Welcome to my Tips Web Page! Here you will find information that will aid you in scholarly pursuits.  Why did I design this web page? I believe that students need to know certain information that will enhance their knowledge and to stress the importance of academic advising and lifelong learning, develop their scholarly voice and scholarly writing, and how to tie it all together to create a positive social change. 

Questions to consider:

What is Academic Integrity and Plagiarism?
What is lifelong learning?
What is a scholarly voice and scholarly writing?
What is a liberal arts education and why do you have to complete a determined amount of General Education credits? (these are courses outside of your major)
What are "peer-review" articles and how do I find them?
How will your education help to create a positive social change?  Are you successful?

Q: Academic Integrity and Plagiarism: READ IT: it's your responsibility!!

A: For a thorough definition: please go to the following Web Site: Penn State Altoona Academic Integrity Policy and Procedures   

Q: What does "lifelong learning" mean?

A: A brief definition is given here: lifelong learning means that you will continuously learn, throughout your life time, either during academic pursuits or while pursuing professional goals.   

Q: What is a Scholarly Voice and Scholarly Writing?

A: Scholarly Voice: means that what your write and/or publish represent your "voice" to your audience.  In other words, what your audience (undergraduate students, graduate students, professors, colleagues, etc.) reads tells them a lot about your cognitive processes and educational background and since they cannot hear you in person, your writing is your voice. 

A: Scholarly Writing: in a nut-shell, this means that your writing(s) demonstrates that you know what you are writing about, is based on solid evidence/facts (data) and not biases and opinions, and your topic is of importance to your field/major.

Also, it means that you cite the resources from which you borrow ideas and/or concepts.  You wouldn't want someone stealing your ideas so give credit to those resources.  Also, this includes writing in the proper style of writing such as criminal justice students should be writing and formatting their papers according to the American Psychological Association (APA) style of writing. 

In addition, students who need to write in the APA style of writing should purchase the following book:

American Psychological Association (2001).  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. (5th ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. ISBN 1-55798-791-2.

Q: What is a Liberal Arts Education?

A: Simplistically, this means that you are going to schedule courses that allow you to gain a common knowledge base.  As stated, this will allow you to discuss topics such as biology, history, English, math (quantification), etc. with other students, staff, faculty within or outside of your major.  Thus, you have a common knowledge about a lot of things and will not have to walk around and tell people that you "don't know" anything but Business or Criminal Justice topics.  You will become "well-rounded."  Below, I have listed a few references that pertain to Liberal Learning Theory: (please note that these references are not in the proper APA format because this web building application will not allow special formatting).

Adler, M.J. (1982). Freedom Through Discipline: Elective System Defeats Purpose of Liberal Education.  In The paideia proposal. New York: Macmilliion.

Greene, M. (1988). Freedom, education, and public spaces. In The dialectic of freedom (pp. 1–23). New York: Teachers College Press.

Q: What are peer-reviewed journal articles and how do I find them?

A: Articles that are submitted for publication, to a particular scholarly journal (e.g., Criminology & Public Policy), goes through a process that entails the following procedures: the editorial board sends your submitted written work to experts in that field (your peers) for review to see how accurate it is, how relevant it is to the field, appropriateness for the journal, and it is evaluated for its scholarship.

Examples of non peer-reviewed articles: COSMO, TIME, etc. because the articles that are found in these publications do not follow the strict peer-reviewed process and are based mostly on biases and opinions of the writer.  DO NOT USE THEM FOR YOUR SCHOLARLY WRITINGS!!

You can located peer-reviewed journal articles through the Penn State Altoona EICHE Library databases.  Examples of databases include but not limited to the following: Criminal Justice Abstracts, National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), Sociological Abstracts, etc.

When you need help, please go to the library or your professor's/instructor's office!!

Q: Am I working towards "success?" To answer this question, you must first define what "success" means to you.

A: Students typically determine success as passing all of their courses or obtaining a certain Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) or looking at the broader issue; graduating from Penn State Altoona with an associates or bachelors degree.  Businesses measure success in terms of profits.  Scholars define success in terms of publishing articles that educate the masses about a specific area of interest such as: the effectiveness of community policing, sentencing guidelines, the effectiveness of after school programs for juveniles, etc. Scholars and Policy makers measure success in terms of developing policies that help create a positive social change.  So, what is your measurement of success?