BBC 151: BACHELOR OF BUSINESS

COMMUNICATION AND STUDY

SKILLS

Ms I. Moonga
Mulungushi University
14/08/2023
 What is communication?
• Process of exchanging information, ideas, thoughts, feelings, or messages
between individuals or groups through various mediums such as spoken or
written language, gestures, facial expressions, body language, symbols, or
electronic channels.
• Effective communication involves not only the transmission of information but
also the reception, understanding, and interpretation of that information by the
intended recipients.
• It plays a crucial role in human interaction, enabling people to share knowledge,
express emotions, coordinate actions, and establish connections with others.
Fundamentals of communication
DEFINITION of Communication
• Scholars have defined communication variously to limit or broaden
the study to which they want to apply the concept.
• The term communication is taken from the Latin word, communicare,
which means ‘to make common ‘ or ‘to share’.
• In line with this Latin meaning, the concept communication can be
defined as:
the process by which meaning is exchanged between individuals
through a common system of symbols.(Pearson, et al, 2003).
CHARACTERISTICS OF
COMMUNICATION

• The key words in the definition above reveal that:

i. communication is a process not a one off event. It is an activity,
exchange or set of behaviours that occurs over time.
ii. Communication is dynamic, not static. Every interaction we engage in is
part of connected happenings- the past interactions inform the present
which in turn affects future interactions.
iii. Communication involves duality of exchange. Apart from intra-personal
communication, communication involves two or more people. There has
to be at least two sides for the exchange of ideas to take place.
• iv. Communication is symbolic. Symbols are not the real person or
object but are representations of them. Conventional symbols are
used in the interaction with one another. These symbols can be
words. When words are used as symbols of interaction, whether
written or oral, this is referred to as verbal communication. However,
symbols other than words are also used in interaction. These include
maps, pictures, social distance etc. The use in interaction, of symbols
which are not words, is known as non-verbal communication.
PRINCIPLES/AXIOMS OF
COMMUNICATION
The following principles or axioms help us to clarify the nature of communication
beyond definitions.
 5 Axioms of Communication
By Watzlawick, Paul; Beavin, Janet & Jackson, Don (1967)
1. You Cannot Not Communicate:
for the most part, communication can be said to be purposeful, intentional
and consciously motivated. However, we also often communicate without any
awareness that we are doing so, and at times even without wanting to. But no
matter how hard we try we cannot not communicate because communication is
behaviour-our interactions with others portray who we are, and there is simply no
opposite of behaviour. Therefore, since all behaviour is communication, all
behaviour is message.
2. Every Interaction Has a Content Dimension and a Relationship
Dimension
• The content level of a communication is its information or data level; it
describes the behaviour expected as a response.
For example: Submit a report on the expenditure for the Trade faire
Is a directive whose content asks the receiver to perform a certain action.
• However, the relationship level of a communication indicates how the
exchange is to be interpreted; it signals what one person thinks of the
other.
For example: Submit a report on the expenditure for the Trade faire
The communication in the example statement above can be delivered in many
ways- as a command, a plea, a request, a come-on or a turn-off. Each manner of
delivery says something about the relationship between the source and the
receiver. Such signals are an indication of how we see ourselves in relation to
them.
3. Every Interaction Is Defined by How It Is Punctuated
Communication is continuous and, therefore may not have any traceable cause for
a particular response; i.e. what is stimulus for one may be regarded as response for
another. For example, to get around the issue of Covid-19 pandemic , MU switches
to e-learning (response to the Covid-19 challenge). However, the students take to
the press to protest about virtual learning(stimulus). We all divide up, or punctuate
experience somewhat differently because each of us sees it differently.
4. Messages Consist of Verbal Symbols and Nonverbal Cues
When we interact with others, we send two kinds of messages:
• Discrete (clearly separate), digital(word level of communication), verbal
symbols (words); and
• Continuous, analogic (the continuous stream of nonverbal cues) that may
contain sound but do not contain words.
• The point here is that in as much as one may have control over words (what
one says) one may not exert similar control over nonverbal cues that
accompany the words.
• For example, in case of a lie, good words may be used but the nonverbal
signals one emits are likely to give one away.
5. Interactions Are Either Symmetrical or Complementary
These are the two basic categories into which all communication interactions can be
divided. The categorization has nothing to do with good or bad communication, and
both may be present n a healthy relationship.
Symmetrical interaction is a relationship in which the behaviour of one person
mirrors the behaviour of the person one is interacting with. On a negative side,
symmetrical relationships may lead to symmetrical escalation, a relationship where
individuals compete for control.
e.g. if one is angry, the other one is angry too.
In contrast, complementary interaction is communication in which interactants
engage in opposite behaviour. If not checked, this may lead to rigid complementarity
– a relationship characterised by fixed unchanging roles.
Communication Principles from other Scholars include the following:
1) Communication Begins with the Self
This principle centres on the point of view of many communication
scholars and social scientists who hold that people are products of how
others treat them. For example, when people are treated as though they
are useless, intelligent, children etc., they often begin to act accordingly.
This point of view is based on Dean Barnlund’s (1970) theory in which he
introduced the idea that individuals ‘construct’ themselves through the
relationships they have, wish to have, or perceive themselves as having.
• He also developed the idea that ‘six persons’ are involved in every
two-person communication situation. These six persons emerge
from:
i. How you view yourself (Who do I think Iam ?)
ii. How you view the other person (Who do I think he/she is?)
iii. How you believe the other person views you (Who doe he/she
think I think I am?)
iv. How the other person views himself or herself (Who does he/she
think he/she is?)
v. How the other person views you (Who does he/she think I am?)
vi. How the other person believes you view him or her (who does
he/she think I think he/she is?)
By this 6 persons’ view, Barnlund encourages us to consider the various
perspectives involved in communication and to recognise the centrality
of the self in communication.
And Pearson et al(2003) concludes that we can only understand
communication if we take up an active role in it because
communication is participatory.
2) Communication involves Others
As Herbert Mead notes, the self originates in communication. We are who we have
become because of the roles and expectations imposed on us by other. You establish
self-image, the sort of person you believe you are, by the way others categorize you.
Positive, negative, and neutral messages that you receive from others all play a role in
determining who you are.
3) Communication is Complicated
This is so because it involves choices about the multiple aspects of the message – the
verbal, nonverbal, and behavioural aspects, the choices surrounding the transmission
channels used, the characteristics of the speaker, the relationship between the speaker
and the audience, the characteristics of the audience, and the situation in which the
communication occurs. A change in any one of the variables affects the entire
communication process.
4. An Increased Quantity of Communication Does Not Increase the
Quality of Communication
Greater amounts of communication do not lead to more harmony or
more accurate and shared meanings. Sometimes people disagree, and
the more they talk, the more they learn that they are in conflict.
Sometimes also, people have very poor listening or empathy skills and
they misunderstand vast quantities of information. Therefore,
communication, defined simply as verbiage, does not necessarily lead
to positive outcomes.
5) Communication Cannot be Reversed
We cannot go back in time and erase our messages to others. Once
hurtful or wrong messages have been sent to others, no amount of
effort, e.g. apologising, pleading that it was a joke etc, can erase the
impact of such messages. Your comment lingers on in both the
receiver’s mind as well as in your own mind.
It is one of the reasons business messages must be well planned and
crafted before they are sent to clients...
6. Communication Cannot be Repeated
Communication is experience, and just as you cannot repeat an
experience, you cannot repeat communication. The context, the
setting, people’s state of mind etc. would not be the same even if you
enacted the event to the letter. In business communication, therefore,
you need to leave no stone unturned when you are given an
opportunity to show case your business as once lost or messed up, the
opportunity is lost.
GOALS OF COMMUNICATION

1. To achieve effective communication, also known as communication competence.

This is defined as an impactful exchange of meaning through a common system of
symbols, signs, or behaviour.
Communication competence is not easy and is a lifelong endeavour at getting it right.
This is so because of various factors: your goals and other people’s goals may be at
variance; the interactants may have a different understanding of their relationship;
cultural differences makes people view the world in different ways; different perspectives
of communication between interactants may also add to the difficulties…
However, your aim should be to improve your communication skills and become better at
communicating messages that are appropriate both in content and in form and format.
2. To achieve Ethical Communication.
Ethics is a set of moral principles or values. Although ethical standards may
vary from one discipline to another, and from one culture to another, the
standard within the communication discipline mostly cuts across cultures.
The importance of ethical communication
• Is fundamental to responsible thinking, decision making, and the
development of relationships and communities within and across
contexts, culture, channels, and media.
• Enhances human worth and dignity by fostering truthfulness, fairness,
responsibility, personal integraty, and respect for self and others
• Unethical communication threatens the quality of all communication and
consequently the wellbeing of individuals and the society in which we live.
Principles of Ethical Communication
• Upholds truthfulness, accuracy, honesty, and reason as essential to the integrity
of communication.
• Upholds freedom of expression, diversity of perspectives, and tolerance of
decent to achieve the informed and responsible decision making..
• Strives to understand and respect other communicators before evaluating and
responding to their messages.
• Promotes access to communication resources as necessary to fulfil human
potential and contribute to the wellbeing of families, communities, and society.
• Promotes communication climate of caring and mutual understanding that
respects the unique needs and characteristics of individual communicators.
• Condemns communication that degrades individuals and humanity through
distortion, intimidation, coercion, and violence, and through the expression
of intolerance and hatred,.
• Is committed to the courageous expression of personal convictions in
pursuit of fairness and justice
• Shares information, options, and feelings when facing significant choices
while also respecting privacy and confidentiality, accepts responsibility for
the short and long term consequences of our own communication and
expects the same of other.
FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION

Communication fulfils various functions. Here are three of some of the

most important ones.
1. Deepens our understanding of and insight into ourselves and others to
develop self- awareness and that of others.
2. Helps in developing and maintaining meaningful relationships through
interaction with others. This helps us to meet social, physical and
psychological needs for our own wellbeing.
3. Key in influencing and persuading others. Communication helps us to
influence others and to allow others to influence us by persuading
each other to adopt the course of action or behaviour we suggest in
order to meet our own goals.
IMPORTANCE STUDYING
COMMUNICATION
Studying communication is important:
1. To help you improve the way your see yourself – self image.
2. To help improve the way others see you.
3. Helps increase your knowledge about human relationships.
4. To learn important life skill.
5. Helps you exercise your constitutionally guaranteed freedom of
speech. Can help you succeed professionally throughout the span
of your career (entry- get a job, during- promotions).
MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

Models help us to understand how communication occurs. Here we consider

four of such models.
1. The Action Model
Communication was viewed as action; thus, in the action model, one person
sends and another person/persons receives it. This model was also referred to
this simple model as the inoculation model because it seemed to depict the
speaker injecting an audience with a message. The model is linear with
movement in only one direction. This model was faulted for not revealing
anything about how audiences influence speakers. The action model seems to
depict a public speaking situation, but even in that context audiences affect
speakers through nonverbal and verbal feedback, which is not reflected in the
action model.
2. The Interaction Model
This model adds another dimension to the action model. In the
interaction model, one person sends a message to a second person,
who receives it and responds with another message. This model seems
to depict a conversation between two people in which the
communicators take turns sending and receiving messages. Compares
to a basketball game, the receiver cannot return a message until the
speaker’s message is received.
3. The Transaction Model.
Rather than act exclusively as senders or receivers, in the transaction
model of communication communicators simultaneously send and
receive messages. Thus sending and receiving are no longer separate
activities and they do not occur one at a time. According to the
transactional view, people are continually sending and receiving
messages; they cannot avoid communication. In the transaction
model, messages are everywhere. E.g. the person talking to you on the
sidewalk can also be nodding to a passerby. How you look, what you
say, how receptive you are and what is happening around you are all
part of the transactional model.
4. The Constructivist Model
The first three models- action, interaction and transaction are mechanistic models that are
limited in that they simply show direction of communication movement: source - receiver,
source - receiver - source, or source and receiver simultaneously.
In the constructivist model, the focus shifts from sources, messages, receivers , and
feedback to what occurs in the minds of communicators: interpreting meaning.
• The constructivist model posits that receivers create their own reality in their minds. The
senders words are symbols to be interpreted, and the receiver constructs his or her own
meanings. However, the receiver’s interpretation of the sender’s message may not be the
same as the way the sender intended it to be.
• The only way to reach agreement about the message is by discussing what the sender
intended and what the receiver intended.
• This is called negotiating meaning.
• The constructivist model significantly reframes the communication process.
The message is no longer something that is simply sent one way to a
passive audience that receives it like an injection; it is no longer passed
back and forth like a basket ball; and it is no longer tossed about in a
confusing game whose participants might be bombarded with multiple
balls. In this model, the ball or the message may be something else by the
time it is received and interpreted.
• Communication becomes more confusing in this model but in reality
communication is not as easy as the earlier models described it as being.
Under the best of communication circumstances the two people/parties
involved learn to manage meaning by negotiating what it believes the
message to be.
Elements of Communication

