Bayden Sajko

Professor Emily Ivey

Engl 110c

11/27/23

The Tools to Succeed

A large part of being a student is the classes you take and the work you must do to succeed. A university’s job is to ensure you have the tools to do that. At Odu there are many options you have to make sure you’re studying right, including many tutoring opportunities, the writing center, and the Odu library. All these services steer students in the right direction when focusing on their academics and it’s important to take advantage of them.

Having good tutoring options is a must for on-campus resources and works as a valuable asset to students. Odu has many options for tutoring and does a good job of outlining how tutoring should be used. They give you easy access to the Odu website which shows every class that tutoring is offered. Getting in contact with advisors and tutors is also easily accessible from this website. Having these resources so readily available to students is also reassuring, knowing that if you’re ever struggling in class or just feel that you need a little extra help you can schedule sessions in person or online and it won’t cost you anything for this help. As a student academics come first and providing these services says a lot about a university. For me personally I really like the amount of different subjects they cover for tutoring. Im majoring in cybersecurity which is ever changing and sometimes its really hard to keep up with everything going on in the cyber world. Later in my college career once I start having to take more cyber intensive classes having the resource to help me will be very useful and I expect to use that opportunity a lot.

Nothing is worse than starting a paper and not knowing where to go or where to start. Sometimes it’s nice to have a little help brainstorming or editing later on with your paper. The writing center is based around helping you write your papers. You are able to schedule meetings and have a new set of eyes look over your paper before you finalize it. When writing it is important to have input from someone because they can catch things you might have missed. Now as much as we would like them to the workers will not write your paper for you or revise it but rather help you in improving your ability to revise. You even have the choice to send a paper identifying what you want them to look over and they will send a video back going over it. You have the option to make an appointment once a week for up to four weeks and each appointment is 45 minutes. 45 minutes might seem like a lot but I feel as if it might make some students feel rushed while working on there paper. They also will come out to classrooms and teach lessons for a group learning experience.

It’s a Thursday night and you just finished all your classes for the day and you get back to your dorm and realize you have an exam the next day. You need to do research and study in a silent environment. What do you do? You go to the library. The library offers many services including help with research and ask-a-librarian. Getting stuck and unable to find good articles can be irritating. Luckily enough the library can help you out. Available to all students is the ability to make an appointment where you can have a 1 on 1 session and they will help you with anything research related. The hours for the library are 24 hours other then the weekends. I do wish that the library was 24/7 to accommodate every students schedule and study habits. In the end the ODU library acts as a home for focused study and research with many options for students to succeed.

All in all the resources I chose to reflect upon have been only positive. The University has done a fantastic job setting up resources for students to take advantage of and makes them easily accessible. There wasn’t much criticism about what they offer although some improvements can always be made I think where these assets stands now is at a healthy place.

“Tutoring.” Https://Www.Odu.Edu/Tutoring, 8 Nov. 2023, www.odu.edu/tutoring. 

“The Writing Center.” Old Dominion University, ww1.odu.edu/al/centers/writing- center#done1612907281342=&tab69=0. Accessed 28 Nov. 2023. 

“Learning Commons @ Perry Library.” Old Dominion University, ww1.odu.edu/learningcommons. Accessed 28 Nov. 2023.