CGA Student Email Study Groups

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Participating in a Study Group is a rewarding experience, but it is different from other types of discussions.   Not only do you have the direct postings indicating that people have read your messages, there are also many participants who read your message and do not make comments.   (They are called ‘lurkers’).

What you say can and will be read by many people.   As such, you should think carefully before posting a comment, as a Study Group has a huge potential audience of people to influence or infuriate.

That being said, don’t hesitate to post a new ‘thread’ (discussion topic) or comment on another person’s message – there is little that can go wrong, it opens up opportunities for sharing and learning, plus almost everyone will treat your ideas, questions or comments with kindness and respect.

Please keep this in mind: please use the your Study Group to contact other members.  Do not contact other members through their personal email address unless invited to or your have asked permission of the member first, especially if it regards further discussion of an existing thread.

Here are come suggestions to consider when posting a comment:

• When you are responding to a thread begun by someone else, begin by deleting the previous comments (this speeds up the reading process for people who follow the thread’s path).

• Make your comments brief.   For most postings you should limit yourself to one idea per comment.   (rather than a long comment with many ideas, make several comments with one idea per posting).   Experts say a good length for a comment is approximately three or four sentences (or about five or six lines on the screen).   Remember, the longer the comment, the harder it is for people to read.

• Provide a little bit of background about yourself – CGAs and Students are employed in a variety of sectors, people have different areas of expertise, students are in different regions of the country, etc.   Often your comment will gain depth once people know your frame of reference.

• People who correspond electronically (eg. by email) often become lazy in their spelling and punctuation.   Also, many people use abbreviations.   However, when participating in a Study Group you should spell all words out – don’t use shorts forms that may not be understood – and use proper English and grammar (remember, people will follow your path and read your typos and noun-verb disagreement for a long time to come).   Avoid specialized terminology that others might not understand (and if you do use technical language, define the terms so others will know what you are talking about).

• If you begin a thread – for example, asking for advice on a particular assignment question – don’t expect an immediate reply.   Check back later that day, the next day and then a few days later.

• Even if you never receive a response to that query, don’t give up on the Study Group.   Instead, try another comment.

• Don’t make personal or individual comments.   In particular, don’t insult individuals or organisations.   The internet is an incredibly democratic forum – if you are ‘out of line’ you will be told so by others.   And, that ‘telling off’ will remain on file and be read by many others.

• A Study Group is one more method of communication, so don’t expect all of your questions to be answered here, although your questions will be resolved in one way or another.   A reasonable aim is to hope for one good response or thought.   And, if you receive that one great idea, it’s a nice gesture to thank that individual--either on the forum or through a personal e-mail message.

• If you really want to encourage people to respond to your question or comment, offer to send people something (an article, information on software, a favourite Web site address, an inspirational item, etc.), but be sure to follow up your promised offer.

• CGA Canada, its Provincial Associations, its employees and its agents assume no responsibility or liability for the accuracy of any information posted.

• Michael Storoszko, a CGA student in the Toronto Chapter, Ontario Region, serves as the Moderator of the Study Groups.

Participants are welcome to take an active role in this program by posting messages.  Alternatively, you can opt to take a more passive role and limit your involvement to monitoring the list (i.e. reading the various postings).   Either way this is a wonderful resource and networking vehicle for CGA Students wishing to connect with other CGA Students in similar situations and courses.

Use the Site Search Engine or the hunt line below to search for keywords or topics or the Site Help/Info Section to find the answers to the most frequently asked questions about the CGA Email Study Groups, this web site, or the moderator.

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© Copyright: M H Storoszko 1999 - 2007

Last modified: December 25, 2006