For more information please contact
Ellen Gibson, The University of Chicago Press,
at (773) 702-3233 or
New book helps international students understand how to live and learn in North America.
Succeeding as an International Student
in the United States and Canada
By Charles Lipson
US Publication date: 15 April 2008 • Paper $17.00/£9.00
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-48479-2 • 380 pages
As thousands of high school seniors across the country watch for their college acceptance letters this spring, thousands of young people around the world are making plans to come to the United States to study. These students will join the 600,000 or so already studying in North America. Newly arrived, they’ll have to adjust to both academic and social mores that may be very different from what they know at home.
Succeeding as an International Student provides answers to the myriad of questions that international students may have when they arrive in the United States and Canada. Based on Professor Charles Lipson’s years of experience working with international students at the University of Chicago as well as extensive interviews with students and their advisers and professors, the book is designed to help students live comfortably and succeed academically.
“I explain the importance of participating in class, the stress on originality and creativity, the rules for academic integrity (as they are understood here), and how to work with professors,” Lipson says. He points out that many students come from education systems that value memorization and repetition of facts. In order to navigate the American system, students have to speak up in class (even if their English is limited), challenge the ideas of others and write papers with original ideas. With information on everything from learning English and participating in class to finding an apartment and going grocery shopping, Lipson’s book covers the main issues that face international students. Succeeding as an International Student also includes plenty of practical tidbits of information: a comprehensive glossary that addresses academic terms and other phrases, a clothing size chart that matches American and Canadian sizes to their equivalents in other countries, and even a chapter on the academic calendar and holidays in the U.S. and Canada.
“My goal is to help international students adapt to their new environment, to succeed academically and to live comfortably,” Lipson says. “After all, they are some of our best students, and we benefit enormously from having them here.”
Listen as Lipson discusses his book and his own experiences as a student abroad (mp3 file).
Charles Lipson is professor and director of undergraduate studies in political science at the University of Chicago. He is the author of Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism, and Achieve Real Academic Success, as well as How to Write a BA Thesis and Cite Right, all published by the University of Chicago Press. Please contact Ellen Gibson at 773-702-3233 or for more information about the book or to arrange an interview with the author.
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