Sometimes, it seems like we’ll not be able to administer all our academic achievements, be it in school or university. The life of a student isn’t easy, but even with the difficulties, it isn’t a terrible nightmare. Here are some aspects, tips and points of view that can help you to pass through it the best way – and even enjoy the magical, fun and amazing moment that can be academic life!
Monograph in High School? OMG!
Giovanna de Almeida is a student from the first year of Journalism on Cásper Líbero. At 17 years old, she has recently graduated from High School – but it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have academic experiences from school challenges. When Giovanna was a sophomore, she had to write a Monograph! “I had to write the completion of course work from the second year. It was like a prerequisite from my old school”, stated.
A monograph is a dissertation on a particular point of science, an art, a locality, on the same subject or on related ones. It can be considered a scientific text and is usually the dearest among course conclusion works. The best part of it is that, commonly, you can choose what topic you will talk about; so it can be really fun to research and write about a topic that you like. “It was really diversified, you could talk about anything you wanted to, and to me, it was really cool. We’ve had the opportunity to choose a theme that we felt comfortable and had the curiosity to research about”. In Giovanna’s case, she wrote about the Brazillian Holocaust and the anti-asylum fight.
Even being a hard thing to do, with a lot of challenges and other academic responsibilities to solve to reconcile with a Mono’s writing, this experience is really gratifying, not only because you can take some time of your day to just research, read and write about a topic that you like, but because it brings to you a new sense of responsibility, hard work and some definitions that just living you could find out.
“I would not know how to make a Term Paper if I hadn’t had this experience. But I think that something I will take into my life is the experience of spending an entire year on a project, because it really awakened in me a sense of curiosity, a desire to research, to study different topics, which I didn’t have before. It was very cool!”, concludes Giovanna.
Is Term Paper really a 7-headed-monster?
In all our academic life, we hear that really terrifying term that follows us until the end of our academic life: Term Paper (or, in Portuguese, TCC). But what seems to be a horrifying experience can be a really gratifying one. Maria Victória Nogueira is also a 1st year Journalism student from Cásper Líbero, but she comes from another graduation. Mavi also holds a Law degree from Mackenzie University, and told how was the experience of producing and delivering your Term Paper at the end of 2021. “The elaboration process happened divided between the 9th and 10th semester, that is, during the entire last year. In the first half, we need to present the chosen topic to the advisor, in addition to the selection of the Final Paper template, the summary and the bibliography. The second part was based on the writing of the work”, told Mavi. “In general, it wasn’t a scary thing. It was pretty easy to organize”.
Term Paper, which means Course Completion Work, is an assessment that takes place when graduation is coming to an end. It aims to make the student put on paper everything he has learned so far, since the beginning of his studies. Thus, it is possible to know if everything was absorbed and understood correctly.
In the end, delivering a Final Paper brings a lot of good memories and characteristics that you’ll take for the rest of your life. Mavi, for example, “will forever take part in the organization, the routine. Setting goals, having the organization to prepare the project, in addition to the theme I chose for my work. These are things I will carry with me forever”.
“The best part is when you present and are praised by the panel; when they ask a question about the topic and you have the knowledge to answer; it’s the grade, the result… The most gratifying part is showing the result of that work that you made with so much love and care”, concludes Mavi. The truth is that the Final Paper haunts most people who think about doing a degree, but it is much more difficult in theory than in practice. It is worth remembering that, as hard as it is, Final Paper represents the conclusion of years of hard work, study and, of course, good times that will remain in the memory forever.
Now is my turn! How to have the best experience ever?
First things first, you have to keep in mind that the Final Paper can’t be considered the only priority of your life. For the development of a good project, you also have to focus on your studies, your relations and, specially, your mental health. “In a general way, the word that I can best use to define what is necessary to be able to reconcile the production of the Final Paper with classes, internships and other activities is balance. Having balance, setting up a routine, planning, organizing… Have a script of what you are going to do during the week. You can’t just focus on one area of life, it’s necessary to have that balance”, Mavi said.
Another tip that will really help you is creating a personal organization, keeping in mind what are your deadlines. “What really helped me out was tracing a chronogram. Even though school and the teachers don’t stipulate deadlines, I stipulated when I needed to deliver each chapter of my Mono. It helped me a lot.”, complements Giovanna.
Last but not least, the most important tip for this moment is: enjoy! When you finish this experience, how do you want to remember it? “My experience was really good, really gratifying. In the beginning it’s terrifying because you don’t know what to expect from it, how it will work, but the most important part is to keep calm and know that you have studied everything you could until that moment. If you have the opportunity to make a scientific initiation or some academic work before the Final Paper itself it’s really good to do it. I made it and it helped me a lot. The theme was something I really liked and identified with, and could develop it very lightly… It was a wonderful experience”, concludes Mavi.
——————————————-
The article above was edited by Nicoly Bastos.
Liked this type of content? Check out Her Campus Casper Libero for more!