"Tiger Cubs"Bibliography of Essays Relevant to Attitudes, Values,
and Behaviors That Typically Portend College Success
Dr. Ken Petress
Professor of Communication
University of Maine at Presque Isle
"Tiger Cubs"Please note that all the essays on this page are formatted in Adobe Acrobat© format. If you need the free reader it is available from the Adobe Home Page. Click here for theAdobe Acrobat Reader© Home Page
Essay Number & Essay Title
1. What Is an Education and Who Are the Educated? 4 pp.
This article claims that learning goes beyond "book learning." Learning includes: artistic expression and appreciation, motor skill refinement, cultural awareness and participation, citizenship, scientific inquiry, sport ability and awareness, personal improvement, and relationship building and nurturing.
2. Speaking About Letters of Recommendation. 4 pp.
This article describes the uses of recommendation letters, how they are commonly read, how to request such letters, and how to integrate the requests of multiple writers on your behalf.
3. What Are Textbooks For? 3 pp.
This article describes various uses for textbook ranging from: starting points for investigations; sources of information needed in various contexts; vehicles for browsing, inspiration, and enjoyment; and jumping off points for more advanced discussions or investigations.
4. Why Take Instructor and Class Evaluations Seriously? 3 pp.
This article advocates seriousness by students when writing faculty/class evaluations. Institutional, departmental, faculty, individual, and future students can be positively affected by such seriousness and negative consequences can arise from sloppy or non serious evaluations.
5. The Value of Outlining Your Ideas. 8 pp.
This article advocates outlining as a means of organizing ideas for papers, speeches, group meetings, etc. Included is a multi draft outline showing outline development vs. spontaneous final draft outlining of ideas.
6. What Is An Academic Advisor, Anyway? 3 pp.
This article describes five major functions advisors typically serve: student advocates, referral persons, resource persons, institutional guides, and friends.
7. What Is Meant By 'Active Learning? 2 pp.
This article describes learning as an active, personal and collective experience, as an ongoing lifelong experience, and partly as an end unto itself and partly as a means to other ends.
8. How to Prepare For a Test. 13 pp.
This article describes classroom behavior, note taking and reviewing [from lectures, texts, readings, and study sessions], group study benefits, and ongoing review of material prior to tests.
9. The Purpose of Tests. 4 pp.
This article describes the major functions of tests: affirmation, discrimination, memory checks, conceptual understanding, integration, evaluation, articulation of what is known, synthesis, and differentiation.
10. Listening: A Vital Skill. 4 pp.
This article describes different types of listening and the varied purposes of listening. Also discussed are common consequences for not listening well and ways to achieve improved listening skills.
11. How to Write an Essay: Some Suggestions. 15 pp.
This article describes and exemplifies what a good essay is. Matters of invention, organization, style, documentation, content, and focus are stressed. Mechanical matters are also addressed.
12. Why Take Core Courses Early in One's College Career? 3 pp.
This article discusses various purposes of the core. The core's purposes are framed in ways that advocate their being taken seriously and positively by students.
13. College is Not Just a Place; It is a Culture. 5 pp.
This article defines the college culture and students' place in that culture. Common distinctions between a college graduate's and non graduate's career expectations are discussed. Non classroom skills typically learned as a result of the college experience are enumerated. 5 pp.
14. The Purpose of and the Value of Documentation. 4 pp.
This article describes what written documentation is, why it is important, and various content that requires documentation by scholars.
15. What Do College Students Learn In College? 3 pp.
This article synthesis what Boyer claims were multiple arenas of l]scholarship in terms that students can understand as learning methods.
16. An Operational Definition of Class Participation. 3 pp.
This article describes the purpose of positive class participation, behaviors that are expected, and behaviors that detract from desired class participation.
17. A Case for Repetition. 4 pp.
This article describes positive and distracting rationales for repetition by instructors and students in classroom settings. Positive reasons for select repetition are discussed.
18. The Benefits of Group Study. 3 pp.
This article advocates students try forming study groups. Ways to start such a group, guidelines to follow in forming a study group, and benefits of this form of study are discussed.
19. What Is Critical Thinking and Why Is It Useful? 8 pp.
This article defines critical thinking, exemplifies what that definition means, and defends its value to students.
20. The Noble Cause and the Disastrous Consequences of Campus Speech Codes. 4 pp.
This article discusses speech codes, their motives, relevant implementation factors, and some negative consequences.
21. Where Does Our Knowledge Originate? 2 pp.
This article examines knowledge sources including: experiences, observations, testimony, printed materials, visual materials, and integrated sources.
22. What is an Academic "Minor?" 3 pp.
This article describes the value of an academic minor in a college undergraduate program.
23. The Wonders and Horrors of E-Mail. 3 pp.
This article describes positive uses, misuses, and negative consequences resulting from indiscriminant e-mail use.
24. Beware! The Blade of Technology Has a Rough Edge. 3 pp.
This article heralds the power of the Internet; how- ever, it also warns the uninitiated about material with questionable validity, reliability, and currency as well as authenticity.
This article discusses reasons given for and against requiring class attendance and concludes reasons for required attendance are more compelling than reasons against required attendance.
26. How To Be A Good Advisee. 4 pp.
This article discusses the imperative for quality advising that an advisee and advisor work as a team. Also discussed are seven qualities that an advisee needs to exhibit to get maximum benefit from advising.
27. Constructive Criticism: A Tool For Improvement. 5 pp.
This essay defines constructive criticism; specifies what behaviors constitute constructive criticism and what behaviors are non constructive; and suggests behaviors for critics and those whose work is being judged.
28. The Ethics of Student Classroom Silence 8 pp.
This article discusses student reticence or refusal to engage in classroom discussion. The importance of student classroom inter-action, some reasons for student reticence, and an ethical stance in favor of student classroom involvement are presented.
29. Plagiarism: A Plague on Our Profession 4pp.
Plagiarism is defined as “intellectual theft.” Damages caused by plagiarism to the plagiarizer, instructor, classmates, and educational institution, and education itself are discussed.