advice – Page 21 – Life @ U of T

It’s essay season; do you know where your apostrophe should go?

You gotta write good like you know you should. Take them words and string 'em together all smart-like. Why? Because words make us wanna go:

Pictured: graphic of "Yaaaaaaas werk!" written in the fanciest calligraphy font I could find

That was painful, I know. I am deeply sorry for putting you through that. The point of it was to show how cringeworthy bad writing can be. [Life@UofT will not be held responsible for any damages resulting from rageful fits my above paragraph may have induced, including but not limited to thrown computers, torn pillows, and a decreased faith in humanity] Good writing is so important in the academic environment. Professors believe that profoundly; a lot of what they do depends on the written word. It's no surprise, then, that professors are often experts at writing well. I have picked up so many great tricks from them throughout my time at university. In the spirit of solidarity during prime essay season, I would like to share my favourite tips with you lovely people.

That Forgetting Feeling

You know that thing that sometimes happens when you’re about to fall asleep but then all of a sudden you feel like you’re falling, you jerk violently, and you’re wide awake again? That’s how I feel when I realize I have forgotten something. I don’t usually forget things; I’m a reasonably organized person and I have systems that I use to keep on top of things.

Pictured: string tied around my finger — An oldie but a goodie

Every now and then, though, the occasional task slips through the cracks. One such occasion was just a little while ago. I’m taking this really interesting Legal Workshops course; I get to attend a few workshops at the Faculty of Law throughout the year. At the beginning of September, I chose the workshops I was interested in and signed up. I marked the workshops I signed up to attend in my calendar. I put them on my phone. You may have guessed, however, that I recently missed one.

Press Send and Prosper: E-mailing Profs

Cyberspace: the final frontier. These are the enterprises of the modern student. Her undergraduate mission: to explore strange new syllabi, to seek out help and resources, to boldly go where many students have gone before… …Her professor’s UTmail+ inbox. Okay okay, maybe e-mailing a professor isn’t quite as exciting or high stakes as hiking through Andoria, but it can feel like a monolithic task. I have heard all sorts of horror stories—everything from sending a prof the wrong e-mail to accidentally using a text abbreviation! Shudder.

Pictured: Spock from Star Trek staring at a computer — Spock is unimpressed by "lol jk" Picture courtesy of http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/

After three years of interacting with professors through various mediums, I think I am starting to get the hang of it.

Here is what I always keep in mind when I’m drafting an e-mail:

Bearing the Weight – In and Outside of the Gym

I went to my second Olympic weightlifting class last week. What is Olympic lifting? Well, it’s pretty straightforward really. Olympic lifts are the ones you see in –you guessed it- the Olympic Games. Someone walks up, makes a lot of…

On Moving Away from Home

I spent this past weekend moving into my new apartment, and doing so brought up a lot of memories of the move I made last year from home to residence. For those of you living in residence next year, move…

What would you tell your first-year self?

What would you tell your first-year self? Over the past three years there have definitely been times when I wish I could go back in time to tell my first-year self something. Sometimes it's something that I wish I could have…

I wish I had known

For the past couple of weeks, we have been collecting advice from U of T students about what they wish they had known as first-year students with the hashtag #wishIhadknownUT. It’s been great to see the wide mix of tips,…

Taking the next step

Graduating is a pretty exciting concept. You’ve survived the onslaught of assignments and tests, and as a reward you never have to set foot in the Exam Centre again. This is the time to celebrate, graduating students! You did it!…

Advice on Advisors

I don’t have any mentors. I’m not sure who, exactly, I should go to for advice – particularly non-judgmental, non-condescending advice about school and my future career. I’ll be completely honest with you all; I’m almost halfway through my university…

Necessary Evils

There's only a little over a month left before the 2013-2014 academic year begins, and it only just feels like summer is getting started - I have yet to make a dent in my annual summer bucket list (you know,…

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