Becoming a successful student or learner in college, university, or any third level education, mostly depends on a variety of attributes, which include some fundamental academic skills such as reading, writing, and critical thinking. It is therefore crucial that a student develops these skills in order to advance in their studies. These skills will assist students so they can become more effective learners in college and helps them develop the necessary study skills that will help the in research, and other aspects of college work. Academic skills give the student the advantage of becoming very successful throughout university and it will help them to grow to their full potential. Most of these skills continue to be applicable in future careers …show more content…
Burns & Sinfield (2003) argue the point that academic writing is undoubtedly an essential skill for college students and it differs from the writing styles students undertook in school. They discuss how writing skills are challenging when trying to develop as it requires a person to be objective, logical in their approach and critical. Burns & Sinfield (2003) continue to emphasise the importance of supporting a claim with academic evidence. The authors point out that while writing, it is important to explore ideas and research other authors in the same field as well as correctly referencing all sources used.
Many authors such as Burns & Sinfield (2003), Neville (2010) and Soles (2005) agree that academic writing is quite challenging at times, and effective academic writing in all areas and disciplines requires certain structure, accuracy, referencing and attention to
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It is important for people to be able to make well informed judgements and be able to explain logical reasoning as well as being able to solve problems. There are some debates concerning if skills such as critical thinking should be an integrated subject taught in all aspects or if it should be taught independently. Hughes & Barrie (2010) suggest that critical thinking should be taught separately from disciplinary knowledge and should be assessed using standardised tests. McPeck (1981) argues that critical thinking skills has a better chance of developing if it is applied to discipline knowledge, and Cottrell (2010) supports the development within the curriculum structure as different aspects of the education framework man require different approaches in which critical thinking is understood and the