Study skills are important to develop life skills like critical thinking, decision making, and problem solving. Basic skills of communication include listening, reading, writing, and oral presentation. Listening involves receiving and constructing meaning from spoken messages. There are active listening techniques like paying attention and providing feedback. Note taking involves writing down key points from a lecture verbatim, while note making involves understanding and rephrasing the information in your own words. Proper citations and referencing are important to avoid plagiarism when writing essays or research papers.

1. STUDY SKILLS
COM 11O
Lecture Series 1-4

2. Why study skills
• Keep your motivation high
• Improve your ability to learn and retain
knowledge
• Achieve your goals easily and efficiently
• Develop life skills
– Self-awareness
– Stress management
– Critical thinking
– Decision making
– Problem solving

4. Basic Skills of Communication
1)Listening skills
2)Reading skills
3)Writing skills
4)Oral presentation skills

5. Listening Defined
• Listening is the process of
receiving, constructing meaning
from, and responding to spoken
and/or nonverbal messages.

6. Listening…
• Listening is to make a sensible effort
to hear the words that another
person is saying.
• Listening is to make a conscious
effort to hear and get the complete
message being communicated

7. Why Listening
1)We listen to obtain
information.
2)We listen to understand.
3)We listen for enjoyment.
4)We listen to learn.

8. Techniques of listening
• 5 key techniques of listening
1. Pay attention
2. Show that you're listening
3. Provide feedback
4. Defer judgment
5. Respond appropriately

9. Types of listening
• 2 key types of listening
–Active listening
–Passive listening
• Other types of listening skills
–Attentive listening
–Reflection listening

10. Active Listening
• Active listening involves the listener
observing the speaker's behavior
and body language.
• Active listening refers to a form of
listening that keeps learner engaged
with his/her conversation partner in
a positive way.

11. Active Listening
• Used in conflict resolution,
counseling & general conversation
• Requires the listener to react to
the speaker’s body language
• Uses of verbal cues in order to
understand the subject
• Allows for engaging feedback

13. Passive Listening
• Passive Listening is a form of
listening without reacting.
• Refers to hearing something
without the intention of
responding.
•Requires silent participation
on behalf of the listener.

14. The difference

15. Note taking
• Note-taking is a passive process which
is done at lectures, watch a video, or
read a book.
• Note taking is what you do when you
attend a lecture.
• We take notes when we listen a
speaker, speech, talk etc.
• It is a short term utility

16. The difference
• Note taking is just jotting down notes verbatim
from a textbook or a class lecture; it’s akin to
regurgitating!
• Note Making is making your own personalised
notes, to describe what you have understood
clearly from a textbook or a class lecture. In
most instances, you are actually using your own
words,
• Note making gives you the most value-added.

17. Note making
• Note-making is more active and
focused activity
• Involves assimilating all information and make
sense of it for yourself.
• It has a long term utility.
• We make notes when we read a
text, lesson, printed materials etc.

18. READING SKILLS
• Reading skills is the ability of an
individual to read, comprehend and
interpret written words on any printed
material.
• Being able to assimilate a written work
within a short period.
• Reading involves word recognition and
understanding

21. Reading
• A skill which enables us:
–to get a message;
–to recognizing the written words (written
symbols);
–getting (understanding) the meaning;
–used to teach pronunciation;
–grasping information from texts.
• Reading is a complex activity that involves both
perception and thought.

22. Reading
• It involves to understand what is
presented in the form of words
and sentences.
• It is an active process whereby a
reader is involved in interaction
with the text.

24. Skills Involved
• Skills involved in reading:
–Recognizing the letters of a language
–Identify the meaning of words
–Deduce the meaning of unfamiliar words
–Understand the relationship among the
constituents of a sentence
– Comprehending the overtly stated
information

25. Skills...
Locating specific information in a text
Separating the main ideas from
supporting statements.
Getting the information which is not
clearly stated.
Interpreting the text from outside

26. The purpose of reading
• Obtaining knowledge .
• Enjoyment that increase
understanding.
• Mentally interact with the message.
• Take and make notes.
• Get directions and be located

27. Cont..
• Fry (1994) suggest six fundamental purposes for
reading:-
To grasp a certain message.
To find important detail.
To answer a specific question.
To evaluate what you are reading.
To apply what you are reading.
To be entertained.

