Designed for all incoming international students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, this handbook answers questions and offers information and strategies that can be used to make their transition into the U.S. system easier. It explains the expectations, norms, and procedures of the U.S. educational system. The handbook is divided into…

Examples are presented of worksheets designed to help students prepare for discussions of literature in terms of the language, plot, and literary aspects of a particular work. All examples are from an introductory course in German literature. Benefits of using such worksheets include increased students comprehension and class participation. (LMO)

An assignment centered on reading journal articles and writing abstracts is an effective way to improve student reading and writing skills in sedimentology and stratigraphy laboratories. Each student reads two articles and writes informative abstracts from the author's point of view. (PR)

Describes the use of fictional literature in a college-level developmental psychology class. Focuses specifically on Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and its relation to several child development topics. Contends that literature should be used more often as part of instruction, especially in the sciences. (CFR)

Describes the experience of one developmental reading class instructor in using articles from current event publications to foster problem solving, synthesis and analysis, and perspective-taking. Discusses the assignments given to the students and the process used for evaluating student work. Includes a six-step demonstration of study strategies.…

This digest considers the one thing that all English teachers do--make reading and writing assignments. It addresses 4 questions whose answers should determine the nature of the reading and writing assignments given by teachers: (1) who are the students? (2) why are the students in college? (3) what is the nature of the course in which the…

Academic Development Program students face a special challenge. Within a few short weeks, they must hone their reading, writing, and speaking skills while scrambling to adjust to life in college. Usually, pre-freshmen enrolled in the Academic Development Program are not familiar with the demands of academic reading, writing, and oral response. For…

A broadcast internship program at the University of Missouri at St. Louis has established prerequisites such as a declared major in speech, a resume, and a transcript of all previous college work. For the course, students must write their own learning objectives before the internship begins and a projected calendar of their working hours. They…

The development of a self-instruction package on making notes from reading which was designed for new students at Newcastle Polytechnic in the United Kingdom is described. Notemaking skills involve recognition of topics and topic sentences in a written text, picking out key content words in the text, recognition of key relationships and…

Asserts that all students should know that African Americans make up an integral part of U.S. history. Reviews two books, "In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture," by Kwame Anthony Appiah and "Lure and Loathing: Essays on Race, Identity, and the Ambivalence of Assimilation," by Gerald Early (ed.). (CFR)

Discusses results of a survey of undergraduates' television watching and reading habits, revealing startling numbers of nonreaders or minimal readers. Describes assignments used in journalism classes to promote the reading habit. (SR)

This paper outlines a senior seminar, or "capstone" course, in computer science developed at the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg. It was intended that the senior seminar should differ in classroom format from other courses in the major. Course requirements include timed oral presentations, reading of science fiction in which…

Employing a body of texts for the reading and study of literature in the English classroom leads to much argumentation, with much disagreement about what is fair game for the writing student. To help determine which texts to select it is necessary to define cultural literacy in a different way from that of E. D. Hirsch. Hirsch would prescribe…

A study compared the results of a 1986 survey on the opinions of preservice teachers with those of a survey conducted in 1984 by William Bennett (at that time chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities). Bennett's survey asked respondents to list 30 works that students should be expected to read before high school graduation.…

Political scientists who teach African politics courses at U.S. colleges and universities were surveyed in 1973 to (1) discover successful teaching techniques, approaches, and texts; (2) determine the popularity of courses in African politics; and (3) collect data on the status of African politics as a research area. A questionnaire was mailed to…