Kelley Costigan, Producer
Welcome to the Wyrd Learning podcast with your hosts, Dr. Tracy Dix and Dr. Alex Patel. Today's episode, Tips to Fend Off FOMO During Freshers’ Week.
Tracy Dix
Hello, everyone. This is Tracy Dix on the Wyrd Learning Podcast with my good friend, Alex Patel.
Alex Patel
Hi, thanks for joining us today.
Tracy Dix
It's been a little while since our last episode, so we're really happy to be back. Our episode today is inspired by a question that I saw on social media recently regarding all the students who are starting university very soon. Lots of students settling in at the moment and as usual, there are plenty of events on during Freshers’ Week to help you meet people and make friends. But what if going out and clubbing isn't your thing? Should you feel under pressure to kind of go to every single event during Freshers’ Week or are there other options? That's what we'll be exploring today. So Alex, do you remember what Freshers’ Week was like for you?
Alex Patel
Right, so I was at Manchester University, and bearing in mind I grew up in a very small village called Acton Trussell, which is near Stafford (so shout out to anyone from Stafford) and moving to a big city like Manchester was pretty exciting. So when I arrived for Freshers’ Week, I obviously went to the Halls of Residence, found my flat, met my flatmates there, and as soon as we'd done that, we were pretty much invited to the campus. And there was so many things going on, you know, we could walk around the Halls, find out about different students’ societies. There are also lots of flyers for events. So I remember picking up ones (again for student societies) and there was one for taekwondo which I did eventually join, but huge numbers of clubbing type events. One of the popular ones which I quite liked was something called “Club Trop”.
Tracy Dix
Oh! “Club Trop”.
Alex Patel
“Club Tropicana”. So that was very much 80s music. It wasn't a great nightclub. It was, it was a big shed, basically. Lots of people, lots of cheesy music. It was a great time.
Tracy Dix
I think the idea is that a lot of the events are kind of put on to cater to all types of tastes. And I guess one of the problems with that is when you try to please everyone you kind of end up being a little bit “meh” to specific people. Would you say that?
Alex Patel
Hmm.
Tracy Dix
When you try to please everyone you kind of end up pleasing no one really and everyone sort of compromising and going, “Well, I don't really like cheesy music, but I'll go because everyone else is going.” It can be a little bit like that in the first few weeks of term while everyone's finding their feet, but you know if you think about it, if you don't like clubbing or drinking and you know, drinking is definitely not for everyone, then going to those events are probably going to either attract people who don't like the same things as you, you know if they enjoy clubbing or people who aren't really being themselves, although I would say that it's you know, I think everyone does have a filter when they first go to university and over time it might take a while for people to be more themselves or kind of find out what they like and what they don't like, you know, through the process of trying all the different opportunities that are on offer.
Alex Patel
Yeah, it's a great time to kind of try and work out who you are really. Sadly, I did not take this opportunity. I pretended to be somebody I wasn’t. It sounds a bit strange, but it's true.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, I think a lot of people do. So. When I first started at university, I remember lots of the events were very sort of clubbing focus, or at least the ones that were on my radar. You know, and I remember like my flatmates and you know other - another flat that we kind of made friends with were all very enthusiastic about that sort of thing. It was quite alien to me growing up, I wasn't like really into clubbing or anything like that. I was very into my hobbies, you know, which we've covered in previous episodes. But I did start university with a friend from school who was very extroverted. And in some ways that was a really good thing because, you know, I kind of - we just kept each other company at first and then went out and met people. But on hindsight, sometimes, actually, no, a lot of those people I ‘m still kind of vaguely in touch with now mostly through Facebook, I'd say. We've kind of met since but I do remember that you know, it's very similar to Alex's experience. A lot of information is thrown at you in the first couple of weeks. Like during Freshers’ Fair you're given like a goodie bag full of flyers, about …
Alex Patel
Pens, freebies…
Tracy Dix
Pens, freebies, about the Library, about the Career Service, about the Student Welfare Service, about the Chaplaincy, about the SU …
Alex Patel
The Student Union, yeah.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, the Student Union, and all the services that the Student Union offers, the Study Skills Centre which might be known as something different at your university. And Domino's.
Alex Patel
[Laughs] Certainly, at the university we work at there’s a Domino's, just down the road and …
Tracy Dix
Oh.
Alex Patel
They hand out lots of flyers and freebies for that.
