Category Archives: Academics

Academics, Announcements, Events / Programs

For The Journal You’ve Never Heard Of…

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For those who know or may not know, Millersville University showcases achievement beyond the realms of a classroom with the Made In Millersville Conference. You might be aware of the signs that say “Apply Now” or emails that premiere how you can put yourself out there to represent your findings, content analyses, or begging questions about a topic of your interest. You find yourself applying, getting a T-shirt for your commitment to the success of presenting, shaking hands with folks, or sitting on a panel while you grab the attention of everyone in the room—either from your peers, professors, friends, or persons from another university.

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What you may find however is not many know about the Made In Millersville Journal. These five Millersville students are the voice behind the Made in Millersville Journal. Shaakirah, Daniel, Allie, Sara, and Mikayla are the interns for The Made In Millersville Journal. The journal itself is an online interactive database where anyone can look at both current and previous years of student and faculty findings in areas of multiple disciplines that composite scholarly work, creativity, and collaborative learning. The team feverishly works on the journal for others to see—through their meetings they find new and innovative ways to inform the masses on social media platforms via Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter to spread the word about the journal.

Check out the Website here: https://www.mimjournal.com

They will  be presenting with the title: “For The Journal You’ve Never Heard Of.” Their goal with this title, from the team themselves was to establish a voice many may not have heard of—ultimately they want to widen their outreach to not only the  Millersville area, but to the Lancaster area and beyond. They hope to have other like-minded communities observe and commend Millersville University for their admiration, dedication, and approach to learning.

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“I’m learning a lot about subjects I’ve not been around since I declared my major. It’s been really nice to be in a different kind of learning environment  all while being appreciated for my own skills.”—Mikayla

“Working on the journal has been a great learning experience for me so far. Between learning how to run social media accounts and promoting the journal, I’ve already picked up on  a lot of new skills. It’s also been nice to work in a collaborative setting where every team member brings a different  skill to the table. We’re all really excited about the journal!” —Sara

For the journal you’ve never heard of, now you know what you have to look forward to. Be on the lookout for these interns and the work of students, faculty, and your peers! Also be active on Instagram and follow the Made In Millersville Journal for updates, activities, pictures, and most importantly the Conference itself located in McNairy Library. You can follow: mim_journal on Instagram, madeinmujournal on Snapchat,  mimjournal on Twitter, and Made in Millersville Journal on Facebook. See you all there on April 17th, 2018! 

Photos courtesy of Eugene Thomas

Academics, Lists, Resources

Five Tips for Writing in College

At this point in the semester, you may have written a paper or two.  If you haven’t you may be preparing to write a final paper for a class.  (End of the semester is just six weeks away.)  Here are five tips from a past writing major to keep in mind as you work on your papers.

Writing 1

  1. Pace Yourself

It is too often the case that students wait until the night before to start a paper.  They’ll stay up all night, writing right up until the time it’s due.  Don’t do that!  Start at least a couple weeks in advance.  Take your time to formulate your thoughts and find your resources.  If you spend an hour a night writing you’ll find that in a couple weeks you will be done with time to spare.

  1. Outline

Now that you’ve decided to start sooner than the night before one of the first things you should do is outline.  Here are the basics: The intro paragraph, the body, the conclusion.  The intro should be no longer than half a page.  It should have a topic sentence that introduces the main idea of the paper.  The rest of the intro should quickly outline each point you hope to hit in the body.  The body will follow the order of the points you outlined in the intro.  Finally, the conclusion is not just a summary of your paper.  The conclusion should be the place where you explain your findings.  It is the culmination of your paper’s viewpoint or argument; it should be the resolution to the problem or topic.

Writing 2

  1. Don’t know how to start?

Sometimes writing the intro is the toughest part of the paper.  If this is the case for you then skip it!  Start with the meat of the paper.  Once you get the ball rolling on the body you’ll find it will be easier for you to go back to the beginning and write the intro.

  1. Draft and Edit

Your first draft should never be what you hand in.  Make sure to re-read and re-work.  Do you need an apostrophe here?  Did you use the wrong word there?  Always draft and edit!

  1. Careful Sourcing

Double check your sources.  Are they reputable?  Or are they some random Tumblr blog?  Don’t use Wikipedia as your main source.  And DO NOT plagiarize.  If you are quoting someone else, make it obvious.  If you want to summarize what someone said, make it obvious.  The best way to do this is to follow the in-text citing guidelines of the style of writing you are using.  Whether it is MLA, APA, or something else there will always be a specific way to cite.  Save yourself a headache. Don’t mistakenly plagiarize by not following style rules, and don’t outright plagiarize.

If you need some help with your writing check out the Writing Center in the Francine G. McNairy Library and Learning Forum here at Millersville University.  They opened in their new Library location on September 18th, and have many tutors to help with all your writing needs.

The Writing Center in McNairy Library.  Photo courtesy Millersville University.

Other Graphics and Photos courtesy of Canva.

Kristi Shorter is an Intern for Millersville University’s Housing and Residential Programs.  She is currently pursuing her Master of Education in Student Affairs in Higher Education at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.