This module was a really good one to close the course. I also think it was the most useful modules for me. I found a lot of things that I can use in my future endeavors in school. As someone who struggles with using my phone when trying to school work I really enjoyed the articled shared that talked about how the presence of your smartphone reduces your brainpower (https://news.utexas.edu/2017/06/26/the-mere-presence-of-your-smartphone-reduces-brain-power/). I found this to be not completely shocking but also very worrisome for me because I definitely struggle with using my phone too much. Another part of this module I really enjoyed was the part where it talked about how study breaks can actually be very beneficial. Study breaks are something I have yet to use effectively and I think in the future using them responsibly I can become much more productive. I appreciated that this module gave many ways that you can take study breaks in ways that don’t decrease focus or productivity. Finally by far the most important part of this module is the part talking about managing stress and keeping a healthy mind. Keep my mental health good was one of the biggest challenges I faced my first semester of college and I think its incredibly important to talk about how students can better manage their stress so things don’t ever become too much to handle.

I have just recently finished taking my second year writing course which was my first College writing course and it came at me sort of fast. I did very well in the class but the writing was quite different than it had be in high school even in the AP classes. My papers were graded a lot harsher than in highschool it seemed and I had to work a lot harder to get A’s on my papers. Also in this second year writing course I had to do some in depth research for the first time in my life. I had to search for several peer reviewed journals for my presentation and essays. which is why I found the part of this lesson talking about research to be super helpful. I really enjoyed the articles in the module detailing how to form research questions and things of that sort. The Pressbooks article that was linked was the most helpful for me (https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/choosingsources/chapter/developing-research-question/). I also really enjoyed the section of the module that briefly discussed boolean logic as that is something I have talked about in a few of my previous courses in much different contexts. Overall module 6 was probably the most relevant module to me so far from this course as I just finished up my first college writing course.

Note taking has been something I have struggled with a lot in college. In my first year I found myself going back and forth between physical and digital note taking not knowing which one is best for me. This module was really nice and that it gave a nice breakdown of both methods and made me realize what flaws I had with each of them. I typically take physical notes in class and the biggest issue I have had with them is keeping them organized which is why I really liked the slide in this module that talked about different ways to organize paper based notes. Another thing in this module that I think will be incredibly useful in my paper note taking skills in the future was the article that talked about all the different methods of notes (https://open.lib.umn.edu/collegesuccess/chapter/4-4-got-notes/). When reading this I realized I only ever use the lists method. I do think it is a useful method but I could be more productive if I started using things such as concept maps and the Cornell method more often. I really enjoyed how this article broke each of the methods down, I also really liked the idea mentioned earlier in the module of generating questions for learning. I like this a lot because I feel like I am constantly generating good questions in my head but I never think to write them down, I feel if I write them down it could improve my ability to learn a lot.