Top Ten Ways to Motivate Yourself

 

Welcome to the home stretch!

The semester is winding down and projects are wrapping up. Finals and graduation ceremonies are right around the corner. Some of you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. For others the goal may seem far away. Some are feeling accomplished. Others are feeling stretched and overwhelmed. How do you stay motivated when this happens to you? 

 
 Here are 10 ways to keep yourself motivated when things become overwhelming:

1. Make yourself a deal
2. Do something small
3. Do the toughest tasks first
4. Compare yourself with yourself, not with others
5. Remember to have fun
6. Don't fear failure
7. Write your goals down and work towards them
8. Break it down
9. Do what makes you happy
10. Think outside the box

Visit the Positivity Blog to learn more motivational tips.

 Looking for even more ideas? Here is a selection of books that are available in the library:

 

• 9 Things Successful People do Differently by Heidi Grant-Halvorson
• The Happy Student: 5 Steps to Academic Fulfillment and Success by Daniel Wong
• Motivation and Learning Strategies for College Success: a Focus on Self-Regulated Learning by Myron Dembo

 

Stress Management

You have survived Midterms and suddenly realize that finals are a little over five weeks away. How do you cope with stress? According to WebMD you could:

Relax your mind by:

• Write in a journal for 10 to 15 minutes
• Let your feelings out by laughing or crying. Talk to others who care about you
• Do something you enjoy
• Volunteer your time

Relax your body by:

• Practicing meditation
• Practicing yoga
• Go for a walk
• Play a game with friends

If all else fails you could try some of my personal favorites:

• Read a book
• Checkout one of our cookbooks and bake something for a friend
• Watch a video on Films on Demand
• Checkout a CD or Audiobook

However you choose to prepare for the final academic push, please remember that the Reference staff is available to assist you with your research needs. You may get help either in person, over the phone, by email, or via the web at http://www.tarleton.edu/library/askaref.html

Motivational Monday

Yesterday evening, I overheard a student proclaim she needed to write a three page paper on motivation that was due today. I told her "procrastination is a motivator in and of itself"(this doesn't mean I think anyone should procrastinate in order to motivate themselves to do school work); this got me to thinking, what truly motivates college/university students to succeed in school? Motivation can come from anywhere, anyone, or anything. My motivation typically comes from a desire to do better and have more in life. What motivates you?

Check out these books in the library on motivation, achievement, and success in college:

1. 9 things successful people do differently
2. Execution: the discipline of getting things done 
3. The little book of coaching: motivating people to be winners
4. A theory of achievement motivation
5. The achieving society
6. Self-theories: their role in motivation, personality, and development
7. Motivating Students
8. Giftedness, conflict, and underachievement
9. Achieving educational excellence: using behavioral strategies
10. Execution: the discipline of getting things done

To find these resources and more, you can Ask A Librarian or call (254)968-9249.

Dick Smith Library Can Help You Get What You Need

In addition to the useful library resources and services described in yesterday's post, the library strives to help you get what you need when you need it:

• Online library catalog so you can locate items (print and electronic) in our collections.
• Databases so you can locate articles, films, reports, books, and more.
• Use your NTNET login to access databases when off-campus.
• Use Discovery@Tarleton to search 85% of the library's databases with one click.
• Choose specific databases from our A-Z database list.
• Choose recommended databases from our topical Subject Research Guides.
• Mobile apps and resources so you can get what you need while on the go.
• Off-campus and distance services so Tarleton students, faculty, and staff at satellite campuses and/or in online classes can take full advantages of our resources.
• Interlibrary loan services so you can obtain items not in the library's collections
• TexShare card program so you can get borrowing privileges at libraries across the state.

Remember, we're here to help you and glad to do so.  Just give a call (254-968-9249), send an email (reference@tarleton.edu), or stop by (hours).  You can also check in with the library through various social media venues (linked from the library's homepage).

Dick Smith Library staff wishes you an excellent Spring 2013 semester.

Library Services Designed with Online and Satellite Campuses in Mind: Check 'em Out

Are you a student or faculty member attending or teaching courses that are all online or at a satellite campus? If so, we want you to know about all these library services and resources, which are tailored to meet your information needs:

• Register with the library as a Distance Learner.
  ~ Depending on your location, you may be able to receive free courier delivery or home/office delivery of library materials.


