10 Reasons to Become a Teacher

Today is the Teacher Job Fair in the Thompson Student Center. Did you go by and drop off your applications? Click on the link below for 10 reasons why to become a teacher.

http://712educators.about.com/od/teacherresources/tp/teachergood.htm

What are your reasons for becoming a teacher? Make a comment and let us hear your opinion.

Tarleton Thursdays: Did You Know?

Today is April Fool's Day! Here are a few excerpts from the April 1, 1927 ALL FOOL'S J-TAC:

DANCE TONIGHT IN THE NEW DINING HALL: Tonight at the new dining hall all Tarleton students are invited to attend the first big dance since the rule against dancing has been abolished!

MR. EAVES IS TO FURNISH COTS TO ALL STUDENTS: Mr. Eaves, professor of history and government, plans to place folding cots in his classroom for the accommodation of students who do not care to listen to his lectures!

REGISTRAR SELLS HIS CHEVROLET - HAS NO USE FOR IT: He said that because the students were never out after hours, never got off Tarleton Avenue, never wore civies or some manner of disguise to fool the officers and faculty members, never loitered between here and town, and lived up to the rules and regulations, he found very little use for the car except to ride to church and he thought it cheaper to ride the bus!

LIBRARY TO BE REMODELED FOR AMUSEMENTS: Our library will now have a magnificent soda fountain and lunch counter, smaller tables will be put in for domino and card games, and a comfortable lounge will be prepared along the west wall!

Hope you have a great April Fool's Day and don't get too many jokes played on you!

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

Top Ten Tuesday: 2010 Census on Campus FAQ

• Why should I fill out the census?
An accurate count for Stephenville will help it obtain a fair share of federal funding, as well as provide crucial data for planning purposes and academic research. Also, 72 years from now, your descendants will know where you were living in 2010!

• What kinds of questions will the census ask me?
Name, gender, age, date of birth, race, and Hispanic origins are asked of everyone. If you're off-campus and the head of a household, you're asked four questions about the household in general. If you're off-campus and not the household head, you're asked how you are related to that person.

• Can my parents just include me on their census questionnaire?
If you’re living with your parents during the school year, then yes. But if you aren't living with your parents on April 1, 2010, then no.

• Can I complete the census online?
Not for the 2010 Census, but hopefully in 2020.

• Will the census share my information with anyone?
No. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share an individual's answers with anyone, including federal, state, and local agencies.

How should I be counted if I am…

• Living on campus?
Those living in residence halls, fraternities, and sororities will receive an Individual Census Report during Group Quarters Enumeration between April 1 and May 21, 2010.

• Living off campus?
If you live in a house or apartment, you should have already received the ten-question census form and a postage-paid envelope to mail it back.

• Not a U.S. citizen?
The census is a count of everyone residing in the United States and its territories, both citizens and non-citizens. So even if you are not a U.S. citizen but you live and sleep in the U.S. most of the year, you will be counted in the census.

• An international student?
Same as above.

• Studying abroad for part of the year?
Census Day is April 1, 2010. Questionnaire responses should represent your household as it exists on this day. If you are living and studying abroad on April 1, 2010, you will not be counted in the census. However, if you live and study abroad during part of the year but are living in the U.S. on April 1, 2010, you will be counted in the census.

For more on these questions and answers, see Census on Campus: Students' Frequently Asked Questions. You might also want to read What Educators and Campus Leaders Need to Know About the 2010 Census and Counting College & University Residence Halls.

Did You Know?

Today is Oscar Mayer's birthday. Oscar Mayer was born on March 29, 1859 in Kösingen, Württemberg in Germany. In 1873, he began work as a butcher's apprentice in a meat market in Detroit, then went on to work at another job at Kohlhammer's market in Chicago, and spent 6 years working in the Chicago stockyards after that. Oscar's brother, Gottfried, joined him in the states and together they started a business selling bockwurst, liverwurst, and weisswurst. Soon after, their brother, Max, joined the company. Within a few years, they had a thriving business. They became one of the first to brand their meat products and used numerous names at first before deciding on the Oscar Mayer Weiner brand in 1929. They were also one of the first to be federally approved and to wrap their products individually making them instantly recognizable.