All communication interactions have certain common elements that

together help define the communication process. Understand them
early so that you can be able to develop your own communicative
abilities early. These elements are briefly explained below.
1. People (sender/receiver or encoders and decoders)
Human communication in all communication contexts, save for intra-
personal communication, involve people.
The roles of sender and receiver are interchangeable
2. Messages
Messages include verbal and non-verbal messages. A message is a content of a communicative
act, e.g. what you talk about, the words you use to express your feelings, your facial expression,
gestures etc. Some messages we send are private while others are public. Some are purposeful
and others are sent accidentally.
3. Channels
The channel is the means by which a message moves from the source to the receiver of the
message. A message moves from one place to another, from one person to another; by
travelling through a medium, or channel. Airwaves, soundwaves, twisted copper wires, glass
fibres, and cable are all communication channels. Others include, noticeboards, messengers,
the post etc.
We send and receive messages through all our senses. Equally, messages may be sent and
received through verbal and nonverbal modes or channels. Thus we are multichannel
communicators
What is the difference between a medium and a channel of
communication?

• In communication, "medium" and "channel" are two related but

distinct concepts that refer to different aspects of how information is
conveyed from one party to another.
• Here's the difference between the two:
Medium of Communication

• Definition: The medium of communication refers to the means or

method through which information is transmitted or conveyed
from the sender to the receiver. It is the mode or vehicle used to carry
the message.
• Examples: Common communication mediums include spoken
language, written text, visual images, audio recordings, video clips,
and non-verbal cues like body language and facial expressions.
• Characteristics: Different communication mediums have unique
characteristics that can impact how effectively and accurately a
message is conveyed. For example, written text can be precise and
enduring, while spoken language allows for immediate feedback and
nuances in tone.
Channel of Communication

• Definition: The channel of communication, on the other hand, refers

to the specific pathway or route used within a medium to transmit the
message. It involves the practical or logistical aspects of delivering the
message.
• Examples: In written communication, the channels may include
printed letters, emails, text messages, or even handwritten notes. In
verbal communication, channels can be face-to-face conversations,
phone calls, video conferences, or recorded audio messages.
• Characteristics: Each channel of communication has its own
characteristics that affect how efficiently and effectively the message
is transmitted. For instance, face-to-face communication allows for
real-time interaction and visual cues, while written letters may take
longer to reach the recipient but provide a tangible record.
• To illustrate the difference between the two concepts, let's consider an
example: You want to communicate a complex idea to a colleague.
• The medium you choose could be written text, where you compose an
email.
• The channel within that medium could be the email platform you use,
such as Gmail or Outlook.
• So, in summary, the medium of communication is the overarching
method or mode of conveying information, while the channel is the
specific pathway or tool used within that medium to transmit the
message.
• Both factors play a significant role in shaping the effectiveness and
efficiency of communication.
• 4. Noise
Noise is anything that interferes or distorts the ability to send and receive
messages. It is any interference in the encoding and decoding processes that
reduces message clarity.
• Noise can be physical, psychological, grammatical or graphical. Noise may not
only lead to distortion of messages but at its worse may lead to total
communication failure.
5. context/setting
This is the environment in which communication takes place. Some contexts are
neutral, e.g. in class room , while others are ‘special’ e.g. board meetings, lunch-on
etc, and exert control on our behaviour. Thus, context influences communication,
and communication should be appropriate to the setting.
6. Feedback
This is the information returned to a message source. It acknowledges receipt of the
message, reaction to it, and action , if any, that the receiver intends to take.
Communication is never complete without feedback.
7. Effect – this is the communication outcome
8. Code-a systematic arrangement of symbols used to create meanings in the mind of
another person/persons.
9. Encoding and decoding – encoding is the process of translating an idea or thought into
a code, while decoding is the process of assigning meaning to the idea or thought in a
code.
All these elements are essential variables in the communication process. Roles and
functions should be clearly defined and clear choices made at each stage in consideration
of the message, purpose and the speaker.
CONTEXTS OF COMMUNICATION

Communication occurs in a number of communication contexts including:

1. Intra-personal communication: the process of understanding and sharing
meaning within the self.
2. Interpersonal communication (aka dyadic communication): the process of
coordinating meaning between at least two people in a situation that
allows mutual opportunities for both speaking and listening. Here, the
aspect of turn taking in conversation is crucial. In addition, the
interactants must take care to attend not only to content but to the
relational messages(feelings accompanying the content). Sometimes
interactants must put content aside and engage in meta-communication –
communicating about communication , to clear bad feelings so as not to
affect the message.
3. Small Group Communication: the interaction of a small group of
people to achieve an interdependent goal. This context requires a
facilitator to coordinate the discussion /activities. The facilitator is
variously referred to as chairperson, coordinator, speaker etc according
to the nature of the group.
Conflict is a common problem in SGC because members may perceive
the group goals differently and personal goals can come into conflict
with group and task goals.
Just as the leader, group members must also play an active role in the
team to ensure its success.
4. Public communication: the process of generating meaning in a situation
where a single source transmits a message to a number of receivers who
give non verbal and sometimes question and answer feedback.
5. Mass Communication: uses mediated transmission systems to facilitate
communication between a source and thousand/millions of heterogeneous
audience. Mass communication is a specialised communication context,
but a business practitioner may have to face mass communication through
press interviews and press releases.
• The internet, referred to also as the new media or the information
highway, has brought a shift in mass communication as it is interactive as
opposed to its traditional cousins-print media, radio, TV, etc.
COMMUNICATING IN ACADEMIC
CONTEXTS
TIME MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

• Welcome to the study of this Unit. The aim of this unit is to help you
acquire the basic study skills of time management, a skill necessary for a
person like yourself who is venturing into university studies. We will look at
how best we can manage our time. This unit on time management will give
you an opportunity to assess where your time goes so that you may make
some decisions about changes you would perhaps make to use your time
more efficiently.
• At University you have to organise your work for yourself, in any
subject that requires a lot of reading, this means you have to be self-
disciplined and to plan and use your time sensibly. The number of
immediate demands being made upon you by different lecturers and
different courses can be quite overwhelming at first. While
completing an essay in one course you may be starting one in another
and keeping up with reading for lectures in all courses. Success is not
just about intelligence, but about planning your time sensibly and
sticking to it. It is a habit that will prove useful not just at University,
but in your career too.
• Let us begin with looking at how best you can manage your time. Take
this opportunity to assess where your time goes so that you may
make some decisions about the kind of changes you would perhaps
make to use time efficiently. Note that there is no right way to
manage your time; however, it is important to get to know yourself so
that you can make good decisions about how to use our time.
• Basically we all have 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week to use as
we please; nevertheless, some people make better use of this time
than others. For the majority of us this is an area of our lives in which
we need much improvement-------hence let us begin the journey to
learn ways that may help us use our time more effectively.
What is Time Management?

• Time management can be defined as the most efficient use of time

available to complete tasks or achieve goals. Successful university
students make certain of the following:
• Use time efficiently
• Achieve a balance between daily tasks, study and social activities.
• Prepare long term and short term plan
How to Organise Your Time

• Planning your study is important. However, sitting down to plan your work
in detail may appear like a waste of time. Nonetheless taking the time to
organise makes your studying more effective in the following manner:
• You become more productive
• The quality of your work improves
• Because you know what you have done, and what you still have to do, you
do not panic about “falling behind”, or you leaving every thing to the last
minute.
• You build confidence as a student, and enjoy the work more.
• You enjoy your leisure time more.
Planning Your Time
• The key to planning your time is to impose an organization on your working time
by dividing it up. This can be applied at several levels: from the overall organization
of a semester (or the academic year, or even the whole of your degree
programme) down to planning how to organise a particular week (or a particular
day, or even a particular free hour).
How to organise
• The best way to organise is to do it in the manner that works for you. Just as there
is no right way to manage your time, there is no golden rule that works for
everyone. Therefore, what follows below are general ideas that may help you to
work out your own system for organising your time.
Dos:
• Take an inventory of the time available: Work out how much time you have available
and when. E.g. in one semester how many months/weeks/days do you have?
• List the tasks at hand: list all the tasks and other activities which you have to complete
within the time available. E.g. assignments, projects, exams, work activities, personal
social activities etc
• Prioritise your tasks :Work out priorities between the identified tasks. Which are urgent?
• Apportion your time according to your priority list: Giving more time to priority tasks,
decide on how much time should be spent on each task and set targets for each work.
• Segment tasks: Organise pieces of work (essays, presentations papers) into smaller, less
demoralizing tasks.
Don’ts:
Avoid the following:
• Trying to do it all at once – you will feel overwhelmed and so give up!
• Neglect any of your courses, especially those you find relatively easy or
particularly difficult – every course you are taking is just as important as the
others and a failure in one will lead to you not graduating.
• Drift from essay deadline to essay deadline. While working on one essay in one
course, you should continue reading and preparing for classes in other courses,
and perhaps make initial preparations for future essay.
• Allow yourself to be distracted - Be loyal to your time table. Distractors are
timewasters, they eat into your time planned for specific activities.
Do you waste time?
Before you answer the question pause and consider how much time each
day you spend on the following activities:-
•Sleeping
•Grooming
•Eating/cooking
•Socializing / Playing Sport
•Watching television
•Making telephone calls
•Using the internet
•Shopping
•Doing housework
•Traveling
•Working
•Going to lectures/Studying
The following are time management principles you may find useful:
• Identify your best time for study
• Try to study at the same time each day
• Use free time be it on campus or at home
• Study difficult subjects first
• Take regular breaks
• Have a suitable study environment
• Multi-task where possible: Combine activities e.g. study while on a bus
• Sleep and eat properly
• Leave unplanned time for flexibility
• Allow time for relaxation and entertainment
Weekly Planning
• Planning at this stage is more about developing a successful routine. Note
that we all have different habits here - different times when we are most
wide awake, different times when we can get on with things undisturbed,
different degrees of success at getting down to hard work even when we
have only got a short time available. And the lesson to learn here too is to
control things rather than be pushed around.
• At the beginning of the week it seems like there is plenty of time to get
everything done. But after lectures, work, sleeping, eating, traveling etc.
there is frustratingly little time left. Here are some suggestions for how to
get the most of the remaining hours.
• Use a diary to assign exactly when and how much time you have available. You could
perhaps use a copy of the timetable on which you have entered your contact hours -
lectures and tutorials - at the beginning of the semester. This will need to be adjusted
to include evenings and weekends in your plan.
• Compile lists of tasks to be completed during the week. Some of these (taking a quick
look over last week's lecture and class notes, for example) may be done in odd spare
hours such as between lectures. Others (such as essays and presentation papers) will
require longer stretches of time.
• Allocate these tasks to days and periods of time, depending on how big each is, and
how urgent.
• Be flexible. Learn from your mistakes. (In estimating how long a task will take, for
example). If your schedule isn't working, change it. Don't always work in the same
place. Break up long study sessions into different tasks.
• Don't waste half of a study session sitting around waiting for inspiration. Do
something to get your brain working:
• Jot down the tasks that need doing.
• Start with one of the smaller tasks
• Read through some lecture notes to get you thinking about what you are
reading/writing.
• Draft a page of an essay (you can always change it later).
• Start in the middle of the essay, if this is more straightforward, and then go
back to the Introduction.
• Take responsibility for your working patterns. Work to the deadline you have
set.
Semester Planning
• Use a year-planner, e.g. a wall chart or the thing you find in the inside cover
of a diary.
• Make sure you've marked the following: beginning and end of the semester;
the crucial dates for submission of assignments and coursework; the dates of
the exams period; the numbering of each week in the semester.
• This technique will enable you to have a means of keeping under review
various signs of progress such as: how far through the semester are you?
How far through the syllabus for this course-unit are you supposed to be?
How long until the exams? What proportion of the books you intended to
read have you got through so far?
• Then you can also make plans for times when you will be more stretched than
usual - when are you going out for the weekend, when are the games of that
tournament you've been training for? And conversely, when are the blocks of
time when there will be relatively few other demands on your time? Some
foresight over these questions will allow you to plan ahead in investing your time
wisely rather than just wasting it away at the times you have some to spare.
• You can also plan for when resources will be more or less accessible.
• When are the vital books from the library going to be in most demand? How am I
going to get access to the web or my essay files during the vacation? Once again,
having the time freed up to work for something other than an immediate and
urgent deadline will allow you to plan rather than be pushed around.
• So, in short: spend your time as if it were costing you money.
Time Saving Tips
• Don't overdo it. It is hardly ever a sensible plan to work until you drop
and if you end up working in irregular and infrequent binges you'll
inevitably under perform, to say nothing of that background feeling of
being vaguely out of control.
• Pace yourself and establish a functional upper limit to the length of
time you can concentrate before the effort starts to outweigh the
benefits.
• Find strategies for dealing with the times when you know your
concentration isn't going to hold up. Make a note of places you
couldn't quite follow what you heard or read, so that you can come
back to it when you're fresher.
• Look for a way to make it easy to get back into something you're
reading even if you have to take a break. It can sometimes be helpful
to force yourself to break off mid-chapter, mid-paragraph or even
mid-idea, so as to make it easier to pick up the threads again later,
rather than trying to plunge in 'cold' to a totally new topic or chapter.
Find out what works for you.
• Find smaller tasks that will occupy you in 'between' times - e.g. that
slightly-less-than-a- free-hour between two lectures. Maybe you're
working on a particular article or book chapter, or are doing some
practice of some kind etc. But give yourself a task that can realistically
be done in the time you allot yourself.
• Keep ahead of the game: as much as you can, try to read before the
relevant lecture rather than after it. There's a world of difference
between reading ahead and therefore having the ideas already
formed in your mind when you hear the lecturer dissecting them, and
on the other hand reading in a kind of 'remedial' way, to try to puzzle
out what on earth was being talked about in a lecture you weren't
really able to follow.
• It doesn't involve much more effort for this to work; it's just a
question of getting the timing right.
The moral of the story:
• There's a big difference between being on top of things and playing
catch-up all the time, and keeping a watchful eye on how you make
use of your own time can be enough to tip the balance the right way.
Listening & Learning Styles

