Articles Tagged With Etiquette

As computers and computer access have become more prevalent, more and more people are finding out the benefits that enrolling in online college classes offer. For one, they can take classes in their own free time, which is vitally important for people that have a job or who live in places where higher educational opportunities are limited. Also, taking a college class online allows people to have a group of peers that are there for the same reasons that they are. Often in traditional classes, students may be forced to take certain classes to meet graduation requirements and often do not want to be there. People in online classes are taking them because they want to be a part of the class. Like traditional college classes, turning in papers and homework for the class is often a requirement for completing the class. However, turning in papers for online classes can be a new experience for a lot of people.

When turning in college papers for online classes, it’s important to avoid text speak. Text speak is a short hand form of communication that has become popular with people that communicate over the computer or from their mobile phones as in text messaging or email. An example of text speak is the familiar abbreviation “lol,” which stands for “laughing out loud.” While it is highly unlikely that you will ever use the phrase “laughing out loud” in a college paper, if you do have to use it, be sure to spell it out instead of writing the abbreviation. Abbreviations and text speak are necessary for text messaging and similar applications where there may be charges per character or where speed is important. However, text speak does not belong in a college paper. It looks unprofessional and lazy. On top of that, many people may not be versed in the intricacies of text speak, which means that they may not be able to understand your paper. Below are ten text speak phrases to avoid:

1. “2″ instead of “to” or “too”
2. “4″ instead of “for,” “four,” or “fore”
3. “b4″ rather than “before”
4. Using “u” in place of “you”
5. Using “R” for “are”
6. Using “B” for the verb “be”
7. Using “C” in place of “see”
8. Abbreviations such as “lol” or “gtg”
9. Combination of text speak e.g. “b4″ for “before”
10. Using “8″ in words like “late,” “hate,” or “mate.” e.g. “l8″for late