Category: Advices

The world of internet has grown greatly. It is now possible to get most of the services sitting at home with the help of the internet. Internet helps the people a lot to carry out their studies also. One of the best services that are being provided by many websites these days is essay writing. The people can now provide the topic to the website and the experts will write the essay for him. The person has to just submit the topic to the website and the experts will write the essay for him within the time that is given by him. The essay writing services also provide various other facilities such as proof reading of various thesis and projects. In most of the cases, some amount of money is charged by the website. Thus, the person has to find the best one so that he can get the best value for the money that he has invested. Thus the person should see that the writing service meet some standards.

The first thing that should be taken care of is the reputation of the website. These days there are many such websites that provide writing service to the people. However, not all of them are able to provide high quality essays to the people who are taking their service. For this, the person has to Visit website of the company. Once he has done that he can also have a look at the various essays that has been already written by the experts of the company. This will give him an idea about the quality of the writing that is provided by them. He will also come to know about the fee that is charged for various types of writing. He can also have a look at the reviews that has been provided by the people who have already taken the service.

Yearly, there are 200,000 students from the United States that study in foreign universities. Because of the greater financial commitment, many students forfeit the opportunity because they do not have the financial help that they need. Somehow, the student has to pay for their air travel to and from the country, local housing arrangements and travel inside the country. One solution for students who desire to study abroad is an international student loan.

Many of the students who study abroad apply for grants and scholarships, but even when they receive one, it doesn’t pay for all of their expenses. The advantage of an international loan is that it will pay for all of your university expenses minus the grants or scholarships you have received.

You must be a U. S. Citizen or have your permanent resident card in order to apply for an international loan. You must, also, be enrolled in a foreign university for a short time with plans to return and earn your degree in the United States, or be attending a university on the list of approved schools on a full-time basis with intention of earning a degree. To apply for federal international student loans you must have a FAFSA pin number.

The best types of international loans are federal loans. The best advice is to apply for all the federal loans, scholarships and grants that you can, and, if possible, get all of your financial aid from them. The other type of international loan is a private loan. These have much higher interest and should only be used as a last resort.

The federal loans that most students apply for are Stafford loans. Any students can apply upon showing that they have a financial need and that the school they are attending is on the approved list of foreign schools.

If you do not want to make payments while you are in school and for six months after you graduate, then apply for a Stafford loan. They even give you the benefit of paying your loan back early without charging you any extra. You can, also, follow and manage your account on-line. They will not do a credit check on you.

Either legal residents or citizens of the U. S. Qualify for an international student loan. With this excellent opportunity, it is time to go ahead and make plans to get your degree in a foreign university. Do not lose the opportunity to study in another culture.

Writing essays are inescapably part of a student’s life. In every school term, a student gets to write a dozen of essays for each academic subject. It is one way of a teacher to measure and evaluate his/her students’ writing and comprehension skills. Becoming a good essay writer takes time and requires a lot of writing exercises to master it. No doubt, the school is the best place and quite a training ground to harness our essay writing skills, which we can greatly use once we graduate and find our own jobs.

While other students find writing essays to be fun, there are also others who struggle with it and considers it a burden on their part. Not all students are given the gift to write well. Some are really “slow” and really requires a special attention by a teacher to supervise his/her writing activity. Similarly, not all students also have enough time to write an outstanding essay. Active students tend to prefer in participating with different school and social with their fellow students rather than sitting down in a table with a pen on its hand and a blank paper in front. Essay writing, thus, seemed to be not for everyone.

If you are struggling in writing essays, do not get depressed. There are plenty of ways to finish your term paper, research paper, case studies, and other essay writing assignments. One best alternative is to hire a professional writer or avail an essay writing service to get things done.

While others consider hiring an essay writer or an essay writing service to be cheating for students, there are a number of benefits you can still get out of it. Reading a custom essay will expose you to different writing techniques, which you can also adopt when you create your own. Professional essays also assure you that correct grammar, sentence construction, and proper punctuation marks are used. You can also seek professional help and seek help from professional writers online. It is like hitting two birds at the same time: you get to submit a good essay and learn writing techniques at the same time.