• Sign up for a TexShare Card
  ~ With this card, you can borrow materials from hundreds of Texas libraries.
  ~ Use your go.tarleton email so you can receive notifications from the library about the items you request.


• Request library materials via your Interlibrary Loan(ILLiad) account
  ~ If you qualify for the library's off-campus services, remember this:
  "If you can't click and get it, send an interlibrary loan request; we'll get it and send it your way."
  ~ Use your go.tarleton email so you'll receive updates about your interlibrary loan requests.


• Access thousands of full text journal, magazine & newspaper articles, reference books, business & legal information, and much more from your library databases.
  ~ All you need is a current NTNET login: Claim or Reset your University NTNET account



• Want more information
  ~ Download our Off-Campus Library Services Brochure
  ~ Call the Reference/Information Desk staff @ 254-968-9456
  ~ Call the Circulation Desk staff @ 254-968-9450
  ~ Email the Reference Staff: reference@tarleton.edu

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. We're here to help you!

Academic Integrity Brown Bag

Join the Discussion!

• What is Academic Integrity?
• Why it Matters
• Is Academic Dishonesty a Big Deal?
• Causes & Consequences
• Ways to Avoid Missteps
• Where is Help Available?

Thurs., Oct. 14
12:10-12:50
Library MultiPurpose Room

Sponsored by
Office of Judicial Affairs (254-968-9576)
Division of Student Life

Top 10 Tuesday: Tips for E-Research

Research can be pretty daunting -- so many possible starting places, so little time. Online resources can help us locate useful, quality information, as well as meet deadlines if used systematically. The following list presents one possible strategy: begin with general resources and progress to more specialized resources.

10. Start with Wikipedia for topic overviews.
While not considered appropriate for most academic papers, encyclopedias like Wikipedia are good starting spots because they can help us understand a topic well enough to begin researching it.

9. Read the library's e-books (and print books, too).
Books offer in-depth discussions, have indexes for locating specific information, provide recommended reading lists, and can help you obtain a lot of information in a short time.

8. Use Google Scholar to begin locating materials.
Use this tool to locate article citations and, perhaps, links to articles in Tarleton Libraries' databases via SFX. It's a handy way to get a sampling of the research materials available on your topic.

7. Advance to the Tarleton Libraries' web site.
When you're ready to locate scholarly sources (i.e. when your instructor says "use peer-reviewed resources" or "locate some credible books on this subject"), go to your library -- either online or in person. Check out the resources, tips, and services available to you as part of the Tarleton community. You may be surprised at the resources that await you.

6. Check out the library's subject research guides.
These guides offer "starter" lists of databases and selected Internet sites, which are organized by subject to help "jumpstart" your research.

5. Search the library databases.
Using the library's databases gives you access to 1000s of electronic journals, trade magazines, and newspaper, as well as article citations, research reports, and online reference works.

4. Use interlibrary loan to get more materials.
If what you want/need isn't available via your Tarleton library (either electronically or in print), ask us to get it for you via your ILLiad account.

3. Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate.
Use evaluation criteria like authority, currency, reliability, etc. to help you choose resources worthy of being in your papers/projects.

2. Use the University Writing Center's citation resources.
The Writing Center staff can help you organize, develop, and document all types of research papers -- in person and online.

1. Confused? Ask for assistance.
Use Dick Smith Library's Ask a Librarian email reference, call the library's Information Desk (254-968-9249), or stop by during library hours. We can help you locate resources, give you tips for searching the library's database/catalog, and assist you in figuring out how to cite sources.

Writing a Paper? Try These 7 Research Tips

This article by Lynn Jacobs and Jeremy Hyman in U.S. News & World Report offers practical tips for successfully starting, planning, and finishing papers. The following list gives article excerpts and along with links to Tarleton Libraries' resources and services to help you apply the research tips. Enjoy!

• Start from where you are.
• Pick a topic that interests you. Look to course materials, lecture notes, handouts, and so on for ideas.
• Talk to your instructor to see if your topic is on target.


