improving academic success essay

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5 Strategies for Academic Success: Using Your Strengths

These five tips show you how to keep a clear head and have a successful semester.

Rebecca Bakken

The start of the semester can be a hectic time. You’re juggling your career, classes, family, and friends. Deb Levy , a certified life and business coach, and a Harvard Extension career workshop leader, offers five tips in this video to help you succeed in your coursework.

Know your strengths.

It’s human nature to want to correct weaknesses. But knowing your strengths and how to use them effectively can have a much more substantial effect on success and well-being. So how can you reframe your thinking?

According to Deb Levy, the field of positive psychology offers many useful tools. One in particular—the Character Strengths Test from VIA Institute on Character—can help you gauge your strengths and weaknesses. The test ranks users’ character strengths from strongest to weakest, allowing for an objective view into where you excel and where you may need work.

Once you know what your strengths are, you can play to them. But it’s also important to know that sometimes strengths need to be tempered.

“Every strength if overused becomes a deficit,” says Levy.

For instance, someone who ranks highly in humor might run the risk of making an insensitive or inappropriate comment that could damage relationships.

Making a plan to bolster weaknesses while remaining conscious of strengths can be a great strategy to ensure not just academic success, but personal fulfillment.

Set specific goals.

Achieving your goals depends heavily on how well you can manage your time. Levy recommends making a priority pie that maps out how you’ll divide your time over the course of a semester.

“When you say yes to becoming a student, you have to say no to other things,” she says. “So goal-setting requires a strategic plan for the semester. Students who do better in general are the ones who take time to plan.”

Your priority pie should reflect all your personal, professional, and academic endeavors. For example:

Your priority pie should include not just classes and your work day, but also time for family, studying and homework, and self-care like going to the gym or getting a regular massage.

Levy stresses that the best goals are specific, personal, and flexible.

Prioritize happiness.

Feeling good about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it is the best way to ensure success. According to Levy, happiness often leads to success, but success on its own may not lead to happiness.

As such, prioritizing your own wellness is key to reaching your goals. Levy says well-being  consists of positive emotions, engagement, meaning, and achievement.

“By nature of being in school people are already prioritizing well-being. They’re getting engaged, working on accomplishments,” says Levy.

Read our blog post on work-life balance

Aside from making time for yourself, you can practice building positivity.

One exercise that Levy recommends is writing down three good things at the end of each day. These can be things you’re proud of, things you’re grateful for, or things that simply bring a smile to your face.

Studying subjects that give your life purpose or meaning can also be beneficial.

“People who connect meaning to their goals are more motivated,” says Levy

Be resilient.

Even with a good plan, obstacles will arise. How well you deal with those obstacles depends on your perspective.

In resilience coaching, Levy often refers to the work of psychologist Carol Dweck. Her research identifies two basic mindsets: fixed and growth. Fixed mindsets view mistakes or setbacks as insurmountable. Growth mindsets view them as opportunities for positive change.

If you lean toward a fixed mindset, the good news is that it’s not permanent. No one falls into one mindset 100 percent of the time. Training your brain to see opportunity where you once saw a roadblock is possible.

“Give yourself permission to be human,” Levy says. “Predict you’re going to make mistakes.”

One way to build resilience is by preparing for obstacles with implementation intentions , which are if–then plans designed to help people achieve goals. For example, “If I can’t get the financial aid I need, then I will reallocate money from my vacation or entertainment budgets.”

Setting these intentions gives you a default answer that helps you stick to your plan without having to deliberate or make a snap decision.

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Make time to recover.

Rather than avoiding stress altogether, Levy recommends setting aside time to mentally and physically recover.

As a student, you may sometimes fall into a “stretch zone,” where you’re extending yourself to accommodate for different obligations. Periods of stress can actually be positive and motivating if they expand your perception of what’s possible.

But it can lead to chronic stress when you don’t build in time to recover.

Viewing your eight hours of sleep every night as sacrosanct can go a long way toward staving off chronic stress. So before you pull another all-nighter, think about the effects it may have on you the next day.

Taking breaks, setting aside time for meals, and enjoying recreation can help fuel you and keep you on course to achieve your goals.

