Improving Study Skills

In this essay, I will critically discuss the some of these adjustments in terms of study skills, which I bring with me as my scholarship at university, and new skills I must develop. I will use two readings and two lectures as my references to support my thesis and main points. The thesis of my essay is first year students need their fundamental study skills to make the necessary adjustments to achieve their successful journey at university. The main points that will be outlined in this essay are the importance of becoming a critical thinker, verbal skill linked with academic writing and note taking skill is related to referencing skill.

First year students need their fundamental study skills to build the necessary adjustments to be

In three of the basic skills, verbal skill is one of the basic study strength that I possess for university learning. With this fundamental skill, it is a crucial moment for me to learn to substitute my primary language from my own culture to adapt another academic language in a diverse culture. From my own experience, I was told by many tutors and students that my verbal skill in my second language, English, was excellent, but I always had difficulty in translating my verbal language into a formal academic written language. Fortunately, I had the opportunity in improving my academic writing in my academic language. Moreover, academic writing skill is necessary to be engaged to match up with verbal skill that is academic writing skill. Critical thinking should be involved in academic writing. So, I need to acquire critical thinking skill in my academic writing by using my second or academic language as supplementary component of learning applied to university culture. Bizzell (1986, 294-295) emphasizes that basic writers are those students who experience the greatest distance between their home dialects and Standard English, the preferred dialect in school. The main problem they have in entering college is academic writing, not communicating skill in “Standard” English. Therefore, I need to manipulate my verbal skill in

Another important study adjustment needs to be developed for further to strengthen critical thinking and academic writing. Before I talk about my last adjustment for as my scholarship at university, the remaining basic skill that I bring with me is note taking skill. The aim of this skill is set out for what I expect to understand, either after the lectures or readings. It helps me to take the important notes and concepts to activate my critical thinking and academic writing. Note taking involves critical thinking to analyse the content and ideas from lectures and reading for earliest university study; whereas academic writing will need the assistance from note taking to expand and clarify what I think and reflect. When two of these new skills are activated, the final adjustment that I need to make for the new set up skill is referencing. Referencing is compulsory for all academic works at university. As a university student, I need to use others’ ideas as evidences for my academic works by using my new developed skill, referencing, for adequately acknowledgement to allow readers to read and refer the items that I put in my works; otherwise it will be accused as plagiarism. According to Marshall and Rowland (2006, 249), the reasons for acknowledging students’ sources appropriately in academic work by using the sources of a quotation to support