28. Reading techniques/strategies
• Skimming reading is reading to
confirm expectations
• Skimming is reading a text quickly to get
a general idea of meaning.
• Skimming is a specific reading skill which
is common in reading newspapers,
messages and e-mails.

30. Cont..
• Used to understand the thought,
gist or what is known as main idea.
• Used to quickly gather the most
important information.
• Use skimming to quickly get up to
speed on a current business
situation.

31. Scanning
• Scanning is a skill that requires that you read
quickly while looking for specific information.
• Used only when you need to find
answers to specific questions.
• Reading for specific information like
names, key words.
• Often the answers are short and factual,
and may be numbers or names.

32. Cont…
•Use scanning on schedules,
meeting plans, conferences,
seminar presentation
•Scanning is used to find a
particular piece of
information.

33. Extensive reading
• Learners reading texts for
enjoyment and to develop general
reading skills
• It may involve note-taking/note
making
• Used for pleasure and general
understanding.

34. Cont..
• Used to obtain a general
understanding of a subject
• Reading longer texts for pleasure
• Can be used for improving second
language competence.

35. Intensive reading
• Learners reading in detail with specific
learning aims and tasks.
• Completely review a text, with the goal of
absorbing as much meaning from it as
possible.
• Look up every word, phrase, or
collocation that you do not understand.

36. The SQ3R Reading System
• System for enhancing meaningful
reading process.
• Developed in the 1940s
• Effective in increasing retention
of information.
• Useful for textbooks, factual,
well-organised materials.

39. Writing Skills
• Writing is one of the most common ways of
communicating with others.
• It involve many sub-skills like:
– writing legibly
– spelling correctly
– using good expressions
– constructive grammatical sentences
– developing ideas into paragraphs
– arranging the arguments logically and
– using different formats (letters, reports and so on).

40. …
• Writing skills mean the writer is to write
down their thoughts, ideas, opinions, facts,
stories in a rational & comprehensible to
the reader.
• Writing skills are those abilities where you
take ideas/information and present them in
a good written format for others to read.
• Depending on the purpose you write for
business or doing self publishing like novels,
poems and short stories.

41. …
• Writing is a good way to express own thoughts
and share information with reader.
• Writer present what he/she know in a format
that conforms to the expectations of the reader.
• A news research article is facts.
• A commentary is the presentation of your
view/opinion.
• A sports article is about how a sports event
unfolded

42. Steps for writing academic work

45. Essay Writing
• An essay is a short piece of writing
representing one’s side of the argument or
one’s experiences, stories, observation,
findings etc.
• An essay is a piece of non-fiction.
• Essays have definable beginnings, middles,
and endings.
• An essay is generally a short piece of writing
outlining the writer’s perspective or story.

46. Essays
• Essays can be formal as well as
informal.
• Formal essays are generally academic
in nature and tackle serious topics.
• Informal essays are more personal and
often have entertaining elements.
• At the university, the focus is on formal
essays (academic work)

47. An Academic Essay
• An academic essay is a piece of
composition that discusses a thing, a
person, a problem, or an issue in a way
that the writer demonstrates his
knowledge by offering a new
perspective, a new opinion, a solution,
or new suggestions or
recommendations.

48. Characteristics of a good Essay
• Characteristics of a good essay:
–Unity: contain groups of sentences related
to one theme with a definite purpose.
–Order: follow a logical order or line of
argumentation.
–Brevity: not be too long but short and
clear
–Style: be formal, distinguished and
literary.

49. Characteristics of a good essay
• Language: be simple, direct and natural. No use of
slang, and colloquial terms.
• Coherence: helps to follow the flow of writer’s
ideas.
• Use of transitional markers (transitional words)
which include:
–such as, and, also, furthermore, likewise, for
instance, on the other hand, aforementioned,
in contrast, conversely, similarly, again,
additionally, consequently, and as follows.

50. Cont…
• Cohesion: Use of grammatical and /or lexical
relationship between different elements of a text.
• Completeness: be adequately developed by
providing details, explanations, definitions,
evidence, etc.
• Personal touch: express your own views in an
essay rather than just quoting other people’s
ideas.
• Use of citations and references: A good essay
consists of proper citations, quotation and a list of
references.

