Academic Skills of Essays and Report Writing - Essay Example

ACADEMIC SKILLS OF ESSAYS AND REPORT WRITING By Location Academic skills of essays and report writing In higher education level, students are always expected to involve themselves in activities that can improve their academic skills that relate to report and essay writing. In most cases, it is notable that students do not seem to understand the importance of being actively involved in such activities. As such, most students end up dismissing such activities as useless while others take them for granted. However, this is not always the case. A student’s career can improve through academic skills of report and essay writing through many ways. With reference to this assertion, this paper provides an in-depth discussion on the possibility of academic skills of report writing and essays increasing one’s employability and making them more competitive in the global market. Apart from being knowledgeable, many employers will always want people with critical thinking abilities. In fact, some employers will even prefer critical thinkers to knowledgeable employees. Due to the fact that writing reports and essays usually involve critical thinking one’s critical thinking abilities are always improved in the process (Weisser 2002, p. 88). Critical thinking can be defined as reflective and purposeful analysis, which leads to conclusions that had not been reached before. One reason as to why report and essay writing can be said to enhance critical thinking is the fact that through such processes students usually interact with different perspectives (Ellis & Ravelli 2005, p. 47). This makes them able to view situations from various perspectives. Having numerous perspectives will mean that you are able to give more than one possible solutions to issues in the field. Some people might have some concept, but fail to present the concept in a manner that it will be easily understood. No employer will be willing to employ an employee who does not know how to present his or her information in a manner that is clear and easily understandable. This is the reason as to why report and essay writing can be of importance in increasing one’s employability (Basalla & Debelius 2007, p. 134). When one are involved in essay and report writing processes one will definitely be in a position to know how to present concepts in a manner that they can easily make sense (Conley 2010, p. 101). If one is not able to present concepts and ideas in a way that some meaning can be deduced from them, then the concepts and ideas are as good as non-existent. This is because it would not be of any help to the organization. In most industries, including the tourism industry, data and information are usually of high importance. The importance of data and information is advocated to the fact that most decisions in these industries are always made with the help of data and information gathered with respect to the context of the decision. One thing that happens in the industry is that such data has to be sought. Without seeking data, then one will have nothing to base one decision on (Blau & Burak 2010, p. 93). Employing someone with good academic skills of report and essay writing will mean that one would not have to worry about having an employee who would not be of any help when it comes to seeking decision related data (Smith 2010, p. 154). In the process of writing essays and reports, students are always given expectations with regard to the expected content of the essays and research. This implies that they will have to go do their own researches so that they can get the needed data. After being involved in such activities during the education process, students will have an easy time doing the same at the professional level (Cumming 2006, p. 178). The only thing that can change is the magnitude or nature of the information that they have to seek. Someone can have the data, yet not be in a position to deduce meaningful information from it. When writing a report one are expected to do proper analysis of the data that one have accumulated then present in a way that it can be understood. This is the reason as to why when writing a report there is the part that is commonly referred to as “findings”. Under this section students are always expected to put down the data as it was collected (Neal 2013, p. 121). In most cases one will notice that the information presented at this section would not make much sense. However, under the section that is always referred to as “Analysis” or “Discussion” the student usually analyse the data and relate it to the context of the report. It is at this point that the student is expected to show the implication of the data that is being analysed to the issue being analysed. The same kind of analysis takes place in the fields. No employer would want to hire a person who would collect data but fail to analyse the data and come up with meaningful information that might be of importance to their organizations (Tucker 2013, p. 201). Data in its raw form can never be of importance in decision-making processes. A good essay or report is one that is properly structured. For instance, a good report writer will be in a position to know the importance of a thesis statement and exactly where it should appear in the reports. A good essay writer will also be in a position to know exactly why it is important to give examples when writing an essay. There are very many factors that make reports and essays different from a general sketch of an idea. The difference is brought about by the flow and sequence that is always brought about by proper structuring (Kroth & Christensen 2009, p. 167). Imagine of a person presenting a concept of first giving the actual conclusion, then giving details on data collection, findings, and analysis. One might even fail to get the concept from such presentations. However, when things are presented in an organized manner, things are different (Ellis & Ravelli 2005, p. 207). Therefore, a student who has acquired these skills will be in a position to structure, procedures and ideas in a universally understandable manner. When writing an essay or report it is not only one’s writing skills that are being developed but a person’s discipline too. In most cases one will find that the reports and essays have to adhere to certain standards and structure. For example, one might be given an essay whereby one are expected to use the Harvard referencing format (Nesbeitt & Gordon 2002, p. 111). Using any other format is not expected and is always punishable. Another thing that should be noted is that there is always a certain duration of time allocated to the development of the essays and reports (Reis 1997, p. 201). A person who is able to submit a report or essay in expected time will be in a position to attend to their professional assignments in good time. These are some of the attributes that most employers would like to see in their employees. One thing that should also be put into considerations is that reports are also a fundamental part of many careers. Report and essay writing does not end after graduation. Through one’s career, one will be expected to come up with reports in several occasions (Patrick, Eliason & Thompson 2005, p. 191). These factors can be used in support of the assertion that a person who have good academic report and essay writing skills can make a good employees. This is because they will be a position to be efficient in all the factors discussed herein. Bibliography Basalla, SE & Debelius, M 2007, "So what are you going to do with that?" finding careers outside academia, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10271867. Blau, S & Burak, K 2010, Writing in the works. Boston, Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. Conley, DT 2010, College and career ready helping all students succeed beyond high school, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. http://www.123library.org/book_details/?id=11951. Cumming, AH 2006 Goals for academic writing ESL students and their instructors, John Benjamins Pub. Co., Amsterdam. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=622616. Ellis, RA & Ravelli, L 2005, Analysing academic writing: contextualized frameworks, Continuum, London [u.a.]. Ellis, RA & Ravelli, L 2005, Analysing academic writing: contextualized frameworks, Continuum, London [u.a.]. Kroth, MS & Christensen, M 2009, Career development basics, ASTD Press, Alexandria, Va. Neal, E 2013, Academic writing: individual and collaborative strategies for success. Nesbeitt, SL & Gordon, RS 2002, The information professionals guide to career development online, Information Today, Medford (New Jersey). Patrick, J, Eliason, G & Thompson, DL 2005, Issues in career development, Information Age Pub, Greenwich, Conn. Patton, W & Mcmahon, M 2006, Career development and systems theory connecting theory and practice. Rotterdam, Sense Publishers. Reis, RM 1997, Tomorrows professor: preparing for academic careers in science and engineering. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/bkabstractplus.jsp?bkn=5264728. Smith, SLJ 2010, Practical tourism research, CABI, Wallingford [etc.]. Tucker,J 2013, Personal and Professional Development for Managers, Pearson Education, Harlow. Weisser, CR 2002, Moving beyond academic discourse: composition studies and the public sphere, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. Read More