Therefore, if you are willing to spend some penny, you can buy essays online from different essay writing service companies, which offer quality output for a reasonable free. One thing to note though: do not rely on these essay writing services at all times or else you won’t learn anything. Consider them as an inspiration when you write your own essays in the future.

To delve deep into your subject matter and to gain a good understanding requires concentration. To ensure you are able to do this there are a few conditions, which if fulfilled, will enable an optimal study experience.

A quiet space

Your first requirement is a good space without distraction. You need to be sure that you will be uninterrupted for a couple of hours. If your accommodation does not offer this possibility then go to the library and find a spot free of too much traffic. One great advantage of working in the library is the immediate availability of reference texts should you come across a problem that needs further investigation or referencing. Make sure you have all that you need with you. Your concentration will be broken if your pen runs out of ink or you need more paper and have to leave to get more.

Inner space

In order to focus sufficiently on your work you need to leave other concerns behind for a while. Tension, stress, emotion, will all have an adverse effect. Deal with these issues using some of the good tips, make sure you get a good night’s sleep, and eat well. Exercise regularly to keep fit.

Work schedule

It is difficult to work well if you are behind time with your work schedule. Try and keep ahead and you will be less worried and more focused. Take a short break at approximately every half hour to forty-five minutes. Five minutes is long enough to go outside and breathe some fresh air and stretch your legs. Stop working when you become tired and your attention begins to wander.

Be well organized with your filing system. You really do not want to waste time searching for that little piece of paper that you jotted some notes on.

Concentration techniques

Now the scene is set to begin work it is time to look at concentration itself. The above preparation will help you to create a working atmosphere but it does not guarantee your ability to concentrate. It helps to note down your aims for the study period and to keep to them. if ideas keep coming into your mind that are not related to the work you are doing then keep an extra piece of paper ready and jot them down. That way you will not worry about forgetting them and for the moment they are out of the way. Do not feel intimidated by anything you do not understand immediately. Persist and re-read, noting down any questions that arise. Return to the problem later after completing your work and place it at top of your list of goals for the next study period.

Writing down what you are learning as you read, or in class while listening to your lecturer, helps you to memorize new facts more easily. Essay writing offers an excellent opportunity to learn and memorize in depth so always aim to write a thorough and well researched essay. Take notes on all your subjects and file them for later revision.

It is difficult to concentrate on one area of work for too long so apportion a length of time to each subject. This adds variety and freshness but make sure you have spent enough time on each lot of work. If you find it more difficult to concentrate on a specific subject then break down the time you have decided to spend on this subject into shorter portions of twenty to twenty-five minutes.

As a general rule work for as long as you feel alert and absorbed in your work. When you are finished do something enjoyable. You will find it very satisfying after a successful study period.

You are not alone

Do not forget that there are many other students in your class and it is good to meet and discuss what you have learnt. Share and you will notice the benefits in increased ease at remembering and re-producing your subject matter. The mind is like a muscle in that regular practice will improve your power of concentration.

The first few months of college are difficult for any new student. For international students starting college in a new country, this time can be even more challenging. It is important that college orientation staffs do whatever it takes to get international students acclimated to their new home. Read on for tips about how to orient students from other countries to life at a United States school.

Hold a mixer

Fellow international students are likely the best friends for new students from abroad. Make sure international students meet one another by holding a group dinner or meet-and-greet event. This is especially helpful for people who do not speak English as their first language. Finding friends who know the same native language can make the experience of studying in another country much easier. If you do hold a mixer, be sure to invite upperclassmen from other countries too. These experienced international students will be able to guide their new counterparts through their first days of college.

Assign a friend

Sometimes, an American friend is what it takes an international student to learn his or her way around a new city. You may want to give international students a native roommate. Alternatively, you could assign a friendly American student to meet with an international student one a week. Either way, make sure there is someone available who can explain the ins and outs of life in the States. It can be difficult for a new foreign student to learn about things like tipping in restaurants, grocery store behavior and other tasks we take for granted. A good guide will help alleviate most of these problems.

Give a tour

Any new student needs help finding classrooms their first day of school. This is especially true of international students who may have problems with English. Help by showing each new student where his or her classrooms are the day before the first day of class.

