Academic Skills and Studying with Confidence Reflective Journal

This reflective journal entry details the student's experience in workshops focused on enhancing academic skills. The journal covers key topics such as oral presentations, plagiarism avoidance, resource utilization, and proper referencing techniques. The student reflects on what they have learned about presenting information effectively, avoiding plagiarism by using their own words and properly citing sources, and making the most of available university resources. The journal also highlights the importance of understanding referencing styles like APA and Chicago for providing evidence and ensuring the authenticity of their work. The student plans to apply these learned skills in future assignments to improve their academic performance and avoid academic misconduct, including thorough research, proper citation, and effective communication. The student emphasizes the importance of the session in establishing a foundation for academic success, helping them avoid common mistakes and adhere to university regulations.

Academic Skills and
Studying with Confidence

Foundation Year
Name:
Learning Outcome:
The topic for reflective summary journal:
While attending the workshops, several topics are being discussed which supported a lot in
improving the academic skills by providing an idea regarding the importance of plagiarism
avoidance within a project and referencing for evidencing the findings. Additionally, it also
provides an information regarding the common mistake that are being performed by
students which preparing references. Along with this there are also some topic that are
related with the utilisation of resources.
What have I learnt from the session:
Since I started my journey in the university, I went through number of topics that are part
of my coursework. These topics are being taught by teachers at the beginning of semester
and they provided with huge information that support me in performing the project
effectively. From all these discussions teacher put more emphasis over referencing within
project and its importance while submitting or presenting the work. There are some
importance factors that are being discussed during classes and hold importance from
assignment point of view, these are explained below:
 Oral Presentation: This was the part of lecture where it has been taught that there
are number of projects that student has to perform throughout this coursework and
they also have to present it in front of classmates as well as teacher. Therefore, it is
crucial for a student to have basic understanding regarding the way in which they
have to present their gathered information. This is mainly presented with the help of
power point presentation where the idea behind a project get discussed with others
using several pictures and concise explanation about it. Here the student is required
to deal situation with the help of their presentation and communication skills.
 Plagiarism: This is considered to be a academic misconduct where the ideas of
another person are being presented by student over their own name for personal
benefit. But this is considered as ethically and academically wrong. Under this a

person mainly hide the sources through which information is collected, but by
doing so a student get penalised in term of deduction of marks or on repetition of
same mistake they are suspended from the program or coursework. So, in order to
keep themselves save from this situation then students must ensure that the
information must be written by their own despite of copying it from another
sources. Other than this, in case student is required to present the view point of
another person for fulfilling project requirement then they must denote that person
or source through which this information is collected with the help of referencing.
 Utilisation of Resources: This was also one of the most interesting as well as
crucial topic which is being covered through lecture at the beginning of coursework
so that any issue that a student may face while performing the project can be
resolved effectively by appropriate utilisation of available material. This was being
told by the tutor that students can use several resources such as library, compute
labs and many more resources available in the university in order to enhance their
learning practices and can get a support from that resources to perform their
projects effectively. This class supported in getting an understanding regarding the
manner in which available resources can be used to perform effectively.
 Reference Style: This was also one of the most important topic which is being
discussed while workshops and class lecturer. This is crucial topic from academic
point of view which is required by every student to have understanding about it,
specially for higher education purpose. It is crucial for students that whenever they
gather information from different sources then they must prepare their references
too. This will support in providing an evidence regarding the information that it is
collected from authenticated sources. This is so because it provide an address to the
reader about the sources from which information is collected that provide them an
assurance that information is real and authentic. There are number of styles that are
adopted for preparing references such as MLA (Modern Language Association),
OSCALA, Harvard, APA (American Psychological Association), Chicago and
many more. Each referencing style has its own importance such as APA is used
mainly for the education, science and psychology purpose. On the other side
Chicago style is used by the history, Fina art and businesses.

These all are the topics that get discussed and would prove to be very much helpful for my
future tasks by guiding me over what or what must not be done to present the project
effectively.
How could I use what I have learnt in my studies and career:
These topics are difficult, even though brings up understanding and knowledge in several
different areas. From this I become able to develop my academic skills, but it remain
crucial for me to apply them effectively in my work so that I would be able to represent my
work effectively and get good grade. In order to present my work effectively I have
decided to use all these practices which I have learnt through my workshops or class room
lectures. In this I have decided that I will thoroughly study about the area over which I
have to presented project then I will write it down in my own words through my
understanding. This will support me in avoiding the chances of any kind of plagiarism in
my work. In addition to this for presenting strong argument or validation of the particular
phenomenon, if I required to present the work of some another person then I will mention
their name so that it can presented that the information is provided from that particular
scholar. This will help me in keeping away from any kind of academic mis conduct and I
would be able to present information effectively. Other then this I have decided that
whatever sources I will be using to present my work I will provide references of all those
sources so that it become easier to justify my information that they are valid and doesn’t
involve any kind of hypothetic data for making the project attractive. Despite of this I have
decided that I will also provide citation on places where I use information from any of the
sources which help in enhancing the authenticity and reliability of my work.
Why is this session important for my studies?
This session holds huge importance for me the information or knowledge that I gather
from this session will support me at throughout my journey to university by supporting me
in each and every task provided as a part of my coursework. This is so because it will act as
a foundation which help in forming up understanding about some of the basic factors that
are required to be consider while performing any task. Under this session I get aware about
several things that can affect my performance while my education. Additionally, I also get
aware about the academic mis conduct that if may happen can ruin all my efforts

throughout the course work. Along with that, this session also supported in getting an
understanding regarding what are some of the common mistake that students mainly
perform, which support me in avoiding such mistakes and help me in performing well.
Through this session I also get realise that following of rules and regulation plays a
significant role as in case students fail to comply with these rules and regulation then it
may result into deduction of marks.
Your signature: Date: