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Why is Learning How to Write Well in College Important?

Students often ask why they should develop strong writing skills when they are studying business, and its principles take precedence. Students have a hard time understanding how grammar, spelling, formatting, sentence structure, and focus can improve their job prospects.If they know it but can’t say it, they are going to have a hard time highlighting themselves. What they miss is a perspective of how writing impacts every other action they take at work. Whether one is writing an email, creating a resume, finishing a report or preparing a speech writing is a major part of communicating in a way that improves effectiveness. If a person cannot communicate well, they are also unlikely to obtain the highest paid jobs. Effective writing communication is a sign of clarity of thought. A person who can write concisely, powerfully, and with focus is seen as a person who understands the material. If a paper mixes topics, is hard to follow, and is full of errors it is unlikely that it will b

How To Write for an Academic Journal

Having a paper accepted for publication in an academic journal is an exciting event that comes with a personal sense of achievement. Not only does it validate an academic’s knowledge but it is also a source of industry exposure. Writing in a journal is not impossible but does take preparation like other types of writing. Those who publish in journals not only offer a sense of expertise but also a level of academic writing skill. Writing at a level that will be published by a peer-reviewed journal requires a significant investment of time. It will take at least a month to write a solid piece of academic literature. The quality must be near perfect depending on the genre of the journal. The topic should contribute a unique perspective or piece of knowledge to a wider body of literature to create relevancy. (Step 1) Pick Your Topic  Having some sense of your topic before writing will make a huge difference in the amount of effort and time it takes to complete your work.

Demystifing APA and MLA Styles

Dr. Andree Swanson, EdD and Chris Crites, MBA So, you have to write a paper and you were told that it must be in MLA format. Did some of these thoughts enter into your mind? What the heck is MLA format? I remember using some sort of style back in high school, but that was ages ago! At the college I attended everything was in APA style. I vaguely remember MLA Oh yes, that’s where you use footnotes, right? Although this is a comparison of the two styles, ultimately, the decision on whether to use MLA or APA style is up to the University or College that you are attending.   MLA vs. APA  Scholars need to lead his or her reader as close to the information as a possible.   The research should be current, typically within the last five years.   As you can imagine in the field of business, engineering, and health care administration, information that is 20 years old would be of little or no use.   The one exception would be historical or literature reviews.   The

Academic Writing Tips

By Dr Andree Swanson Artwork: Dr.  Murad Abel You have been tasked to write your first paper and the instructor gave you feedback.   It read: “This is not appropriate for an academic paper.”   You are now at a loss to understand what defines an academic paper. Here are a few tips to remember when writing. Most importantly, you are creating a document that is in your own words.   It is imperative to properly research the paper.   It is not unusual to have parenthetical citations after each sentence.   The reason this happens is that you have conducted a great deal of research on your topic.   You are now reflecting on what you have read, so the bottom line is...   you are not presenting new information .   Let me restate this.   You are presenting someone else’s information .   In fact, you may be presenting more than one person’s information and must properly cite each source. Your paper is filled with ideas that came from many journals, web sites, and bo