In the book Outliers, Malcom Gladwell (the author) talks about the 10,000-hour rule. The promise behind the 10,000bhour rule is simple. You need to practice for 10,000 hours in order to be an expert at anything. Although numerous studies have proved that you don’t need 10,000 hours to be a pro; the basis of this argument is still solid.
To become a good academic writer, you will need to practice. That is why in this chapter all we will focus on is practice. Specifically, the steps we established in the guide on how to be a professional Academic Writer.
Sample Academic Writing Question 1
Order title: How Lufthansa Capitalized on Big Data for Business Model Renovation
Work Details:
Type of paper: Article Review
Subject: IT Management
Number of Pages: 3 pages
Format of Citation: APA
Number of Cited Sources: 5
Type of service: Writing from scratch
Please go through the article found in the attached ‘How Lufthansa Capitalized on Big Data for Business Model Renovation.’ Then find the Instructions in the Attachment.
The following two files were attached:
Attached files
Section 1: Preparation phase
Step (1a): Reading and Understanding the Order/question
Order title: How Lufthansa Capitalized on Big Data for Business Model Renovation
Immediately you look at this title, two questions pop to your head. What is Lufthansa? And What is big data?
A google search reveals that Lufthansa is a German airline that has transformed itself to become one of the best in the industry.
Big data on the other hand refers to the practice of analyzing large quantities of data to arrive at a sound business decision.
Type of paper: Article Review
This assignment requires us to read an attached article and give a report on the same.
Subject: IT Management
The report has to relate to both Information Technology and Management. This makes perfect sense when you consider the topic.
Number of Pages: 3 pages
When you consider one page to be 300 words; 3 pages is 900 words.
Apply the +/- rule and the maximum word count is 990words and the lower word limit is 810 words.
Format of Citation: APA
American Psychiatric Association (APA) format will dictate referencing and paper formatting.
Number of Cited Sources: 5
You will have to include at least five references to this paper.
Type of service: Writing from scratch
This is obviously self-explanatory.
There are additional instructions in three attached files. Below I have attached the files. Remember reading them is a must.
Step (1b): Research
Introduction (90 words)
– Definition of big data. (enormous and complex unprocessed information)
– Statement on how Lufthansa used big data.
– Thesis statement: Mention the article that will be reviewed and how it will be reviewed.
Summary of the Article (410 words)
– A description of Lufthansa.
– How Lufthansa used big data to expand its infrastructure
– How Lufthansa used big data to improve customer Experience.
Reflection (410 Words)
– What makes implementation of big data hard. How did Lufthansa handle this challenge?
– How employee cooperation was attained in the Lufthansa big data initiative. Awarded employees who embraced it.
Conclusion (90 words)
– Summarize the impact of big data on Lufthansa.
– Summarize how Lufthansa was able to overcome challenges related to implementing big data.
– A closing statement on the future of big data.
Note that
this outline uses headings that were specified in the attached files. It is
also a bit summarized. The typical outline would contain the actual information
that you would write on your essay.
Step 2: Write the Essay
One again here it is a question of sticking with the outline. Just start writing without thinking too much about it.
Step 3: Proofreading and Referencing.
Step (3a): Referencing
For this example, we are going to combine two techniques to find the five references. First, we are going to use the cite fast tool to generate a reference for the article that we reviewed. From the screen shot below you can see that all we need, is the date of publication, author, and the title.
(Screen shot of cite fast)
Next we are going to use Google Scholar to come up with the remaining four citations. Use the keywords, ‘Lufthansa’ and ‘Big Data’ to come up with relevant references.
Now it is time to finish up with in text citations. The in text citations in APA take the (author, date) format. Take the case of the reference below:
Chen, H.-M., Schutz, R., Kazman, R., & Matthes, F. (2017). How Lufthansa Capitalized on Big Data for Business Model Renovation: MIS Quarterly Executive, 16(1), pp.19-34.
The in text citation would be; (Chen et al., 2017)
Note: in
this case we have just stated the name of the first author. In place of the
rest we have used the word et al. et al., is Latin for others. This is how you do an in text
citation for any reference that has more than three authors. This is irrespective
of the referencing style that you are using.
Step (3b): Proofreading
The proofreading ritual is simple.
1. First read through the entire paper.
2. Then use the Microsoft office Spelling checker to ensure the basic grammar and spelling errors are sorted.
3. Finally allow Grammarly to do all the magic of correcting the more complex errors.
Step (3c): Formatting
Start with formatting styles specific to APA formatting.
– The first page has to have the words: ‘Running head’ followed by the title of the paper and the page number.
– Skip ten lines
– Then write the heading of the paper
– The name of the student
– And finally, the institution Affiliation.