Tracy Dix
Well actually, I recall that the last Freshers’ Fair that we checked out they were handing out free pizzas as well and at another university that I used to work at, at the end of every club night, there would be Domino's staff kind of waiting outside the exits with kind of personal size pizzas to kind of sell as students were leaving the Students Union.
Alex Patel
Yeah, so it's well worth going to any Freshers’ Fairs or events at the beginning of term because there are lots of deals and things you can get hold of.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, and you know, there are some free lunches to be had as well. I think Costa was also around that the last one that we went to, you know, free pastries as a taster so you remember who they are and they -
Alex Patel
Top tip: take your Tupperware with you. You can load up. [Laughter]
Tracy Dix
Take your Tupperware with you. That is a good tip actually. What was the other one who was saying earlier? Make sure you have a recycling bin close by.
Alex Patel
Yes. Sadly, a huge amount of money is spent on creating leaflets and flyers, and it's a lot of waste. Quite often it just gets dumped on the floor. You know, somebody will take a leaflet and then drop it. So if you are environmentally minded, and we all should be nowadays bearing in mind how awful the climate change is, then you might want to think about taking a bag [laughs] where you can put things so you can take it home and recycle them.
Tracy Dix
Yeah. Or you know it'd be a very good time to start familiarising yourself with the campus recycle bins. There should be many stations dotted around. It’s certainly a time when, you know, all the various services that are around or the kind of eating places or the clubs and societies are looking to make you aware of their presence and you know that they're available. So that you know at the time when you might need their service, you will think of them and you'll kind of get in touch. So you get pens with all their website URLs on them. You'll get like business cards and all sorts of things and it can feel very overwhelming. So let's compare the process of settling in to, you know, when you need to, for example, use a reference book or a website when you're first researching a topic. So for example, you're kind of given a topic to work on for an assignment. You know, since we're, since we're here to coach you with your assignments, that's the example that we will use.
Alex Patel
Straight in there with essay tips!
Tracy Dix
Straight in there with essay tips. You know, settling in tips and essay tips. So you are tasked with you know discussing a topic for example, and how would you first approach it? So you might go to a reference book or these days, most of us will probably turn to a website and just search something on Google. So if you need a definition, for example, it will pull up like several definitions from a variety of online dictionaries. You don't read everything that's available to you, you won't kind of go through all the pages of search results because that's too overwhelming. Most of us would just dip in to find what we need. So we look for like the description that kind of resonates with us or feels relevant to the topic, something that we feel that we can understand. And then you know we would apply that to the topic, see how it fits like, does it kind of seem like it applies well? And if it doesn't go back and try a different definition or a different description. And it’s sort of rinse and repeat until you're happy with the information that you’ve found.
Alex Patel
So are you saying it's similar for when you're choosing clubs and societies or friendship groups, that you should test out a few different things and then see which fits best?
Tracy Dix
Yes, you know, I mean, you might you, might come to university having fairly clear ideas on certain things. So for example, if club nights are not your thing, that's fine. I mean, I think universities are much more diverse places these days to when we were students, and I think there will be a lot more effort being put towards kind of the less conventional drinking type activities that were very common when we were students. Sometimes it means kind of going under the radar a little bit and looking for alternatives.
Alex Patel
Hmm. Can I interrupt you here, Tracy?
Tracy Dix
Yes.
Alex Patel
So what clubs and things did you test out but not carry on with? So I'll give you a moment to think about that, and I’ll tell you a couple of mine. So I tried fencing.
Tracy Dix
Ah!
Alex Patel
I tried belly dancing.
Tracy Dix
Ooh!
Alex Patel
Taekwondo I tried and I stuck with that.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
I did a short course on Japanese language and culture.
Tracy Dix
Hm hm.
Alex Patel
And I'm not sure what else actually but it’s a good range.
Tracy Dix
It is a good range. So back when I was a student, the range of clubs and societies were not as diverse as they are now. However, we're thinking about the time of Ally McBeal when that was really cool.
Alex Patel
[Laughs] Ally McBeal, Tracy?
Tracy Dix
Ally McBeal. That was a long time ago.
Alex Patel
I think you’re going to have to explain this.
Tracy Dix
So I didn't you know, I didn't follow it for that long. But basically, it was kind of about Ally McBeal who worked in a law firm and her kind of impostor syndrome and stuff like that.
Alex Patel
Calista Flockhart.
Tracy Dix
Calista Flockhart.
Alex Patel
Married to Harrison Ford, I believe.
Tracy Dix
Oh, who was famous for being a size zero.
Alex Patel
Harrison Ford?
Tracy Dix
No, Calista Flockhart. But not that that is, you know, the size we should all aspire to. It's fine if that's what you are, you know.
