Academic Skills: Information, Referencing, and Presentation Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of essential academic skills. It begins by defining academic skills and their importance, followed by a detailed discussion on trustable and untrustable sources of information, emphasizing the criteria for evaluating source reliability. The report then delves into the significance of referencing, explaining its role in avoiding plagiarism and supporting arguments, along with examples of referencing styles. Furthermore, it explores presentation skills, highlighting key elements for delivering effective presentations. The report concludes by summarizing the key takeaways and reinforcing the importance of these skills for academic success. This report aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary for academic excellence, covering critical aspects of research, writing, and presentation.

Academic Skills and Studying
with Confidence

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Trustable and untrustable sources of information......................................................................3
Referencing.................................................................................................................................5
Presentation and elements of good presentation.........................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Academic skills refers to the approaches which are applied to learning. These skills
includes critical thinking, effective communication, writing skills which helps an individual to be
a more efficient learner (Allan and et. al., 2014). Having good academic skills is important for
individuals as this helps them in searching and keeping jobs which offers steady income,
advancement opportunities and benefits. This report covers information about trustable and
untrustable sources, referencing and its importance. Moreover, it includes discussion about
presentation, its significance and elements of good presentation along with a brief conclusion.
MAIN BODY
Trustable and untrustable sources of information
Trustable source of information:
Trustable sources of information are referred as those reliable sources that offers a well
reasoned, thorough argument, theory and discussion regarding a particular topic which is based
on strong evidence. These sources includes scholarly papers, books or peer reviewed articles,
websites and blogs, professional or trade articles, magazine and newspaper articles etc. There is a
particular criteria that helps in an individual in evaluating the reliability of a source. A reliable
source includes name of author and their credibility, year of publication, content substantial and
is supported by evidence (Cottrell, 2019). In an academic context, it is important to use trustable
sources as it helps in gathering accurate and authentic data or information over a specific topic.
The trustable sources can be found in educational institutions, public library, articles, journals,
MBA or PhD dissertations etc. The evidence of trustable source is mentioned below:
https://www.bbc.com/news

Untrustable source of information:
The untrustable source of information includes those sources which includes unauthentic
information, broken links, poor grammar and spelling errors. These sources are not associated
with credible entities, organisations or institutions. These sources contains incorrect or
unbelievable information (Liaw, Scherpbier, Rethans and Klainin-Yobas, 2012). It is very crucial
for an individual to scrutinize the online sources very carefully before utilizing them for
academic purpose. They needs to ensure not to use the untrustable sources for gathering the
information on a particular sources as there are high chances of getting incorrect information
from these sources. These sources lack the name of author, date and credibility. The untrustable
sources includes Facebook posts, blogs, self authored sites etc. The evidence of untrustable
source is mentioned as follows:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Referencing
Referencing can be defined as a consistent way of acknowledging ideas of another
individual which have used by a person in own writing. While doing academic work, it is
necessary to reference all the sources which are utilized including facts, figures, images, ideas,
websites, videos, statistics, audio, data and diagrams. Referencing the content in an appropriate
way is crucial as it helps in avoiding plagiarism and ensures that the sources are acknowledged
by individuals and they have done their best in order to avoid plagiarism. Referencing also helps
in demonstrating the breadth and depth of reading and research and enables other investigators to
locate the sources (Moakler Jr and Kim, 2014). It strengthens and supports the arguments and by
the assistance of referencing, the reader can be able to ascertain whether the sources used in
content supports the argument or not. There are some acceptable forms of referencing which can
be used in academic writing such as APA, Harvard, Chicago etc. Referencing involves two
elements including an in text citation that indicates a specific phrase, idea or concept which has
been sourced elsewhere and a complete list of reference that provides full details of citation for
all the referred sources in document. Referencing includes name of author, date of publication,
name of the book and the location it was published. An example of reference is mentioned
below:

Harvard Style reference:
Liaw, S. Y. and et. al., 2012. Assessment for simulation learning outcomes: a comparison of
knowledge and self-reported confidence with observed clinical performance. Nurse
education today. 32(6). pp.e35-e39.
Presentation and elements of good presentation
Presentation can be defined as the process of presenting something over a particular topic
or area of study in front of audience. In an academic context, presentation refers as any situation
that includes speaking in front of group of people to share information, make a point or educate.
Having good presentation skills is important in individuals as it helps them in presenting
information over a particular topic in an appropriate way to audience (Putwain, Sander and
Larkin, 2013). The skills assists presenter to interact or communicate with confidence and
influence or motivate people to listen. There are some key elements of a good presentation that
are required to be considered by every presenter. One of the element includes clear objective of
presentation as it drive each and every thing from the script to the slide deck. The another
component is that the presentation must be useful to audience. The content which is included in
the presentation should be meaningful and genuine that offers value to people who listens. Use of
visuals in the form of images, statistics, charts, diagrams and graphs proves to be helpful in
illustrating the points to audience in more appropriate way. At last, it is necessary for the
presenter to be prepare before giving the presentation to audience. It is very essential that the
presenter have high confidence level as this helps them in standing before the group speak for
long time without facing any difficulty. The presenter must be thoroughly sure on his/ her
grounds which requires good research over the subject. Consideration of all these elements helps
an individual in presenting a good presentation in front of audience (Kleitman and et. al., 2012).
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that having good academic
skills is essential within an individual as it helps in their career progression and seeking good
job. In writing academic content, it is necessary to use trustable sources of a information as
these assists in gathering authentic information on particular topic. Appropriate referencing in
content supports in avoiding the chances of plagiarism. There are some key elements of good
presentation including clear objective, use of visuals etc. which help in presenting information
clearly.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Allan, N. P. and et. al., 2014. Relations between inhibitory control and the development of
academic skills in preschool and kindergarten: a meta-analysis. Developmental
Psychology, 50(10), p.2368.
Cottrell, S., 2019. The study skills handbook. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Liaw, S.Y., Scherpbier, A., Rethans, J.J. and Klainin-Yobas, P., 2012. Assessment for
simulation learning outcomes: a comparison of knowledge and self-reported confidence
with observed clinical performance. Nurse education today, 32(6), pp.e35-e39.
Moakler Jr, M.W. and Kim, M.M., 2014. College major choice in STEM: Revisiting confidence
and demographic factors. The Career Development Quarterly, 62(2), pp.128-142.
Kleitman, S. and et. al., 2012. Metacognitive self-confidence in school-aged children. In Self-
directed learning oriented assessments in the Asia-Pacific (pp. 139-153). Springer,
Dordrecht.
Putwain, D., Sander, P. and Larkin, D., 2013. Academic self‐efficacy in study‐related skills and
behaviours: Relations with learning‐related emotions and academic success. British
Journal of Educational Psychology, 83(4), pp.633-650.