Glossary
Jeanne Hoover and Dave Dillon
| Term | Definition | Source |
| Academic Year | The annual period during which a student attends school, college or university. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/academic_year |
| Active Listening | “The process of attending carefully to what a speaker is saying, involving such techniques as accurately paraphrasing the speaker’s remarks.” | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/active_listening |
| Active Reading | A note-taking skill to help a student focus on the material and be able to refer back to notes made while reading. | |
| Admission | Refers to student acceptance into college. May also refer to acceptance into a specific academic program or to the college’s department that handles applications. | |
| Alliteration | The repetition of consonants at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/alliteration |
| Answer Keys | A list of answers to test questions listed throughout the book chapters. | |
| Anxiety Disorders | Mental disorders that cause people to respond to certain objects or situations with fear and dread. | https://press.rebus.community/blueprint2/chapter/53-mental-health/ |
| Audit | A course that a student attends, but does not receive a grade. It can be used to explore a new subject or major. | |
| Axis information | Vertical and horizontal information on a graph. It also refers to the ‘X’ and ‘Y’ data. | |
| Back Matter | Similar to front matter, this is the last section of the book which may include an epilogue, appendix, glossary, bibliography, answer keys or index. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_design |
| Close Reading | “The careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of a text. A close reading emphasizes the single and the particular over the general, affected by close attention to individual words, the syntax, and the order in which the sentences unfold ideas, as the reader scans the line of text.” | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_reading |
| Co-requisite | Courses that are required to be taken at the same time. | |
| Cognitive Development | Construction of one’s thought process. | |
| College and Career Readiness | A point when a student has gained the necessary knowledge, skills, and professional behaviors to achieve a college degree or certificate, career training, or obtain a professional job. | https://press.rebus.community/blueprint2/chapter/33-the-big-picture/ |
| College Catalog | An online or print catalog that contains information on degree programs and school rules at the college | |
| College Level Course | The different course number designations as a whole. For example, 100-level or 1000-level courses. | |
| College Readiness | Students who are prepared for the workload and demands of college. Readiness may be determined by standardized test scores, soft skills and completion of high school. | |
| College Schedule | A student’s schedule of classes per term that includes days, times, locations, and modality (in person, hybrid, or online) | |
| Contrast | A reading strategy where the word is clarified by presenting a word or phrase opposite of its meaning. | |
| Course Number | The number assigned to courses to identify the specific course and level of course. | |
| Creative Thinking | A set of skills used to find new solutions to problems. Brainstorming is an example of a creative thinking activity. | |
| Credit Hour/Unit | The unit of measurement for college credit. It often relates to the number of course hours and it contributes to total credit hours required by a degree program. | |
| Critical Thinking | A set of skills used to analyze a situation and evaluate the accuracy of the information. | |
| Deep Processing | Part of a reading comprehension theory developed by Fergus I. M. Craik and Robert S. Lockhart that involves semantic processing, which happens when we encode the meaning of a word and relate it to similar words. | |
| Deep Sleep | Part of the sleep cycle that gives you the “deepest and most restorative sleep.” | |
| Degree | “A stage of proficiency or qualification in a course of study, now especially an award bestowed by a university or, in some countries, a college, as a certification of academic achievement.” | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/degree |
| Elective | A course that provides credit hours towards a degree. It is not part of a core degree program, but it may be related to a major. | |
| Enrollment | The number of students attending a university or college. May also refer to class sections and degree programs. | |
| External Distraction | A distraction caused by others. | |
| External Loci of Control | The belief that a person is controlled by outside forces. | |
| Extrinsic Passion | Drive to action that (as opposed to intrinsic motivation) springs from outside influences instead of from one’s own feelings. | http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/extrinsic-motivation.html |
| FAFSA | Refers to an application form used to apply for federal financial aid for education expenses. | |
| Federal Work Study | “A student aid program that provides part-time employment at a university or college to assist with education expenses.” | https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/glossary#letter_w |
| Financial Aid | Grants, loans, or scholarships given to a student to pay for tuition. Aid may or may not need to be repaid. | |
| First-generation Students | Students whose parents have not completed a college degree program or have not completed any higher education coursework. | |
| First-Year Experience | Students in their first year of college | |
| For-profit Institutions | Educational institutions that are private, profit-seeking businesses. | |
| Foundational Issues | Issues that can hinder a successful approach to overcoming non-productive actions and habits. | |
| Front Matter | The first pages of a book that includes bibliographic information like title, author, publication date. It may also include the table of contents, dedication, or introduction. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_design |
| Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) | A type of brain scan that can be used to observe comprehension levels and to determine the specific neural pathways of activation across two conditions, narrative-level comprehension and sentence-level comprehension. | |
| General Education/Gen Ed | In some degree programs, students are required to take a certain amount of courses in specific areas like science, humanities, and social sciences, in order to graduate. Courses that count towards this requirement are marked as General Education courses. | |
