Freedom beckons. No more roll call. No teacher checking you’ve done your homework. No threats to call your parents. No being in trouble for lateness ... College sounds ideal.
For most students, however, it is a big shift.
But there’s an even bigger adjustment in store – getting used to new ways of teaching and learning. Because, while the Leaving Certificate has changed to include more critical thinking, analysis and understanding, it remains, at its core, a memory test.
College is different. Here, you’ll be asked to gather information from multiple sources, weigh up conflicting views and interpretations and come to your own conclusions.
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If this sounds daunting, higher education institutions are more focused on the transition between school and college than ever before, and there are a variety of supports in place to help students make the transition and, crucially, avoid plagiarism. These include helping students learn how to take good notes, study effectively, manage their time, develop writing skills and learn to construct an argument.
What to expect in your first year
Most students go straight from school to college, but those who first went to a PLC course in a college of further education do have an advantage – they will already have learned about academic writing, referencing and research.
For all other students, the adjustment can take time. It’s normal to struggle with your first assignments and to wonder: what does my lecturer want here?
Here’s what they’re looking for:
- Can you read and understand information, particularly from sources with different points of view?
- Can you conduct research and know the difference between a reliable and non-reliable source?
- Can you show evidence of independent and critical thinking?
Lectures are where you get the overview of the course work, but tutorials are where you’ll discuss the course materials, put context on it and gain a deeper understanding.
In most cases, lectures will be available online before or after the tutorial. However, taking notes can really help a student to absorb information, and lecturers themselves will put more flesh on the bones of the notes, which makes it a good idea to show up for class.
[ How can incoming students get the best out of their first year at college?Opens in new window ]
Self-management becomes crucial. Because nobody is checking that you’re on top of your coursework, attending lectures or reading the material, you alone are responsible for your learning. If your essay is late, you won’t get a punishment but you’ll (usually) lose the marks.
First year is all about making the academic and social adjustments, so it’s okay if your academic performance is lower than it was at school. This year is about planning, learning to research and write academically – it will get easier, and in the vast, vast majority of cases, your first-year results will not have any effect on your final degree.
As a lecturer in UCD, I’d usually have at least one student in every course who had been the star student in school, only to arrive at university and find someone who was academically better than them. This can be an adjustment too, but it’s a healthy and normal one.
Writing, numeracy and study skills
You won’t simply be asked to read the material and regurgitate it. Rather, you’ll need to show that you understand it, you can question its accuracy and can use your sources to develop a clear argument. Lecture notes are a first port of call, but they’re a jumping off point for your course reading list.
Answer the question asked, not the question you would like it to be.
Structure your paragraphs well: make your point, use a quote and explain, ideally using multiple sources.
Beware of received wisdom or ideas that seem obvious to you: humans are harming the environment, the Middle Ages were a time of ignorance and superstition, social media is bad for teenagers. Some or all of these may be true, but your job is to research your case and prove it in a clear and legible way. Many academics advise students to write their essay introduction last, when they’re clear what they want to say.
An important step is to figure out what kind of learner you are, and how you like to learn. Are you a visual learner, do you learn by doing, or do you absorb things best by listening or talking them through out loud? Some people need to see a diagram before a concept clicks; others need to build something with their hands, or explain it back to someone else, before it really sinks in.
Trial and error is fine here, so try a few different approaches to the same material and notice which one actually sticks, rather than assuming you already know your “type”.
Different subjects and departments will have specific style and submission guidelines, including referencing guidelines. Stick to them.
Sources
Critical thinking means looking at an idea from multiple standpoints.
How, for instance, do different theories in physics stand up against each other? If you’re a fan of the Copenhagen interpretation (within a quantum system, there is only one reality), your essay also needs to engage with the Many-Worlds interpretation (there are multiple realities in multiple worlds) and explain why you favour one over the other.
In law, you might feel that politicians should have the final say (political constitutionalism) rather than judges (legal constitutionalism), but you need to engage with both arguments and explain why you’ve come down on a particular side.
In history, why might one academic say that a certain war was inevitable, while another says it could have been avoided?
Use more than one source. Ideally, at least four, from different points of view – and not just those that say what you’d like to hear. There’s no upper limit on how many sources to use, however, as it could take a dozen different readings to get a proper insight.
Today, artificial intelligence (AI) can seem like a significant time-saver, even though it is unreliable and prone to making things up. There’s a growing body of evidence that those who rely on AI to write for them have worse outcomes: an MIT study found that those who used AI – in this particular study, ChatGPT – to write their essays had an up to 55 per cent reduction in brain activity in regions tied to creativity and information processing compared with those writing unassisted.
It’s unrealistic to expect students not to use AI at all, but if you do use it, make sure you check every source, every word, and perhaps use it only as a way of summarising information for yourself to get started – like a personalised Wikipedia. While you might get away with it for assignments, AI won’t be in the exam hall with you, and your writing and analytical skills will be weaker – which will ultimately mean lower grades.
[ Advice for first years: ‘It’s okay if you don’t know what you’re doing’Opens in new window ]
Better, more acceptable sources:
- Text books, where the author has done their research and read extensively. For college, it’s generally best to avoid books that don’t include a bibliography, index or other references, but this isn’t a hard and fast rule.
- Journal articles. Lecturers, tutors and librarians will explain how to access these. Journal articles are peer-reviewed, which is a mark of quality control: it means several other academics scrutinised the work independently to make sure it wasn’t utter bullshit.
- Documents from professional bodies. Organisations including the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, the Bar of Ireland and the Institute of International and European Affairs will often produce articles or submissions on topical or legal issues, containing valuable insights from those working in the field.
- Government or official publications. Statistical releases, government bills and white papers for discussion may contain useful information.
It’s healthy to question authority; indeed, academia insists that every claim should be held up to scrutiny – and that applies equally whether you’re arguing that goji berries cure cancer or that influencers do not have the knowledge or skills to tell you more about cancer than a doctor.
Sources to use sparingly include:
- News websites and newspapers – including this one; including this article. Newspapers give useful overviews and can point you toward a topic worth digging into, but they don’t go through peer review – no independent expert checks the facts or reasoning before publication. That doesn’t make them untrustworthy, just the wrong tool for an academic essay. They’re fine for establishing bare facts, or for showing how the media covered a given issue. But they can slant a story – and, unlike a journal article, nobody’s checking their homework.
- Social media and websites. Again, they’re not subject to academic rigour, and anyone can say anything whether it’s true or not. This includes TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, among others.
- Films and historical novels. Don’t be tempted to skip the book and just watch the film, or to get an interpretation based on a novel (unless the assignment specifically asks for this).
- Wikipedia. It’s often reliable and it can be a good starting point, but anyone can edit any wiki page at any time, so there’s a strong chance you could include false information.
A note on plagiarism
Colleges almost always require you to submit essays online, and plagiarism-detection software makes it very likely you’ll get caught if you pass someone else’s work off as your own. Penalties vary by institution, but they typically escalate: a first offence is often dealt with informally, such as a mandatory resubmission capped at a pass grade, while repeat or serious offences can appear on your academic record or lead to more severe sanctions, including expulsion.
Check your own college’s plagiarism policy so you know exactly where you stand.
Peter McGuire is a freelance journalist and former UCD Irish folklore lecturer and adult education tutor