Alex Patel
There are bigger issues in the world…
Tracy Dix
Yes.
Alex Patel
…than whether I can fit into a dress or not.
Tracy Dix
Yes, then, we - but we digress somewhat. So anyway, so Ally McBeal did kickboxing and obviously kind of sparked a whole wave of people interested in kickboxing. So when I went to university, that's one of the things I tried, and it was, [laughs] it was fun, until people started sparring. And I just remember the damp, sweaty, smelly helmets…
Alex Patel
Ooh…
Tracy Dix
and like boxing gloves that we had to put on and…
Alex Patel
Yeah, yeah.
Tracy Dix
And… And one of the girls ended up with a nosebleed and that was the last session I ever went to. I just decided it was not for me.
Alex Patel
Oh, no! So another top tip, if you are taking up karate, kickboxing, anything where you need pads buy your own .
Tracy Dix
Yeah, but, you know...
Alex Patel
You will thank me for it. You can sell them on later when you give up.
Tracy Dix
But sometimes you want to try something on before you invest in the kit. Don't you?
Alex Patel
Ooh, not the gloves though, not the gloves. [Laughter] Now, the one I went to you had to buy the kit. They didn't lend out kit and that's probably the reason because it is really gross.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, okay, well, there you go. What else did I try? So I have always danced since I was about four. That's when I started ballet classes. So when I went to university, I joined the dance club, which did a bit of jazz and various other things, I have to say so although that has kind of given me the foundation for the things I do now, I haven't stuck with any of those hobbies, you know, like jazz. I did a bit of Latin and ballroom as well actually.
Alex Patel
And that's absolutely fine.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, dabbled.
Alex Patel
Yeah.
Tracy Dix
Yep. And then after I left, breakdancing and aerial art, as we mentioned in the first episode.
Alex Patel
I actually did a little bit salsa as well at university.
Tracy Dix
Oh.
Alex Patel
You know, they do a lot of things like short 12 week courses, so you can have like a little taster.
Tracy Dix
There are lots of tasters that go on in the first and second weeks of term actually, I think. I believe lots of societies do free tasters before you have to pay for your membership.
Alex Patel
Yes, yes. Oh, that could be a - instead of going out to nightclubs - that could be a very interesting way of spending your time. Check out all the free taster sessions.
Tracy Dix
Yeah. So that's those are good daytime...
Alex Patel
In fact, I might be along to a university to do this myself.
Tracy Dix
[Laughter] What are you going to be trying?
Alex Patel
[Laughing] I don’t know. Literally everything. Great. Yeah, I'll just say I'm a mature student.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, so. So those tasters are something that would be very good to kind of work through your timetable because you probably have your timetable quite soon as well. But also, yeah, so we were talking about socialising and the kinds of interactions that you would come across when you start university. So we've had a think about, you know, the sorts of interactions that you kind of need to have versus the ones that would be kind of quite good to have, would you say? So for example, when you get settled in in your accommodation, you know, you have to meet your Hall Warden or your landlord. They'll give you your keys, kind of tell you what the rules are. I mean, you know, if you’re in Halls, very often landlords like to put big A4 posters of like “Switch off the tap when you're done with it.” You know, “Don't leave it dripping”, “Close the blinds”, “Close the windows” and all those sorts of things. So I think you'll be…
Alex Patel
“No candles.”
Tracy Dix
“No candles.”
Alex Patel
Is a very common one.
Tracy Dix
Although there are kind of battery-operated ones these days. So I think you'll be pretty familiar with those rules. I mean, generally it's “Don't trash your accommodation.”
Alex Patel
Yeah, yeah. I have a story about that.
Tracy Dix
Do you want to go into that story?
Alex Patel
I moved into a lovely little flat in the Halls of Residence. So there were four people downstairs, four people upstairs, and I was there you know, for a few days. A couple of people moved out, they didn't like it, a couple of people moved in, and it turns out that one of the two people - well, a couple of people who moved in, had absolutely trashed the flat they'd been in before and that’s why they had been moved. And we had somebody else move in a bit later on. This was somebody that ended up being my boyfriend eventually. And he had gone to that flat and I think he said it, you know, it was awful, and the floor was sopping wet, the carpets were wrecked and ooh, nasty. And I lived with these two nutters for another two years would you believe? They were characters.
Tracy Dix
So, my husband was once in a rented house where, you know mushrooms started growing in the bathroom carpet.
Alex Patel
That’s quite kind of normal.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
In student accommodation.