For more information from Deb Levy on balancing academics with life, check out How to Set Goals and Achieve Balance—In and Outside the Classroom .

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13 Ways to Quickly Improve Your Academic Essay Writing Skills

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Written by  Scribendi

Anyone can learn to produce an academic essay if they begin with a few basic essay-writing rules. 

An academic essay must be based upon a solid but debatable thesis, supported by relevant and credible evidence, and closed with a succinct and thorough conclusion.

By adhering to the best way to write an essay, you can create valuable, persuasive papers even when you're under a time crunch!

What Makes a Good Essay?

As previously noted, the foundation of any good academic essay is its thesis statement. 

Do not confuse your thesis with your opening sentence. There are many good ways to start an essay , but few essays immediately present their main ideas.

After you draft your thesis, you can begin to develop your essay around it. This development will include the main supporting points of your essay, which will scaffold its main body. 

Essays also typically include a relevant and compelling introduction and conclusion.

Learn How to Write a Great Thesis Statement .

Understanding How to Write a Good Essay

When writing an academic essay, you must take a number of qualities and characteristics into careful consideration. Focus, development, unity, coherence, and correctness all play critical roles when it comes to distinguishing an exceptional essay from one that is less than perfect.

The following essay-writing tips can help writers organize, format, and support their essays in ways that fit their intended purpose and optimize their overall persuasiveness. Here are 13 essay tips for developing and writing your next academic paper.

1. Know What You Are Going to Write About Before You Start Writing

While untrained writers might just sit down and start typing, educated and experienced writers know that there are many steps to writing an essay.

In short, you should know what you want to say before you type a single word. The easiest way to narrow down a thesis and create a proper argument is to make a basic outline before you begin composing your essay.

Your outline should consist of rough notes that sketch out your introduction (including your thesis), the body of your essay (which should include separate paragraphs that present your main supporting points with plenty of evidence and examples), and your conclusion (which ties everything together and connects the argument back to your thesis).

2. Acquire a Solid Understanding of Basic Grammar, Punctuation, and Style

Before getting into more refined essay-writing techniques, you must have a solid grasp of grammar, punctuation, and style. Without these writing fundamentals, it will be difficult to communicate your ideas effectively and ensure that they are taken seriously.

Grammar basics include subject and verb agreement, correct article and pronoun use, and well-formed sentence structures. Make sure you know the proper uses for the most common forms of punctuation. Be mindful of your comma usage and know when a period is needed.

Finally, voice is tremendously important in academic essay writing. Employ language that is as concise as possible. Avoid transition words that don't add anything to the sentence and unnecessary wordiness that detracts from your argument.

Furthermore, use the active voice instead of the passive whenever possible (e.g., "this study found" instead of "it was found by this study"). This will make your essay's tone clear and direct.

3. Use the Right Vocabulary and Know What the Words You Are Using Actually Mean

How you use language is important, especially in academic essay writing. When writing an academic essay, remember that you are persuading others that you are an expert who argues intelligently about your topic.

Using big words just to sound smart often results in the opposite effect—it is easy to detect when someone is overcompensating in their writing.

If you aren't sure of the exact meaning of a word, you risk using it incorrectly. There's no shame in checking, and it might save you from an embarrassing word misuse later!

Using obscure language can also detract from the clarity of your argument—you should consider this before pulling out a thesaurus to change a perfectly appropriate word to something completely different.

4. Understand the Argument and Critically Analyze the Evidence

While writing a good essay, your main argument should always be at the front of your mind. While it's tempting to go off on a tangent about an interesting side note, doing so makes your writing less concise.

Always question the evidence you include in your essay; ask yourself, "Does this directly support my thesis?" If the answer is "no," then that evidence should probably be excluded. 

When you are evaluating evidence, be critical and thorough. You want to use the strongest research to back up your thesis. It is not enough to simply present evidence in support of an argument. A good writer must also explain why the evidence is relevant and supportive.

Everything you include should clearly connect to your topic and argument.   

