Academic Skills Enhancement: A Reflective Essay on CW1

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This reflective essay details academic skill development.

CW1: Reflective Essay
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Summary
In the process of this report on academic skills, there were several materials, which
I had to go through in order to understand the skills and other aspects of writing.
These materials were collected during the lecture and the lecturer provided some of
these materials. The materials were about different topics, which helped me to
understand, comprehend and practically imply these concepts while I was writing
about academic skills. There were materials on enhancing the skill of writing, taking
notes, ways to improve critical thinking, enhancing research skills, ways to avoid
plagiarism, correct way of referencing and citing the sources, and the different types
of academic writings along with enhancing the ways of reviewing the literature.
The material for avoiding plagiarism helped to understand that plagiarism is a form
of cheating or copying of information. It is considered an academic offense or theft.
While writing the report, I had to refer to several materials for information. If I had
used the information without mentioning the original author’s name, it would have
been a case of intentional plagiarism. Therefore, it was extremely important to
understand the concept of plagiarism.
The material about referencing skills helped me to cite my sources in the report
properly. This material helped to relate plagiarism and referencing, as referencing
shall help to avoid plagiarism. The reason behind citing the sources is to reduce the
plagiarism. Moreover, the main rationale for the using referencing, I perceived
through the material is that it helps to interpret the information collected from
different sources. It helped me to understand the ways to make use of resources
available or a particular piece of information in the report without making the matter
plagiarized. The material helped me to understand that when the facts or
information of other people, it is important to mention their name appropriately. In
the case of paraphrase, I understood that the meaning of the information must not
change, and mentioning the author in the text is vital for avoiding plagiarism. These
materials helped me to comprehend the way the Harvard referencing is done in an
effective manner, as the referencing style used on this report is Harvard style.
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The materials also helped me to analyse and improvise the writing through selecting
of correct phrases, words or linking words. The material on research skills helped
me to understand the different types of researches and conduct the research for the
report appropriately. Moreover, the material helped to identify the important phrases
and linking words for finding the appropriate information. These materials were
important because conducting research and writing a report requires accurate and
adequate knowledge and understanding of the concept. Further, it is crucial to
comprehend the kind of writing is required. For instance, I have written a report on
academic writing skills. For it, I needed to have complete comprehension of kinds of
writing styles. Therefore, there must be appropriate method of writing specifically
the proper nouns. I have understood that I must be careful in writing such proper
nouns such as United Kingdom is capital letters. This shall help the readers to
comprehend the matter well. The materials provided this understanding on different
concepts and helped me write a report on academic writing skills. Another reason
for using the materials is that it shall help to carry out further researches in an
appropriate way.
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