Tracy Dix
I kind of think that happened. But so if you are in university halls, though I think chances are they'd be far better maintained than private accommodation.
Alex Patel
Yes. And if they're not, you know, you're paying a lot of money, get it sorted out. So you can talk to your Student Union for help, you can talk to University Welfare tends to cover things like accommodation as well sometimes, but don't accept it. So in my Master's I went to this brand new Halls of Residence, you know, it's one of these new-build, fancy places. I had my own ensuite bathroom which at the time was, you know, this was a new thing, a novelty. And I had damp in my room.
Tracy Dix
Oh…
Alex Patel
You know, there was a problem.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
And a lot of the accommodation had damp in but it wasn't that bad. So I just kind of ignored it.
Tracy Dix
Hmmm.
Alex Patel
As [laughs] as a foolish person would.
Tracy Dix
Well, yeah.
Alex Patel
But, at the time, I was doing a research Master's. So I was on a project around cell biology.
Tracy Dix
Okay.
Alex Patel
So, very cool. So it was growing a type of neuronal cell and it was growing it without antibiotics because normally if you're doing cell culture, if you use antibiotics it helps stop them getting contaminated but I couldn't do that. I have to do it on its own without and they kept getting infected with like fungus.
Tracy Dix
Oh, so that’s how you knew?
Alex Patel
The experiment just did not work.
Tracy Dix
Is that how you knew how bad fungus could be for you?
Alex Patel
Well for my experiments, certainly.
Tracy Dix
But also, for your health because you are made of cells, right?
Alex Patel
Yeah, yeah. But I only realised at the very end when I just casually mentioned to my supervisor, “Oh, I've got this damp problem in my Halls of Residence.” She's like, in straightaway, you know, she was like, “Well, that explains it.”
Tracy Dix
What explains it? Hang on. [Laughter]
Alex Patel
“That explains why your project didn't work. It wasn’t your technique, it was” ... yeah.
Tracy Dix
The conditions...
Alex Patel
The conditions…
Tracy Dix
The environmental conditions. So the environmental conditions can influence how well we are able to perform.
Alex Patel
Nice tie-in there.
Tracy Dix
That's a message to take away.
Alex Patel
That’s true, that’s true. So I know of a student at a university where I think again, it was damp. There are big issues around damp in multi-person kind of accommodation.
Tracy Dix
Hmmm.
Alex Patel
And it caused her to get you know really quite bad rashes all over her body. She became kind of sensitised to it and she did luckily complain about it and get something done.
Tracy Dix
Hmm. Good on her. Yes, so if you see any mould hopefully you don't [laughter] in your first week of term. My goodness. But if you see any, you know, like black spots of mould or anything, in your accommodation, don't be tempted to just bleach it out because it's often a much deeper problem. You need to get your landlord or whoever manages your Halls to sort it out properly. And like make sure you know how they're fixing it. So anyway, if you found any of the things we've said so far useful, please be sure to tell your friends about our podcasts so that we can reach more people. Let us know as well, if you've got any questions or you know, let us know what you're planning to do in Freshers’ Week. We'd be really interested to find out and also you can leave us a review if you're enjoying this podcast and that just means that we can reach more people and help more people.
Alex Patel
And really I'd quite like to hear from the people out there. You know, do you have any questions? Any topics you want us to start looking at? Or what do you think about what we've been talking about so far? Have you got any stories about Freshers’ Week?
Tracy Dix
Yeah, we'd love to hear those stories. So, you can send us direct messages on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
Alex Patel
We are delving into the world of TikTok.
Tracy Dix
We are delving into the world of TikTok. Okay, so, we've talked about Hall Wardens and Landlords, but also most of you will probably be in some kind of shared accommodation. If not a shared room then you'll be in a flat or a shared house. And I guess this is probably quite obvious, but you do need to interact with the people [laughter] that you share your accommodation with.
Alex Patel
A great way to make friends.
Tracy Dix
It is a great way to make friends but also you know, it's you kind of you kind of need to be able to have open conversations so because you're all going to be living together for at least the next year.
Alex Patel
Hmm.
Tracy Dix
But also, some of the benefits on that as you could all coordinate on housekeeping, like keeping things tidy but also perhaps clubbing together to you know, put an online shopping order through. I mean before the days of online shopping, having a flatmate with a car was super useful for doing weekly shopping and getting like your tins and heavy bottles without having to carry them all the way back. Yeah, I mean, you might find that everyone goes off and does their own thing over time. But these are the people who are around you and will you know, be very much possible your support network when life gets a little difficult, which you know, it will do during university at times.