Introduction
• Active listening is necessary for effective communication. Active
listening focuses on the speaker and what is being said. As the
listener, you should then be able to repeat in your own words what
the speaker has said to their satisfaction. This does not mean you
agree with them, but rather understand, what they are saying. We
were given two ears but only on mouth……this probably indicates that
listening is twice as hard as talking. Furthermore, our ability to
analyze and increase understanding of the techniques of effective
listening will facilitate successful university study.
• In this unit we will also look at learning styles. This is because we
don’t all learn in the same way. Understanding your preferred
learning style can help you study effectively by using techniques best
suited to your preferred style. It can help you read the information,
process the information, organize and present the information. Upon
completion of this unit you will be able to:
• Analyse and increase understanding of the techniques of effective listening;
• Listen effectively in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes; Outcomes
:Practice the behaviours of effective, active listeners;
• Use effective listening skills to take accurate notes and summarise information
presented in oral form;
• Describe active listening/participation and explain its role in an academic environment;
• Assess strengths in listening and set goals for future growth;
• Identify your preferred learning style;
• Explain why independent learning skills are important and describe how they might be
applied in an academic environment;
• Study effectively by using techniques best suited to your preferred style.
Listening
• Definition: Active Listening: This is where you make a conscious effort to hear not only
the words that another person is saying but, more importantly, to try and understand
the total message being sent.
• Listening is one of the most important skills you can have. How well you listen does
impact greatly on how effectively you study and also on the quality of your relationships
with others.
• Why do we listen?
• We listen to obtain information.
• We listen to understand.
• We listen for enjoyment.
• We listen to learn.
• Considering the amount we spend listening, one would expect each
one of us to be good at listening! A number of studies carried out
indict that we remember a miserable 25-50% of what we hear. That
means that when you talk to our colleagues, customers, supervisors
or spouse for 10 minutes, they only really hear 2½-5 minutes of the
conversation.
• This implies and tells you that when you are receiving directions or
being presented with information, you aren’t hearing the whole
message either. You hope the important parts are captured in your
25- 50%, but what if they’re not?
• Without a doubt, listening is a skill that we can all benefit from
improving. By becoming a better listener, you will improve your
effectiveness as regards study, productivity, as well as your ability to
influence, persuade and negotiate. What’s more, you’ll also avoid
conflict and misunderstandings – all necessary for university study
and not to mention workplace success.
• For you to be a good communicator it is necessary to have a high level
of self-awareness. By understanding your personal style of
communicating, you will go a long way towards creating good and
lasting impressions with others.
• The only way to become a better listener is to practice “active listening”.
This is where you make a conscious effort to hear not only the words that
another person is saying (in this case your lecturer) but, more
importantly, to try and understand the total message being sent.
• In order to do this you must pay attention to the other person i.e. your
lecturer very carefully.
• You cannot allow yourself to become distracted by what else may be
going on around you, or by forming counter arguments that you’ll make
when the other person stops speaking. Nor can you allow yourself to lose
focus on what the other person is saying. All of these barriers contribute
to a lack of listening and understanding.
• Barriers to Active Listening
• Since listening involves both physical activities –attending, i.e. capturing stimulus from the
environment using the hearing organ- and mental activities- interpreting, analysing, responding
and evaluating stimuli/messages; distractions also occur at these two levels.
• External - e.g. distractions e.g. noise, time
• Internal – e.g. boredom, emotions, motivation, stress
• If you're finding it particularly difficult to concentrate on what the lecturer is saying, try repeating
their words mentally as they say it – this will reinforce their message and help you control mind
drift.
• To enhance your listening skills, you need to let the other person know that you are listening to
what he or she is saying. To understand the importance of this, ask yourself if you’ve ever been
engaged in a conversation when you wondered if the other person was listening to what you were
saying. You are unsure if your message is getting across, or if it’s even worthwhile to continue
speaking. It feels like talking to a brick wall and it’s something you want to avoid.
Becoming an Active Listener
• There are five key elements of active listening. They all help you ensure that you hear the other person,
and that the other person knows you are hearing what they are saying.
• Pay attention.
• Give the speaker your undivided attention and acknowledge the message. Recognize that what is not said
also speaks loudly.
• Look at the speaker directly.
• Put aside distracting thoughts. Don’t mentally prepare a rebuttal!
• Avoid being distracted by environmental factors.
• “Listen” to the speaker’s body language.
• Refrain from side conversations when listening in a group setting.
• Show that you are listening.
• Use your own body language and gestures to convey your attention. Nod occasionally. Smile and use other
facial expressions.
Strategies for Effective Listening
• Focus attention on the subject.
• Do pre-reading or review of the subject.
• Avoid distractions.
• Maintain eye contact with speaker.
• Be involved – respond to Q’s, ask Q’s, Use non verbal signals to show interest.
• Set aside prejudices and opinions. Control your emotions.
• Be active – listening is not passive
• Ask yourself what key points are made?
• How is the information organized?
• How does this connect with what I already know?
• Aim to be a better listener.
• Note your posture and make sure it is open and inviting. Encourage the
speaker to continue with small verbal comments like yes and uh huh.
• Provide feedback.
• Our personal filters, assumptions, judgments, and beliefs can distort what
we hear. As a listener, your role is to understand what is being said. This
may require you to reflect what is being said and ask questions.
• Reflect what has been said by paraphrasing. “What I’m hearing is…” and
“Sounds like you are saying…” are great ways to reflect back.
• Ask questions to clarify certain points. “What do you mean when you
say…” “Is this what you mean?” Summarize the speaker’s comments
periodically.
• Defer judgment, wait to listen to the total presentation before making
judgement.
• Do not engage the presenter in unnecessary arguments. Interrupting is a waste
of time. It frustrates the speaker and limits your full understanding of the
message. Allow the speaker to finish. Don’t interrupt with counter-arguments.
• Respond Appropriately.
• Active listening is a model for respect and understanding. You are gaining
information and perspective. You add nothing by attacking the speaker or
otherwise putting him or her down.
• Be candid, open, and honest in your response. Assert your opinions
respectfully. Treat the other person as he or she would want to be treated.
• Take Note:
• You have to concentrate and be determined to be an active listener. Old habits
are hard to break, and if your listening habits are as bad as many people’s are,
then there’s a lot of habit-breaking to do!
• Be intentional with your listening and remind yourself constantly that your goal
is to really hear what the other person is saying. Put aside all other thoughts
and behaviours and concentrate on the message. Ask question, reflect, and
paraphrase to ensure you understand the message. If you don’t, then you’ll find
that what someone says to you and what you hear can be remarkably different!