| Genre | A kind; a stylistic category or sort, especially of literature or other artworks. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/genre |
| Glossary of Terms | “A set of definitions of words of importance to the work.” | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_design |
| Grade Options | The grading system used at an institution that usually includes letter grades, pass/fail options and more. | |
| Grant | Funds given to a student that can be used for education or other expenses. These funds may or may not be required to be repaid. | |
| Haiku | A three-line poem in any language, with five syllables in the first and last lines and seven syllables in the second, usually with an emphasis on the season or a naturalistic theme. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/haiku#English |
| Half-Assed | Poorly or incompetently done | |
| Half-time Status | Credit load averages 6-8 credits per term | |
| Heading | The title or topic of a document, article, chapter, or of a section thereof. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heading#English |
| Homonym | A word that both sounds and is spelled the same as another word but has a different meaning. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/homonym |
| Hybrid Courses | College classes that are taught in-person and in the online environment | |
| Idiom | An expression peculiar to or characteristic of a particular language, especially when the meaning is illogical or separate from the meaning of its component words. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/idiom |
| Incidental Morpheme Analysis | A method of learning vocabulary by using morphemes. | |
| Index/Index of Subjects | An alphabetical listing of items and their location OR A list of terms or subjects used in the text and their corresponding page numbers. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_design |
| Inference | A definition of a word that can be found in surrounding sentences or implied by the general meaning of the selection. | |
| Internal Distraction | A self-distraction that includes thought processes, self-esteem, or confidence and may include self-controlled items like cell phones. | |
| Internal Loci of Control | The belief that a person is in control of situations and outcomes. | |
| Intrinsic Passion | Stimulation that drives an individual to adopt or change a behavior for his or her own internal satisfaction or fulfillment. Intrinsic motivation is usually self-applied and springs from a direct relationship between the individual and the situation. | http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/intrinsic-motivation.html |
| Introduction | “A beginning section which states the proposed and goals of the following writing.” | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_design |
| Learning Community | A group of people who share common academic goals and attitudes, who meet semi-regularly to collaborate on classwork. Such communities have become the template for a cohort-based, interdisciplinary approach to higher education. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_community |
| Long-Term Memory | One of three stages of memory proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin. It “is the continuous storage of information.” | |
| Long-term Rewards | Rewards that take a long period of time | https://press.rebus.community/blueprint2/chapter/2-whats-college-for/ |
| Lower Division Course | Courses geared towards students who are completing their freshman or sophomore year at a college or university. Courses are typically introductory. | |
| Lunch Interview | An interview conducted over lunch. | |
| Major | The main area of study of a student working toward a degree at a college or university. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/major |
| Metacognitive | Pertains to metacognition, or the act of thinking about thinking | |
| Metaphor | The use of a word or phrase to refer to something that it is not, invoking a direct similarity between the word or phrase used and the thing described (but in the case of English without the words like or as, which would imply a simile | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/metaphor |
| Mind Maps | A strategy of organizing information that involves adding a central idea to the center of the paper and adding branches of supporting ideas. | |
| Morpheme | The smallest linguistic unit within a word that can carry a meaning, such as “un-“, “break”, and “-able” in the word “unbreakable”. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/morpheme#English |
| Morpheme Analysis | A vocabulary strategy on using prefixes, suffixes, and roots, or morphemes, within words, to learn their meaning. | |
| Non-accredited College | Higher education institutions that do not meet requirements to be accredited. Financial aid from the US Department of Education may not be used at these colleges. | |
| Non-Credit/Continuing Education | Educational training, workshops, or courses that are completed, but may not provide credit towards a degree. May also refer to coursework completed to maintain a professional license. | |
| Non-profit Institutions | Educational institutions that are non-profit | |
| Non-traditional Students | Students over the age of 24 who have responsibilities outside of the college such as being a single parent or veteran | https://press.rebus.community/blueprint2/front-matter/introduction/ |
| Non-transferable Credits | Credits for college coursework that cannot be transferred between academic institutions | |
| Opportunity Cost | A choice based on the economic principle that there are limited resources available such as time or money OR The cost of an opportunity forgone (and the loss of the benefits that could be received from that opportunity); the most valuable forgone alternative. |
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/opportunity_cost
https://press.rebus.community/blueprint2/chapter/2-whats-college-for/ |
| Perfectionism | The need to complete something perfectly. | |
| Phonology | The study of the way sounds function in languages, including phonemes, syllable structure, stress, accent, intonation, and which sounds are distinctive units within a language. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/phonology |
| PIN | Personal identification number | |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) | Any condition that develops following some stressful situation or event; such as sleep disturbance, recurrent dreams, withdrawal or lack of concentration. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/post-traumatic_stress_disorder#English |
| Pragmatics | The study of the use of language in a social context. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pragmatics |
| Pre-College Level Course | Courses that are completed prior to college. | |
