The Idiot's Guide to University (FAQ)

[*jellz*]

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glitterfairy! my 8 hour eStudent buddy :P

awesome guide. Thought i'd comment on the plagarism/referencing stuff:

one of the hardest things to get used to at uni, i found, was the plagarism thing, because most of my assignments in school were pretty much copied and pasted off of the internet. At mac (and other unis do this, i'm sure) a lot of the humanities subjects put each assignment through a plagarism checker. Ours is called "turnitin". We were warned that not only would you inevitably get caught and get a serious warning, but also possibly fail/redo the assignment, or even get expelled (unlikely for a first time offender though). It also means you CANNOT copy assignments from your mates in older years or copy passages out of books. Someone in one of my tutorials got in serious trouble last year (failed + had to repeat the course) because they copied a lot of their assignment from someone who did the course two years before. So my point is this: if your assignment is due the next day and you haven't done it, you have a way better chance of passing if you fill up on coffee and stay up all night to do it properly. To be honest, most first year assignments probably wouldnt take longer than one hard night's slog if you've been to the lectures, done the relevent readings and got a general idea of whats going on. That being said, you should always try to avoid the all-nighter when possible, because chances are your assessments will all be due pretty close to one another, and you'll need your stamina to keep going! Get organised early

As for referencing, at macquarie i found that we got little direction in this area even though its an absolutely VITAL element of good academic practise. Even students who don't mean to plagarise can unwittingly do so if they fail to reference properly. Every time you use a direct quote, paraphrase or even just use an idea that you got from a particular source, you must acknowlede the source-- book, academic journal, website, documentary, magazine article, graph etc. etc. in considerable detail. When researching in the library, if you're not allowed to borrow the book or article, make careful note of the full name, author, publisher, publication date, year/edition, relevent page number and so on. There are many difference ways to reference your assignments-- Harvard, MLA, footnoting etc. So when you get an assignment, the best thing to do is to ASK YOUR TUTOR what their preferred system of referencing is and make sure they explain it to you. Don't feel stupid asking-- there are students in 2nd and even 3rd year who are only now developing an effective referencing style. Therefore, get into the habit early on.

thats all from me. woo!

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

wow, that was really, really good. especially the plagiarism thing...i thought my modern hist teacher was strict on referencing but !!!! oh well, forewarned is forearmed, lol. thanks again.

[lala2]

Hey, if you got a distinction average, is that within the top 15% of your course? (in general). I'm asking as it seems a few people I know got invited to be members of the Golden Key Society, and they said the criterion for invitation (and therefore membership) is the top 15% of your course.

[lala2]

Hmm yes, I can think of one girl who definitely would be smart enough to be in the top 15% but she wasn't invited. Oh well, that's life.

[RHINO7]

How many hours would you spend at uni a day, attending all your tutorials and lectures?

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

Originally Posted by RHINO7

How many hours would you spend at uni a day, attending all your tutorials and lectures?

depends on your degree and how you arrange your timetable. i spend about 3 - 4 hours a day in classes plus another one or two hours if you include breaks. but i only have about 14 hours of class a week. some people would be at uni for like 6 hours a day, every day. what course are you looking at?

[RHINO7]

Bachelor of arts- psychology.

[Grissom]

No they will be looking at your portfolio not what uni you went too.

[ray ban]

what's a nubian?

[iEdd]

A colloquial term for people of African descent.

[SylvesterBr]

Kudos to whoever bumped this.

[louy]

Just read this thread for the first time. This is excellent and very informative. Thank you to the contributors.
Very highly recommended for anyone starting out university so they understand what is what. I will certainly be recommending this to all university starters

[meilz92]

lol UWS hawkesbury campus is like a 2 minute drive from the major supermarket in richmond + macdonalds. you could probably even walk there in like, 10 minutes

[stolenhotelpen]

Originally Posted by ^CoSMic DoRiS^^

depends on your degree and how you arrange your timetable. i spend about 3 - 4 hours a day in classes plus another one or two hours if you include breaks. but i only have about 14 hours of class a week. some people would be at uni for like 6 hours a day, every day. what course are you looking at?

i'm interested in this too. im thinking about bachelor of medical science or bachelor of science. what would i be looking at approx?

btw, gread thread!!

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

Originally Posted by stolenhotelpen

i'm interested in this too. im thinking about bachelor of medical science or bachelor of science. what would i be looking at approx?

btw, gread thread!!

You would have a pretty full timetable with those degrees. Dunno how many hours exactly but everyone I know doing a science related degree seems to be there like all day, every day. It depends how your labs and stuff are timetabled I guess, and how you organise it.