5. Know How to Write a Conclusion That Supports Your Research

One of the most overlooked steps to writing an essay is the conclusion. Your conclusion ties all your research together and proves your thesis. It should not be a restatement of your introduction or a copy-and-paste of your thesis.

A strong conclusion briefly outlines the key evidence discussed in the body of an essay and directly ties it to the thesis to show how the evidence proves or disproves the main argument of your research.

Countless great essays have been written only to be derailed by vague, weakly worded conclusions. Don't let your next essay become one of those.     

6. Build a Solid Thesis to Support Your Arguments

A thesis is the main pillar of an essay. By selecting a specific thesis, you'll be able to develop arguments to support your central opinion. Consider writing about a unique experience or your own particular view of a topic .

Your thesis should be clear and logical, but it should also be debatable. Otherwise, it might be difficult to support it with compelling arguments.

7. Develop an Interesting Opening Paragraph to Hook In Readers from the Get-Go

No matter how you begin your essay, you must strive to capture the reader's interest immediately. If your opening paragraph doesn't catch the eye and engage the brain, any attempt at persuasion may end before the essay even starts. 

The beginning of your essay is crucial for setting the stage for your thesis.

8. Always Remember to Edit and Proofread Your Essay

Any decent writer will tell you that writing is really rewriting. A good academic essay will inevitably go through multiple drafts as it slowly takes shape. When you arrive at a final draft, you must make sure that it is as close to perfect as possible.

This means subjecting your essay to close and comprehensive editing and proofreading processes. In other words, you must read your paper as many times as necessary to eliminate all grammar/punctuation mistakes and typos.

It is helpful to have a third party review your work. Consider consulting a peer or professional editing service. Keep in mind that professional editors are able to help you identify underdeveloped arguments and unnecessarily wordy language, and provide other feedback.

Get Critical Feedback on Your Writing

Hire an expert academic editor , or get a free sample, 9. when developing your essay's main body, build strong and relevant arguments.

Every sentence in the main body of your paper should explain and support your thesis. When deciding how much evidence to include in an academic essay, a good guideline is to include at least three main supporting arguments.

Those main supporting arguments, in turn, require support in the form of relevant facts, figures, examples, analogies, and observations. 

You will need to engage in appropriate research to accomplish this. To organize your research efforts, you may want to develop a list of good research questions . 

10. Choose the Format of Your Essay before Writing It

The final shape that your essay takes depends a great deal on what kind of format you use. Popular college essay format types include the Modern Language Association of America ( MLA ), American Psychological Association ( APA ), and Chicago Manual of Style ( Chicago style).

These formats govern everything from capitalization rules to source citation. Often, professors dictate a specific format for your essay. If they do not, you should choose the format that best suits your field.

11. Create Clear Transitions between Your Ideas

Although unnecessary transition words are the enemy of clarity and concision, they can be invaluable tools when it comes to separating and connecting the different sections of your essay. 

Not only do they help you express your ideas but they also bring a cohesive structure to your sentences and a pleasant flow to your writing. Just be sure that you are using the right transition words for the right purpose and to the proper effect.

12. Always Include an Organized Reference Page at the End of Your Essay

As a key component of MLA, APA, and Chicago Style formatting, the reference or Works Cited page is an essential part of any academic essay.

Regardless of the format used, the reference page must be well organized and easy to read so that your audience can see exactly where your outside information came from. 

To produce a properly formatted reference page, you may have to familiarize yourself with specialized phrases and abbreviations, such as " et al ." 

13. Use Inclusive Language

Incorporating inclusive language in your academic writing ensures that your work is respectful and accessible to all readers. Use gender-neutral pronouns like "they/them" and replace gender-specific terms with inclusive alternatives, such as "firefighter" instead of "fireman." 

You can also respect cultural diversity by avoiding stereotypes and generalizations, specifying details like "Japanese, Thai, and Indian cuisine" rather than "Asian cuisine." Engaging with diverse audiences for feedback and staying updated on inclusive language practices will help you continuously improve your writing.

How to Write a Good Hook for an Essay

The key to a good hook is to introduce an unexplored or absorbing line of inquiry in your introduction that addresses the main point of your thesis. 

By carefully choosing your language and slowly revealing details, you can build reader anticipation for what follows. 

