Week 6: Academic Writing

Pushing oneself beyond one's comfort zone is what it means to challenge oneself. As a graduate
student, you may test yourself by participating in volunteer work, doing research, mastering a
new language, learning coding, and other activities. The possibilities are endless, but in order to
make use of them, one must push oneself above his current level. The practice must be
maintained on a regular basis (Bailey, 2014). Most essential, self-confidence should be retained.
As the endeavor increases, so will the outcome. The students pushing themselves in this direction
will earn more confidence and knowledge than their peers. He, earning the respect of those
around him, may have the competence to retain a leadership position over others. He may have
competence in uncommon areas. And all of them provide greater future opportunities for
him than the others. However, the biggest benefit is that it raises self-esteem, one of the most
important things in our life.
Consistent practice leads to an expanded vocabulary. It isn't something that will get better
overnight. And that's the reason I want to keep practicing till I master it.
Bailey, S., (2014), Academic writing: A handbook for international students. Routledge.

Week 7: Note Taking

One of the most important parts of the academic experience is taking notes. There's no doubting
that every university student need excellent note-taking skills. And there's a slew of suggestions
for enhancing that expertise. These suggestions will benefit any student, regardless of whether he
is an excellent note-taker or not: Merely writing the most relevant bits, being a good listener,
utilizing abbreviations as well as symbols, and writing with colored pens, so forth.
At the outset of my undergraduate career, I was a decent note-taker. To improve my note-taking
skills, I put my concentration on being an engaged listener and utilizing abbreviations. And it
paid well.
A good listener refers to one who can pick up on a speaker's underlying message. To develop the
talent, I had to invest a lot of work and dedication. And abbreviations are the short version of a
large term. When taking notes, abbreviations may save a student a deal of time and resources.
However, the abbreviations must be appropriate and easily understood by the reader.
Taking notes is mostly for the aim of obtaining assistance when studying. Notes, in particular,
may be quite beneficial to a student before taking a test. He won't have to go through the whole
book this way. He just has to review the notes to recall the essence of the whole subject
(Friedman, 2014). The note taker must also edit the note on a regular basis. This will aid him in
maintaining his grip on the topic for a long period.
Friedman, M.C., 2014. Notes on note-taking: Review of research and insights for students and
instructors. Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching, pp.1-34.