• Start using active listening today to become a better communicator and

improve your learning skills, study, workplace productivity and relationships.
 Learning Styles
• We all don’t learn the same way. Understanding your preferred learning style can help you study effectively by using
techniques best suited to your preferred style.
• Which of these learning styles describes your learning process?
• Visual
• Auditory
• Kinaesthetic-related to movement and action
• Do you process information better when it is presented in pictures,
• diagrams, graphs?
• Like handouts and take good notes and use mind maps and diagrams?
• Memorise by visual association?
• Read quickly and spell well, visualizing words?
• Speak quickly?
• Have good planning and organizational skills?
• Forget verbal instructions and forget to relay?
• You may:
• Learn by listening
• Talk to yourself
• Be easily distracted by noise
• Enjoy reading aloud
• Be better at telling than writing
• Be talkative and enjoy discussions Spell out loud rather than write down Be a good speaker.
• You may:
• Learn by hands on activities
• Want to at things out
• Speak slowly Touch people to get attention Not be able to sit still!
• Use gestures
• Like books with a strong story line
• Use body actions as you read
• Have untidy handwriting
• Study Tips for Visual learners
• Write things down.
• Draw pictures, diagrams, graphs.
• Use planners or diaries.
• High light notes with colour. 
• Read over and copy notes to revise 
• Try to visualise ideas and facts.
• Study Tips for Auditory learners
• Make use of sound.
• Talk things through as you learn them.
• Join a study group for discussions.
• Recite facts and important information.
• Listen carefully to lectures as you learn best by listening and discussing.
• Study Tips for Kinaesthetic Learners
• Work through problems physically, you learn best by doing.
• Use activity time to mentally review what you have studied e.g.
• while walking.
• Use models where possible.
• Take plenty of breaks.
• Explain your ideas to others.
SUMMARY AND NOTE TAKING
• Aims
• To reproduce another’s work in a shorter version while retaining the
essence/meaning of the original text (oral or written).
• Types
• Informative= adopts the tone of the original full text; info from original text is simply
presented as shorter version (Wardhaugh, 2011:09)
• Descriptive=adopts a more distant perspective, describing the original text rather than
directly presenting the information it contains.
• Key summary skills
• Include:
• Ability to paraphrase or express the author’s ideas using the summarizer’s own words
(Wilson,2017:30)
• Ways of summarizing
• Include:
1. Main point summary or Cornell Method or Selection and Deletion Method =
focuses on the main point of the piece of writing.
• Similar to an abstract of an article, it brings out the most important concepts and
deletes the less important material (Kintsch, 2015:18).
• When relevant, the method may include the text’s source such as book, essay,
periodical, journal etc.
• Also uses author tags. E.g., “in the book, the author states …,” or “the author argues,
explains, says, asks or suggests …”.
• These tags make it clear which ideas are those of the author and the text being
summarized.
• Also, identifies the title, author, and main point or argument (Wilson, 2017:48).
• Might also use a quote from the text, if it is representative of the text’s main idea or
point.
• Is often used when writing academic papers as a way to introduce the reader to a
source and to place the main point of that source into the context of an argument or
discussion of an issue.
• As the summary moves quickly through the main points of the source text, the writer
should focus on the most important material (Marzano, 2013).
• When preparing to write a summary using this method, the writer can identify the
important material by underlining, circling, or highlighting it and can eliminate less
important material by deleting or crossing it out. writers also have to lookfor key
words to identify those that express substantial information or make major
statements.
• The major question considered when using this method is “ what is the
author.s specific point?” “what statements draw the whole piece
together?” this implies that writers have to cross out digressions,
repetitions, nonessential background information, extended examples,
interest provoking anecdotes , and other minor supporting details.
• Thus, this method makes the most important material emerge, while
pushing the less important to the background.
• This method works best in instances where the information being used
is in form of direct statements of main ideas, accompanied by much
detailed elaboration , wordy examples, digressions, or other clearly less
important material.
2. Outline summary aka note taking method= mimics the structure of the source text
• This is type of summary mimics the structure of the source text.
• Includes the main points points and arguments in the same order they apper in the
original text.
• This is an especially effective technique to use when the accompanying response will be
analytic, such as an evaluation of the logic or evidence used in a text (Blizzard, 2001). as
the writer is trying to paraphrase the piece of writing, they are expected to read through
the original work, pay attention to the various parts of the structure: the order of ideas,
their relative lengths, and their relationships (Turner, 2013). A good example of this
method is illustrated when a large photograph is reduced to wallet size photograph. In a
relative sense, all the parts remain the same; only the scale has changed. Under this
method, writers are expected to notice the shape, flow, and overall impression of the
original passage so that they create a miniature version in their summary (Nash, 2009).
• The outline method, jots down the main ideas and key statements of the
original but also tries to keep the size of the note in rough proportion to the
size of the original (Kintsch,2015).
• This method follows the logic of one idea flowing from another, and re-
creates the transitions and structures of original piece of writing (Marzano,
2013).
• The arrangement, logical development, and balance of parts of the original
piece of writing are important under this method and miniaturizing a piece of
writing will help you retain the overall meaning and impression. Generally,
this method is most appropriate in instances when handling more complex
and subtly argued pieces of writing whose parts fit together in unique ways
or ways difficult to follw.
3. Chart summary, aka Mapping Method, or a Web of Semantic Map= uses
graphics, e.g. columns, to organize material, useful for presentations/lectures
because it covers a lot of facts and relationships between topics (Blizzard, 2001).
• This type of summary is mostly used when making charts , tables and graphs to
explain concepts to the reader,
• The chart method is a method used to explain deep concepts and relationships in
a simple way.
• It uses short but catchy words to explain multiple words.
• Although it reduces the amount of words used in a piece of work, it still
communicates the heart of the matter to the reader.
• It is creative in that it involves drawing and is useful in situations where
information may not be presented sequentially.
• In this method, the topic or main idea is placed in the centre of the page
in large letters and surrounded by a box or circle.
• See the sample below. Here the concept of summarizing is surrounded
by such words as reduced information, main idea, brief, crucial ideas and
heart of the matter (Nash, 2009). Here, important information and
examples are written around the main topic and connected to it by lines.
• Similarly, sub-details are connected to the information and examples. In
most cases, the order in which the facts are placed around the main
topic/idea may not matter. However, you may wish to list notes in
clockwise format beginning near the top left of the page if order in
important (Wardhaugh, 2011).
4. Keypoint summary=focuses directly on the key points that were
used by the writer of the source text.
Is similar to the main point summary but the difference is that it
focuses on the key points in the text.
 Academic writing
• Academic writing refers to a specific style of writing that is
commonly used in educational and scholarly settings, particularly
in higher education such as universities and research institutions.
• It is characterized by its formal and structured nature, as well as its
emphasis on clarity, objectivity, and evidence-based arguments.
Key characteristics and elements of academic writing:

• Elements:
1. Purpose: prompts the writer to clearly answer the question ‘why
write?’
2. Point of View: Shows the stance of the writer in discussing a certain
topic.
3. Organization: major portions of any composition are Introduction,
main text/main body and the conclusion.
4. Support: statements the writer makes in a piece of writing should be
supported by evidence either from life experience or other writers. This
mainly depends on what kind the composition one is dealing with.
• Evidence-Based: Academic writing relies heavily on evidence to support
claims and arguments. This evidence often comes from research, scholarly
sources, data, or empirical observations.
• Citation and Referencing: Academic writers are expected to provide proper
citations and references for all sources used. Common citation styles include
APA, MLA, Chicago, and others, depending on the discipline and
institution's guidelines.
5. Coherence and Cohesion: ability, on the part of the writer, to
connect ideas in a logical manner so that the reader of the given piece
of writing would be able to follow and enjoy the story. They may even
be prompted to support the writer beyond reasonable doubt.
Coherence and cohesion in writing.

• Coherence and cohesion are two essential elements of effective

writing that help to make your text more organized, understandable,
and engaging for your readers.
• They work together to ensure that your ideas flow smoothly and
logically. Here's a breakdown of each concept:
• Coherence: Coherence refers to the overall clarity and unity of your
writing. It involves presenting your ideas and arguments in a way that
makes sense to your readers. Coherent writing is easy to follow and
understand because it connects ideas logically. To achieve coherence
in your writing:
• a. Logical Order: Arrange your ideas in a clear and logical order. Use
a well-structured outline or plan to ensure that your content flows
smoothly.
• b. Transitions: Use transitional words and phrases (e.g., "however,"
"in addition," "on the other hand") to connect sentences and
paragraphs. Transitions guide readers through your text and show the
relationships between ideas.
• c. Consistency: Maintain consistency in your writing style, tone, and
terminology. Avoid sudden shifts in perspective or topics without
adequate transitions.
• d. Topic Sentences: Start each paragraph with a clear topic sentence
that summarizes the main point of the paragraph. This helps readers
understand the purpose of each section of your text.
• Cohesion: Cohesion is the element that focuses on how individual
sentences and paragraphs are connected within your writing. It
involves the use of various linguistic devices to link ideas together. To
achieve cohesion in your writing:
• a. Pronouns: Use pronouns (e.g., "it," "they," "this") to refer back to
previously mentioned nouns. This helps avoid repetition and connects
related ideas.
• b. Repetition: Repeating keywords or phrases can help reinforce
important concepts and make connections between sentences and
paragraphs.
• c. Synonyms and Antonyms: Use synonyms and antonyms to vary
your vocabulary and create connections between words and ideas.
However, use them judiciously to avoid confusion.
• d. Conjunctions: Use conjunctions (e.g., "and," "but," "because") to
link clauses and show relationships between ideas. Different types of
conjunctions serve different purposes, such as adding information,
contrasting ideas, or showing cause and effect.
• e. Parallel Structure: Keep sentence structures consistent when
presenting a series of items or ideas. For instance, if you start a list
with verbs, continue with verbs; if you start with nouns, continue with
nouns.
•
In summary
• Effective writing strikes a balance between coherence and
cohesion.
• Coherence ensures that your ideas are logically connected, while
cohesion helps guide the reader smoothly from one sentence or
paragraph to the next.
• Together, they create a text that is both clear and engaging,
making it easier for your audience to understand and appreciate
your writing.
Characteristics
6. Formality: Academic writing is typically formal in tone and style. It
avoids colloquial language, slang, and contractions (e.g., "can't" instead
of "cannot").
7. Clarity and Precision: Clear and precise language is essential in
academic writing. Ideas should be communicated in a straightforward
manner, with no ambiguity or vagueness.
8. Objectivity: Academic writing aims to present information and
arguments in an objective and unbiased manner. Personal opinions and
emotions should be minimized, and statements should be supported by
evidence.
• Logical Structure: Academic papers typically follow a structured
format, with clear introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions.
Each section serves a specific purpose and contributes to the overall
coherence of the work.
• Academic Vocabulary: Academic writing often uses specialized
vocabulary and terminology that is relevant to the subject matter.
Writers are expected to use these terms correctly and precisely.
• Critical Thinking: Academic writing often requires critical analysis
and evaluation of existing research and ideas. Writers are expected to
engage with the material, question assumptions, and offer well-
reasoned arguments.
• Audience Awareness: Writers should be mindful of their target
audience, which is typically composed of academics, researchers, and
students in the same field. They should consider the level of expertise
and knowledge of the audience when writing.
• Revision and Proofreading: Academic writing places a strong
emphasis on revising and proofreading to eliminate errors in grammar,
punctuation, spelling, and formatting. Papers should be polished and
free from mistakes.
• Types of academic writing can vary widely and include research
papers, essays, literature reviews, dissertations, theses, conference
papers, and more. The specific conventions and requirements of
academic writing can also vary by discipline, so it's essential to follow
the guidelines provided by your institution or instructor.
•
Specific Learning objectives

• At the end of this guide, students should be able to:

• State the purpose of writing assignments/academic papers;
• Describe the common features of an academic essay;
• Identify the three essential aspects of an academic essay/assignment;
• Describe the stages in the writing process;
• Express their ideas clearly and logically in writing;
• Acknowledge sources of borrowed ideas accurately using the Harvard
referencing system.
• Introduction
• Performance of writing tasks is the most important and demanding requirements for
university students especially in their initial stages of their university studies.
Although much of university studies consist of reading, it is generally students’ written
work that provides the basis for assessment. What students know, the insights gained
and the understanding they have arrived at, are invisible to others unless they know
how to write and express themselves adequately within the academic setting.
• Those entering the university for the first time are particularly challenged in this
regard because they are expected to produce academically accepted pieces of writing,
while at the same time, learning the very art of academic writing. It is therefore
essential for students to learn how to write their assignments fast enough to cope
with this university requirement. It also calls for patience and understanding by faculty
members as they guide their students become good writers.
• What do lecturers/examiners look for in an assignment?
• Redman (2006) and Murray (2008) state that a student needs to know
what markers/lecturers look for when marking essays, assignments
and examination papers/scripts. They say that to earn an A+ and A
grade, a student should:
• Give a complete and accurate response/answer to the question. To
do this, the student must understand the command words used to
formulate assignment, tests and examination questions. These
command words indicate to you how the lecturer wants you to
respond to the question.
The command words include the following:

• Compare; interpret;
• Contrast; justify;
• Define; list;
• Describe; outline;
• Discuss; prove;
• Evaluate; examine
• Explain; illustrate.
• You must understand what you are expected to do when you meet these
command words in examination, tests and assignment questions (Redman,
2006).
• Show understanding of relevant arguments and views of different writers about the topic
(need to read widely);
• Show ability to analyze, and contrast competing positions and evaluate their strengths and
weaknesses effectively. In other words, markers expect you to comment on various
positions of the ideas you use in your assignment or essay. Do not just copy other people’s
ideas without your input;
• Write clearly and logically. To do this, the student is expected to develop an effective and
logical argument, logical reasoning and effective use of well selected examples and
evidence. The writer should have a writing plan or outline to help him or her o that;
• Demonstrate understanding of theoretical issues;
• Show originality; and,
• Show ability to cite relevant ideas by various authors and use a standard referencing system
accurately.
Excellence in Writing an Academic Essay

• To write a good essay, you must consider the following factors

(Redman, 2006):
• Content of the essay- to do this you must understand the question;
what you are expected to do (understand command words used).
The writer needs to search for information/ideas for the content from
library (secondary) sources.
• Structure of the essay- introduction, main body and conclusion;
• Referencing- citing sources of any borrowed ideas accurately to avoid
plagiarism.
Common features of academic essays