| Preface | A short section that covers how the book was developed or conceived. This section may not be included in all books. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_design |
| Prefix | A morpheme added to the beginning of a word to modify its meaning, for example as, pre- in prefix, con- in conjure, re- in reheat. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prefix |
| Prerequisite | In education, a course or topic that must be completed before another course or topic can be started. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prerequisite |
| Probation | Students who are not in good academic standing may be placed on probation which will require them to fulfill certain requirements, like a minimum GPA, to stay enrolled at the university. | |
| Procrastination | The act of putting something off. | |
| Qualifiers | A word that is absolute such as all, never, sometimes, some or often. | |
| Rapid Eye Movement (REM) | Part of the sleep cycle where your eyes move back and forth quickly and you may dream. This stage is short when you start sleeping and gets longer as the night progresses. | |
| Reading Apprenticeship | A reading comprehension method where expert readers assist learners by modeling their approach to reading. | |
| Reading Comprehension | The level of understanding of a text/message that is dependent upon four language skills: phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. | |
| Reciprocal Teaching | A teaching method that requires students to predict, summarize, clarify, and ask requests for sections of a text. | |
| Registration | To enroll or sign up for a college class or classes | |
| Roots | A word from which another word or words are derived. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/root#English |
| Scholarship | Funds given to a student that is based on academic, sport, or other achievements. These funds may not be required to be repaid. | https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/glossary#letter_f |
| Self-Efficacy | One’s sense of being able to achieve goals. | |
| Self-Regulation | The regulation (by a person or an organization) of their own behavior without external control or monitoring. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/self-regulation |
| Semantics | The individual meanings of words, as opposed to the overall meaning of a passage. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/semantics |
| Sensory Memory | One of three stages of memory proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin. It is the “storage of brief sensory events, such as sights, sounds, and tastes.” | |
| Shallow Processing | Part of a reading comprehension theory developed by Fergus I. M. Craik and Robert S. Lockhart that involves structural and phonemic recognition, the processing of sentence and word structure and their associated sounds. | |
| Short-Term Memory | One of three stages of memory proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin. It “is a temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory.” | |
| Short-term Rewards | Rewards that can be available in a short amount of time | https://press.rebus.community/blueprint2/chapter/2-whats-college-for/ |
| Side Bars | Boxes found in textbooks that provide related information. | |
| Simile | A figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another, in the case of English generally using like or as. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/simile#English |
| Sleep-Deprivation | The condition of being kept awake and not getting enough sleep (perhaps forcibly by someone else, or by a sleep disorder), to the point of noticeably lower alertness. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sleep_deprivation |
| SMART Goals | Goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. This may apply to personal or institutional goals. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria |
| Social Cognitive Theory | “Social cognitive theory is a learning theory based on the idea that people learn by observing others. These learned behaviors can be central to one’s personality.” | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_cognitive_theory |
| Stafford Loan | A type of federal loan that can be used to pay for educational expenses. These funds will need to be repaid. | |
| Strategic Plan | An organization’s process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_planning |
| Student Conduct Code | A collection of university policies that apply to appropriate student conduct and behavior. Consequences of not complying with the code may include suspension or explusion from the university. | |
| Student Number | A identification number that is unique to each student. | |
| Study Abroad | A program of study which is located in a different country than one’s home or resident country. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/study_abroad |
| Subsidized Loan | “A loan based on financial need for which the federal government generally pays the interest that accrues while the borrower is in an in-school, grace, or deferment status, and during certain periods of repayment under certain income-driven repayment plans.” | https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/glossary#letter_s |
| Suffix | A morpheme added at the end of a word to modify the word’s meaning. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/suffix |
| Syllabus | A contract between the instructor and student and a source of information for faculty contact information, textbook information, classroom behavior expectations, attendance policy and course objectives. | |
| Syntax | A set of rules that govern how words are combined to form phrases and sentences. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/syntax |
| Table of Contents | A list of chapters and subchapters with their corresponding page numbers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_design |
| Term | A portion of the academic year such as fall, spring, or summer. It is also known as a semester and college classes usually last one term or semester. | |
| Transcript | A list of courses completed and grades earned. | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/transcript |
| Transferable Credits | Credits for college coursework that can be transferred between academic institutions. | |
| Tuition | Amount of money charged to students for instructional services such as college courses. Tuition may be charged per term, per course, or per credit. | |
| Upper Division Course | Courses geared towards students who are completing their junior or senior year at a college or university. Courses may require prerequisites. | |
| World View | How a person views the world around them and their place in it. |