Assist with contacting home

Most students will have computers and cell phones, so contacting home should not be too much of an issue. However, some things are different in the United States, and it cannot hurt to make sure international students know how things work. Give a guided tour of how to use your school’s email system, how to use pay phones and how the post office works. All of these things may be difficult for a student from another country to navigate at first.

Be available

Perhaps the best thing you can do to orient international students is to have a member of housing staff available at all times for any questions that may come up. International students often need extra help the first few days of school. Reassure them that it is okay to have questions. Direct international students to offices where they can find help and give out phone numbers and email addresses too.

After the first month or so of college, most international students should be fine on their own at a new school. Nevertheless, do not assume that everyone will acclimate to life abroad the same way. Keep checking up on new students and schedule regular social events after their first mixer. With good planning, international students will love their time abroad.

Speed reading is a necessity, a skill that is needed to compete in this modern world, when information intake is a significant advantage in any job requirement. Many people believe that in order to improve their reading skills they should focus on reading speed increase in order to improve their reading skills. The focus on reading speed only takes energy away from the main task at hand, understanding and comprehending the text you are reading, so instead of concentrating on the speed in which you read you better focus on the reading, and as you improve you skills in reading you will probably find that you have increased your reading speed.

Reading comprehension may sound like something back from the school days, but it is actually the main purpose of any kind of reading at all, even if this particular reading assignment is not what you would normally do, and you keep thinking to yourself that you want this article to end, you will achieve much more by reading and understanding the text than just browsing and going for speed, only to realize that you do not know anything about this text once you are done reading. At that phase you will be sorry you didn’t pay attention to the content and understand that you have to go over this text again, thus not only failing to get a better reading speed, not even getting to the point of the matter.

So, when you have a reading assignment and you want to practice your speed reading techniques, you should have a task, a purpose, a clear idea what you need and what you expect to get out of this text. Getting to a main concept on the text, or an idea, you can efficiently visualize the idea or concept, because you will have a clear idea of what you need, you will know what you do not need, allowing you to overlook, and sort out the insignificant information in the text.

When hitting an important part of the text, like the results of a research, evidence or conclusions, anything that is important in the text itself, try and adjust your reading speed, try and focus on the part that is important, changing the speed will increase your attention to it and will allow you to pay more attention to crucial details you may need later. Increasing the reading focus is also called reading “consciously” so that the reader increases concentration to match the level of importance he attributes to the text.

This conscious reading also allows the reader to mark particular sections of the text thus alerting the brain to focus on these parts, and encouraging better information recall. To read efficiently the efficient reader also reads bigger chunks of text, not individual words and phrases.

Efficient readers also use a word template, its visual sign, as a marker, going over it without reading it, when they prepare to read the text, they start to think of this sign as visual thing, not a word to be read each time they see it, so they save themselves time by not having to read the word usually most frequently appearing in the text before them (imagine you will do this on this article, signing out “read” speed” and “reading”).

On the next article we will look at speed reading practice, how to practice it and when is it a good thing to do, I hope this information helped you increase your knowledge of speed reading.

Everyone knows that college is expensive. This is why so many people don’t really care in high school – it’s free and, depending on the district’s system and educational tactics, oftentimes not respected. When a student goes on to college, though – especially later on in life, mid-twenties, once they’ve had to be on their own before – suddenly the money is much more appreciated, the amount of time and effort put into perspective, and the whole experience is more valuable.

That’s a really important part of life in general and making these big decisions: perspective.

When I was in high school, my world pretty much revolved around me, my friends, and our ridiculous drama. I didn’t care about my education or college, because I thought if college was going to be anything like high school, I didn’t want to go. I saw it as a waste of time, energy, and instead, decided to be home schooled for a good chunk of high school so I could get my work done quickly, pass, and spend the majority of my time writing, playing piano, and hanging out with my friends. Once I was 16, I bought a car and got a job. I couldn’t wait to be in the real world because the high school world seemed so… stupid.

When I finally did make it into college in my early 20′s, I absolutely loved it. An AS later, I’m back from a Bachelor’s. I plan to keep going after that because I was reunited with what I love to do: write.