• To write effectively you should not only know how to express yourself clearly and
logically on paper but you should also know that university essays use acceptable
style that conforms to university practice. In other words, you should know that
university essays follow strict rules of scholarly writing and failure to follow these
rules may not earn you good marks.
• According to Redman (2006), Thody, (2006) and Strong (2006), an
academic/university essay must be:
• Formal- anything formal is governed by strict rules. This means that the writer
should use formal language and avoid use of slang, clichés and short forms;
• Factual- present facts and not mere opinions. Opinions must be supported by facts.
This means that the essay must be well researched and evidence- based;
• Objective- give a balanced argument to avoid being biased;
• Well-structured- an assignment should have a structure in to ensure
that information is well organized and ideas are clear and logical. The
essay should have an introduction, main body and a conclusion. The
main body of the essay is the longest part of the assignment because
it provides details presented in paragraphs. The paragraphs should be
linked by using transitional words. The writer may use headings and
sub-headings as guided or preferred by the lecturer concerned.
• Well-referenced; cite and reference relevant sources of information
borrowed to avoid plagiarism.
Aims of writing Academic Essays/papers

• To communicate information to others;

• To convey and clarify to others what you think you know;
• To persuade others to accept your point of view (use of logic,
examples, and explanations);
• To provoke others, to challenge their thinking and to stimulate debate
and provoke them into action.
Style in academic writing

• Academic writing tries to contribute to the established body of

knowledge in a specific discipline or field (not merely cut and paste).
Do not just use other people’s ideas without your input,
interpretation of these views or ideas. Academic writing should
contain more than literature review or summary of what has already
been written on the subject. It should contain your independent
thought about the topic. Take a stand, argue a case, to support, or
criticize an established position.
• Use simple writing style because this style presents ideas clearly. (see
the module for this course for details of this writing style).
Types of Academic writing/Essays

• Exposition – the purpose of this type of essay is to inform, to explain,

to clarify, and to make the reader understand something about the
subject;
• Argument- to persuade the reader to accept a point of view, to give
facts or opinions for and against (need to be factual and objective);
• Descriptive- to share with the reader impressions(concept
explanation);
• Narrative-to tell the reader what happened, or how people behave.
Five stages of academic writing
1. Prewriting
• Stage of planning and organizing.
• Idea gathering stage – brain storm in order to generate main ideas
• probe your thoughts to discover the topic and the purpose or reason
for writing about it.
• Produce an outline putting the main ideas first.
• Arrange your points in order of importance.
• Use the free writing technique in which ideas are random and free
flowing, but they lead to a writing topic.
2. Writing/Drafting
• write your ideas down in related sentences and paragraphs.
• Emphasize the key points.
• Focus each paragraph according to the main ideas.
• Deliberately impose a clear order in the flow of your ideas.
• writing flow without worrying about the grammar and the mechanics
of writing because these will be dealt with during the proof reading
stage.
3. Revising/Editing
• read your draft closely.
• Remind yourself of your purpose.
• Evaluate clarity and precision of words and where necessary,
eliminate unnecessary words to make the sentences clear and
precise.
• Make changes and clarify your ideas by canceling out the parts that
are not needed and including those that may have been left out.
4. Refining/Proof reading
• Correct errors in grammar, punctuation mechanics and spelling.
• Look closely at each paragraph, sentence and each word.
• Do your sentences flow smoothly?
• Are your sentences grammatically correct?
• Are your spelling and punctuation correct?
• Here, you actually mark your own work before you submit it for
marking by an external examiner.
• If you are typing, this is the stage at which you can format your text.
5. Publishing/Presenting
• Hand in your work to the marker.
• Sometimes you might want your work to go further than your marker
and you could send it to be published in a school magazine,
newspaper or a popular publishing company.
In more detail, stages in writing academic
essays/papers can be presented as,
• Planning stage- You should determine the purpose of the essay/paper. Understand what
you are expected to do (what the question is asking you to do). Have a writing plan or an
outline ;
• Research stage- You should consider the information needed for the content of the essay.
You should search and gather information/evidence in support or against each position.
Write notes and sources of the ideas gathered. The essay must be evidence-based;
• Organising stage- Once information has been collected from different sources, decide the
logical order of presenting your ideas;
• Composing stage- Once information has been gathered and arranged in order; write your
first draft bearing the needs of the reader, that is, what your lecturer expects you to write
about. The essay should have a structure (introduction, main body, and conclusion).
• Your essay/ideas/information must be organized and presented in
paragraphs. You should also limit the paragraphs to ensure that each
paragraph contains one main idea/controlling ideas plus supporting ideas. You
may use headings and subheadings to make your essay reader-friendly. Cite
sources of information within your essay (in-text citations) to acknowledge
the original authors of information used as you write.
• Revising and editing stage- read through the first draft and correct any
mistakes made. Check the use of words, style, tone, clarity and conciseness,
punctuation, facts, spelling and grammatical errors (add, remove, replace,
rearrange);
• Prepare a second draft and proofread it before you write the final copy for
submission. Prepare your end reference list/bibliography.
• Tests of effective writing
• The question you should ask yourself is, “Will the reader understand my
essay/message?” You should consider the following:
• Clarity- to be clear your essay should be:
• -logical and coherent; the essay should flow from one idea to another, one paragraph
to another;
• -use specific language, use concrete words instead of vague, general terms (examples
of vague expressions: Soon, several, majority, many, and some);
• -directness: save the reader’s time by staying on the main points of the essay. Avoid
redundancies and wordiness;
• -unification: make sure each paragraph has one topic and all the other sentences in
that paragraph should support the main idea;
• Complete- include all essential information needed by the reader (answer the question in
full);
• -Concise- use fewer words as possible. Trite, vague phrases are the enemy to clear writing
(examples: take into consideration, due to the fact that, at this point in time, in receipt of, as
per request, we stand ready, willing and able to be of assistance and service to you..)
• Correct- facts, spelling, grammar, punctuation must be correct;
• Consistent- format, tenses, use of numbers, point of view, font size, spacing and tone must
be consistent;
• Courteous- you should be polite, tactful, and reader-centered (choose your words carefully)
and do not insult the intelligence of the reader.
• Ethical- being honest, truthful, accurate, and fair: acknowledging and citing sources of
information/ideas used in the essay. Avoid cheating, manipulating figures, lying and taking
credit for other people’s work (plagiarism).
• Documenting sources of information in an academic essay/assignment.
• One of the key requirements for writing academic essays/assignments is the
need to show sources of borrowed ideas, information and opinions used in the
essay. This is because writers usually use borrowed ideas from different
secondary sources to support claims made in the essay/assignment. Writers are
expected to document sources of any work they use within the essay as in-text
citations and in end lists such as the bibliography and references. This
requirement is essential at both undergraduate and post graduate levels.
• Documentation of sources is the practice in professional and academic writing
of citing sources of ideas, information, graphic illustrations, statistical data,
specific language and other intentional material borrowed from the work of
other people or writers (Redman, 2006).
• The writer needs to acknowledge and cite sources of the following:
• Direct quotations;
• Paraphrased and summarised materials;
• Graphic illustrations such as charts, tables, graphs, pictures, and statistical
information reproduced from other sources (Thody, 2006).
• Documentation is a method of showing the reader which ideas are yours
and which ones have been borrowed from other sources.
• Purpose of documenting sources.
• Thody (2006) and Redman (2006) give five reasons why professional and
academic writers document sources of borrowed ideas and information:
• The expert ideas the writer uses justify the claims made in the essay/assignment;
• The citations made enable readers to check the accuracy of the essay/assignment;
• It allows readers to have access to the same information if they wish to do
independent research;
• It allows the writer to have a record of the materials, ideas/information if he or
she wishes to use them again;
• To avoid plagiarism: an act of using other people’s ideas without acknowledging
the original sources. Plagiarism which is a serious offense in academic
community/environment. Plagiarism can earn a student a fail grade;
• Plagiarism is a form of cheating, dishonest and unethical behaviour in academics
(Rowena, 2008).
• What is Plagiarism?
• Harris (2001, p. 12) describes plagiarism as ‘Intentional use of someone
else’s ideas, concepts in your assignment without acknowledging the
original sources’. It is a serious misconduct and breach of academic
practice at university and should be avoided. It can be avoided by
acknowledging the sources of borrowed ideas/information used in your
work within your text and at the end of your work in a bibliography list.
• Plagiarism occurs when:
• The work submitted or presented was done, in whole or part, by another
person other than the one submitting or presenting it;
• Parts of the work are taken from another source without reference to the original
author;
• The whole work is copied from another source;
• A student submits or presents work in one course which has been submitted in another
course without the knowledge of the lecturer involved’ (Central Queensland University,
2002, p. 50).
• Remember that even if you write other people’s ideas in your own words or summarize
their work in your own words, those ideas are still not yours. That is why you should
acknowledge the sources of such ideas or information used in the essay/assignment.
• Avoiding plagiarism
• This study guide aims to help you to understand what plagiarism is in the context of
academic work, and offers guidance on how to avoid it.
• What is plagiarism?
• In all aspects of academic study and research, thoughts and ideas inevitably build on
those of other writers or researchers - this is a legitimate and indeed essential part of
the academic process. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines plagiarism as the
taking and using as one's own ... the thoughts, writings, or inventions of another. In
an academic context, plagiarism implies a deliberate act on the part of the writer or
researcher to use the work, ideas or expressions of others as if they were his or her
own.
• Deliberate plagiarism, therefore, is academic cheating, and the University has a very
firm view on this: anyone found to have deliberately copied or plagiarised the work of
others is severely penalised. The University regulations concerning academic
dishonesty can be found here; departmental handbooks should also include a
statement of the University's policy in respect of academic dishonesty.
• Deliberate plagiarism with a clear intention to cheat is, however, far less common
than plagiarism committed through misunderstanding or even carelessness. These
latter types of plagiarism may occur if:
• you fail to acknowledge fully the sources of knowledge and ideas that you use in
your work;
• you incorporate the words of others into your writing as if they were your own;
• you 'string together' ideas or facts taken from others without presenting your own
viewpoint.
• Many students, particularly those at the beginning of their courses, are unclear
about how to use the work of others in a way that does not constitute plagiarism.
This resource has been written to give guidance on how to avoid plagiarism and at
the same time produce work of better quality.
• Fully Reference and Acknowledge the Work Of Others
• Understanding how to use and appropriately acknowledge your debt to the work of
others is an essential step in learning how to avoid plagiarism.
• Make sure that when you are reading or researching for any written work or
presentation, you include in your notes, or on any photocopies, the full reference
details (see the Student Learning Development guide: Referencing and bibliographies
) of each source that you use. This will ensure that you have all the information you
need to acknowledge your sources fully when you come to use this material in your
own work.
• When you write down the precise words of a writer, or even of a lecturer, make sure
that you mark clearly in your notes that you have included an exact quotation, and
add the relevant page number to the other reference details (this includes the
citation of sources on the Web, and online discussion lists/mail bases/databases).
• This will ensure that when you go back to your notes at a later date
you will be able distinguish your own words from those of your
sources. An appropriate sentence or phrase quoted from an expert in
the field can be used with great effect within an essay or dissertation,
but it needs to be fully referenced and clearly distinguished from your
own words.
• The paragraph below is taken word for word, fully referenced, from an
article by Peter Scott in a book on the future of higher education and
is used here as a source for a hypothetical essay on the topic of
Higher Education in the 1990s.
• Widening access to higher education is no longer conceived... as a crusade to help
the educationally and socially deprived, to reach out into the depths of Britain's
democracy (and, incidentally, to save departments and institutions from
threatened closure!). Instead it is seen in much less heroic terms, as the careful
management of burgeoning demand mainly, but not exclusively, from standard
school leavers and other conventional sources (Scott, 1991 p.57).