Alex Patel
Yeah, yeah. So I could tell you a bit more about the characters that I first ended up with.
Tracy Dix
Okay. Go on, Alex.
Alex Patel
So, yeah, one of the first people in the flats was this [laughs] Italian guy, and he fancied himself as a bit of a ladies’ man. So he was always making these incredibly sexist comments, and
Tracy Dix
So he really liked the stereotype of it?
Alex Patel
Yeah. So it was him. There was another really nice English guy, you know, white middle class.
Tracy Dix
Uh huh.
Alex Patel
So he set up an industry dealing cannabis, would you believe? [Laughter]
Tracy Dix
Where was? Where was the farm? Did he set up a farm?
Alex Patel
No, no, no, no.
Tracy Dix
Oh, okay.
Alex Patel
Just selling in small amounts.
Tracy Dix
Oh, I see.
Alex Patel
There was another guy who was a compulsive liar. He once told me he had a very long-term relationship with an African princess who sadly passed away.
Tracy Dix
How did you know he was lying?
Alex Patel
He was a white working-class guy from Sheffield. And he also told me that he had set up a casino online and he was a bit of a millionaire.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, but but University sometimes get students who are like royalty.
Alex Patel
Oh, certainly. Certainly.
Tracy Dix
That's not completely like over the top, that he could have met a princess or had a relationship with a princess. I mean before University.
Alex Patel
Ah…
Tracy Dix
Maybe a little like that I don't know…
Alex Patel
It wasn't the only fib.
Tracy Dix
Okay.
Alex Patel
[Laughs] But you know, very entertaining people. And then of course, I had some other flatmates who were, you know, absolutely wonderful, easy to relate to, really friendly people without really unusual eccentricities.
Tracy Dix
Good. There are people like you out there.
Alex Patel
But actually, you know, I have fond memories of hanging around with these other people.
Tracy Dix
Hmm hm.
Alex Patel
You know, they - the compulsive liar person - he was a really nice guy he just, you know, had lots of stories to tell and we actually shared flats for a couple of years.
Tracy Dix
Okay, so I think you know, the people who like compulsive lying I mean, I don't know what his like motivations are for it or how aware he is that he does it but as long as no one gets hurt. I think people like that can be very entertaining.
Alex Patel
Entertaining, yes, but it left me in the situation of well, he's saying his girlfriend, this African Princess has passed away, you know, so I don't want to call him a liar at this point. It just left me feeling really uncomfortable. Very strange.
Tracy Dix
So how did he respond? I would just have probably gone, “Ah, okay.”
Alex Patel
Yeah, that's exactly what I did. Yeah.
Tracy Dix
Nod and smile.
Alex Patel
Yes.
Tracy Dix
And then move on. Okay, now I have to admit, like the next group of people, they're not someone that Alex and I particularly made the effort to build a relationship with. So it does depend on the context and these are your neighbours, and my recollection of neighbours in my first year of uni, were you know, there was some students in the flat right next to us, we were separated with a fire door that was kept locked all the time. And I only ever really saw them [laughs] when they came around to our flat that to knock and tell us that we were making too much noise. And most of the time we weren't but I worked out. I had a stereo back in the days of the stereo. I had a stereo that was kind of pushed right up to the shared wall that we had. So even when the volume was turned to a very reasonable volume, this was in the middle of the day and everything. And I wasn't really a party animal anyway. Because noise travels much quicker through solids than through air doesn't it? They will get into sound through really, really loudly and it was annoying them so the only time we ever saw neighbours in the first year. However, when I came to do postgrad, and we were kind of living in private accommodation, and our flat was on top of our neighbour who was downstairs, we did the whole, you know, meeting and chatting and everything, but it can be quite good practice. So if you're planning to invite a few friends around to your flat, you know, before you go out for a night out or whatever, or if you think there's going to be a bit of extra noise. That can be quite a nice practice to just go around and just give your neighbours fair warning so they're prepared. They can make plans to work around it. And you know, they're not planning like a quiet night and to hear your music thumping next door and it really annoys them. They can plan to be out of flat or to do something else. And it just kind of sets things up really for an easy life. Moving forward.
Alex Patel
Yeah. Another top tip perhaps don't put your bass on full volume and put your speaker against a wall.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, yeah.
Alex Patel
A shared wall.
Tracy Dix
Well, yeah, learn from my mistakes. But yeah, the bass is a very good tip.