For me, my college career will be well worth the money and the time and effort put into it.

So how do you know it’ll be worth it for you?

That’s a pretty individualized opinion for each person. It all varies. If you enjoy attending college to study what you study for years, then you’re probably in the right field. If you’re burned out after a few months, you may need to reconsider your major for it to be worth it in the long run.

Everyone has different passions, goals, and priorities in life. My priorities lie in taking care of my family and being home, which means I work and go to school from the comfort of my home office. This saves me time, gas, and time away from my kids – who still go to school and daycare so I can work, but they’re with me for most of the day, every day, I cook for them, and have an active part in their lives. When I found out I could attend college online, it was like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I wouldn’t have to make extra money for gas or be away from my kids all day every day.

Now, going to college online and taking care of my family is still important to me, so once I found out there was an accredited college offering online programs in creative writing, I was thrilled! Of the schools I looked at and read about, my instinct told me which one to go for ultimately.

Which brings me to my next point: your instincts.

If you don’t trust yourself, how will you ever know that anything you’re doing is right for your life in the long run? How will you be okay if you fail but still take the most away from it that you can? How will you get back up and try again even if you don’t “succeed” right away?

What is your definition of success?

The debt that students rack up over the years is immense. Though there are a lot of different ways to pay for college debt and various programs to help those who are in financial crisis or need, it’s still overwhelming to think that there’s a good chance you could be paying off your student loans for the rest of your life.

This makes it even more important for the degree program and your career choice to be worth it. The effort and money doesn’t just last throughout your college experience; it also lasts well beyond that, sometimes throughout your entire life.

Why would anyone want to waste their life on something they don’t like or don’t want to do?

Ultimately, you need to decide what your goals in life are, what your ideal job is, and you’ll either already know or find out rather quickly if it’s the right choice for you. Between grants and all sorts of scholarships available, there are ways to help you pay down your student loans, too. It’s just a matter of effort.

So… is your journey worth it?

Most of us hate studying, or at least dislike it immensely when we’re learning about subjects that don’t interest us. So how can we make studying more fun? Depending on your class, you can do a number of activities to make studying more fun or at least enhance the experience. Here are a few things that have helped me to study, which I greatly appreciate because I tend to have a hard time making things stick in my memory.

1. Surf the web, watch videos

This can prove to be quite interesting. You have to be careful not to get distracted or side-tracked by something else you stumble upon, but if you can find relevant information online about your subject matter, you can probably find some pretty interesting information that you may not have known you wanted to know before.

For those of us who have a hard time focusing on written materials on screen for whatever reason, it often helps to find videos on YouTube about what you need to know. There are a great deal of video resources out there that can help you to learn more about almost any topic in the world, and watching and listening can be more effective than reading sometimes.

2. Take breaks, get rewards

After you’ve been studying for a certain amount of time or finish studying a set of notes or a chapter, give yourself a break! Reward yourself with something you love for 5-15 minutes. This could be anything from reading a chapter of a book you enjoy to taking a quick dip in the pool or even having a chocolate bar or some ice cream. Go outside and treat yourself to a little sunshine, go for a walk, or have a quick tickle fight with your kids. It doesn’t matter what you do; you should give yourself breaks every hour or two and reward yourself for your hard work.

3. Feed your brain

You’d be surprised how difficult studying (or any other kind of mind-related work) can be when you’re lacking nutrition. If you haven’t eaten or had at least a couple of glasses of water in a day, your mind will hate you for attempting to make it understand something, and you’ll get frustrated, stuck, and annoyed.

Making sure you have a healthy snack or meal when you begin to feel hungry can work wonders on your mind’s functionality. I notice this on a regular basis with myself. If I forget to eat, I soon remember by noticing how I’m feeling and how slow the process of working or studying is going.

Some good, healthy snacks are: yogurt, sunflower nuts, granola bars, fruits, vegetables, eggs, and cereal (but not the over-sugared sweet kids’ stuff).