Scott, P. (1991) 'Access: an overview', in Schuller, T. (ed.) The Future of Higher

Education. Buckingham: SRHE & Open University Press, pp. 55-60.
• The paragraph below, from the essay returned by student A, has clearly been
plagiarized. Although the wording has been changed slightly, the words are
essentially those of Scott and not of the student writer; there is no reference to
the original source.
A. The driving force behind Britain's move towards a mass higher education
system is no longer conceived as a crusade to help the educationally and
socially deprived. It has become a way of meeting the demand from standard
school leavers and other conventional sources.
• Student A's plagiarism may not have been deliberate but the result of poor
note taking which did not distinguish between the student's own words and
ideas and those of other writers. Such plagiarism would nonetheless be taken
very seriously. The paragraph below from student B's essay is not plagiarized.
•B
• The early 1990s saw considerable changes in the organisation of Higher
Education in Britain, as it moved from an elite to a mass education system.
• At this time, the Editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement was Peter Scott,
whose job placed him in a unique position to take a broad, and well informed, overview
of these changes. He viewed the move to mass education as 'the careful management of
burgeoning demand mainly, but not exclusively, from standard school leavers and other
conventional sources' and not, as others might have seen it ' as a crusade to help the
educationally and socially deprived, and to reach out into the depths of British
democracy' (Scott, 1991, p.57).
• Student B chose to include quotations to make a particular point, but these have been
fully referenced. The quotations are included within a paragraph, which clearly shows the
personal stamp and contribution of the student writer. This is seen in, for example, the
comment on the background to Scott's viewpoint (as editor of the Times Higher) and the
suggestion that his view is not universally held ('and not as others might have
characterized it'). Student B might then go on to discuss, and give his opinion of, these
other views, making sure that appropriate references were included.
• Use your own words and develop your own writing style
• Many students, particularly when they first start writing, find it difficult to
develop their own writing style. When you are reading and researching for a
piece of written work, try to use your own words in your notes to summarise
your reading, and include your own ideas and comments on each text that you
read. As you practise and establish your writing style, you will become more
confident about expressing your thoughts and ideas in your own way.
• If your first language is not English, and you are not yet completely fluent, it can
be very tempting to borrow a well expressed sentence or even a paragraph
from another writer. However, this is plagiarism, and lecturers would much
prefer to receive a piece of work in your own, if imperfect, style than to read
chunks of text in perfect English that are clearly taken from another writer.
• B. Organize and structure your work in your own way
• Taking notes that paraphrase the views and opinions of the authors
that you read is often the first stage of the research undertaken for
any piece of written work. However, if your own writing consists
largely of a string of paraphrases from a number of different writers,
or an almost exact copy of the sequence of another writer's ideas and
the logic of his/her argument, you may be seen to be plagiarizing,
even if you acknowledge the sources of your information. This type of
plagiarism is probably the most common that is found in
undergraduate work.
• Examples
• Two further 'extracts' from hypothetical essays illustrate this point. In
this example the essay topic is about the value of different types of
assessment procedures. Student C has read a number of books on his
topic, and in the paragraphs below he has quoted some of them in his
discussion of examinations. In these examples the sources quoted
have been invented for illustrative purposes, and so reference details
have not been included.
• C: An experiment carried out by Smith (1997) showed that students
do better in exams that contribute to their final grade than in those
that are merely 'pass and proceed'; this showed that motivation is
an important factor in improving students' examination
performance. Patel (1995) believes that students should be given
past papers to increase their confidence, but Jones (1998) thinks
that this can lead to students revising only those topics that come
up regularly. Essay-type questions are better than short-answer
questions because they test creative thinking and not just memory
(McPherson, 1997).
• Student C's writing is essentially a string of facts, ideas and opinions
from others and there is very little evidence of his own contribution to
the topic. He seems only to be passing on the views of others without
any critical analysis of the arguments or evidence presented by his
sources. Although he has referenced his sources, he has effectively
plagiarised their ideas. This type of plagiarism though not at all
desirable, is not deliberate academic cheating, as there is no attempt
here to claim the ideas as his own. However, Student C would not get
a very good grade for his essay. Now consider the extract from
Student D's essay:
• D. Recent published research on the effectiveness of examinations as an assessment
technique has highlighted the importance of motivation as a driving force (for
example, Patel, 1995; Smith, 1997; Jones 1998). Patel and Jones disagree about
whether or not past papers can be useful in helping students, but I would agree with
Patel that without some clear examples of at least the types of questions that are
likely to be asked, students are not able to plan an effective revision strategy. What is
important, though, is not just the context in which examinations are used, but the
format of the examinations themselves. McPherson (1997) argued against short-
answer questions, which he saw as only capable of testing memory and not creative
thinking. In his criticism of this type of examination, he has failed to acknowledge the
importance of providing opportunities for students to develop a wider range of
written communication skills than those developed by essay writing. The ability to
write briefly and effectively is a very valuable skill for future employment; discursive
essays are a form of writing that is very rarely used in the world of work.
• Student D has used the same sources, but has provided a much more
sophisticated analysis, and, while building on the work of her sources,
has taken the ideas and discussion forward. Her own contribution to
the topic is very clear in this piece. Student D will undoubtedly have
gained a much higher grade for her work than Student C.
• Don't be afraid to express your own views
• Many students are hesitant about expressing their own opinion,
particularly if it contradicts the views of 'experts'. Work that is
published and printed in books and learned journals is not necessarily
always right nor the very last word on a topic. In the humanities and
social sciences in particular, much academic writing is based on
informed opinion rather than indisputable fact. Do not be afraid to
have your own views on a subject. What is important is that your
views should be informed, clearly expressed and based on careful
consideration and knowledge of both the relevant facts and of the
views of those who are acknowledged to have expertise on the topic.
• It may be much more difficult for science students to have new ideas or
make original contributions to their subject in the early stages of their
scientific education. What you can show in your writing is that you are
aware of all the relevant information, and have a full knowledge and
understanding of the scientific principles that underpin the
experiments that you write up or the reports that you complete. When
you carry out an experiment, the method you use is perhaps unlikely to
be your own, and you may well need to acknowledge the source of the
particular methodology you employ. However, the results that you
obtain when you carry out the experiment are your own, and in their
analysis and interpretation you can make your own contribution.
• Other forms of plagiarism
• Plagiarism can also occur in your use of illustrations, maps, and tables.
Your captions need to acknowledge any material or ideas taken from
a source that is not your own. Remember that you also need to avoid
plagiarism in an oral presentation. You need to make appropriate
acknowledgements of the authors you quote, both in your talk and in
the slides that you use.
• Major Referencing Systems (Redman, 2006, and Thody, 2006):
• The American Psychological Association (APA)-commonly used in social
sciences and psychology;
• The Harvard System-used in social sciences, anthropology, business research
and some life sciences;
• The Modern Language Association (MLA) used in languages and humanities;
• The Oxford system –commonly used in British law and some humanities;
• The Vancouver System-used in applied sciences such as medicine,
engineering, computer science, mathematics, chemistry and physics;
• Chicago System- commonly used in natural and social sciences.
• Referencing using the Harvard System
• Although there are many ways of citing sources of information,
Mulungushi University recommends the use of the Harvard
referencing system for in-text citations and bibliography/reference
entries in all schools, Directories and Centres.
• The Harvard System uses abbreviated reference for in-text citations.
Whenever you use a direct quote of other people’s work (word-for-
word) in your essay/assignment, show the author’s surname, date of
publication and page number.
• Citations styles (in the text)
• There are several citation styles but they all convey the same information. The
only difference is the presentation of the information. Most style guides fall into
two commonly used systems:
• Author-date system such as Harvard and APA;
• Numeric system such as MLA and Vancouver.
• Whichever system you use, it is important to be consistent in its application. This
guide is intended to give you advice on how to use the Harvard (author-date)
system where you supply the author’s surname and the date of publication of
the document referred to within the text. Details about the book or document
cited in the text can be found in the end list such as bibliography or reference list.
• Collecting and organizing references
• It is usually not easy to retrieve sources after you have written your
assignment or research report because someone else would have
borrowed the sources (especially library resources). It is therefore
necessary to keep a record of documents/books that you use to
gather information for you text. Bibliographic software, such as
EndNote, Procite or Reference Manager, will help you organize your
references according to different citation systems and add the
citations to your text.
• Citing sources in-text (within the essay)
• There are two ways of showing sources of information in your text:
• Author prominent citation gives prominence to the author by using
the author’s surname as part of the sentence with the date/year of
publication and page number in parentheses (brackets);
• Information prominent citation gives prominence to the information
with the author’s surname, date and page number in parentheses at
the end of the citation.
• Examples
• Author prominent
• Karl (2002:12) argues that ‘if all our learning and training does not make us people with values,
then our education is a failure’.
• OR
• According to Karl (2002:12) ‘if all our learning and training does not make us people with values,
then our education is a failure’.
• Cowie (1996:72) states that ‘socialism rejects the liberal ideals of individualism and competition’.
• OR
• Paraphrased example
• Cowie (1996) suggests that unlike capitalism, socialism promotes the good of the whole before
the good of the individual.
• Verbs used with author-prominent referencing
• State contest highlight imply
• Remark find assert claim
• Maintain affirm predict question
• Agree clarify confirm justify
• Point out reason show offer
• Describe dispute contend theorise
• Suggest assert add affirm
• disagree
• Information prominent
• Direct quote Example
• ‘If all our learning and training does not make us people with values, then our
education is a failure’ (Kasongo, 2002, p. 12).
• Paraphrase example
• It has been argued that education would be considered successful if people
developed good values in life ( Karl, 2002).
• One author book
• As can be seen from the above examples, when the author’s surname name is
part of the sentence, the year of publication (in brackets) follows the author’s
name.
• Use a direct quote if:
• Paraphrasing the material may lead to misinterpretation;
• A major argument needs to be recorded as evidence;
• It is important to comment on, or refute or analyse the ideas expressed;
• It is a forceful phrase.
• Short quotations (less than 30 words) should:
• be used in your sentences without disrupting the flow of your paragraph;
• Have single quotation marks;
• Have a full stop after the quotation;
• Keep the same font.
• Long quotations should:
• Be introduced in your own words;
• Begin on a new line;
• Be indented by default (that is, 1.27 cm) from the left margin;
• Be in single line spacing;
• Be in a smaller font for the quotation (from size 12 to 10).
• Example:
• Frier (2008, p. 5) summarizes the effects of reducing literacy to a set
of tools or skills when he states that:
• (m)erely teaching men (sic) to read and write does not work miracles:
If there are not enough jobs for men (sic) able to work, teaching more
men (sic) to read and write will not create them.
• Citing references in-text (within the essay) using the Harvard system
• As a student, it is important that you identify in your assessment when you are
using the words or ideas of another author. The most accepted way of
acknowledging the work of another author is to use a referencing system. At the
Department of Lifelong Learning you are required to use the Harvard referencing
system.
• The following guide tells you why you need to use a referencing system, shows you
how to insert references in the text of your assignments, and shows you how to
compile a reference list. While there are many variations on the ‘Harvard’ system,
the one presented in this guide is the most simple. It does away with most usages
of ‘p’ and ‘pp’ to signify page numbers and it replaces some of the commas with
colons. Also, this guide is by no means an exhaustive list of all the referencing
conventions that you will require in your academic life.
• Why you should use a referencing system
• As a part of an academic community, it is important that you show the reader where
you have used someone else’s ideas or words. Failure to properly reference using the
Harvard system may make the reader think that you are cheating by claiming
someone else’s work as your own. In the academic environment, we call this
plagiarism and it is seen as a very serious offence. Please remember that plagiarism is
not just when you directly copy words from another student’s or expert’s work.
Plagiarism also occurs when you re-word someone else’s ideas in your own work and
you do not give credit to the original source.
• Plagiarism can have disastrous consequences for students. If you are suspected of
plagiarism you may find that your assignment receives a grade of zero. In extreme or
repeated cases, you may find that your enrolment at the university is reviewed. For
further information, please consult section 3 of the student handbook.
• On a more positive note, referencing is important for reasons other than avoiding
plagiarism. When you reference correctly you are demonstrating that you have
read widely on a topic. You are also supporting your hypothesis with comments
from expert authors. This lends credibility to your own work. Also, by correctly
referencing, you allow the marker or reader to follow-up your references and to
check the validity of your arguments for themselves. This is an important part of
the academic process as it leads to student accountability.
• Collecting all the details: Accurate referencing
• In order to have an accurate record of what you have researched and therefore an
accurate reference, it is important that you write down the details of your sources
as you study. When taking notes, use a separate page for each new book, journal
article, or electronic source. At the top of each page, clearly record the following
information for future reference.
Bibliographic information: Books
• For books, record:
• The author’s or editor’s name (or names)
• The year the book was published
• The title of the book
• If it is an edition other than the first
• The city the book was published in
• The name of the publisher
Bibliographic information: Journal
articles
• For journal articles record:
• The author’s name or names
• The year in which the journal was published
• The title of the article
• The title of the journal
• The page number/s of the article in the journal
• As much other information as you can find about the journal, for
example the volume and issue numbers
Bibliographic information: Electronic
sources
• For electronic resources, try to collect the information on the left if it
is available, but also record:
• The date you accessed the source
• The electronic address or email
• The type of electronic resource (email, discussion forum, WWW page,
etc)
• In addition to these details, when you are taking notes, if you copy
direct quotations or if you put the author’s ideas in your own words,
write down the page numbers you got the information from.
• Writing the assessment: What do I need to reference?
• When you are writing your assessment, be sure to type in reference information as
you add in the ideas of other authors. This will save you time and will ensure that you
reference all sources properly. Whenever you use someone else’s ideas or words, you
must put in a reference. The only exception to this rule is when the information you
have read somewhere is common knowledge or ‘public domain’ information. For
example, you would not need to include a reference if you stated in an assignment
that Shakespeare wrote plays and sonnets in Elizabethan times.
• Always reference:
• Direct quotations – this is when you copy another author’s material word-for-word.
You should show the reader that it is a direct quote by placing the material in inverted
commas. Traditionally, double inverted commas have been used (“) but it is now
acceptable, and preferable to use single inverted commas (‘).
• Sometimes it is difficult to avoid the direct quotation as the author’s words
may precisely describe the point you are trying to make. However, do try to
avoid the overuse of direct quotations; try to paraphrase the author’s work
where possible. Please note that when you use direct quotations, you must
reproduce the author’s words exactly, including all spelling, capitalisation,
punctuation, and errors. You may show the reader that you recognise an
error and that you are correctly quoting the author by placing the term ‘sic’ in
brackets after the error.
• Paraphrasing – this is when you take another author’s ideas and put them
into your own words. You are still copying someone else’s work, so you must
reference it. You do not need to use inverted commas when you paraphrase,
but you must clearly show the reader the original source of your information.
• Referencing in the text of your assessment
• The following section shows you a number of different examples when quoting
and paraphrasing in the text of your assessment. In all references, you will need to
list the author/editor name/s and the year of publication. The year of publication
can be found on the first couple of pages of the book, along with the other
bibliographic information. Look for the author’s name, a copyright symbol and
then a date. This will be the date of publication. In most references you will also
need to list the page number/s where you found the specific information. The
only type of reference where this is not required is when you paraphrase a
summary of an entire piece of work. As a hypothetical example, fictitious author
John Phillips might have written a history book in 1999 that examines generational
changes. You might summarise and correctly reference the entire gist of his book
in the following way.
• Phillips (1999) suggests that generational change is inevitable and
continuous.
• In all other circumstances, please follow the guidelines below and be
sure to include the author, date and page number/s. The formats are
similar for each example so please note the use of punctuation,
spacing and the order of information.
Direct quote from a book or journal article with one author

