Writing Skills Needed for Higher Education Report

Academic Writing

Studying at colleges and other educational establishments students are to follow the particular rules for writing. These rules are usually comprised of the notion of academic writing. Academic writing is characterized by the usage of formal English, absence of abbreviations, and personal direction. While academic writing students are to avoid excuses, be objective and precise, and address the reader.

Considering the difference between personal and academic writing, it becomes obvious that academic writing is logical and lacks emotional expression. The discussion is reasoned, and the data is supported, with the evidence considered incredible sources. Students are to provide only objective information while academic writing and avoid subjective considerations (Academic Writing).

There are two main types of academic writing, descriptive and argumentative. The main features of descriptive academic writing are as follows. Having chosen this type of writing students are to describe the events or objects, their features, and their functions.

Descriptive writing is used when people are to summarize some ideas in the articles. Argumentative writing is considered to be more complicated as students are to sound analytical. They should provide a clear line of reasoning supported by reliable information. When writing argumentative essays, students should remember to state the argument, then they are to support it with credible information, and finally consider the opposing points of view, which should also be argumentative and reasoned (Academic Writing 2). Thus, to make sure that the paper is academic, students are to follow the writing rules.

Harvard Referencing

While academic writing, students are sure to use different sources to support their ideas. Thus, they are to follow a particular citation style while quoting or paraphrasing the information with the purpose to avoid plagiarism. There are a lot of different citation styles which students may use for citing sources as in case students fail to do it they risk being punished for plagiarism.

Harvard citation style is one of the styles used while writing. Students are to remember that while citing the information in the text they are to cite the source on the reference page. Students may title it either the ‘Reference List’ of ‘Biography.’ The peculiarities of the reference list are as follows. Students should arrange the sources in alphabetical order by the surname of the author, the surnames are to be separated from the commas as well as other substitutes of the reference, the initials are to be used instead of the first names. If two or more authors are used, students should separate them with an ampersand ‘&’ not ‘and’, however, students are to write ‘and’ instead of ampersand ‘&’ if they address the authors in the text.

Referencing printed books and articles students are to capitalize only the first letters of their titles, the names of journals and books should be italicized. The parts of the references should be separated from the full stop and two spaces. The place of publication and the publisher should be separated from the apace and the colon (Harvard Referencing System).

Reports and Essays

Reports and essays are considered to be two different types of writing. Students are to distinguish between them, and when they are asked to provide a specific type of writing, it is important not to confuse the information. The main difference between essays and reports is based on the paper structure, and the information students are to provide. Still, the information covered in the paper mostly depends on the headings.

While writing reports students are to hand in a paper with the title page which contains the title of the paper, students’ name, module title, level, assignment number and title, the lecturer’s name the date of submission, and word count. The table of content is obligatory. The next page should be covered with the executive summary. Then comes the body of the report, which should consist of the introduction, main findings, conclusions, and recommendations. The main findings section should be structured carefully with the use of the subheadings. The reference list should be presented on a separate sheet of paper by the required citation style. The report should be supported with the appendices where students are to put graphs, tables, and other additional information.

The essays are to have another structure. Students should hand in a paper with the title page, which contains the same information as the report. The outline may be either present or not. The paper should consist of at least three paragraphs, the introduction, the main body with the paragraphs which start with a topic sentence, and a conclusion. The reference list is obligatory if students cite the information from outside sources.

Note Taking

Writing correct and useful notes is a real masterpiece. When students write notes they are following some specific rules, and the information they write down will be helpful in the future. While listening to the information or reading it students are to distinguish between important one and not useful. Thus, it comes out that students should not write down word for word. Moreover, while making notes, students should distinguish between facts, opinions, and examples.

It is really important to write facts as in most cases students will rely on them. Additionally, students are to note the opinion of the writer or the lecture to make sure that the facts are properly understood. The examples are also used for making the information more understandable. While reading or listening students should pick up the main information and note it down in the form of theses. Before taking notes students should think about the reasons for those notes.

The form and the information which should be noted depending on the purposes of the data. Thus, if students are planning to study the lesson based on these notes, they are to try to note each point which is discussed. Still, if the main purpose of the notes just to use those as the plan for studying, students may note less information (Note Taking Skills).

Critical Analytical Thinking

Critical thinking is one of the main components of good writing. When students study at the universities they are to think critically and analytically as only in this case they will be able to conduct original research, provide innovative ideas, and implement exciting experiments. Critical analytical thinking is characterized by the ability to perceive the information, consider it from different angles, try to find the failures in the arguments provided by the author, search for confirmation of those failures and consider those analytically using background knowledge and skills in unprejudiced judging.

While thinking critically and analytically, students should not apply to their point of view. It is crucial to use arguments and operate reasoning to make sure that the fact is not just the personal opinion, that it is the particular idea reasoned and proved. When students want to learn the ability of critical thinking, they are to understand that this skill is achieved along with the argumentation and the ability to search for credible information.

Additionally, students are to think logically and make sure that they can provide the argumentative support to the facts they provide, either supportive or contradicting ideas (Cottrell, 2011). Therefore, the main idea of critical analytical thinking is to consider the information from different angles, try to check the most possible variants of the problem solving, check the sources and offer the argumentative and reasoned solution.

What Experts Believe Are the Skills Needed for Higher Education and Employability

Mason, Williams, and Cranmer (2006) consider structured work experience the main point for success both while graduating at the university and while employed. However, they agree that there are a lot of supportive aspects that may help in future life. The authors of the research agree that the design and delivery of the information are also important skills. According to the data offered by Mason, Williams, and Cranmer (2006) “organizations urged universities to make more explicit efforts to develop the ‘key’, ‘core’, ‘transferable’ and/or ‘generic’ skills needed in many types of high-level employment” (p. 2). Even though experts understand that personal skills and abilities are important, they also believe that students can promote themselves in the labor market.

Considering the personal skills which cannot be learned, experts consider the readiness for work. This is not the skill which may be learned at the university, it is the inner desire which makes people sell themselves at the labor market as expensive as they deserve it. Dwelling upon the genetic skill which is to be learned at the university and which is considered as the core for organizations, the following aspects should be considered.

Literacy, Problem-solving skills, and Team-working skills are considered to be the main points covered by genetic skill. There is no need to dwell in detail about each of them as students understand that the absence of background knowledge, the inability to solve the problem, and the lack of desire to work in a team is not going to satisfy the future employee. The employees are looking for people who know enough to be able to share some responsibilities with them, these people have an opportunity to make decisions and these decisions are to be argumentative (critical analytical thinking should be involved), and the employees are to be able to work in teams.

All these features and skills may be easily considered in universities. It is possible to learn as much information about the future profession as possible, additionally, the surrounding aspects should be discussed. Problem-solving skills are also considered in universities (Steven, & Fallows, 1998). Conducting research and experiments students learn not only to search for the information but to apply that information in practice. Employees have understood that only a team can reach the highest results, therefore, teachers are to give their students to learn to work in groups to help those adept at the work place in the future.

References

Academic Writing. PDF file.

Cottrell, S. (2011), Critical Thinking Skills: Developing Effective Analysis and Argument, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Harvard Referencing System. Doc file.

Mason, G., Williams, G., & Cranmer, S. (2006), ‘Employability skills initiatives in higher education: what effects do they have on graduate labour market outcomes?’, National Institute of Economic and Social Research. Web.

Note Taking Skills. Doc file.

Report and Essay Writing. PDF file.

Steven, C. & Fallows, S. (1998), ‘Enhancing employability skills within higher education: impact on teaching, learning and assessment’, EducatOn-line. Web.