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DESCRIBING THE PROCESS AND STRUCTURE OF AN EFFECTIVE ACADEMIC PAPER
DESCRIBING THE PROCESS AND STRUCTURE OF AN EFFECTIVE ACADEMIC PAPER
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Academic essay refers to any form of a piece of written English addressing a specific issue given out after research and understanding of the topic of discussion. An academic essay must be formal in nature. An academic essay has some objectives to be achieved after writing it like it must have a thesis. It must outline out some argument on the topic of discussion. An academic essay must also include evidence based facts and information by providing very relevant and clear examples where necessary. Basically an academic essay is genre of writing with some set norms, conventions, and rules that must be followed to the latter.
PURPOSE OF AN ACADEMIC ESSAY
Any given academic essay has main aims and purposes. Academic essay must answer a task or a given topic of discussion. The major purpose of an academic essay is the persuasion of the reader using reasoned facts. Academic essays are also used by scholars among themselves as a tool of increasing and advancing in their ideas. Academic essays give students room for thinking critically and having an open mind boosting their critical thinking skills. Academic essay ensures that results are gotten out of a clear reasoned argument that can be justified using a particular line of reasoning. Academic essay serves as a tool of testing to confirm the student’s ability on a given topic. It helps in testing the students’ knowledge by assessing their analysis and arguments as per the given course of discussion. An academic essay helps in showing the students preparation. Academic essays boost the knowledge on real life events. It boosts correct grammar and understanding of the language that one can use outside the field of academia such as writing a business proposal an application letters. It also increases the ability of being a team player in any given field.
STRUCTURE OF AN ACADEMIC ESSAY AND ITS ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS
An academic essay must have an introduction, the body and the conclusion.
Introduction
It must have explained the topic of discussion and its clear purpose. It also gives highlights on major points to be expected in the real essay. Introduction gives the importance of the topic of discussion. The major functions of the introduction part of an academic essay are to the theoretical framework that guides the analysis and outlining the thesis statement which organizes the entire paper work. Giving a thesis statement in the introduction is very much important as it shows how the rest of the essay will be organized and looks like.
The Body
This is the most vital part of an essay as it entails a lot. All the major points explaining the topic of discussion are explained therefore expected in the main body bit of an academic essay. The body has an organizational structure that allows essay readers to follow the academic work understand the main points and analyze the entire work. The main points in an academic essay should be organized in paragraphs whereby connected points are expected in one given paragraph. Arranging the points in paragraph forms allow for easier understanding of the academic essay as it gives out flowing points. The body of the paper must communicate an argument to get the clear view of the topic of discussion. This in the entire end gives a boost and reinforces thesis statement that is the topic and the purpose of the essay. The body part of the essay must have a transition bit which have transitional words that form sentences which their main work is to the various body parts of the academic essay to come up with one particular academic writing at the end of the day. Giving out something that can be read and reasoned out. Paragraphs in the body part should form sentences that are not less than three. The body of an essay must have an established criterion where the thesis statement made in the introduction must be introduced and be proven with facts that have been confirmed. After establishing criteria in the body, the criteria must be met. This is done by the writer by ensuring that the body has relates the analysis with the terms and concepts of an established criteria. The body also is the part of the essay that must address the already established criteria. The criteria must be fully addressed to fulfill the logical requirements that are necessary to persuade the reader to understand the topic of discussion. The body of an academic essay must also have a clear description on the analysis.
The Conclusion
An academic essay must have a conclusion which emphasizes the thesis statement that is on the topic of discussion and the purpose of an essay. It gives out the ideologies and opinions particularly of the writer on the given topic of discussion. It is also the part of the essay that gives challenges to the readers to find out whether the presented work on the given topic is the truth or there other perspectives on the same. It also gives reviews on the major points discussed in the main body of the essay. Majorly the work of conclusion part of an academic essay is to relate the thesis statement to the criteria that has been established. Relating the two helps in fulfilling the all the logical requirements of an academic essay. The conclusion gives out the final observations of the writer on the given topic of discussion.