• When organising our time, Adair (1988: 51) states that ‘the centrepiece
will tend to be goals and objectives’.

• OR

• When organising our time ‘the centrepiece will tend to be goals and
objectives’ (Adair, 1988: 51).

• In these examples, ‘Adair’ is the author, ‘1988’ is the year of publication

and ‘51’ is the page number where the direct quote can be found.
Direct quote from a book or journal article with two authors

• McCarthy and Hatcher (1996, pp. 69-70) insist that with presentations ‘structure
must be clear and precise’.

• OR

• With presentations, ‘structure must be clear and precise’ (McCarthy and Hatcher,
1996, pp.69-70).

• In these examples, the quote went over two pages therefore the page numbers
were represented as 69-70, rather than as a single number. Also notice from the
examples so far, that when the quote ends the sentence, the full stop comes after
the inverted comma.
Direct quote from a book or journal article with three authors

• Fisher, Ury and Patton (1991, p. 37) suggest that when emotional
issues cloud negotiation, ‘some thoughts are best left unsaid’.

• OR

• ‘Some thoughts are best left unsaid’ when emotional issues cloud
negotiation (Fisher, Ury and Patton, 1991, p. 37).
• If hypothetical authors Morris, Ling, Brown, Smith, and Diaz wrote a
book published in 2000, a direct quote would look like this.
• Note that in the next example, ‘et al’ means ‘and others’.
• Direct quote from a book or journal article with more than three
authors

• Morris et al (2000,p. 47) state that ‘the debate of these particular

issues should be left to representative committees’.
PARAPHRASING
• When you paraphrase, it will look much the same as the direct
quotation examples, but without the inverted commas. For example,
if we paraphrased an example from the McCarthy and Hatcher book, it
would look like this.
• By improving your posture you can improve how you communicate
feelings of power and confidence (McCarthy and Hatcher, 1996, p.
111).
• When paraphrasing, use the same referencing style and conventions as
you would for direct quotes, but with the material from the source put
into your own words, and the inverted commas omitted. Below is
another comparative example of the direct quote versus paraphrasing.
Direct quote and paraphrasing from a source with a ‘corporate’ or
government author

• The DfEE (2001, p. 8) suggest that each year ‘some have estimated
the cost to the country of poor literacy and numeracy skills to be as
high as £10 billion’.

• OR - PARAPHRASE

• The effect of low levels of adult numeracy and literacy skills could be
costing Britain around £10 billion each year (DfEE, 2001, p. 8).
• You might also like to rearrange the quote so that the reference comes at
the end, as you have been shown in previous examples.
• When you are researching, you may come across a situation where the
same author has written two books in the same year. To distinguish one
title from another in your referencing, place a lower-case letter after the
publication date, with ‘a’ signalling the first reference, and ‘b’ signalling the
second, and so on.
• Sometimes the author you are quoting from will quote another author to
support his or her argument, much in the same way that you do when
writing assignments. Sometimes you want to use the same quote that the
author of the source has used. When you do this, use the format below.
• Eisenberg and Smith (in Bolton, 1986, p. 85) agree that ‘it is hard to
assign general meaning to any isolated nonverbal sign’.
• In the case above, Bolton in his 1996 publication has quoted
Eisenberg’s and Smith’s research to prove a point he was making
about non-verbal communication.
• If the author of a source is anonymous, replace the author’s surname
with the title of the work in the brackets containing the reference.
Consider the following fictitious example.
• Reference newspaper and magazine articles in the same way you
would for other books and journals. However, when the author is
anonymous, use the system below (adapted from Lewis, 1999: 26).
• The Guardian reported that twenty-nine inmates were participating in the programme (‘Serving time’,
1996, p. 21).

• The Guardian reported that twenty-nine inmates were participating in

the programme (‘Serving time’, 1996, p. 21).
• When you paraphrase, sometimes you might be rephrasing the words
and ideas you have found in more than one book or journal article. If
you find that a number of sources say similar things about a topic, an
example of the correct referencing style is demonstrated below.
Notice in the example below how the listed sources are separated by
a semicolon.
• The semicolon can be used to separate two sections of a compound
sentence that have a similar theme (Turabian, 1996, p. 56; Petelin and
Durham, 1992, p.169).
• Sometimes you may wish to use material from lectures, discussions,
interviews, or distance learning courses to supplement your assignments.
Use the following conventions to ensure that your referencing is correct
(adapted from Lewis, 1999, p. 26).
• Mr. Bob Builder, Managing Director of Builder’s Construction, stated in an
interview on 5 September 2000 that ‘customers were increasingly asking
for traditional methods and materials to be used in construction projects’.

• Dr. Wilma Flintstone stated in her lecture on 5 September 2000 that acid
jazz has roots as far back as 1987.
• Adult learners should learn the art of effective note-taking for the simple
reason that students ‘are more likely to remember what they have heard
or read if they take an active part in their learning’ (Dhann, 2001:3).

• OR, IF THE AUTHOR IS UNKNOWN

• Adult learners should learn the art of effective note-taking for the simple
reason that students ‘are more likely to remember what they have heard
or read if they take an active part in their learning’ (Department of
Lifelong Learning, 2001, p. 3).
• Electronic sources such as WWW pages, electronic databases and
electronic journals are cited in the text in much the same way as
traditional print sources, with the exception of page numbers.
• The author’s name is followed by a publication date, but no page
numbers are listed. If no publication date is available, and this might
be the case for WWW pages, then where the date should go, insert
(n.d.) which stands for ‘no date’. If no author is listed for an electronic
source, use the title of the publication in the same way as you would
for any other anonymous source.
Creating a reference list

• All of the sources you refer to in the main body of your assignment need to be listed
at the end of the assignment in a reference list. In a reference list, you only need to
list those sources from which you have either quoted or paraphrased. For example,
you do not have to list books you used for background reading purposes.
• When creating a reference list, the sources should be listed alphabetically by
author’s surname, should be left justified, and the references should never be
preceded by a bullet-point or number. Where the author is anonymous or unknown
for any one source, insert that source in the alphabetical list using the title of the
source instead of the author’s name. All sources should be listed together; there
should not be separate lists for books versus journal articles versus electronic
sources. The reference list should be on a separate page from the rest of the
assignment and should be simply titled ‘References’ or ‘Literature Cited’ and the
title should be in the same font and size as the other headings in your assignment.
• When you use the Harvard System, you are only usually required to
produce a reference list. However, some lecturers and tutors may want you
to produce a bibliography instead of a reference list. In cases where you are
asked to produce a bibliography, you must list all sources you have
consulted, regardless of whether you cited from them or not. Also, some
lecturers or tutors may ask you to produce an annotated bibliography or
reference list. This simply means that after each source listed, you write a
couple of sentences that appraise the book’s usefulness in relation to the
topic.
• The following is a guide to how to list references in a reference list. If you
have an example that is not covered by the list below, please check with
your tutor or the Student Support Officer regarding the correct technique.
• Book with one author

• Adair, J. (1988) Effective time management: How to save time and

spend it wisely, London: Pan Books.

• Book with two authors

• McCarthy, P. and Hatcher, C. (1996) Speaking persuasively: Making the

most of your presentations, Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
• Book with three or more authors

• Fisher, R., Ury, W. and Patton, B. (1991) Getting to yes: Negotiating an

agreement without giving in, 2nd edition, London: Century Business.

• Book – second or later edition

• Barnes, R. (1995) Successful study for degrees, 2nd edition, London:

Routledge.
• Book by same author in the same year

• Napier, A. (1993a) Fatal storm, Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

• Napier, A. (1993b) Survival at sea, Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

• Book with an editor

• Danaher, P. (ed.) (1998) Beyond the ferris wheel, Rockhampton: CQU Press.

• If you have used a chapter in a book written by someone other than the editor

• Byrne, J. (1995) ‘Disabilities in tertiary education’, in Rowan, L. and McNamee,

J. (ed.) Voices of a Margin, Rockhampton: CQU Press.

• Books with an anonymous or unknown author

• The University Encyclopedia (1985) London: Roydon.

• Unpublished, verbal sources such as interviews and lectures are not
reproduced in the reference list.
• However, you must put any published course materials that you have
used in the reference list using the conventions below.
• Written course material, for example distance learning unit material

• Dhann, S. (2001) CAE0001LWR Unit 5: Note taking skills from lectures and
readings, Exeter: Department of Lifelong Learning.

• OR, IF THE AUTHOR IS UNKNOWN

• Department of Lifelong Learning (2001), CAE0001LWR Unit 5: Note taking

skills from lectures and readings, Exeter: Author.

• (NB – ‘Author’ at the end means that the publisher is the same as the author)
Government publications

• Department for Education and Employment (DfEE), (2001) Skills for life:
The national strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy skills,
Nottingham: DfEE Publications.

• Conference papers

• Hart, G., Albrecht, M., Bull, R. and Marshall, L. (1992) ‘Peer consultation:
A professional development opportunity for nurses employed in rural
settings’, Infront Outback – Conference Proceedings, Australian Rural
Health Conference, Toowoomba, pp. 143 – 148.
Newspaper articles

• Cumming, F. (1999) ‘Tax-free savings push’, Sunday Mail, 4 April, p. 1.

• OR, IF THE AUTHOR IS UNKNOWN

• ‘Tax-free savings push’, Sunday Mail (4 April 1999), p. 3.