Much like an actual worm-baited fishing hook, a successful hook will lure and capture readers, allowing the writer to "reel them in."

How to Get Better at Writing Essays

You can get better at writing essays the same way that you improve at anything else: practice, practice, practice! However, there are a few ways that you can improve your writing quickly so you can turn in a quality academic essay on time.

In addition to following the 13 essay tips and guidelines above, you can familiarize yourself with a few common practices and structures for essay development. 

Great writing techniques for essays include brainstorming and tree diagrams, especially when coming up with a topic for your thesis statement. Becoming familiar with different structures for organizing your essay (order of importance, chronological, etc.) is also extremely helpful.

How to Write a Good Introduction for an Essay

To learn how to write a good essay, you must also learn how to write a good introduction. 

Most effective essay introductions begin with relatively broad and general subject matter and then gradually narrow in focus and scope until they arrive at something extremely specific: the thesis. This is why writers tend to place their thesis statements at the very end of their introductory paragraph(s).

Because they are generally broad and often relate only tangentially to an essay's main point, there is virtually no limit on what the beginning of a good introduction can look like. However, writers still tend to rely on somewhat cliché opening sentences, such as quotations and rhetorical questions.

How to Write a Good Conclusion for an Essay

Briefly put, a good conclusion does two things. It wraps up any loose ends and drives home the main point of your essay. 

To learn how to write a good conclusion, you will want to ensure that no unanswered questions remain in the reader's mind. A good conclusion will restate the thesis and reinforce the essay's main supporting points.

Take Your Essay from Good to Great

About the author.

Scribendi's in-house editors work with writers from all over the globe to perfect their writing. They know that no piece of writing is complete without a professional edit, and they love to see a good piece of writing turn into a great one after the editing process. Scribendi's in-house editors are unrivaled in both experience and education, having collectively edited millions of words and obtained nearly 20 degrees collectively. They love consuming caffeinated beverages, reading books of various genres, and relaxing in quiet, dimly lit spaces.

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"The Complete Beginner's Guide to Academic Writing"

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The Complete Beginner's Guide to Academic Writing

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Essay and dissertation writing skills

Planning your essay

Writing your introduction

Structuring your essay

• Writing essays in science subjects
• Brief video guides to support essay planning and writing
• Writing extended essays and dissertations
• Planning your dissertation writing time

Structuring your dissertation

• Top tips for writing longer pieces of work

Advice on planning and writing essays and dissertations

University essays differ from school essays in that they are less concerned with what you know and more concerned with how you construct an argument to answer the question. This means that the starting point for writing a strong essay is to first unpick the question and to then use this to plan your essay before you start putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard).

A really good starting point for you are these short, downloadable Tips for Successful Essay Writing and Answering the Question resources. Both resources will help you to plan your essay, as well as giving you guidance on how to distinguish between different sorts of essay questions. 

You may find it helpful to watch this seven-minute video on six tips for essay writing which outlines how to interpret essay questions, as well as giving advice on planning and structuring your writing:

Different disciplines will have different expectations for essay structure and you should always refer to your Faculty or Department student handbook or course Canvas site for more specific guidance.

However, broadly speaking, all essays share the following features:

Essays need an introduction to establish and focus the parameters of the discussion that will follow. You may find it helpful to divide the introduction into areas to demonstrate your breadth and engagement with the essay question. You might define specific terms in the introduction to show your engagement with the essay question; for example, ‘This is a large topic which has been variously discussed by many scientists and commentators. The principal tension is between the views of X and Y who define the main issues as…’ Breadth might be demonstrated by showing the range of viewpoints from which the essay question could be considered; for example, ‘A variety of factors including economic, social and political, influence A and B. This essay will focus on the social and economic aspects, with particular emphasis on…..’

Watch this two-minute video to learn more about how to plan and structure an introduction:

The main body of the essay should elaborate on the issues raised in the introduction and develop an argument(s) that answers the question. It should consist of a number of self-contained paragraphs each of which makes a specific point and provides some form of evidence to support the argument being made. Remember that a clear argument requires that each paragraph explicitly relates back to the essay question or the developing argument.

