Many of the issues that affect the quality of the reference you will get depend on how you govern yourself over the course of your studies, and by the time you ask for the reference, your reputation with that professor may not be, shall we say, ideal for the purpose of getting a “good” reference. Some students seem to be oblivious as they diminish, bit by bit, the reputation they will need later when it is time to ask the professor for a reference. Presuming you do not have a time machine to make repairs when your job search and grad school applications come around, being conscious of your actions as a student will help you later.
Continue reading “Make sure you made a good impression as a student”News
Which prof to ask?
A professor may not be in a particularly good position to give a meaningful evaluation for jobs, unless you have done work with the professor outside of a course, such as volunteering or work-study projects.
Continue reading “Which prof to ask?”How to ask profs for job references
If you have paid careful heed to this advice through your academic years, you stand a good chance that an honest, unbiased reference will be complimentary about your professionalism, attention to detail, intellectual energy, ability to problem solve, set priorities and lead other students, and communicate well and with confidence in both oral and written forms. Now you are ready to approach one or more professors for a reference for employment.
Continue reading “How to ask profs for job references”How to ask profs for grad school references
If you have paid careful heed to this advice through your academic years, you stand a good chance that an honest, unbiased reference will be complimentary about your professionalism, attention to detail, intellectual energy, ability to problem solve, set priorities and lead other students, and communicate well and with confidence in both oral and written forms. Now you are ready to approach one or more professors for a reference for graduate school.
Continue reading “How to ask profs for grad school references”Resources for current students
DO NOT SLIP ANYTHING under my office door or it will be lost.
My assignment due dates are intentionally not class dates. It’s not a mistake. Do not bring assignments to class.
Course outlines and policies are on the University course management system (login to http://my.torontomu.ca) for registered students.
Read the course outline. You will be penalized for deductions and other deficiencies clearly outlined in these references. Writing quality is important and spelling does count.
According to University policy, current students must use their University email in correspondence with faculty. If you use another account, your email may be discarded unread. The sound rationale for this policy was explained by the university in a notification in Winter 2008.
Anticipating future inquiries, have a look here for advice about:
Dealing with groupwork
Getting references from professors (for work or grad school)
Groupwork: the paradox of learning through aggravation
Long after marks have been forgotten, the lessons of some assignments will be remembered. When we get the expected satisfactory results, we often think no more of it: the outcome was as expected. If the good mark means we think no more of the assignment, then we may also never think again of the material we learned to be able to complete the assignment. Sometimes the very reason we do well is that the assignment required us to demonstrate something we already knew or a skill we already had, in effect, not learn anything at all. Of course, this is not the purpose of an assignment.
Continue reading “Groupwork: the paradox of learning through aggravation”Groupwork – beyond acrimony
Enduring lessons also often come from group work. Twenty or thirty years from now, you will remember the group project where you had to pick up the slack for a teammate, and the self-respect you developed from pulling through for the team. In professional careers, everyone has to work with others. Even the metaphorical forest ranger alone in his tree house needs to have the support of others. Teamwork requires more than division of labour: that just produces work that equals the sum of the parts. Effective teamwork leads to team output that is more than the sum of the parts. It must not lead to output that is less than the sum of the parts!
Continue reading “Groupwork – beyond acrimony”Buying in to the good of the group
(power is over-rated)
For groups to work well, the members must buy in to the importance of succeeding as a team rather than the importance of protecting their individual reputations (or in the case of an assignment, their individual marks). Protecting the individual means keeping a second set of books to be able to cut the ties with other members if the going gets tough. Groups that are not wholeheartedly committed to success as a group often end up resorting to backstabbing, seeking to be evaluated individually, or seeking to have teammates penalized.
Continue reading “Buying in to the good of the group”Functional groups look for complementary roles
Functional groups find ways to go around, over, or through the weaknesses of members. If you have a teammate who cannot proofread her way out of a paper bag, you proofread her work. If you have a person who collects factual information like nobody’s business, but cannot see the big picture, you break the project down and give him a self-contained piece to do, then help him knit that material into the report as a whole. If someone has poor English writing skills, you can encourage him or her to get assistance from the Writing Centre, but also have the group team up to edit his or her section. Over the years, I have received many papers that contain really great ideas, but the English is terrible. I have to penalize the English, but the group doesn’t. The group can and should edit not just to repair the contributions from individuals, but also to make the “voice” of the paper consistent. In doing this, functional groups are sensitive to the members’ contributions, and involve all members in the final edition. This way, each person sees how their own material was made better by the group process. The functional group turns in work that is more than the sum of the parts.
Functional groups are not just lucky
It is tempting for dysfunctional group members to think that they would have had an effective group “if only” they had not been stuck with person A, B, or C. Groups are formed different ways, but I often assign groups using a combined randomization / balance process that attempts to ensure that the academic strengths and weaknesses of the various groups are somewhat evenly balanced. Functional groups, therefore, are not just the groups that get all the “smart” students. Functional groups work on the group relationship, and it pays off.
Continue reading “Functional groups are not just lucky”