Similarly, if you're drowning in dense details, don't be afraid to ask classmates to help you! You never know if you are both struggling, but can put your heads together and figure it out together.

The abstract is extremely useful. If you're reading an essay, even if it's an essay written by a PhD scholar three times your age, try looking for the thesis and summary in the beginning and end of the essay - just like you write your own essay! Topic sentences help, too, if you're looking for specific information in the essay.

My theory for this particular instance is to absorb better reading habits and a better mindset and understanding towards academic reading, for the sake of finding and reading sources for our papers.

"the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques"; the first definition of rhetoric. The second definition is the one the author chooses to use in contrast to the definition she is using.

This is especially true when concerning active and current debates going on about virtually any subject or major, from STEM fields to social sciences to fine arts. Just because you aren't standing next to each other and speaking doesn't mean you aren't in a conversation; you can have a conversation with someone by texting even though they aren't near you and may take several minutes or even hours to respond. Pen pals count as well with mailed letters!

Annotations can be fun! When I started I liked to think of it like a game of hide-and-seek. Where is the information I need to find? If it isn't in this source or text, it's in another!

One semester is quite a short amount of time to give up on an entire major! Or to think you're "too dumb" to read academic texts. The Bluest Eye, Mama Day and The House on Mango Street are just as collegiate as a textbook on the Chinese Revolution.