Alex Patel
So another group of people that are very valuable to get to know are people on your course. So myself, I was on a joint honours, psychology and neuroscience. And it was brand new course. And there were only about seven of us doing it. So we all, you know, hung around together. Very different people. But yeah, we stayed in that friendship group for three years.
Tracy Dix
Hmmm.
Alex Patel
Yeah. It was…
Tracy Dix
I think it can be quite nice that you're, you know, you had a very small group of core course mates, seven people, because I remember like, I think my seminar groups might have been bigger than seven people. And I remember feeling very intimidated to speak up. I mean, as an international student back then, I was very kind of shy about criticality anyway, so I didn't kind of share my views very often, which is very different from the person I've now become. But yeah, so I think a group of seven people is a lot less intimidating. That's really nice.
Alex Patel
Yeah. And it's really valuable. Because if you end up with people or you know, you choose to be friends with people who are very conscientious and studious. That may sound very depressing at this point. But you know, you can have other friends as well, but it helps you be motivated around your work. It helps you keep on task. It means you can have a study group you can get together, talk about some different ideas from different theories you've read, and they can challenge you and say, “Oh, well, I didn't understand it like that.” You know, and that is really valuable in terms of both motivation and developing your thinking skills. And I guess Lastly, being able to talk about your subjects.
Tracy Dix
Yeah. Oh, so this is also something I found on social media, but I came across a post recently of how students were kind of making notes collaboratively online during a lecture and so on their notes you know, like individual students could kind of put question marks or comments next to certain sections where, you know, maybe they didn't understand what was delivered in a lecture and their course mates would kind of dive in and help them out and that gave me a really nice, warm, fuzzy feeling because I just thought, you know, it's really nice with all this stuff about digital and how it you know, like, affects your attention span and all that, that students have found ways of putting it to a very good use.
Alex Patel
That sounds like a really good idea.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, to support each other.
Alex Patel
Because quite often, or when I was at university, you'd get a sequence of slides get put up on the screen.
Tracy Dix
Hmm hmm.
Alex Patel
And then you'll write them all down really quickly word for word, and obviously not get everything or get what the lecturer was actually saying. So, we'd quite often have to kind of ask for help and share notes.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
So I guess that is something we should probably address at this point. So when you're thinking about plagiarism, this is something you'll come across quite a bit. And that's the act of taking somebody else's work and passing it off as your own. Sometimes people talk about not sharing notes, and that tends to mean in particular when you're writing your dissertation or you know, a big project, and you've done a lot of independent thinking, analysis, maybe you've done some experiments, and it's those type of very personal notes that they're talking about not sharing.
Tracy Dix
Hmm.
Alex Patel
Whereas sharing notes based on a lecture, a lecture that's been recorded, is quite different.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, but actually coming to lectures, I mean, if lectures are recorded very often they are accompanied by transcripts as well. Aren't they these days?
Alex Patel
Would that be useful?
Tracy Dix
I think so. So, if you miss something in your note taking, you can always revisit the transcript for clarity. So, I mean, I - when I was back at university, I remember one lecture is often said to us, “Don't try to write down every single thing I say, just take notes of key points to revisit but just kind of let the information wash over you.” I remember those were his exact words. And I think he did have a point because if you're trying to make notes at the same time as trying to listen, you can't really do both at the same time.
Alex Patel
You can’t.
Tracy Dix
You just can't keep up can you?
Alex Patel
No, no. It's a skill, it's quite difficult. So one of the approaches is to listen to what's being said and then summarise it.
Tracy Dix
Hmm.
Alex Patel
So that way, you're engaging your mind.
Tracy Dix
Yep.
Alex Patel
You're learning, you're interpreting what's being said, and putting it in your own words, and that's very valuable. It also means that you can write and keep pace with the lecturer.
Tracy Dix
That's right. You’re kind of making the information your own, aren't you?
Alex Patel.
Hmm.
Tracy Dix
I mean, the beauty of all this is everyone kind of explains things in different ways. So, coming back to Alex, what you said about like not sharing notes. I mean, when it comes to something like a dissertation anyway, topics are so personal to the student that there won't really be much crossover between projects that people are doing so I don't think there's too much risk there of like plagiarism through note sharing. But when it comes to sharing, you know, your lecture notes, doing that kind of collaborative approach via Google Docs or, you know, other tools that your university supports can be really useful and can be a really good way of everyone supporting each other. Okay, so kind of moving on, we'll go into like the interactions that you might have with people in your school and your school administrator is a really important person, you might have several of them. Now they are your portal to any course-related questions that you might have. I mean…
Alex Patel
So who do we mean exactly? It's the people in the office, the departmental office, that kind of thing.
