Five Communication Skills to Develop for College

Despite the role that social networking plays in the life of most youths nowadays, many new college students struggle with communication in one form or another. This is not surprising, as more communication and independence is required of college students than of high school students. In this article, I describe five communication skills that all college students should attempt to master before and during college.

College Communication Skill #1 - Reading

Reading is a type of receptive communication. If you are a college student, you will find that professors often prefer to allow you to read things instead of spending the time going over the information. This may occur with a course syllabus, or it may occur with entire textbook chapters. Especially with the syllabus, make sure that you read and understand the information presented before you begin to ask questions. If there is one good way to get on a professor's bad side quickly, it is asking him or her questions to which you already have the answers. Make sure that you know the best habits for effective reading in college.

College Communication Skill #2 - Writing

Many college students struggle with writing for a variety of reasons, but writing is one of the most important skills to have in college. All college students must write - whether it is part of a major or a requirement for a general education course, every college student will have to write essays. Some college students may have to keep a journal, and others will have to produce written lab reports regularly. Writing is extremely important in college, and if you struggle with it, get any help that you can from your college's English department. Tips for more effective writing in college are provided here.

College Communication Skill #3 - Writing Email

Even if a college student is a good writer, he or she is not necessarily good at writing emails. You will, at one point or another, have to communicate with a professor, teaching assistant, or group partner through email. If this is the case, you should try to make the email as clear and concise as possible. Avoid flowery language and unrelated information, and be as specific as possible with your question, citing page numbers if possible and doing anything else to ease the other person's task. This is so important that I'm going to give examples.

Example #1

"Hi Professor Watkins! I'm in your class and you were talking in lecture last week about how nerve cells and muscle cells are different. Could you describe that quickly? Thanks!"

There are numerous things wrong with this email. First, the writer never introduces himself or herself and fails to state what class and section he or she is in. If this professor teaches both an Introduction to Biology for Non-Science Majors course and an Honors Human Physiology course, he or she may have no idea of how to respond to this question. Likewise, he or she might teach different sections of the same course, and each section may have reached a different point in lecture. Granted, the professor could determine the student's identity and class section by looking up the email address and comparing it to the class rosters, but this is inconvenient and will not endear the student to the professor.

Second, this question is very, very broad, and is better brought up in office hours or in a study group, or addressed by reading the textbook and taking notes. Third, most professors have spent years and years attaining their degrees and wish to be held in high esteem for doing so. The tone of this email is extremely informal and would not communicate respect to the professor. In short, a professor would probably tell this student to read the book and not to waste his or her time with any more emails.

Example #2

"Hi Professor Watkins. My name is Tim Jones and I'm a student in your MW 10AM Intro Bio for Non-Sci Majors course. Yesterday (10/23), you were talking in lecture about the differences between muscle and nerve cells. Can both types of cells be multi-nucleate, or is that restricted to muscle cells? The explanation on pages 113-114 of our textbook seems vague to me. Thank you for your time."

This email in Example #2 is much better than that of Example #1. The tone is more respectful, the writer identifies himself, the course, and the section, and even refers to the specific lecture about which he has a question. The question is specific and could be answered in a short sentence. The professor could even reference those pages of the book and might address the question in the next lecture if he or she agrees with the student's assessment of the writing. Most importantly, the email is concise, containing no unnecessary information, and the total time investment of the professor could be less than five minutes.

So if you have a legitimate question and can't make it to office hours, try to make your email more like Example #2 than like Example #1. Your professor or teaching assistant will appreciate it immensely.

College Communication Skill #4 - Speaking

Speaking is a very important communication skill to harness in college. Even if you never take a course such as Public Speaking, you may take courses in which participation is part of the course grade or wherein you need to give short presentations on a regular basis. In these cases, being able to express your thoughts clearly in a minute or two is important. You don't need to be a great and moving orator going into or coming out of college, but things like interviews and job presentations will be easier if you develop this skill to the best of your ability.

College Communication Skill #5 - Listening

One of the major ways in which college is different from high school is that students are graded on relatively few assignments and/or exams. In the course of a semester, an individual might take two quizzes and write two essays. Due to the weight of these assignments in the determination of a final grade, it is important to avoid making careless errors. The best way to avoid making such blunders is to listen well to instructions. For example, a professor in a journalism course might ask for an essay detailing the differences between media today and fifty years ago. A student that turns in an essay solely about the current state of media or solely about the state of media fifty years ago is unlikely to receive a passing grade on the assignment.

Listening well in college can also help in other ways. Sometimes professors or teaching assistants will eliminate parts of assignments or evaluations. Not spending time on these questions will allow you to focus on the material that counts. Likewise, listening to the opposing group in a class debate will allow you to formulate a more incisive response and may improve your grade. Finally, listening well and understanding questions during an interview may net you a good job during or after college. Remember to ask questions if you have any doubt as to what is asked of you.

The ability to communicate well during and after college is important, so working to improve these skills will likely improve not only one's grades, but also the opportunities that that individual has upon leaving college. Do you have any tips or tricks for how a new college student could improve his or her communication skills? Feel free to share your thoughts in the form of a comment. Thank you for reading!

Sources:

Personal experience

Advice from various Professors and Teaching Assistants