• Think E.
• “The best place to start is not with Google, Bing, or Wikipedia but with E-reserves that the professor has listed” and made available via your library’s site. Tarleton State University Libraries
• “Next stop: the electronic resources (or E-resources) at the library Web page” for online access to articles, reference books, and more. Tarleton Libraries databases
• Subject guides are useful because they list resources by subject and “can be incredibly helpful" when you start researching a topic. Tarleton Libraries’ Subject Research Guides


• Discover WorldCat.
• “One of the best resources is http://www.worldcat.org, a free and public catalog of more than a billion (with a "b"!) items available from more than 10,000 libraries worldwide. . . . It's available in all modalities including online and mobile (with downloadable apps for iPhone, BlackBerry, and most Web-enabled phones).”


• Learn the shortcuts.
• “Use wild-card characters—typically a question mark (?), pound sign (#), or asterisk (*)—when you know only the first few letters of a word or when you want to find all the words that start with a certain string of letters.”
• “Use the Boolean and operator (typically AND or +) to limit the results of a search, and the or operator (OR or -) to expand the topic.
• “Take out any apostrophes (in words such as O'Reilly) and replace foreign language characters (ç, ü) with their English equivalents (c, u).”


• Use the resources that live and breathe.
• Call, visit or email “the reference desk" to get help with "electronic searches” and locating print resources. Contact information for research assistance at Tarleton Libraries


• Learn about ILL.
• If you need something your library does not have, use your library’s interlibrary loan (ILL) services. “The ILL crew will get you the physical book or a copy of the article from another library, usually free.” Request items as early as possible so you can get them in time.Tarleton Libraries Interlibrary Loan Service


• Look for "gateway" sources.
• When starting a research project, you may want to begin with “sources that survey the problem, area, or subject you're researching and point the way to further, more specific studies. They might have names like Cambridge Companion to X, Stanford Encyclopedia of Y, Grove Dictionary of Z, or Oxford Illustrated History of A.”
  -- You can locate these resources using Tarleton Libraries catalog.
• When “reading any source, look in the footnotes and bibliography” for ideas about other sources.
  -- Then use Tarleton Libraries’ SFX Citation Finder and catalog to locate items.
  -- Use the library’s Interlibrary Loan service to obtain items not available locally.
  -- Remember to Ask a Librarian for assistance whenever you need it.

View complete article: Writing a Paper? Try These 7 Research Tips

Video Lectures from Top Colleges

As final exams hurry toward us, everyone is going to be busy reviewing the semester's work, looking over their class notes, locating study partners, participating in help/review sessions, and trying to remember it all. To help prepare for finals, you can also listen to lecture notes from other universities.

Guy McDowell at MakeUseOf lists 5 Great Sites with Free Video Lectures from Top Colleges where learners can listen to lectures from universities such as MIT, McGill, Oxford, and more.

15 Essential Web Tools for Students

A recent Mashable post by Josh Catone offers a guide to 15 Essential Web Tools for Students, plus links to the tools and tips for using them. With all the tasks everyone manages every day, these tools are very handy.

• Stay Organized: web applications to help you get and stay organized.
• Evernote -- note taking tool that lets you sync notes between the web, your phone, and any computer
• Notely -- solution for taking notes and staying organized
• GradeMate -- organizer for creating to-do lists, managing due dates, and collaborating
• Backpack -- tool for keeping research organized
  
  
• Study Better: web tools to help you get the most out of your study time.
• StudyRails -- for people who have trouble blocking out distractions when it comes time to study
• Diggo -- web-based highlighter and sticky note system for annotating your web research and sharing work with classmates
• Delicious -- tool for collecting web resources for a class, project, or paper under a single tag
• Mindmeister -- organize your thoughts and research through mind maps
  
  
• Work and Collaborate: web-based and social tools that help you get your work done and collaborate with others on group projects.
• Google Docs -- online word processing and spreadsheets applications that let you work together on group assignments
• EtherPad --collaboration tool that lets a group of people edit a document at the same time and see what everyone is writing as they write it
• Sliderocket -- online presentation building tool for creating multimedia presentations that are accessible from anywhere
• Wikidot -- a simple, wiki hosting solution for creating an unlimited number of wiki pages to organize projects and group research
  
  
• Cite Right: tools to help you keep track of your sources and cite them properly.
• CiteMe -- search the world’s largest library catalog by title, author, subject, or ISBN and get formatted citations in APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, or Turabian style
• EasyBib -- automatically create citations in APA, Chicago/Turabian, and MLA styles
• Zotero -- automatically collects your research sources and lets you create citations in any of one of over a thousand different styles

Check 'em out!