• Conclusion: An essay should end with a conclusion that reiterates the argument in light of the evidence you have provided; you shouldn’t use the conclusion to introduce new information.
• References: You need to include references to the materials you’ve used to write your essay. These might be in the form of footnotes, in-text citations, or a bibliography at the end. Different systems exist for citing references and different disciplines will use various approaches to citation. Ask your tutor which method(s) you should be using for your essay and also consult your Department or Faculty webpages for specific guidance in your discipline. 

Essay writing in science subjects

If you are writing an essay for a science subject you may need to consider additional areas, such as how to present data or diagrams. This five-minute video gives you some advice on how to approach your reading list, planning which information to include in your answer and how to write for your scientific audience – the video is available here:

A PDF providing further guidance on writing science essays for tutorials is available to download.

Short videos to support your essay writing skills

There are many other resources at Oxford that can help support your essay writing skills and if you are short on time, the Oxford Study Skills Centre has produced a number of short (2-minute) videos covering different aspects of essay writing, including:

• Approaching different types of essay questions  
• Structuring your essay  
• Writing an introduction  
• Making use of evidence in your essay writing  
• Writing your conclusion

Extended essays and dissertations

Longer pieces of writing like extended essays and dissertations may seem like quite a challenge from your regular essay writing. The important point is to start with a plan and to focus on what the question is asking. A PDF providing further guidance on planning Humanities and Social Science dissertations is available to download.

Planning your time effectively

Try not to leave the writing until close to your deadline, instead start as soon as you have some ideas to put down onto paper. Your early drafts may never end up in the final work, but the work of committing your ideas to paper helps to formulate not only your ideas, but the method of structuring your writing to read well and conclude firmly.

Although many students and tutors will say that the introduction is often written last, it is a good idea to begin to think about what will go into it early on. For example, the first draft of your introduction should set out your argument, the information you have, and your methods, and it should give a structure to the chapters and sections you will write. Your introduction will probably change as time goes on but it will stand as a guide to your entire extended essay or dissertation and it will help you to keep focused.

The structure of  extended essays or dissertations will vary depending on the question and discipline, but may include some or all of the following:

• The background information to - and context for - your research. This often takes the form of a literature review.
• Explanation of the focus of your work.
• Explanation of the value of this work to scholarship on the topic.
• List of the aims and objectives of the work and also the issues which will not be covered because they are outside its scope.

The main body of your extended essay or dissertation will probably include your methodology, the results of research, and your argument(s) based on your findings.

The conclusion is to summarise the value your research has added to the topic, and any further lines of research you would undertake given more time or resources. 

Tips on writing longer pieces of work

Approaching each chapter of a dissertation as a shorter essay can make the task of writing a dissertation seem less overwhelming. Each chapter will have an introduction, a main body where the argument is developed and substantiated with evidence, and a conclusion to tie things together. Unlike in a regular essay, chapter conclusions may also introduce the chapter that will follow, indicating how the chapters are connected to one another and how the argument will develop through your dissertation.

For further guidance, watch this two-minute video on writing longer pieces of work . 

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8 effective strategies for academic success

Whether you're currently enrolled at Penn LPS Online or you're considering enrolling in the future, it's important to be aware of strategies you can implement to set yourself up for academic success. Adjusting to becoming a student again can be particularly challenging if you're an adult learner with work and family obligations in addition to your educational ambitions—so it can take determination, discipline, and patience to effectively balance all these roles.

Penn LPS Online was created to make a high-quality Ivy League education accessible and affordable to working professionals like you. Whether you're easing into your studies by taking one or more courses , pursuing a certificate , or earning a bachelor's degree , the flexible online learning format at Penn LPS Online makes it easy to enhance your personal and career development—and help set yourself up for a brighter future.

Read on to explore 8 strategies you can use to help you succeed in your studies and to make the most of your experience at Penn LPS Online.