Tracy Dix
Yeah. Yeah. And I think the post is usually called a school administrator. But you know, if you go to your school or your academic department website, they're kind of called different things depending on the university. There will usually be a list of names under the school office or school administrator. Or something like that. So any of those names will probably be quite a good contact to ask if you've got anything that's course-related related to you know, changing your modules, timetabling issues, questions you have about submission. So I mean, yeah, the administrator might not be able to answer all your questions directly, but they can certainly put you in touch with a person who can help.
Alex Patel
Yes, yes. And treat them well because they have a lot of kind of power. So get in on the good side of them. It's, you know, it just makes your life a bit smoother.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
They're not going to …
Tracy Dix
They can do a lot for you.
Alex Patel
[Laughing] Not in a mafia kind of way. You know, everything's above board, but…
Tracy Dix
They’re just very helpful people.
Alex Patel
A little …
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
… goes a long way. You know, if you're having a bad day, they may sit down and you know, give you a bit of hands, direct you to someone who could help you.
Tracy Dix
The other person that hopefully you will have a good relationship with is your personal tutor. So everyone is assigned to a personal tutor and they kind of look after you on a pastoral basis as well as academically. So you know, if you're having a really hard time with university, do see if you can have a chat with them.
Alex Patel
Yes. Yeah. Make use of this system. It's really valuable. If you have any questions about the broad subject area, or how to improve your essays and things like that. It might be helpful to talk to this type of person. One thing, though, this is a really good tip is that if it's a course with hundreds of students, sometimes supervisors or admin staff or tutors can get overwhelmed by students asking some questions.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
And quite often they'll think, “It's in the handbook you know, why didn't they read the handbook?” So, do a bit of research around the question beforehand, if it's something you know, quite simple…
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
You know, do have a look at the handbook, talk to a couple of people on your course, and they may be able to help you solve that problem. And equally when you're going to see your tutor or a supervisor in terms of asking about an essay question perhaps, or some work like that. Do a bit of preparation beforehand. So you get the most from that session, show up with, you know, perhaps your own attempts to answer that question how you know, showing how you've interpreted it, what you think you might do next, basically, and that creates a much more useful conversation with this academic who has a wealth of knowledge than if you just kind of rock up and say,” I don't know what to do. Help!”
Tracy Dix
Yeah, yeah. Although you know, if you feel that you've exhausted all avenues, you've looked in the module handbook, and you really still don't know what to do then still go and ask for help.
Alex Patel
Definitely, definitely.
Tracy Dix
You know, yeah, don't don't be shy to ask for help. Because that's more important than you know, being afraid of doing that. But yeah, I do. I do take that point. Like try to find the answers yourself first, if you can, because you will go to them with more specific questions and they will know how to target their advice for you.
Alex Patel
Win win situation.
Tracy Dix
Win win situation. So regarding other academics, then I mean, you will come across you know your module leaders, your seminar, tutors, and people like that. And over time, you'll work out, you know, the ones that you gel with the most. Like you'll get on with some people more than others, and that's really natural. Yeah, and I mean, this is definitely true for me when I was at university, I had really good relationships with a number of academics and I would quite often go to them for help, on hindsight, maybe a little bit too often, but they were extremely supportive. And you know, we just kind of had that kind of chemistry.
Alex Patel
I didn’t know you did chemistry.
Tracy Dix
I didn't do chemistry. I studied English. [Laughter]
Alex Patel
So I was completely the opposite.
Tracy Dix
Yeah?
Alex Patel
I may have mentioned this before. I was very shy. So although we were on this small joint honours course, when we studied psychology, it was in a group of maybe 100 students, and when we did the neuroscience, it was in a group of probably 200 students.
Tracy Dix
Hmmm.
Alex Patel
So they were very big. We did have a tutor group. So we have one tutor, who was a very cool guy, and that was with the group of seven. So there was the opportunity to go and kind of talk to him.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
Not so much the people actually giving lectures and simply because of the size of the cohort of students. So you know, the interaction then used to be if you had a question, you might ask a question, during the lecture or after the lecture. Okay, two little anecdotes. So, when I was doing my final year dissertation in neuroscience, I chose the topic of cannabis.
Tracy Dix
As you do.
Alex Patel
Yeah. So should it be used as a medicine? What are the ethical arguments for and against? So I thought, yeah, that sounds like a good debate. I rolled up my sleeves, did a bit of research and realised that the year before there'd been a big conference and meeting of all the greatest minds on this subject area where they had debated this.
