A Breakdown of Your Class Syllabus: The Most Important Tool for College Courses

On the first day of classes throughout your whole college career, you will receive a syllabus. The syllabus will be your Bible for every class you take from freshman year to senior year. Your professors give out these 1-3 (or more) page documents to tell you about them, what is expected of you, and what you'll be studying throughout the semester. You should treat it like gold and file it away in a place you know you will never lose it.

I wrote this article to let you know what you will see on any syllabus you receive. You should quickly pick up and how to read and interpret it. Here's what to look for:

Basic class information: course title and number, the professor's name, and the meeting times and location for your course.

Professor contact information: office phone number (sometimes a home phone or a cell phone as well), office location, e-mail address, and office hours. These tell you how to contact the professor outside of class if you are having trouble with something, want to review an exam, or just want to introduce yourself to him or her.

Description of the course: This is usually taken from the master course catalog. You will get an idea of what you will be learning and what you should get out of the course to apply to your career or future academic studies.

Textbooks: book title(s), author, edition of the book, ISBN number, and whether or not books are required.

Breakdown of grading and averages: Every professor places a different amount of weight on exams, class participation, homework, attendance, quizzes, final exams, and other projects. All of this is shown in a percentage breakdown equal to 100%. However, other professors may use a total points system to determine your grade instead of percentages. The grading breakdown can tell you what is most important to your professor and help you keep track of what you need to reach a certain grade.

Project descriptions: Sometimes you'll already know what will need to be done for a final project or upcoming paper. Read the description immediately and then continue referring to it as needed to avoid any major mistakes when the project is actually due.

Course schedule: A schedule of what topics will be covered on what dates. This also includes due dates for projects and papers, exam dates, and sometimes quiz dates if your professor does not give surprise quizzes. This will also tell you what chapters or pages to read. Make sure you are ready for class each day by keeping up on your readings and preparing questions to ask if necessary.

Understanding, interpreting, and safe keeping your course syllabus is an integral part of academic success in college. Don't let it of your sight and refer to it all throughout the semester to make sure you are staying on track.