51. Essay Questions
• These are subjective type of question
which allow free of expression by a
writer during answering.
• It allows free association, argument
that influences understanding,
opinion, suggestions and relevant
conclusion.
• Make sure the first thing first

52. Categories of an essay
• The critical essay (assignment to
be done in your own time) mainly
known as take home assignment,
homework assignment.
• Individual extra assignment or
the essay exam (control
assignments)

53. Writing Exams Essay Questions
• Before begin answering essay exams questions do
the following:
Read the question carefully and understand
instructional words .
Never begins to write until you have a clear idea
of what kind of answer is asked for.
Think about your general answer before you
begin to write.
Unless the directions specify a short answer, do
not write a one or two sentence answer in an
essay exams.

54. Basic elements of an essay
• Introductory paragraph (s)
–contains topic sentences and thesis statement.
–A good essay is a result of a good topic
sentence.
• The body
–contains supporting argument and detail
information with examples if possible.
• The conclusion
–concluding remark is essentials

55. The introductory paragraph
• The thesis statement—the purpose of this
statement is to tell the reader what they
should expect to learn, understand, or agree
with while reading the essay.
• The plan of action—is a brief listing of the
main points the essay will cover. This is not
the place to include specific details or facts.
• Transition sentence—leads the reader into
the body of the essay.

56. The Main Body
• The Body of an essay
– divided into varied paragraphs with supporting
information-the information in your working outline.
• Write the main point
– starts with a topic sentence
– discuss the evidences and arguments introduced in the
thesis statement
• Write the sub point
– further explanation – supporting details
• Explain or elaborate on sub points, provide
examples if necessary.

57. A CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH IN ESSAY
• The conclusion is the last part of an essay
– Three most important parts:
1. Rephrasing of the thesis statement
– remind readers about the topic discussed in the essay.
2. Summary of main ideas
– contains three or more sentences show emphasis
3. Concluding remarks
– it could be an ending statement.
– a call to action, a suggestion,
– a recommendation, or a wakeup call.

58. Types of Essay (four major)
1. Narrative Essays: Telling a Story
– the writer tells a story about a real-life experience.
2. Descriptive Essays: Painting a Picture
– strives to communicate a deeper meaning through the
description – try to show not tell
3. Expository Essays: Just the Facts
– presents a balanced analysis of a topic –using facts,
statistics, and examples
4. Persuasive Essays: Convince Me
– convince the reader to accept the writer’s point of view
or recommendation - must build a case using facts, logic,
examples, expert opinion, and sound reasoning.

59. Plagiarism

60. Plagiarism…
• The use of another’s original words or
ideas as though they were your own.
• Presenting someone else’s work or ideas
as your own, with or without their
consent, by incorporating it into your
work without full acknowledgement.

61. Plagiarism
• What does it mean by someone else’s work
–All published and unpublished material,
whether in manuscript, printed or electronic
form.
• Plagiarism may be intentional or reckless, or
unintentional.
• Intentional or reckless plagiarism is a
disciplinary offence.
• Learn and employ the principles of good
academic practice from the beginning of
your university career

62. Why does plagiarism matter?
• Because it..:
– is breach of academic integrity
– all members of the academic community should
acknowledge their debt to the originators of the ideas
which form the basis for their own work
– show that you have failed to complete the learning
process
– is unethical and can have serious consequences for
your future career
– undermines the standards of your institution and of
the degrees it issues.

63. Develop a good writing habits
• Write down what you will need later for a proper
citation.
• If you copy something word-for-word in your
notes, enclose this information in quotation marks
and immediately write down the source
• Don’t paraphrase by just rearranging text or
changing a few words.
• Don’t “copy and paste” from the Internet
directly into your document.
• Give credit for the information source used

64. Citation
• A reference to the source of information
used in your academic
work/assignments.
• The way you tell your readers that
certain material in your work came from
another source.
• It is a best way to avoid plagiarism.

66. Types of Citations
• Two types of citations
–An in-text citation or parenthetical
citations (within the paper) - a brief
notation within the text of your paper or
presentation which refers the reader to a
fuller notation.
–End-of-paper citation (work cited) -
provides all necessary details about that
source of information.

