The Writing Center is Streaming Online!

The UNO Writing Center is offering online writing consultations on Thursday mornings during the month of April.

You can:
Ask questions
Get feedback
Organize your thoughts
Expand your ideas
Learn tips and tricks to improve your writing

All from the convenience of your own computer!
In the future, online appointments will be scheduled online - just like our face-to-face appointments - but during this initial phase, appointments can be made only by calling the Writing Center.

To use online consultation, you will need:
A Computer with internet access
Updated Flash Player
Webcam, microphone, and earphones (recommended for video conferencing but not required)
Writing to work on
...And a desire to improve their writing

To schedule an appointment, please call the UNO Writing Center at 402.554.2946
Appointments are available 9:00 - 12:00 on April 17, and April 24.

I got to be the first student participant.  The person I worked with (and for April you would work with) is Suzanne, and she was great: patient, asked cogent questions, and provided great feedback. She helped me to strengthen my paper through suggestions for restructuring and developing the weaker parts.

Chris

Adobe Connect Lessons Learned

Some professors use Adobe Connect to create a live class session.  These experiences are great as they provide a virtual classroom environment where we can all verbally ask questions, see the reaction of our professor and fellow class mates, and the professor can talk through power points, or 'board work.'  After twenty minutes of setting up the class, I learned three key lessons:
 When I wasn't talking I was sure to mute my mic, otherwise, the mic will pick up me sneezing, shifting in my seat, and other ambient noise.

I had to use headphones otherwise the computer's mic would pick up the classroom conversation and create a wicked echo.

Sometimes I inadvertently muted the speaker, which prevented me from hearing the class.  After that I simply scanned the speaker icon (upper left hand corner) whenever I stopped hearing the conversation.

Citations: APSA Style

A lot of the professors hand out the APSA Style Manual for Political Students.  I don't find it to be terribly helpful for anything beyond the most basic of citations.  The APSA is based off of the Chicago Manual Style, which can be found here:

http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/contents.html

The above link provides an easy to use, search-able, on-line manual of the Chicago style.

 Below is an abbreviated document from Texas A&M that nicely summarizes the format.  I did not find anything of use in the fifteen seconds I scanned the APSA website listed at the bottom of this document.

News Assets

Don't forget that UNO pays for us to have a NY Times Pass; all that is required is your UNO email address:
http://www.nytimes.com/passes/

Reading Current Periodicals

Sometimes Prof's will ask us to report on an issue covered in a current periodical.  While you can use the date range in the database search engine to limit it to this month, it is still a cumbersome method.

Instead, I look at the list on the periodicals web page, which is found on the UNO main library web page under the title "All Journals A-Z."  The periodicals web page allows you to browse the collection alphabetically by title, which may take a while, or allows you to enter a partial or complete title at the search prompt.  When I entered "political science" and selected "match all words" I found a link to current issues of American Political Science Review, hosted at Cambridge Journals Online: http://leo.lib.unomaha.edu/login?url=http://journals.cambridge.org/jid_PSR.  The design of the link allows the Cambridge web site to validate your access through the UNO Library.

The search may yield a number of locations that host the periodical you are looking for, so you will need to look at the date range listed below the hyperlink to make sure it covers your period of interest.

Don't Forget The Writing Center

As a distance education education students we can use the Writing Center even tho we are not physically on campus. During the Fall and Spring semesters, you start by emailing the Writing Center with your paper attached, be sure to identify that you are a distance education student. Your paper will be assigned to one of the writing consultants who will make comments and return it to you. There's usually about a 48 hour turn around; however, during the busiest times late in the semester, you might have to wait a little longer. You can also just call the center at 402-554-2946 and make arrangements with their office assistant.  They typically do not provide these services during the summer.

For more information, stop by the UNO Writing Center website!

Parking On Campus

Since we hardly go to campus, if we ever do get the chance, we certainly don't pick up all the tricks the regular students get the first week.

There is free parking available during fall and spring semesters at the Crossroads Mall Parking Garage.  It is on the west side of 72nd, just north of Dodge.  The bus to campus leaves from the Southeast corner (you should see the buses waiting when you drive into the garage from the south side).

Three metered lots: East of the library, North of the Milo Bail Student Center and North of the Eppley Administration Building.

After 12:30pm, the surface level of the East Garage turns into a pay lot for $2.

You can also call Parking Services 402-554-7275 and request a visitor parking pass by mail.  I have not used this option, and I don't know if they will check to see if you are a student, but they probably do.

Night permits are good for parking in lots after 2:30pm.

Visit the UNO Parking Website.