4. Get creative

If you still have a hard time studying and making it work for you, maybe it’s time to grab a study partner or three and make a game of it. Between making your own Memory game to playing “Game Show,” you can find innovative and interesting ways to make your study sessions much more entertaining. Either that or just play a whole lot of Trivial Pursuit to learn a whole lot of everything… but why not apply that concept to studying?

5. Stick to the classics

Flash cards! Flash cards are a tried and true way to study, providing people with study solutions for years… try over 1000 years. Flash cards are an intuitive and simple way to learn, making them ideal for studying. The best part is that they can be applied to any subject, any level, and any lifestyle. I bet you that even students learning about FBI requirements use flash cards!

6. Last but not least

I don’t know what it is, but music always seems to help me think. Not just any kind of music, though… it has to be somewhat mellow, not too loud, and have no lyrical content (otherwise I end up thinking or even writing what I hear in the song – not good!). There are plenty of genres that offer sufficient background pleasantries while you do your studying, reading, writing, or other work in the foreground.

Classical music is known for stimulating the brain and helping to improve brain function… why not take advantage of that concept and get some entertainment while studying?

I hope this blog post helps you to find your ideal way of studying. These are just a few ideas that have worked for me – maybe they will work for you, too!

Example A: Reply who?

It’s early. You just got into the office or opened your e-mail inbox. Scan the messages for anything important. Notice a message from your manager. Open it. Boss man is not happy with the reports he received the day before and your manager proceeds to relay the ranting message to all of the team members… you then see another e-mail pop up from a fellow employee… “I wish he would get the stick out of his bum!”

Can we say reply all?

Your eyes widen as you realize this person just sent that message to everyone, including the boss, who was CC’d on the original message. Someone will be fired today, you think….

I don’t know how many people this has happened to, but I’m sure it’s a lot. That cursed reply all button is to blame! Not really. Actually, you shouldn’t be saying anything that would offend someone during work communication in the first place. Just paying attention to which reply button is which the answer isn’t. The answer is simple: don’t say anything you might regret later!

Example B: Typo demons.

Then there’s the case of the never-ending typos. I once worked for someone who would always send me the e-mails she was planning to send to corporate for review/proofreading. She got it right! Professional messages, e-mail or otherwise, should never be riddled with typos and mistakes. It isn’t professional.

So, give it a look-through. Make sure there isn’t a bunch of gibberish in the e-mail message before you send it to the boss!

Example C: Text-speak.

If you’re writing a professional – or even semi-professional – message, then you should definitely keep in mind that filling this message with smileys and LOL’s could be detrimental to your relationship with your boss. After a while, you may develop a relationship where this might even be okay, but even then, keep it to a minimum. And for goodness sake, don’t use ROFLMFAO!!! That’s just rude. Laugh politely, not like you’ve had a six-pack.

Example D: STOP YELLING AT ME!!!

I bet you already know what I’m going to say here.

ESPECIALLY IN A PROFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENT, IT’S IMPERATIVE THAT YOU DO NOT USE ALL CAPS AND YELL YOUR MESSAGE AT PEOPLE. THIS IS THE UNSPOKEN RULE: ALL CAPS = YELLING. SO UNLESS YOU’D LIKE TO YELL YOUR COMPLAINTS AT YOUR BOSS IN REAL LIFE, I STRONGLY SUGGEST KEEPING YOUR TYPING TO A dull roar.

Can’t you just hear someone yelling when you read that? Isn’t that crazy? We may not be able to hear someone’s inflections when we read an e-mail, but it’s definitely clear that someone is yelling or shouting when using all caps. Very annoying. Plus spell check doesn’t work on all caps.

Example F: How did you get inside that computer?

If there’s one thing that will help anyone and everyone remember how to behave online, it’s remembering that there’s another person at the other end. It’s not just a screen… it’s just like other cars aren’t just cars… there are actual drivers in there! What a concept!

Just remember the person you’re talking to. Take into consideration when you proofread your e-mail what might come across as iffy or offensive. If you’re writing to someone like your project manager, then having a bunch of errors could be a big problem.

Final summation?

Like in any aspect of life, be considerate. People are much more likely to respond positively to you if you consider their perspective, too. After all, don’t you expect the same from other people, especially those you work or study with?