For more company history, visit the Oscar Mayer website.

Lights out Saturday night

Earth Hour 2010 takes place on Saturday 27 March, 8:30pm - 9:30pm (local time) and is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the world to turn off the lights.

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change.

To find out more information about climate change, visit the EPA's Climate Change webpage to learn basic information, get answers to questions, and find out what you can do.

Tarleton Thursdays: Did You Know?

Vocational Agriculture Day at Tarleton in 1920

Today the Tarleton main campus was filled with some 1700 high school agriculture students from all over Texas. The Agriculture Department is, and has been for most of the history of the school, one of the most avid recruiters of future Tarleton students. As you can see in the photo above, high school vocational agriculture students even had "their" day at Tarleton as far back as 1920.

Tarleton's agriculture program is rated second of fourteen universities in Texas offering agriculture degrees and third nationally among non-land grant universities. Tarleton agriculture graduates have a reputation for high performance and for their contributions to the profession. Enhancing the program and Tarleton's contribution to Texas and the United States is the new Southwest Regional Dairy Center that is under construction. It will be a state-of-the-art teaching facility with a mission to "support for teaching, research, and service/outreach programs to meet the need of higher education, the dairy industry and society in Texas and the southwest."

The total number of high school students at Tarleton today was in excess of 6000. Some 1700 were on the main campus, 2000 were at the Agriculture Center, 1000 were at the Hunewell Ranch, and 1600 were at the Lone Star Arena. While some will end up majoring in agriculture at Tarleton, others will come to Tarleton, but pursue other majors, so the FFA day at Tarleton is truly a long time recruiting event.

Way to go Ag!

Tarleton State University Agriculture Department.

Tarleton State University, Dick Smith Library, Cross Timbers Historic Images Project, Stephenville Museum photo.

Looking for something fun to read?

If your coursework isn't keeping you too busy, you might want to try looking for something fun to read (or listen to - we have audiobooks, too!) at the library. However, our books are shelved using Library of Congress Classification, which works fine for the kinds of books you need for your assignments, but can bury the kinds of books you might choose for casual reading. Where you browse really depends on what your definition of "fun reading" is, but here's some tips that might help you get started:

• You'll probably want to concentrate mostly on our New Books display (on the main level, near all the computers), the upper level, and the lower level (young adult and children's books, audiobooks, and more).
• PR6000 to PR6126 = English literature, Authors 1900 to the present
  Includes authors like: M.C. Beaton, Ian Fleming, Neil Gaiman, Agatha Christie, and more
• PS3500 to PS3626 = American literature, Authors 1900 to the present
  Includes authors like: Nicholas Sparks, Isaac Asimov, Janet Evanovich, David Sedaris, and more
• PZ7 - This number is used for a lot of the young adult and children's fiction in the library's lower level, including books by Robin McKinley, J.K. Rowling, Scott Westerfeld, and more.
• The call number ranges I've given are only suggestions - try browsing in other areas, searching our catalog, or asking a librarian for suggestions.

Makes you just want to stay home

Top ten places to vacation...ho hum. Try this list on for size:
Top 10 Places You Don't Want to Visit. Sometimes a photo and a description are enough. My stomach lurched just looking at the picture of Yungas Road. However, Derweze, Turkmenistan does hold a certain fascination...

You are invited to submit suggestions, as well!