1. Set SMART goals

Setting goals for each semester can be a highly effective strategy to help you keep your academic priorities in check. The SMART approach involves ensuring that your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. Here is an example of a SMART goal:

• Specific goal: Set aside at least one hour a day to read assigned course materials.
• Measure your progress daily by tracking your time through a study app (measurable).
• Ensure your goal is attainable by letting your friends and family know that you are unavailable during this set time and, if possible, turn off your phone.
• This goal is relevant because it will allow you to consistently stay on top of your readings, so you're prepared for class discussions and other coursework.
• This goal is timely because it allows you to track your progress daily, weekly, or monthly.

The benefits of creating SMART goals are that they can provide you with the direction you need to stay on task with your studies, increase your focus, boost your motivation, and reduce your overall anxiety. Although your SMART goals may be focused on academics, it's important to consider your personal priorities as well, which segues into the next strategy.

2. Make planning and time management a priority

Creating a plan to balance your work, life, and education is integral to achieving academic and personal success. For a typical 8-week course at Penn LPS Online, you may need to spend 10-15 hours per week on readings and assignments. If you're not used to learning on an accelerated schedule, juggling your educational and life responsibilities can quickly become overwhelming. That's why implementing an effective time management strategy is so important. If you work a 9-5 job, you'll need to figure out when you can fit in daily study time in a way that's most productive for you—whether that's in the morning before work, on your lunch break, or in the evening.

“The military teaches you to really think on your feet and adapt to whatever is happening at that moment. Having an assignment due is like having a mission. There’s a lot of planning: if we had a paper due Sunday, I would work backward and plan down to the day what I needed to do to complete it by Sunday.” – Robert Marshall , Penn LPS Online Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology ‘19

If you want to excel in your studies, it's essential that you stay organized. Part of that involves creating a system to track important dates and deadlines so you can best prioritize your time. That could come in the form of a day planner, a Google or Outlook calendar on your phone, or a time management app—what's important is that you can lay out all your important work meetings, family responsibilities, and school assignments in a format that is easily accessible. It may also be helpful to create daily or weekly to-do lists so you can see where you need to spend your time on a micro and a macro level. And don't forget to schedule breaks—giving yourself the space to decompress can be critical to your academic success and your mental health.

3. Get very familiar with the course materials

It may seem obvious, but not everyone realizes what a powerful tool a course syllabus can be when it comes to setting yourself up for academic success. A syllabus gives you the information you need to determine where and when you need to spend your time. It's also something that you can consistently go back to throughout the semester to keep track of deadlines for assigned readings, quizzes, assignments, and discussions so you can plan your schedule accordingly (in your time management app or otherwise).

At Penn LPS Online, you can find the important course info—including your syllabus—by logging into the Canvas course site and reviewing the "Getting Started" module. There, you'll find an overview of the topics the course covers, the specific course requirements and deadlines, and any textbooks you will need. The course site also serves as your virtual classroom where you'll interact with classmates and instructors through video lectures, live Zoom meetings, discussion boards, and more. With a fast-paced, 8-week timeline for most Penn LPS Online courses, it's also critical that you commit to attending all your scheduled classes so that you don't miss valuable information or fall behind in your studies.

4. Engage with your instructors and peers

Another effective strategy to help ensure your academic success is to connect with your instructors and peers early andoften. A peer-reviewed article published in Innovative High Education found that positive student-faculty interactions are linked with improved academic outcomes and can help reduce retention gaps in higher education, especially for college students from underrepresented backgrounds. 1 To that end, all Penn LPS Online courses include a participation requirement with the expectation that you'll actively engage with your course instructors and fellow students. Examples of meaningful online participation—whether through audio, video, or typed text—includes:

• Posting thorough and thoughtful responses to discussion topics
• Sharing personal insights and experiences with your peers
• Contributing ideas and effort into group projects

When in doubt, ask a lot of questions! At Penn LPS Online, it's easy and beneficial to you as a learner to get to know your instructors and teaching assistants through online office hours, appointments, text chats, or email. If you feel hesitant to reach out, it's important to remember that your instructors are invested in your success and can be invaluable resources if you're struggling with the subject matter or adjusting to online learning. It's also essential to connect with your peers at Penn LPS Online—and you'll have many opportunities to do so through online discussions, group work, and Zoom lectures. If you're someone who learns better with input from others, you can also start your own online study group to share class notes, discuss questions, and study for quizzes or exams. Engaging with a study group can also be a good way to hold yourself accountable and stay on top of the required coursework. If you're willing to open yourself up, you may also create relationships that can serve as a valuable network once you graduate.