67. In-text-citation

68. In-text-citation
• In-text citations tell your professor which
source you used at a specific point in the
paper.
• You do not have to cite your own ideas,
unless they have been published.
• In-text citations alert the reader to an idea
from an outside source.
• Use APA citation style – most applicable at
Mzumbe University.

69. End-of-Paper Citations

70. Importance of Citations
• Uphold intellectual honesty and avoiding
plagiarism.
• Give credit to the original author of an idea.
• Avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas
used by other authors
• Strengthens scholar’s work by lending outside
support to researcher's ideas.
• Indicate how important or influential the paper
has been.
• Gives confidence to the reader

71. Citations…
• Standard elements of citations contain all the
information necessary to identify and track
down publications, including:
– author name(s)
– titles of books, articles, and journals
– date of publication
– page numbers
– volume and issue numbers (for articles)

72. Citations …
• Choose an appropriate style because may look
different from others. Notice the common
elements as mentioned above:
– Author - R. Langer
– Article Title - New Methods of Drug Delivery
– Source Title - Science
– Volume and issue - Vol 249, issue 4976
– Publication Date - 1990
– Page numbers - 1527-1533

73. What to Cite?
• You must cite:
–Facts, figures, ideas, or other information that is
not common knowledge
–Ideas, words, theories, or exact language that
another person used in other publications
–Publications that must be cited include: books,
book chapters, articles, web pages, theses, etc.
–Another person's exact words should be quoted
and cited to show proper credit
–When in doubt, be safe and cite your source!

74. Quotations (read and discuss)
• Find out what is quotations
• Describe difference type of quotes
• What is the difference between citation and
quotation?
• A quotation is just anything anybody said. If you
tell Mwita that Amina said she was in love with
him, that’s a quotation. Quotation marks (“”
these) indicate that something is a quotation.
Some Tips for you

75. Quotation
• In an academic context (Steve, 2018) say:
–a quotation consists of the actual words
taken from another author’s work.
–a citation is the text that indicates where
that quotation came from (e.g. author’s
name, year of publication).
–the reference is the full list of information
for the publication from which the
quotation was taken.

76. Some Tips…
• A quotation is the direct use of specific language
that comes from another source, using the exact
same wording as the original source.
• A group of words taken from a text or speech
and repeated by someone other than the original
author or speaker. "a quotation from Mark
Twain“
• A paraphrase and an indirect quotation are the
same thing. They contain the information or idea
of another author, expressed in your own words.
You must cite a paraphrase / an indirect

77. Referencing and Bibliography
• A reference list is the detailed list of
references that are cited in your
work/paper.
• A bibliography is a detailed list of
references cited in your work, plus the
background readings or other material
that you may have read, but not actually
cited.

78. The
Question
• A reference list, generally,
contains only sources you have
cited in-text in your assignment.
• A bibliography, generally, is a list
of all the sources you used to
generate your ideas about the
topic.

79. Writing a bibliography
• Rule of thumb:
• Make a list to keep track of ALL the books,
magazines, and websites you read as you follow
your outline.
• Later this list of sources will become your
bibliography.
• Most teachers want you to have at least 3-5
written sources of information.
• List the sources in alphabetical order using the
author's last name

80. Collect this information for each printed
source
1. author name
2. title of the publication (and the title of the article
if it's a magazine or encyclopedia)
3. date of publication
4. the place of publication of a book
5. the publishing company of a book
6. the volume number of a magazine or printed
encyclopedia
7. ,issue number (article in a journal)
8. the page number(s)

81. Collect this information for each Web Site:
1. Author and editor names (if available)
2. Title of the page (if available)
3. The company or organization who posted the
webpage
4. The Web address for the page (called a URL)
5. The last date you looked at the page

82. Conclusion
• Essay writing is an art f presenting one’s
argument in a coherent manner in order to
convince and bring change in the readers’
mind (Oyugi, 2011).
• There are key elements of essay writing
especially academic essay: thesis
statement, motive, evidence, analysis, key
terms, structure, stitching, sources,
reflecting and orienting.

83. Conclusion
• Essay writing is an art f presenting one’s
argument in a coherent manner in order to
convince and bring change in the readers’
mind (Oyugi, 2011).
• There are key elements of essay writing
especially academic essay: thesis
statement, motive, evidence, analysis, key
terms, structure, stitching, sources,
reflecting and orienting.