• The conventions for listing journal articles are similar to books, but
note the extra information required in the example below and apply
this to all journal article listings.
Journal article

• Muller, V. (1994) ‘Trapped in the body: Transsexualism, the law, sexual

identity’, The Australian Feminist Law Journal, vol. 3, August, pp. 103-
107.

• In this example, Muller has written the journal article ‘Trapped in the
body: Transsexualism, the law, sexual identity’ and it has appeared in
the journal ‘Australian Feminist Law Journal, in it’s 3rd volume that
was published in August of 1994. The article appears on pages 103 to
107 of the journal.
• Please note that sometimes, instead of ‘volume’ there may be an
‘issue’ number, and instead of a month of publication, there may be a
season.
• Sometimes there will be a volume number and an issue number.
• In those cases, list both the volume and issue numbers as has been
done below.
Journal article with both volume and issue number

• Muller, V. (1994) ‘Trapped in the body: Transsexualism, the law, sexual

identity’, The Australian Feminist Law Journal, vol. 3, no. 2, August,
pp. 103-107.
• In this example, [Electronic] refers to the type of media that you
found the source on. If you found the source on a CD-ROM, you
would put [CD-ROM] in the square brackets instead of ‘Electronic’.
• As with a normal journal example, the volume number, issue number
and page numbers are listed.
• At the end of this example, note that the name of the database has
been listed, along with the identification/access number of the article,
and an access date (in square brackets).
• Examples of other electronic references are listed in the box below.
Electronic mail (e-mail)

• Johnston, R. (2001) Access courses for women, e-mail to NIACE

Lifelong Learning Mailing List (lifelong-learning@niace.org.uk), 22
Aug. [24 Aug 2001].

• OR

• Robinson, T. (2001) Re: Information on course structure, e-mail to S.

Dhann (s.dhann@exeter.ac.uk), 12 Jul. [13 Jul 2001].
Discussion list

• Berkowitz, P. (1995) April 3, ‘Sussy’s gravestone’, Mark Twain Forum

[Online], 3 Apr, Available e-mail: TWAIN-L@yorkvm2.bitnet [3 Apr
1995].

• World Wide Web page

• Young, C. (2001) English Heritage position statement on the Valletta

Convention, [Online], Available:
http://www.archaeol.freeuk.com/EHPostionStatement.htm [24 Aug
2001].
• In the WWW page example, sometimes the author’s details or the date of
publication/update might be missing.
• When the author’s name is missing, use the name of the web page to list the
reference, as you would with any other anonymous source.
• If the date of publication or update is missing, omit this information, but be sure
to still include in square brackets the date you accessed the information.
• Conclusion
• It is extremely important that students correctly reference all paraphrasing and
direct quotations. While there are many referencing rules and conventions under
the Harvard system, in most cases it is generally important in the text of an
assignment to show the reader the author’s name, date of publication and page
numbers of the original source.
• In the WWW page example, sometimes the author’s details or the date of
publication/update might be missing. When the author’s name is missing,
use the name of the web page to list the reference, as you would with any
other anonymous source. If the date of publication or update is missing, omit
this information, but be sure to still include in square brackets the date you
accessed the information.
Conclusion
• It is extremely important that students correctly reference all paraphrasing
and direct quotations. While there are many referencing rules and
conventions under the Harvard system, in most cases it is generally important
in the text of an assignment to show the reader the author’s name, date of
publication and page numbers of the original source.
• In the reference list, it is important that the author’s name, the year of publication,
relevant titles, and other access information is faithfully reproduced. At first, the
referencing system may seem time-consuming and fussy but it will soon become
second nature to you and will become part of the long list of skills you will have gained
as a university student.
• The author would like to acknowledge that certain citation and reference examples
were taken from the following publications and that these publications influenced that
way in which the author arranged the document.
• Central Queensland University ESLS Unit (2001) Referencing: The Harvard referencing system,
[Online], Available: http://www.cqu.edu.au/edserv/undegrad/clc/content/resources.htm [14
Aug 2001]
• Lewis, D. (ed.) (1999) The written assignment, Brisbane: QUT Publications.
• Wells, D. (2001) Harvard referencing, [Online], Available:
http://lisweb.curtin.edu.au/guides/handouts/harvard.html [14 Aug 2001].
Importance of effective communication
• Effective business communication is essential for:
• Clarity: Ensuring that messages are clear and understandable by the
intended recipients.
• Coordination: Coordinating tasks, projects, and activities among
different departments or teams.
• Problem-Solving: Sharing information to identify and address
challenges or opportunities.
• Decision Making: Providing relevant data and insights to facilitate
informed decision-making.
• Building Relationships: Establishing rapport and trust with
stakeholders, both internal and external.
• Conflict Resolution: Resolving conflicts and misunderstandings by
enabling open dialogue.
• Reputation Management: Managing the company's image and public
perception.
• Overall, successful business communication contributes to the
efficient operation of an organization and its ability to adapt to a
rapidly changing business environment.
Barriers to effective communication and how
to overcome them
• Effective communication is essential for transmitting information,
ideas, and emotions accurately between individuals or groups.
• However, several barriers can impede the smooth flow of
communication.
• Here are some common barriers and strategies to overcome them:
1. Language Barriers:

• Solution: If people speak different languages, using a common

language or employing translation services can help bridge the gap. In
situations where this isn't possible, using visual aids, gestures, and
nonverbal cues can aid in understanding.
2. Cultural Barriers:

• Solution: Cultural sensitivity and awareness are crucial.

• Taking the time to learn about different cultural norms, values, and
communication styles can help avoid misunderstandings.
• Be open-minded and respectful of diverse perspectives.
3. Physical Barriers:

• Solution: If people are physically separated, technology can help. Use

tools like video conferencing, emails, and messaging apps to facilitate
communication. Ensure that the chosen medium is accessible to all
parties.
4. Noise and Distractions:

• Solution: Choose a quiet environment for important discussions.

Minimize background noise and distractions to maintain focus.
• In group settings, establish ground rules for maintaining a distraction-
free conversation.
5. Emotional Barriers:

• Solution: Emotional states can impact communication. Active

listening and empathy are essential. Acknowledge emotions and
create a supportive atmosphere, so people feel comfortable
expressing themselves.
6. Perception and Stereotyping:
• Solution: Avoid making assumptions about others based on
stereotypes. Give individuals a chance to express themselves and
challenge any preconceived notions. Focus on the person's unique
qualities and viewpoints.
7. Information Overload:

• Solution: Present information in a clear and organized manner.

Prioritize key points and use visuals to simplify complex data. Allow
time for questions and clarification.
8. Lack of Feedback:

• Solution: Encourage open communication by actively seeking

feedback. Provide opportunities for people to ask questions, share
concerns, and provide input. Regularly check in to ensure everyone is
on the same page.
9. Hierarchical Barriers:

• Solution: Flatten communication hierarchies whenever possible.

Encourage open dialogue between individuals at different levels of
authority. Emphasize a culture where ideas and feedback are valued
regardless of the speaker's position.
10. Psychological Barriers (Fear, Insecurity, Etc.): -

• Solution: Create a safe and inclusive environment where people feel

comfortable expressing their thoughts without fear of criticism or
reprisal. Encourage open discussions and assure confidentiality when
necessary.
11. Technical Jargon:
Specific to a field eg medical, engineering, mining, etc
• Solution: Avoid using technical language when communicating with
individuals who may not be familiar with the terminology. Explain
complex concepts in simple terms and offer examples for clarity.
12. Timing and Relevance: -

• Solution: Choose the appropriate time to communicate important

information. Consider the recipient's schedule and mental state. Ensure
that the message is relevant to the recipient's needs and concerns.
• Overcoming communication barriers requires active effort, empathy,
and a willingness to adapt. By being aware of these barriers and
implementing effective strategies, you can enhance your
communication skills and foster better understanding among
individuals and groups.
•
Verbal Communication Skills
Principles of effective verbal communication

• Effective verbal communication is crucial for conveying ideas, building

relationships, and achieving mutual understanding.
• Here are some key principles to keep in mind when engaging in
verbal communication:
• Clarity: Clearly articulate your thoughts and ideas. Use simple and
concise language to avoid confusion. Avoid jargon or technical terms
if your audience is not familiar with them.
• Conciseness: Get to the point without unnecessary verbosity. Avoid
long-winded explanations that can lead to loss of interest or
comprehension.
• Active Listening: Pay full attention to the speaker. Listen not just to the
words, but also to the tone, emotions, and nonverbal cues. Show that
you're engaged by nodding, maintaining eye contact, and using verbal
acknowledgments.
• Nonverbal Communication: Your body language, facial expressions,
gestures, and tone of voice convey a lot of information. Ensure that your
nonverbal cues are aligned with your verbal message to avoid mixed
signals.
•
• Empathy: Understand and acknowledge the feelings and perspectives
of the person you're communicating with. This shows that you care
and can lead to better rapport.
• Respect: Show respect for the other person's ideas, even if you
disagree. Avoid interrupting or dismissing their thoughts. Create an
environment where everyone feels valued.
• Feedback: Encourage feedback and ask clarifying questions to ensure
that your message is being understood as intended. Be open to
receiving feedback as well.
• Adaptability: Tailor your communication style to the preferences and
needs of your audience. Adjust your language, tone, and level of
detail based on who you're talking to.
• Timing and Pace: Consider when and how you deliver your message.
Choose appropriate moments for discussions, and be mindful of the
pace of your speech to avoid overwhelming the listener.
• Avoid Assumptions: Don't assume that the listener knows what
you're talking about. Provide context and background information
when necessary.
• Stay on Topic: Maintain focus on the main subject of the
conversation. Tangents can lead to confusion and make it difficult to
reach a resolution.
• Open-Mindedness: Be open to different viewpoints and ideas. A
willingness to consider other perspectives can lead to more
meaningful and productive conversations.
• Use of Examples: Use relevant examples and anecdotes to illustrate
your points. This can make your message more relatable and easier to
understand.
• Avoid Negative Language: Minimize the use of negative language,
criticism, or blaming. Instead, focus on constructive feedback and
solutions.
• Practice Active Engagement: Engage in back-and-forth dialogue
rather than monologues. Encourage questions, discussions, and
interactions to create a dynamic exchange of ideas.
• Remember that effective communication takes practice. It's
important to continuously refine your communication skills and
adapt them to different situations and audiences.
• Verbal Communication:
• This involves speaking clearly, confidently, and articulately, whether in
face-to-face conversations, meetings, presentations, or phone calls. It
includes using appropriate tone, pace, and language to convey
messages effectively.
Written Communication:
• Strong writing skills are essential for crafting emails, memos, reports,
proposals, and other written documents. Clear and concise writing
ensures that information is understood accurately and reduces the
risk of miscommunication.
Listening:
• Active listening is crucial for understanding the perspectives and
needs of others. It involves giving full attention to the speaker, asking
clarifying questions, and responding thoughtfully.
•
Nonverbal Communication:
• Body language, facial expressions, gestures, and eye contact can
communicate as much as words. Being aware of and using
appropriate nonverbal cues helps convey confidence, interest, and
respect.
Presentation Skills:
• Effectively delivering information to a group requires structuring
content logically, using visuals to enhance understanding, and
engaging the audience through confident delivery.
Interpersonal Skills:
• Building positive relationships with colleagues, clients, and superiors
involves empathy, conflict resolution, and the ability to collaborate
effectively within a team.
Adaptability
• Business communication skills include the capacity to tailor
communication styles to different audiences, cultures, and contexts,
ensuring messages are received as intended.
Negotiation and Persuasion:
• Communicating persuasively and negotiating skillfully are essential for
reaching agreements, influencing decisions, and achieving desired
outcomes.
1. Networking:
• Effective networking involves initiating and maintaining professional
connections through meaningful conversations and interactions that
can lead to opportunities and collaborations.
Feedback:
• Providing constructive feedback and receiving it gracefully is essential
for growth and improvement within the workplace.
• The ability to address conflicts and disagreements in a professional
and diplomatic manner helps maintain a positive work environment
and facilitates productive solutions.
Cultural Awareness
• Being sensitive to cultural differences and communication norms
when interacting with individuals from diverse backgrounds is crucial
for avoiding misunderstandings and building trust.