"Everyone was brilliant. Each course was such a melting pot, professionally and culturally, and everyone was able to shine a different light on the material. And even though we are so extremely different, we are all adult students who are moving forward in our education. It was great to collaborate with peers who share that experience ."— Mary Koenke , Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences ‘20

5. Take advantage of Penn LPS Online resources

There is a plethora of resources available at Penn LPS Online to help support you along every aspect of your educational journey. A great place to start is with your academic advisor who can serve as your go-to guide for support. Your advisor is well-equipped to help you choose and register for courses, clarify certificate or degree requirements, address academic issues or concerns, identify resources including library, counseling, and disability services, and navigate the transfer credit process.

If you find that the technical aspects of your online courses are causing you concern, you can also reach out to the Penn LPS Online Learning team for 24/7 support. Whether you need guidance navigating the Canvas online learning platform or you're having issues with internet access or hardware, you can email the team at [email protected] for troubleshooting support.

Finally, if you're looking for academic assistance, chat-based tutoring is available for subject areas including English, math, and science through Brainfuse, which you can access via Canvas. If you need coaching on effective writing practices for your assignments, the Brainfuse Writing Lab is a great resource—and you'll receive feedback within 24 hours of submitting your work.

6. Take care of your physical and mental health

Balancing university, work, and life in general can be stressful. That's why it's essential to stay on top of your physical and mental well-being. One of the most important things you can do to maintain a healthy lifestyle is to make sleep a priority; you can't expect to absorb your course materials if you're running on empty. If stress or anxiety are preventing you from sleeping well, you may want to consider adding meditation into your nightly routine to help quiet your brain and prepare your body for rest.

It's common for busy students to rely too heavily on caffeine and sugar to get through the day, which often ends in a crash. To avoid falling into this trap, keep a water bottle on hand to help you stay hydrated, and try to eat balanced meals with protein, nuts, fruits, and vegetables that fuel your body and leave you satisfied. This will require additional planning, but the benefits are worth it. Finally, whenever possible, set aside time to stay active throughout the day—whether that's a quick walk, a yoga class on your lunch break, or a stop at the gym before work. Getting moving can provide a reset in your day that is good for your body and your mind.

7. Follow your passions

It can be easy to forget that exploring your intellectual curiosities, strengths, and passions is beneficial to your ability to thrive academically and personally. Research from psychologist Andy Tixfound that what distinguishes successful learners is the belief that intelligence and ability can be expanded, a "growth mindset" that motivates students to seek out and overcome intellectual challenges. The highest-performing students are also intrinsically motivated , which means they're guided by their own sense of purpose a desire to learn for learning's sake. 2

There are many ways to feed your intellectual curiosity at Penn LPS Online. One option is to commit to taking at least one class a semester that strongly piques your interest or takes you outside of your comfort zone. Another is to consider the Individualized Studies concentration for the BAAS degree. The Individualized Studies concentration allows you to combine complementary areas of study so you can explore your unique academic interests while building the skills and knowledge to help you meet your career goals.

8. Have fun!

This final strategy is simple: Immerse yourself in your studies, ask questions, explore what intrigues you, and take the time to get to know your peers and professors. Your university experience is what you make of it, so commit to making it as enjoyable as possible. To learn more about available Penn LPS Online services to help make your academic journey successful, please visit the  Student Resources  page.

1 Mariana T. Guzzardo, Nidhi Khosla, Annis Lee Adams, Jeffra D. Bussmann, Alina Engelman, Natalie Ingraham, Ryan Gamba, Ali Jones-Bey, Matthew D. Moore, Negin R. Toosi, and Sarah Taylor. "'The ones that care make all the difference': Perspectives on student-faculty relationships." Innovative Higher Education 46 (2021), p. 41-58. 2 Andy Tix. "Psychological Factors in Student Success." Psychology Today . April 15, 2020.