Book review – Kickstarting Your Academic Career: Skills to Succeed in the Social Sciences

We often come across great books that should be of interest to your students. I recently received a book, Kickstarting Your Academic Career: Skills to Succeed in the Social Sciences, by Robert L. Ostegard, Jr. and Stacy B. Fisher. It is written for students to help them learn the skills needed to achieve academic success. It would be a great book for your graduating high school seniors as they embark on their college careers or for you to use a primer to give them tips to succeed.

My daughter, Lauren Bullock, is a Sophomore at Stephen F. Austin State University so I thought she would be a good candidate to read and review the book.

-Jason Bullock, Publisher, LINK for Counselors

Kickstarting Your Academic Career: Skills to Succeed in the Social Sciences reviewed by Lauren Bullock, Sophomore at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas

Kickstarting your Academic Career:Skills to Succeed in the Social Sciences,  by Robert L. Ostergard, Jr. and Stacy B. Fisher gives college students the tips and tricks they need to be successful. The book covers a series of topics that will help a future college student know what to expect or help a current struggling college student get back on track. It is an easy read and organized into 5 key chapters: 1: Where to start? The basics of the classroom, 2: So you thought you knew how to read? Readings and notes for class, 3: On the mid-term grind,  4: Finding your curiosity and research Zen: Skills and the projects that build them, and 5: Can you google that?. Some of the key topics covered in the book include using available resources to help you, the do’s and dont’s in large and small lectures, what participating in class really entails, how to communicate with instructors, and how to prepare for exams in order to be successful.

The book is an overall guide to everything you need to help you succeed in college and I picked up a few tips that I plan to use going forward. The emphasis on getting the help a student needs in a course early, rather than later,  is demonstrated throughout the book. Helpful examples are included such as reading the course material ahead of time, participating in class, and studying a little each day rather than cramming the night before an exam. Tips are also given on how to study for different types of test and how to be successful when given group projects. There was also some nice advice giving insight about how to prepare for life after college. I would recommend Kickstarting your Academic Career to every college student because they can benefit from the advice given in the book. It establishes what mindset you need and what tools you can utilize in order to be as successful as you can throughout your schooling. It is also written in a clear, concise manner that any student can understand regardless of their reading comprehensive skills.

The book is available for purchase from the University of Toronto Press. Here is the link: http://www.utppublishing.com/Kickstarting-Your-Academic-Career-Skills-to-Succeed-in-the-Social-Sciences.html