Tracy Dix
Wow.
Alex Patel
[Laughs] And it just felt like a waste of my time of me trying to do it again. So I did actually go and see my supervisor and say, Actually, I don't want to do this topic for this reason. Can I change it a bit and I changed it to the biochemistry of cannabis, [laughter] cannabinoids, sorry.
Tracy Dix
Cannabinoids.
Alex Patel
And it was incredible. It was great. I got to, you know, look at receptors in the brain, at distribution. There are two types of endogenous cannabinoid receptors. One lot in the brain, and one lot around the rest of the nervous system.
Tracy Dix
Okay.
Alex Patel
Yes, it was really interesting. And you know, what? I actually got the second highest mark in a cohort of 287 students.
Tracy Dix
Wow. Well, so that was cutting edge research, actually. I mean.
Alex Patel
It was cool.
Tracy Dix
You might, you might have to explain some of it to our audience in kind of more lay people's terms because I didn't understand a great deal of that. [Laughter]
Alex Patel
Anyway, it was a really good project to do. However, after having gone to see my supervisor this one time, I didn't go and see her again. [Laughs]
Tracy Dix
But you don't necessarily need to, right? I mean…
Alex Patel
I should have done, I should have done. I could have had the top mark of the year.
Tracy Dix
I never took you to be such a competitive person.
Alex Patel
Not really, but it turns out if I was to look at this dissertation now, I have used two contradictory referencing styles.
Tracy Dix
Oh…
Alex Patel
Harvard and Vancouver at different points of this -
Tracy Dix
Actually, maybe what you mean is you should have seen your librarian?
Alex Patel
I should have got somebody to give me some advice on -
Tracy Dix
How to reference.
Alex Patel
I should have made use.
Tracy Dix
Yes.
Alex Patel
So even if you're doing quite well in your subject area that is often a way you can improve. It's always worth talking to people.
Tracy Dix
So. Okay, so academics are all different in how they mark and I'm not sure like using two referencing styles would have jeopardised your mark a huge amount. I think it would have affected it a little bit. But like, for example, I'm not, I'm not sure would it have made like the difference of a whole grade? Again, it just depends…
Alex Patel
Yeah, I think I'd’ve got 95 if I-
Tracy Dix
What did you get?
Alex Patel
85.
Tracy Dix
Really?
Alex Patel
Bearing in mind, there were probably loads of typos. [Laughter] And the attention to detail wasn't there, so that means you can't get 95.
Tracy Dix
So one more top tip, use your spelling and grammar check [laughter] but also, if you need help with referencing, go and see your academic librarian. They're very experienced on referencing and they can help you. However, the ultimate responsibility of checking your references and bibliography is down to you.
Alex Patel
How long do you normally spend checking referencing?
Tracy Dix
I usually do it at the end but then I'm a real stickler for proofreading anyway, so I tend not to make a lot of like grammatical and formatting errors because it always jumps out at me.
Alex Patel
Hmm. It doesn’t jump out at me.
Tracy Dix
And I can't concentrate if anything is not quite right.
Alex Patel
If I come back to it, you know, a few days later…
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
Usually after I've submitted it.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
I see all the spelling mistakes and errors.
Tracy Dix
Oh, well, [laughter] just in time for your Viva. Well so we have gone everywhere today haven't we? We've talked about plagiarism and referencing and you know, approaching assignments, Freshers’ Week. Anyway, but I hope this has been helpful and our next episode will be kind of deciding like what kind of interactions are useful in Freshers’ Week and we're going to apply that to how would you go about approaching your reading list because many of you might already have your reading lists, or at least you might know the key texts that are being covered in some modules.
Alex Patel
And quite often they’re extensive lists.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, extensive lists.
Alex Patel
Like at Freshers’ Fair, there are a huge number of options and stalls you could go to.
Tracy Dix
Yes. And so we've already said no, you don't have to go to every single social occasion that's out there. And similarly, you don't have to read everything on your reading list, but we'll tell you in more detail, how to go about navigating it and making those decisions.
Alex Patel
Yes.
Tracy Dix
So thank you for joining us today and until next time!
Alex Patel
Goodbye.
Tracy Dix
Goodbye.
Kelley Costigan, Producer
You have been listening to Wyrd Learning. With Dr. Tracy Dix and Dr. Alex Patel. Music by Defekt Maschine, from Pixabay. Produced by Kelley Costigan