Okay, I know this title could mean any number of things. Food for thought… epiphanies… statements about the brain… random facts…. whatever. I mean it more literally.

You ever notice that certain food or meals have that Thanksgiving Meal effect? You eat and all of a sudden you’re tired… yawning… unmotivated… can’t think… just want to spend the rest of the day laying on the couch in your PJ’s and watch TV? Well, just like how some food have this effect, some other foods have the opposite effect and can energize you, improve your focus, and increase productivity for a couple of hours at least.

I call these Brain Foods =)

This actually originated from when I was pregnant with my 2-year-old son. I was tired quite a bit because he was so active and zapped the energy right out of me. Even though I only gained 5 pounds throughout my entire pregnancy, it was really strange because I was napping almost daily and not extremely active. My eating habits were phenomenal, though, and some of this I try to keep in my routine now, too, simply because I feel much better when I have a healthier diet.

Anyone with kids and a busy lifestyle or someone who has a lot of things going on will be able to appreciate the Brain Food idea. I was pregnant and attending online college, had 2 other kids, too, was working from home, and – believe me – when you live in a large household, the amount of chores you end up doing go way up! Between homework, two kids, feeling exhausted, 3-5 loads of laundry a day, and work, I needed this kind of food to help keep me going and motivated. And who couldn’t use more energy in a day?

So, what are some of these Brain Foods?

Cereal. No, not the sickly sweet disgustingly sugary kids’ cereals, either. I’m talking Honey Bunches of Oats, Shredded Wheat, anything that has some substance to it and will help you feel energized. A little sugar is okay; just not something like Cocoa Puffs or those tiny little sugary bits. Yucky.

PBJ’s! Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. These are an absolutely awesome Brain Food. You eat one and feel energized and filled up without feeling like you just ate a pound of rocks (something I notice happens to me when I eat fast food – yuck). There’s also some sugar involved here, but only enough to give you a boost and without being sickeningly sweet or the bad kinds of sugar.

Fruit. There’s nothing quite as refreshing as taking a bite out of a nice, crunchy, juicy apple… they taste so good! Again, some sweetness, some natural energy, delicious little snack, and it can be filling with a bit of peanut butter to dip the apple slices in. Even dried fruit is awesome for you – try snacking on some banana chips. I know it sounds weird to some who haven’t tried them or to those who aren’t dried fruit fans, but banana chips are actually really good.

Trail Mix! This is one of my personal favorites. M&M’s, mixed nuts, raisins, absolute deliciously filling, snackable energy-booster. What more could you want? If you’re having issues focusing or have that 2pm “need a nap” feeling, this is a good way to energize without resorting to more coffee or energy drinks. Definitely more natural – and way more delicious!

Sunflower nuts. No, not sunflower seed with the shells all covered in 20 pounds of salt – the pit of the seed. I personally like to put sunflower nuts and dried cranberries – which are a “super food” full of antioxidants and healing attributes, mind you – on a nice, fresh salad, maybe with a little shredded cheese and some sesame ginger dressing or vinaigrette. This kind of salad is surprisingly filling because of the cheese and the sunflower nuts, yet refreshing and crunchy at the same time. I may try to add some mandarin oranges next time I have one…. Yum!

Cucumbers! I love cucumbers. To munch on raw, to slice into thin little slices and add some salad dressing to, or just thrown in with a salad. Any way you have them, cucumbers are refreshing, delicious, and delightfully crunchy.

There you have it. My very favorite brain foods. In general, if it’s fresh and not greasy, you’ll get some energy from it. I also enjoy having raw onions and tomatoes to snack on, because the onions have a bite and you can slice them up and put them on toast with some butter or cream cheese and a touch of garlic salt.

My aunt was recently visiting us from Germany and introduced me to all sorts of yummy breakfast and meal ideas, a lot of which I still have an absolute love for… especially the onion/toast combo. Who knew that I loved onions so much? I didn’t…. Learn something new every day!

If you have your own Brain Foods you’d like to share, please feel free to comment! I’m always looking for new ideas to try out in the kitchen, and can never have too much energy! The household is a busy, chaotic hive of activity, so I have to be able to keep up!