Skills for Social Sciences

Running head: SKILLS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES
SKILLS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES
Name
Course
Tutor
University
City/State
Date

SKILLS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES
Part A
Academic writing is an essential skill that any student in a higher learning
education should have since it helps him/her to conduct research and present the
findings to the lecturers or other relevant persons. There are four types of academic
writing styles that are commonly used in learning institutions and when combined;
they bring out the best paper as far as academic is concerned. The four types are
descriptive, analytical, persuasive and critical writing. Descriptive writing is all about
provision of facts or actual information concerning a certain item or topic. Some of
the assignments that use this type is recording of an experiment, identifying or when
giving definitions. According to Parkinson and Musgrave (2014), analytical writing is
an extension of descriptive writing since after writing you re-organize the facts or
information obtained in descriptive writing and describe them into groups, types, parts
or even by giving relationships among the facts given (p.52). Some of the assignments
that use this type of writing are comparing and contrasting, and where examination of
certain topic is required. In order to use this type of writing, one must take his time to
plan, find relationships and ensure that everything is clear to the reader. Persuasive
writing requires one to go one step further than analytical writing as you are required
to argue, discuss, evaluate and take position. The last type is critical which is used in
post-graduate writing where you are required to give your own opinion concerning a
certain argument, give merits on the same and give alternative interpretation.
The importance of these styles is to ensure that the student has enough skills of
conducting academic research, understand the topic in question and give a report
concerning the same. AlHassan and Wood (2015) assert that academic writing helps
the student to think in an analytical way, once he/she has the information, she can be
able to communicate it in a manner that can be understood by the reader (p.55). The

SKILLS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES
styles of academic writing are also important because it opens up the writers mind so
that he/she can view the world in a more objective manner. As such one will be able
to handle and view challenges in an effective manner, a skill that is fundamental in
school, career and in general life.
The topic of interest that the research will be focusing on is mental health. Some
of the aspects studied under mental health are emotional, social well-being and
psychological health of a person. A human beings, we are faced with many challenges
ranging from school, work and family issues which affect social life. Human beings
need a good mental health for a healthy living since it affects how we feel, thing and
act. Mental health also determines how people handle stress, make choices and how
they associate with other people in the society. It also affects everyone in the society
and it is crucial in every stage of human development, from childhood, adolescent and
during adulthood. We all experience mental health problems which changes out mood
and behavior. There are various factors that determine mental health of a person
including biological factors such as genes, life experiences including abuse, violence
and some people are raised in families with mental health problems.

SKILLS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES
Part B
Introduction
Mental health has become a public health concern among the children and the
adults. Mental health is considered to be the behavioral, cognitive as well as the
emotional well-being of the person and hence it affects the way human beings
thinking and behavior. This term is usually used to refer to the absence of mental
disorder. Mental health determines how the person relates with other people and
hence it determines how the person enjoys life while trying to maintain a balance
between their psychological being and life activities. World Health Organization
states that mental health is when a person is able to realize his abilities and how he
copes or handles normal life stresses and how he is able to solve life challenges.
Therefore a person is regarded to be mentally health if he has complete social and
physical well-being which means that he work productively and he can be able to
contribute positively to the development that their communities are going through.
Notably, mental health is a great determinant in the development of a children and
how they relate with other people in the society.
Development of mental illness is determined by a wide range of issues including
psychological, social and some biological facts. World Health Organization
emphasizes on the fact that a person with mental health does not mean that he/she is
free from illness but the person is fit and he has the capability of handling normal life
challenges. However, there are dissenting opinions from other scholars who feel that
WHO does not sufficiently define mental health. According to Van der Kolk (2017)
mental health is more of a self and community which means that a person must be