Continuing Academic Success - Coursework Example

Continuing Academic Success Continuing Academic Success Success involves the achievement of a goal or the positive termination of an endeavour. Academic success involves the advancement of one level to the other in academics through hard work and dedication in the fulfilment of all the requirements at a certain academic level to satisfy the examiners. A goal is a desired outcome set by a person who commits him/herself to achieve within a certain period. Goal setting in academics relates to the achievement of a certain academic performance or level within a number of years or at the end of an academic year. Goal setting for students allows for focus and dedication to the academic achievement. This paper aims at reviewing the lessons from the course and its application for me to take responsibility for my academic achievement in education and my career. Setting SMART goals that entails goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound presents a number of benefits in the road to success. Some of the ways through which goal setting leads to success include preparing a person to be ready and make plans to deal with all the obstacles on the way to success. Setting goals allows the person to have a certain time bound for the achievement of a given goal resulting in more dedication and hard work than when there is not time specific requirement to achieve a certain outcome. Goal setting makes the person plan daily, weekly, or monthly actionable steps that will aid in reaching the set goal and achieving success (Jensen, 2003). Feinstein believes that setting goals creates a vision for the person allowing for them to have an idea of success and to provide the motivation to achieve it resulting in success (Feinstein, April 8, 2014). Goal setting also provides a framework for checking accomplishments to know the nearness to success also providing the drive to persevere to the achievement of success while lack of goals result in the acceptance of any result that does not equate to success. Success, especially academic success is hitched on setting goals that act as a benchmark, motivation, and focus on the achievement (Harrington, 2013). Educational goal: I want to complete my masters before I attain 28 years. Career goal: I want to be a member of management within three years of employment. The writing process aids in education and career advancement. The writing process allows for education advancement through developing a person’s clear communication allowing for articulate representation of ideas to earn better grades. Poor writers with the same idea cannot earn the same grade because of the inability to express themselves in writing. The writing process allows a person to have a better assessment of writing techniques by teachers and professors aiding in education advancement. Education advancement relies on effective communication that can be assessed through reports, proposals, and dissertations that are all developed from the writing process depicting the importance of the writing process in education advancement. Achieving masters and doctorates requires effectiveness in writing and communication showing that the writing process is important for success in education. The writing process allows a learner to be attentive to detail an effective component of success in academics allowing for education advancement. The writing process prepares one for career advancement through preparing a person to have a clear understanding of the tenets of writing an application letter for a certain job opportunity (Head-Fisher, 2012). Effective writing skills developed through the writing process increases the chances of being accepted for the job depicting its relation to career advancement. The writing process also aids a person develop writing skills that will be necessary for effective communication in the workplace through emails, writing reports. Poorly written and unclear e-mails wastes productivity, money, and time through resulting in errors, misunderstanding, and a poor impression to the recipient who may be a superior reducing the chances of a promotion negatively affecting a person’s career. The writing process aids in the development of good writing skills that depict professionalism, intelligence, and competence improving one’s image and chances of being considered for a promotion at work. The writing process also allows for career advancement because having good writing skills is one of the requirements for the acceptance of a job vacancy is promotion especially in journalism, academia, and other writing related fields. Good writing skills increase credibility at the workplace increasing the possibility of career advancement through promotion and referral for better opportunities. The writing process allows for the understanding of the tone and context of writing any communication reducing the chances of being misquoted and avoiding writing and communication related problems at the workplace. The Ethical Lens Inventory provides a platform for understanding my personal preferred lens allowing for a choice between autonomy and sensibility and rationality and equality in a given situation. Having autonomy and sensibility as core values, I will choice a solution that provides an examination of context for each situation. The choice should be good for everyone through the creation of the greatest good. Critical thinking involves the ability to analyse and information as a measure of aiding the achievement of a well-rounded, informed, and logical conclusion. According to Walker (2003), improving critical thinking for a student can be done through class discussion that provides a platform for student interaction and present different views on the topic. Other ways of improving critical thinking is reflecting on the issue to come with different views and solutions to allow for effective and unbiased assessment to reach an informed solution. Writing assignments focus on through is the other manner envisaged by Walker (2003), as an effective measure of improving critical thinking. Making use of case studies by small groups and individually to allow for different opinions and thought is the other way through which critical thinking can be harnessed. Creative review of poems and other written communication with hidden meaning can also be a manner of augmenting critical thinking. Assessing bias, considering implications of different decisions, and evaluating the purpose of the decision are the other measures that will aid in improving critical thinking. The university resources that will be paramount in improving academic success include the library that offers a platform to access journals, books, dissertations, audio, and visual media for better understanding. The library also offers a platform for accessing electronic media that will be beneficial for further understanding of concepts and practices in class resulting in better development and preparedness for academic success. The other resource is the wealth of knowledge and experience from the professors and teachers at the University through asking questions, providing feedback, and making other enquiries for a better explanation of concepts. Another university resource for academic success is the conducive learning environment that allows for in-depth analysis and concepts and allows for inquiry and research. Students and colleagues will also allow for access to collaboration and discussion avenues for better understanding and personal development enabling better preparation for academic success. Using outside sources presents a number of benefits including allowing for the provision of a distinction between your own ideas and the ideas accessed from other people’s work. Outside sources increase the credibility of a research and ensure the academician upholds academic integrity through referencing and citing all outside sources used in a research. Outside sources also aid in emphasizing and supporting arguments in a research, demonstrate expertise, acknowledge past research, develop the need for the current research through determining the knowledge gap, and ensures the ability of the writer to effectively explain the topic without plagiarizing other people’s work. Plagiarism is one of the challenges that come with the use of outside sources where each outside source has to be acknowledged both as in-text citation and in the references. Using other people’s work without acknowledging them is an academic irregularity and reduces the authenticity and credibility of the material or academic paper written by a student. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge all outside sources used in a research or any academic material. Other challenges include lack of mastery of techniques for referencing outside sources to avoid plagiarism and used a lot of outside sources that the benefits of the new study are lost. References Harrington, C. (2013). Student success in college: Doing what works! Boston : Wadsworth. Jensen, E. (2003). Student success secrets. Hauppauge, N.Y: Barrons. Walker, S. (2003). Active Learning Strategies to Promote Critical Thinking. Journal of Athletic Training. Vol. 38 (3); 263-267. Head-Fisher, S. (July 23, 2012). Having Good skills is Important for the Business World. Retrieved on March 3, 2015 from http://www.globeuniversity.edu/blogs/2012/07/23/write-your-way-to-the-top/#sthash.JezxOz5c.dpbs Feinstein, A. (April 8, 2014). Why you should be writing down your goals. Forbes. Retrieved on March 3, 2015 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/85broads/2014/04/08/why-you-should-be-writing-down-your-goals/ Read More