Succeeding in University

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

Want to know what to eat for breakfast when you’re a hungry university student? Well, if you do, turn to page 59 of Domenico Angelicchio’s new book.

It’s true. In this book, any high school student intending to go to university will find conveniently resolved almost every imaginable impediment to a successful university career (which the author seems to define as getting a good enough degree so that one can get a job).

Topics covered include: the differences between high school and university; how to pick the right university; what academic qualifications are required to get in; financing education; choosing courses and professors; knowing a university’s rules and regulations; developing study skills; managing time effectively; writing essays and reports; preparing for exams; writing admission tests; motivation; finding a job. There’s even a chapter which advises international students about some of the peculiarities of the Canadian university system and another one summarizing each major Canadian university by province.

All this takes us to page 125. The remainder of the book consists of 18 appendices that list information, much of which is available elsewhere, on such topics as the tuition fees in 1983/84 at “selected Canadian universities”; and where particular programmes, such as law, are offered in Canada. There is even an appendix that indicates the addresses of District taxation offices and another which supplies “other useful addresses.” One could go on, and the author does.

An unkind soul might complain that the book is heavily padded.

I, however, am not an unkind soul, for I think that some of the information in this book could prove useful to an insecure high school student (and for that matter to his guidance counsellor); parts of the book could also be of assistance to any student currently in university — especially the sections on time management, study skills, and essay and exam writing.

And yet despite its length, I would suggest that at least some bits of the book seem a bit undernourished. There is, for example, the little section on book reviewing sandwiched into the chapter on essay writing. While it is true that Angelicchio provides some useful tips, it is also true that he leaves out others. He has, for example, failed to mention the importance of an analysis of the background and qualifications of a book’s author to explain why a book takes the shape it does.

Ironically, the publisher of this book has failed to supply us with any information about Mr. Angelicchio. This explains why I did not mention anything about him at the beginning of this review, thereby departing from the useful format of reviews in the Canadian Book Review Annual. Instead, I chose to talk about breakfast.

Incidentally, the successful university student will skip coffee and buns for breakfast in favour of eggs and milk. Who can argue with that?