Academic Skills: Improving Research, Writing, Critical Thinking, Time Management and Problem Solving

This report discusses the essential academic skills required for improving research, writing, critical thinking, time management and problem solving. It highlights the importance of these skills in academic writing and how they can be improved through regular practice. The report also provides a short summary of the discussion of skills in published sources.

Academic Skills

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Published source from indicative reading list..............................................................................3
Short summary of discussion of skills in published source.........................................................4
How skills can be improved........................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The academic skills can be termed as the habits as well as talents which are beneficial for the
academic pursuits like research, learning, presentations and report writing. It also includes the
analysis, social, communication, studying, planning, technical skills and test taking. It often
involves learning to learn, working with other people, management of task, effectively
communicating with others and solution to the problem. It has now become essential for the
students to inculcate the academic skills so that personal and professional development is made
of the individual (Altınmakas and Bayyurt,2019). This report will cover academic writing as a
published source and discussion is made on specific skills which are useful in future. Further it
will discuss on how skills can be improved and what has been learnt from this source.
MAIN BODY
Published source from indicative reading list.
The published source chosen for this report is academic writing. It is the formal style of
writing which is used in their universities and the scholarly publications. It is a non-fiction work
which is produced as the part of academic work which includes reports, essays, literature review,
research paper, etc. Some of the skills which are required by me or is found useful in the future
to make the academic writing effective are as follows-
 Research skills: It is one of the most important skill which is required by me as it is one
of the ability which will help in finding the answer to the question or the solution to the
problem. It also includes ability of the individual to collect and gather the information
about a topic, make review of it and analyse and interpret it so that the objective of the
academic writing is achieved. Having right scale of research skills will help in making
the academic writing more authentic and relevant so that the content is presented in a
better manner (Vo, 2019). This skill is very useful in present and future for me as it will
make my writing authentic.
 Problem solving skill: It is an ability to handle the complex or difficult situation so that
challenges can be overcome. This skill helps in inculcating the ability to break the
problem in to small parts and bring critical thinking in it so that effective solution is
brought. This skill will help me in solving the issue as to what content is required to be
included in the academic writing and what not. It is useful in future as well as present

scenario as this skill has to be used in every stage of academic wherein writing is
required.
 Oral and written communication skills: One of the key skill in the academic writing is
writing communication skill as research may be done for the academic content but
putting it into correct words is very important. I must make sure that I have writing and
oral communication skill so that I can present my content in written form effectively
whereas presentations are also part of academic writing as it involves verbally speaking
and presenting the academic work to public. This must be present in me as it is useful in
both academic and employment eras for me. Critical thinking skill: It is the ability to think rationally and clearly by making the
understanding of the logical connection between the ideas. With the help of this, I will be
able to gather all my ideas effectively and put them into proper frame so that the
academic writing can be made relevant. By using this skill, I will be able think about the
ideas and assumptions in a rigorous manner rather than making the acceptance of it at the
face value (Penris and Verspoor, 2017).
 Time management: This skill is very important for every individual in the academic as
well as employability stage. It is the ability to use the time in an efficient and productive
manner. It is the combination of working I a productive manner as well as prioritising the
time. By using this skill, I can make my academic writing more effective as I will be able
to complete it within the deadlines so that a good impression is left in the minds of
concerned authorities.
Hence, it can be said that the above mentioned set of skills will help me in improving my
academic writing as I will get the ability to make my writing more authentic, relevant and
efficient.
Short summary of discussion of skills in published source.
There are different skills which are useful in making the academic writing effective as it
helps in making the content effective as well as relevant. These skills include the foremost one
which is research skill as it is the key to writing the academic writing. Then is written skills
which helps in putting the ideas into words and the critical thinking helps in putting logical
reason behind the assumptions and ideas converted into writing. Then is time management which
helps in presenting the work on time so that a focus is made on writing as well as time is not

wasted on the distractions. Lastly, problem solving skill which helps in searching the best
solution for the problem by choosing the best out of all. All these skills help in making the best
academic writing content which can help in delivering the relevant as well as authentic content.
How skills can be improved.
As academic writing is the lifelong learning so by making use of the academic writing, I can
make improvement in my skills by regularly practising the writing as it will make the quality of
my content better. By regularly writing the academic content, I can make improvement in my
research skills as I will get the ability to conduct proper research. Then my writing skills will
also be improved as I will get the capability to present my idea in the best possible way. These
two skills can be improved in the present while there are many skills which can be improved in
the future which includes time management which can be improved over the future time period.
This skill is improved by regular practice as it cannot be improved in a sudden manner. I can
improve this by setting deadlines for my writing so that I can complete the work on time and
bring discipline in my academic writing. Then the critical thinking skill can also be improved in
the future as it takes longer time to understand the logical reasoning of the content. This can be
improved by understanding the nature of content and it can come by regular working on it.
Lastly, the problem solving skill which can be improved by solving the complex issues in
academic writing and each problem has different solution and this is learnt and improved every
time and not in one single attempt. So it takes longer time period to make improvement in this. It
can be improved by me through working on complex problems in order to find their solution on
regular basis.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from this report that academic skills are essential for the4 student in its
academic years. it helps in making the academic writing strong and authentic so that quality
content can be brought out of it. There are many skills which can help in improving the academic
writing such as research, writing skills, time management, critical thinking and many others.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Altınmakas, D. and Bayyurt, Y., 2019. An exploratory study on factors influencing
undergraduate students’ academic writing practices in Turkey. Journal of English for
Academic Purposes. 37. pp.88-103.
Castleberry, A., Ward, W. and Stein, S., 2019. Lifelong learning inspires the creative art of
academic writing. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning. 11(8). pp.757-759.
Penris, W. and Verspoor, M., 2017. 11 Academic Writing Development: A Complex, Dynamic
Process. In Future research directions for applied linguistics (pp. 215-242).
Multilingual Matters.
Shin, Y.K., Cortes, V. and Yoo, I.W., 2018. Using lexical bundles as a tool to analyze definite
article use in L2 academic writing: An exploratory study. Journal of Second Language
Writing. 39. pp.29-41.
Vo, S., 2019. Use of lexical features in non-native academic writing. Journal of Second
Language Writing. 44. pp.1-12.