Top Ten Tuesday – Study Skills

The third Tuesday of the new semester - Wow how time flies! It is time to start that research and hit the books. I wanted to give you this list of Top Ten Study Skills.

Top Ten Tips on Study Skills

1. Budget your time.
   
2. Read everything assigned.
   
3. Do all assignments.
   
4. Take good notes.
   
5. Organize and use your notes.
   
6. Find a good place to study. (I recommend the library!)
   
7. Take care of yourself.
   
8. Minimize distractions. (The upper floor of the Library is a quiet study zone.)
   
9. Consider forming a study group or groups. (The library has group study rooms available for use.)
   
10. Ask for help.
    

The reference desk of the Library is staffed with professional librarians who provide personalized service to assist with learning and research needs. You may get help and ask questions in person at the library, by phone at 254-968-9249, by email, or via the web at http://www.tarleton.edu/~library/askaref.html

Choosing Sources

• Know you need to locate articles for a project or paper?
• Not sure which types of periodicals would be the best to use?
• Not quite sure how to tell the difference between the different types of periodicals?
• Not sure why you should care about the difference between different types of periodicals?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, know that you’re not alone.

Because the types of sources used in projects and papers often (if not always) influence how well your finished product will be received (what grade it will receive or what your supervisor will think about your abilities), it’s important to learn how to tell the difference between the types and how to use them appropriately.

A brief overview of periodical types -- their characteristics and uses -- is provided by the YouTube video Scholarly vs. Popular Periodicals, which was created by Peabody Library at Vanderbilt University.

Need more assistance figuring out what type of article to use, where to find the articles, and how to cite them? Tarleton Libraries are here to help!

• Call us: Dick Smith Library, Reference Desk 254-968-9456.
• Email us: http://www.tarleton.edu/~library/askaref.html
• Drop by and talk with us: library hours

Meebo Me!

Have you ever wanted to IM (instant message) a librarian here at the Dick Smith Library? Well, now you can!

We are testing Meebo to see if and how an IM service would be used with the library. In one click, wirh no registration or download required (unless the computer you are using does not already have Flash 7.0 or later installed), you can start typing in the chat window below to talk with me, the librarian!



1. If you need help, you can check to see if I am online here, and send me an instant message with this widgit.

2. Click on "edit nickname" near the bottom and type in your first name (if you like).

3. In the box where it says "Type here and hit enter to send a private message," type your question and hit the Enter key. No one but me will see your message, it will not show up here on the blog!

If I am online, I’ll try to reply right away. Give me a couple moments, as I usually have lots of windows open! If I’m not available (offline, away, sleeping, etc.), you can leave me a message with your e-mail address, and I will reply. Don’t refresh the window or navigate away or the session is lost.

Give this trial service a try, and let us know what you think of it in the comments!

Study skills & stress management for exam week

With Final Exams coming up I wanted to share a great web site to help get everyone through!

Study Tips for Finals: Study skills & stress management for exam week- This site has really good information about the following topics and more.

• Time management.
  
• Schedule in study breaks. (With a link to 'Great Study Breaks')
• Schedule in sleep.
  
• Exercise.
  
• Prioritize.
• Form effective study groups. (With a link to 'Effective Study Groups')
• Free your schedule.
  
• Ask your professor for help.
• Keep things in perspective.
  

The website even shows related articles about "How to Pull an All Nighter", "Multiple Choice Test Tips", and "How to take effective class notes".

Take a look...and GOOD LUCK with Finals Exams!

Attention Deficit in the Classroom

Attention Deficit in the Classroom

Do you carry a laptop to class? Do you find it beneficial? Read the article linked above and give you opinion.

Putting An End To Thirsty Thursdays

What is your opinion? Do you think "thursday partying" effects your grades? Read the following article and tell us what you think!

Forget about "Thirsty Thursdays" kicking off three days of partying on some college campuses this school year. Some colleges are wresting Fridays back from the weekend's clutches, and warning students that skipping Friday classes will hurt their grades, and encouraging faculty members to schedule tests and have assignments due that day. Students and faculty are grumbling. Colleges have long scheduled fewer classes on Fridays, but groups, including a national task force on alcohol abuse, have been pressuring colleges to reinstate Friday classes to reduce student drinking. Read more at:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20070902_Some_colleges_reversing_TGI-Thursday_pattern.html