All the academic essays are put under particular group depending on the style and formatting used. APA format or style for example has rules such as: separating the title page with the title paper. Specific details such as students name, course, date of submission and faculty name must be included. The work should appear in double-space, font size twelve and times new roman used. Sources must be included with citations.An academic essay must not have plagiarism in it. This can be avoided by not copy pasting somebody’s work from somewhere then presenting as your own idea.
THE POSSIBLE OUTCOMES IF ACADEMIC FORMAT IS NOT FOLLOWED
Chances of not giving out the clear description and argument on the topic of discussion are high. The essay shall not have qualified as an academic essay because the academic norms are not followed. The possibility of having plagiarism in the whole academic work would stand high hence risking being nullified out of lack of authenticity. The essay may not have a clear flow of the major points that are meant to support the thesis statement that is the topic of discussion and purpose of the essay. The academic essay whereby the skill of academic writing is not fully followed stands a chance of not addressing the topic of discussion well hence risk being difficult to read, understand and analyze to get the results which are reasoned and evident based.
Reference
Soles, D. (2010). The essentials of academic writing. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning Houghton Mifflin.
Flowerdew, J., & Peacock, M. (2001). Research perspectives on English for academic purposes. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Belcher, D. D., & Braine, G. (1995). Academic writing in a second language: Essays on research and pedagogy. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Pub. Corp.
Davis, L., & McKay, S. (1996). Structures and strategies: An introduction to academic writing. South Melbourne: Macmillan Education Australia.
Describing Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking
Name of the Student
Name of the Institution
Critical Thinking
An individual can develop a competitive, cooperative or individualistic orientation towards team members. During a survey that gauged my orientation approaches towards team member, I scored 15 out of 20 marks on the individualistic orientation scale. This was my highest score. My lowest score 13 out of 20 marks on the cooperative orientation scale. On the competitive orientation scale, I scored 14 out of 20 marks.
Despite the fact that my lowest score was on the cooperative orientation scale, I have learned through experience the importance of having highly cooperative team members. I was once a member of a small learning group, in which the members met and discussed specific educational topics. Different group members contributed different valuable ideas, and we cooperated to come up with solutions for specific problems or come up with answers. As such, we always came up with constructive solutions that any single individual would not have developed without the assistance of others. Although I got the experience from a learning group, having cooperative team members has a similar benefit to organizational teams, as Levi (2010) explains. Cooperative team members in an organization enable a team to improve its quality and quantity of output as the team members join creative ideas.
When I was a member of the learning group, I learned some ways of dealing with competitive team members. In order to deal with such colleagues, the team should stay focused towards meeting its goals, avoid competing with them and develop internal relationships with them. As Levi (2010) explains, it is possible to suppress the need for competition in such colleagues after developing internal relationships with them. The results of my survey indicate that I need to do some improvement on my orientation towards team members. I can suppress competitive orientation through training myself to listen and accept what team members say and avoiding pressing them to accept what I want or say. Further, I can enhance my cooperative orientation through always letting the team members know my ideas and discuss the ideas with them, and be always actively involved in discussing their ideas. I should always consult them before making decisions and use their opinions to inform my decisions. Also, I should focus on carrying out tasks together with other team members, rather than work alone as an individual. I should offer help and seek it any time from the team members. In addition to improving my cooperative orientation, the aforementioned steps would help to suppress individualistic orientation (Levi, 2010).
References
Levi, D. (2010). Group Dynamics for Teams. London: SAGE
Describe your experience working with database management. Include type of database(s), name of employer, dates worked, work
Administrative questions
Name: Damashata Washington
Date: October 9, 2012
Describe your experience working with database management. Include type of database(s), name of employer, dates worked, work title and hours worked per week.
Between November, 2009 and February, 2010, I worked at Universities Space Research Association (USRA) as an Education Office Assistant on a contractual assignment. I worked for fifty hours a week. Tasks performed here included maintenance of transaction and payment records and tracking of inconsistencies in payments using SAP. I did record maintenance and processing of forms such as purchase orders, work orders and other forms specially designed for the organization, some of which involved the use of arithmetic and statistical analysis with SAP. I prepared meeting materials, agendas, and took notes used for minute writing as well as making travel plans for staff members. I used SAP application to login and track stipend payments to note inconsistencies. I processed new application packets for hiring new interns to the organization and prepared 1760 Government Badge order. I was involved in coordination of monthly events including intern engagements like holiday parties and sponsors for the same, staff meetings and meetings for tax preparation. Routine clerical work was performed where I maintained databases, and I was able to track records and files. I acquired technical skills including strong written and oral skills, organizational skills and being detail oriented.
