Students who succeed in this class ordinarily:
- Complete readings and other assignments promptly
- Use my office hours and make other appointments
- Form groups for the research project early
- Read, reread, and rereread assignments, especially statistics material
- Review the online tutorials and related material individually and in study groups
- Write multiple drafts of papers and proofread them carefully -- as Howard Becker says in Writing for Social Scientists, "the only version that counts is the last one" (1986, p. 21)
- Form study groups -- meet often and talk not only about the statistical calculations but about methods and statistical concepts as well
- Ask colleagues to review and edit their written work; such activity is the professional norm and an important component of academic life -- it is not cheating -- just be certain that all work you submit under your name is really your own
- Prepare statistics "crib sheets" with formulae, relationships, definitions, and so on
- Do all sections of all the practice exercises
- Participate in the review sessions
- Use the TA, especially for understanding my expectations; the TA will set up regular office hours
- Use the supplementary materials on Reserve at PCL, especially the model student papers and previous exams and quizzes.