here are a few places where you could inquire:

Churches. If you regularly attend church, ask which department needs more help.
Animal Shelters. You can find these in the phone book. Make sure it’s a no kill shelter.
Red Cross. You can look up your local branch and even see volunteer opportunities on Red Cross’ website.
Homeless Shelters or Food Banks. Look them up in the phone book. These may also be run by a church.
Schools. Call the local elementary or preschool and ask if they need any volunteers.

Giving Away More Than Time

Volunteers can’t get far without money. Although it may be hard to donate money as well as your time in college, it’s great if you can. Donate to your church or look up your favorite charity. You could even sponsor a child through those programs you hear about on TV. My husband and I sponsor a girl in Uganda through World Help for $30 a month. It’s a good, legitimate program.

No matter where you end up volunteering or donating your money, the important thing is to keep giving. I wouldn’t be in college without people who gave.

Photo Credit: Ghwpix – licensed under Creative Commons.

10 Habits to Develop As An Undergraduate Student

Always Be Punctual

Have a Professional Attitude

Fit Exercise Into Your Day

Shawna — Sat, 15 May 2010 22:31:48 +0000

This post is part one of a series on the ten habits you should develop as a college student. You can find links to the rest of the habits in the introduction.

Exercise. Just say the word, and a part of you will probably groan. It’s perhaps pleasant on a sunny afternoon when you have nothing else you need to do, but who lives like that? In reality, it’s so hateful in the morning, so obnoxious in the evening, and unfortunately, oh-so-necessary to our health.

When life gets busy, the first thing to go out the window is probably your exercise routine. That is, if you have one. It’s so easy to say, “I don’t have time,” or, “I’m too tired already.” But the days when you’re tired and don’t have time are the days on which you really need to exercise. Studies show that regular exercise can reduce stress and boost your energy—two things that everyone wants during finals week.

5 Tips for Success

Make it a priority. Move exercise from the “maybe if I’m really bored and the weather is nice” section of your priority list and put it right next to “shower”. For most of us, showering is only optional within a 48 hour time period—maximum. Make exercising a requirement as well.
Schedule time for it. It’s easy to go through the motions of the day and forget that you were supposed to exercise until you look at the clock at 8:00pm. By that time, the odds of you actually working out that day are slim to none, unless you’re a night owl. Choose a specific time to exercise during the day.
Be realistic. For the past six months, I have had “Work Out” scheduled for 6:00am in my Google calendar. I’m not a morning person, however, so I have exercised in the morning once. Maybe. Make sure that you are realistic when you set your goals. If you hate getting up early, don’t try to exercise at 6:00am. If you are out of shape, don’t expect to kick box for an hour. If you aren’t flexible, don’t force yourself to take yoga.
Make it fun. This goes hand in hand with being realistic. I could probably burn a lot more calories doing hardcore cardio at the gym instead of taking a walk, but I would be bored out of my mind. If you want to develop this habit for life, find activities that you enjoy. You won’t be able to keep going when the going gets tough if you force yourself to do something that you don’t like.
Recruit a friend. The great thing about having a friend who exercises with you is that they keep you accountable. You are less likely to skip something if you’re concerned about letting someone down. Friends will make exercise more fun and the time will pass more quickly.

If you can maintain a daily exercise routine even during finals week, chances are good that you can keep it going beyond graduation. Try it. Your body will reward you!

Photo Credit: Lusi at Stock Xchng.

10 Habits to Develop As An Undergraduate Student

Eat a Balanced Diet

Always Be Punctual

10 Habits to Develop As An Undergraduate Student

Shawna — Sat, 15 May 2010 22:01:03 +0000

This post is the introduction to a series on the ten habits you should develop as a college student. Links to subsequent parts of the series will be added as each habit is posted.

Although college life may seem like one frantic marathon in which there simply is not enough time in the day, in reality it is probably the period in a traditional student’s life in which they have the most free time. Life doesn’t slow down once college is over. In fact, it usually speeds up.

Once you’ve graduated, you won’t be a student anymore. Hopefully you’ll be an employee. Maybe you’ll be a spouse, a parent, or all of the above. As a student, you have time to devote to yourself, but when you are no longer a student, you begin devoting more and more or your time to other people. That’s a good thing, of course; we shouldn’t devote our lives to ourselves.

The four years you spend as an undergraduate is the best time to develop more than just head knowledge and skills—it’s also the prime time to develop habits that will stick with you and take you far in your education, career, relationships, and life in general.

The Habits:

Fit Exercise Into Your Day
Donate Your Time (Or Money, If You Have Any)
Eat a Balanced Diet
Always Be Punctual
Read Broadly and Write Often
Have a Professional Attitude
Speak in Public with Confidence
Expand Your Horizons With New Hobbies
Avoid Drama and Learn to Resolve Conflicts
Manage Your Money and Avoid Debt

It takes repetition for something to become a habit, so don’t wait to start. If you’re still in high school or are just entering college, you need only focus on one or two habit per term in order to hit them all by the time you graduate. If, like me, you happen to be in the middle of your college education, don’t despair. Focus on one habit per month, week, whatever. You don’t have to stop when you graduate. You will benefit from putting a conscious effort into making these things a part of your daily life no matter the season of life.

Photo Credit: Gavin Luhrs – licensed under Creative Commons.

Eruantale.net: Words, words, words

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Gather Information Early

Seek the Lowest Price

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Version 4.0

New Features

New Pages

About the Design

Troubleshooting

Always Be Punctual

I’m Late! I’m Late!

How to Become More Punctual

Do You Know What Time It Is?

Buffering…

Try To Remember

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Feature Friday: Improv Everywhere

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Eat a Balanced Diet

A Simple Solution

Have a Plan (If You Can)

Follow the Rule of Thirds

Everything in Moderation

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Donate Your Time (Or Money, If You Have Any)

Finding Volunteer Opportunities

Giving Away More Than Time

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Fit Exercise Into Your Day

5 Tips for Success

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10 Habits to Develop As An Undergraduate Student

The Habits:

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