Describe your experience as a liaison for your department/agency. Provide details of your role and duties and list the agencies or programs that you worked with as a liaison. Include name of employer, dates worked, work title and hours worked per week.
From the month of February, 2012 to date I worked at Santa Clara County as an Office Specialist III on a contractual assignment. I worked for forty five hours a week. I prepared the payroll and generated reports by use of Kronos Time Keeping System. I prepared correspondence, forms, reports and specialized documents for the organization using information from notes, drafts, and work instructions, all of which were documented or presented to the management. In data processing, I entered, retrieved and modeled it to come up with information using established menus and formats. I did regular preparation and update of reports some of which required application of arithmetic and gathering of information from different sources. Before attending meetings to take notes, I prepared the materials and agendas together with making travel arrangements for the management while meeting the set deadlines. I prepared accounts payable, billing, inventory and issued receipts, passes, permits, licenses and other documents for tracking transactions. This also involved computation, checking and fee collection as well control of petty cash. I was involved in the creation and maintenance of a database for tracking cases, retrieval of information together with maintenance of computer files. Technical skills acquired here included: recording and compilation of material for reports; operation of some office machines; written and verbal communication skills; leadership and coordination; and adherence to procedures, policies and terminologies among others.
Describe your experience working as a clerical (or project) team lead. Provide details of your role and duties. Include name of employer, dates worked, title of job and hours worked per week.
At Hitachi Global Storage Technology, in San Jose, I worked as a Sr. Administrative Assistant from March, 2005 to March, 2007. I worked for fifty five hours a week. I gained numerous technical skills key among them: verbal and oral communication, time management, organizational, use of office equipment, problem identification and solving among others. I maintained Calendars for executives, processed invoices and reports, made travel arrangements as well as updating employee details. At Juniper Networks, I undertook administrative duties and handled customer calls. As an HR Administrative Assistant at San Jose Mercury News from June, 2000 to May, 2004, I took calls, maintained personnel file, maintained calendars, set up new hires as well as processing of the payroll and invoices. Technical skills gained included: orienting employees, file maintenance, written and verbal skills, professionalism and supply management
Describe your experience providing responsible office support to management staff and administering or coordinating office activities. Include your job title, dates of employment and the level(s) of staff supported.
From June, 2009 to August, 2009 I worked at San Mateo County, San Carlos, as an Office Assistant II in a contract assignment. I worked for forty hours a week. Acting as a receptionist, I screened and received visitors, answered calls and recorded messages as well as providing factual information about the unit or county that required interpretation of policies and procedures. Using IDM Retrieval, Cal-Win, IDM Generator and File Net Capture, I filed and retrieved records out of the common database and prepared them according to established guidelines. My tasks involved preparation of correspondence, forms, reports and specialized documents for presentation. I entered, retrieved and used online information to prepare specialized and periodic report using different formats in the company. I undertook tasks that needed application of arithmetic and statistical analysis as well as compiling materials for meetings which I attended. The forms I processed included purchase requisition, work orders, and maintenance of record as per the specifications of the organization. Skills mastered here included: payroll skills, written and verbal skills, MS excel proficiency and the ability to multi task.
Describe your experience performing simple accounting clerical duties. Include the name of your employer, job title, dates of employment and number of hours worked per week.
At Santa Clara County, San Jose, I worked as a Records Retention Specialist/Office Specialist II on a contractual assignment between February, 2008 and January, 2009. I worked for sixty hours a week. With the records, I did retrieval, proper filing using packages such as IDM Retrieval, scanning and splitting cases using company guidelines. I performed routine work including maintenance of a database and physical storage of files in cabinets, and was able to learn and use many computer packages with regard to tracking and filing records. I was able to establish constructive associations with supervisors, co-workers and the people I contacted as well as dealing tactfully and courteously with professional and technical personnel. My tasks required that I be concise with regard to the oral and written instruction from supervisors. I mastered many skills including record keeping, computer operation, organizational skills, management skills and problem solving skills.