Women in Aviation

Born in Atlanta, Texas 1892 Bessie Coleman would become the first African – American to hold a pilot's license and the first African-American woman to hold a pilot's license. At the age of 23 Bessie left Texas for Chicago to live with her two brothers and make something of her life. When she heard the stories from returning soldiers from World War I of flying exploits, she became interested in aviation. In 1918, few American women held pilot licenses and those that did were largely white and wealthy. Every flying schools Bessie applied refused her because she was a woman and black. On the advice of a newspaper owner, she decided to learn to fly in France. She left for Paris, France from New York on November 20, 1920. In June of 1921, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale granted her an international pilot's license. On her return to New York in September of 1921, she received a hero's welcome. Bessie would perform at air shows for the next five years until her tragic death. For more information on Bessie Coleman see: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flygirls/peopleevents/pandeAMEX02.html

The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II provided invaluable service to the United States military in World War II by freeing male pilots to fly combat missions. Some of the missions flown by the WASPs included training flights, engineering test flights, check rides, target towing, and ferrying. The WASPs flew every type of Army air Force aircraft including the B-29 bomber. While these women served their country in World War II in the military, they did not receive veteran's status until 1979. Their efforts have largely gone unheralded. Only this year were their efforts recognized by the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal. The records of the WASPs are held by Texas Woman's University, more information about the Wasps and photos can be found here: http://www.twu.edu/library/wasp.asp

Women continue to contribute to aviation today flying for airlines and the military in combat roles. Some interviews with women pilots from the current s wars can be found at: http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/ex-war-women4wars.html

Some Job Hunting Resources @ the library

E-JOURNALS, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS (PERIODICALS):

1. Under DATABASES, click "Online Periodicals By Title/SFX"
2. Type career or an occupation (ex: nursing) into the search box.
3. Click Go.

Video tutorial (requires Flash).

BOOKS AND E-BOOKS:

1. Under LIBRARY CATALOG, click "Books, Periodicals, etc..."
2. Click "Advanced Search Options"
3. Change Library drop down box to "TSC-Career Services"
4. Type career or the name of an occupation (ex: nursing) into the keyword search box.
5. Click Search.

Video tutorial (requires Flash).

Note: Items labeled "TSC-Career Services" are not located in the Dick Smith library. They are in the Tarleton Student Center, in the Career Services office (campus map).

Top 10 Tuesday - 10 Websites on Historical Women

March is Woman's History Month. The following is a list of websites that provide information about women who have done something notable in history. I wanted to do a Top 10 list of Women in History, but that is very subjective to each individual, so I leave it to the reader to decide who should go in the top 10 list. Who do you think should be in the Top 10 list of Historical Women? Post your comment and argue your point.

1. Women Adventurers: http://www.biography.com/womens-history/adventures.jsp

2. Women in Mathematics: http://teachersindex.com/womeninmath.html

3. Women in Science and Medicine: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/biographies/a/women_science.htm

4. Women in Business: http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/famouswomenentrepreneurs/Famous_Women_Entrepreneurs.htm

5. Women in Computer History: http://cs-www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html

6. Women in Literature: http://classiclit.about.com/od/womenwriters/Women_Writers.htm

7. Women Inventors: http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/ilives/womeninventors.html

8. Top 25 Influential Women in the World Today: http://www.totallyher.com/top-25-influential-women-in-the-world-today/

9. Women in Television History: http://www.google.com/search?q=women+in+television+history&hl=en&rlz=1T4ADSA_enUS366US368&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=yKafS_n9Aoa1tgfk48SMDg&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11&ved=0CCIQ5wIwCg

10. Top 10 Women Athletes: http://www.everyjoe.com/articles/top-10-greatest-women-athletes-671/

Get off that couch!

We are in the middle of Spring Break! Swimming suits! Shorts! Fun in the sun! Well... not so much; it is cold and windy. HOWEVER, what with daffodils and an absolutely stellar Sunday, it is clear that summer is around the corner.

Check out Ace Fitness and find exercises to get you suit-ready. They have exercises that target certain areas, workouts (including no-equipment-required, so drop that excuse), recipes, and more.

There is also growing evidence that exercise enhances academic performance, so what ARE you waiting for?

Down on the floor! Gimme five pushups!

Texas History

Visit TexasHistory.com featuring the Best of Texas for a lot of neat information on Texas and its history. Really enjoyed this site.