{"id":150,"date":"2018-08-15T09:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/?p=150"},"modified":"2018-05-07T14:08:02","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T18:08:02","slug":"asking_for_help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/2018\/08\/15\/asking_for_help\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Ask for Help with Coursework"},"content":{"rendered":"

As an English student, you may have lots of questions in class, but you may not want to ask them. Or you think you understand something perfectly in the classroom, but become confused later when you try to do the homework. For these situations and more, there are many methods and benefits of reaching out to people in the English Department<\/a> \u2013 people who want you to succeed.<\/p>\n

Who can I ask for help?\"Dr.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your professor has the most information on each assignment and can probably already tell if you are struggling in the class overall. Professor of English Louis Martin said he invites students to meet with him if he notices them having trouble.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccessibility is important, especially at a school like this,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

English Department Chair Dr. Matt Skillen agreed, calling being available to students \u201ca component of being a professor.\u201d This is especially true at a college like E-town, where the small class sizes often mean professors know each student\u2019s strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n

Classmates and friends are also available to help. Sometimes a quick Facebook message is all you need to solve your problem.<\/p>\n

For questions about specific assignments, tutors in the Learning Zone are a great resource. Many English classes have assigned tutors who know the ins and outs of specific assignments and what certain professors look for. Tutors have the knowledge of a professor but the friendly vibe of a classmate.<\/p>\n

How can I reach out to someone?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Emailing is the most convenient way to reach professors outside of class, whether to make an appointment or to ask a question directly. Skillen makes a point of responding to student emails, even after midnight.<\/p>\n

Skillen also ends classes early if he notices confusion among students He said he hopes students use the extra time to approach him and that they usually do. According to Skillen, these end-of-class meetings often lead to answered questions and\/or scheduled appointments.<\/p>\n

Some professors even encourage phone calls. \u201cI put my home phone number on the syllabus,\u201d Martin said. Whatever the meeting method, Martin said he always tries to put students at ease and make sure they know he wants them to succeed.<\/p>\n

Junior English major Melissa Spencer said she usually looks for help by emailing professors her questions, but tries to make in-person meetings when she can. \u201cI\u2019m a person who prefers face-to-face communication, and I think I learn and respond better with that level of communication,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

How will reaching out help me as an English student?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most importantly, reaching out for help will provide answers to your questions and save you some stress.<\/p>\n

It may even motivate you to do well in the class. Last semester, Martin noticed a student struggling to write quotation explications. After meeting with Martin outside of class, the student worked hard and became the class\u2019s best explication writer.<\/p>\n

Martin and Skillen\"Dr. agreed that the nature of English as a subject also makes it ideal for student-professor interaction outside of class.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnglish is interactive field that deals with words and ideas, including the words of the professors,\u201d Martin said. \u201cIt can help to spend a bit more time making those words and ideas clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Author <\/strong>bio:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stephanie Miller is a junior English \u2013 professional writing major at Elizabethtown College. She is originally from New Jersey but plans to stay in Pennsylvania after graduating. She is Copy Chief of the Etownian<\/em> newspaper, serves as Secretary of the Stitch2Serve knitting club and dances with the E-motion dance group. In her free time she enjoys knitting, reading anything that isn\u2019t a textbook and silently correcting people\u2019s grammar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As an English student, you may have lots of questions in class, but you may not want to ask them. Or you think you understand something perfectly in the classroom, but become confused later when you try to do the homework. For these situations and more, there are many methods and benefits of reaching out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions\/192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}