– Subsequent pages will have headers with only the heading and the page numbers. (more on how to do this in the citations section)
Next move on to the general formatting.
1. All papers should be formatted to the Times New Roman font
2. All papers should have a font size of 12px.
3. All papers should be double spaced unless otherwise stated.
4. The reference section of all papers should be ordered alphabetically in descending order.
5. The reference section of each paper should have a hanging indentation of 0.5 inches equivalent to 1.27cm.
To find out how to do all this, check out the definitive guide report (link).
Sample Question 2.
Order title: Undergraduate (3rd and 4th Year)
Work Details:
Deadline: Sun, 22nd October 2017
Type of paper: Article Critique
Spacing: Double Spacing
Subject: Nursing
Number of Pages: 2 pages
Format of Citation: APA
Number of Cited Sources: 2
Type of service: Writing from scratch
Paper details:
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DISCUSSION BOARD EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE JOURNAL ARTICLE ASSIGNMENT:
Select an Evidence Based Practice Journal Article (a Current US peer reviewed nursing article) that correlates to a topic to be covered in class.
Topics: Respiratory (i.e., ARDS, Pneumonia, asthma, flu, COPD, Pulmonary Embolism, Tuberculosis)
Article Selection-
Appropriate peer reviewed journal article
Author and title are cited in Introduction
Why this particular article was chosen to critique?
Significance to illness / disease and nursing practice
Summary of article –
Purpose of article
Method of study if applicable
Results and conclusion
Strengths and weaknesses of articles
Implications of nursing practice:
Relationship to current clinical resources
How the article impacted your practice?
Future consideration
Format:
APA version 6 format
Grammar spelling and sentence structure
A link to the article or copy must accompany the submitted discussion board posting.
Section 1: Preparation phase
This is one of the first academic papers that I completed. I can tell you for free that completing it was not an easy task. That is just how it is with anything you are starting. There is the learning phase where things look really hard. With time, you however start doing it effortlessly.
Step (1a): Reading and Understanding the Order/ question
Type of paper: Article Critique
Just like in sample one, your job is to critique a nursing journal.
Spacing: Double Spacing
In the general formatting (step 3b); one of the things you have to do is to ensure everything is double spaced. This piece of instruction was probably not necessary.
Subject: Nursing
This tells you that your critique has to take the perspective of a nurse. Not a doctor, not a chiropractor, and definitely not an engineer.
Number of Pages: 2 pages
2 pages is roughly 600 words.
540 words is the lower limit.
660 words is the upper word limit.
Format of Citation: APA
Once again, your references and formatting should conform with American Psychiatric Association Formatting (APA).
Number of Cited Sources: 2
You will only need two sources for this particular paper.
Type of service: Writing from scratch
• Additional instruction and an attached file.
The additional instructions in this order specify the outline of the essay. This makes your work even easier since you have a template to work from.
The attached file on the other hand specifies that you have to find the article to critique. This article has to be a journal published within the past five years.
Attached files here.
Step (1b): Research
The research for this particular assignment is unique. First you have to find the right article to critique. Due to the specificity of the required article; a google search is just not going to cut it.
The solution is to search for published journal in medical specific websites. These include:
– Medscape ()
– NHIS ()
– (add other medical specific websites)
In this case, I decided to critique an article titled, ‘5 Nursing Strategies to prevent ventilator associated pneumonia’. I found this on the website (https://www.americannursetoday.com).
Since this is an article critique, that was it for my research.
Step (1c): Outline
Introduction (60 words)
– Details on the article being reviewed. This includes the authors, the title, and its thesis statement.
Article Summary (62 words)
– The prevalence of deaths as a result of Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP)
– The five ways to reduce deaths due to Ventilator Associated Pneumonia.
1. Use alternatives to Ventilation.
2. Prioritizing patient oral hygiene
3. Doing subglottic suctioning easily.
4. Put patient in semi recumbent position to encourage movement
5. Increasing the number of healthcare workers in a healthcare unit.
Purpose of the article (63 words)
– Advocate for strategies to reduce VAP
Study methodologies used ( 62 words)
– Randomized clinical trials
– Metadata analysis of the collected data.
Results and Conclusion (63)
– Clinical studies show that the five strategies are effective.
– Implementation of these should be more widespread.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Article (62)
– Strength: it is clear
– Weakness: A lot of information is left out.
Implications for the Nursing Practice (63)
– Nurses should take more proactive role in managing VAP.
Effect of Interventions on Current Clinical Resources (62)
– More resources will be required.
Impact on My Practice (63)
– As a nurse I have to take action immediately to implement this five VAP reduction recommendations.
Future Consideration (62)
– These five practices should be made standard in all critical care units.
References
– Two clear references.
Step 2: Write the Essay
Same deal. Base it on the outline and don’t think too much about it.
Step 3: Proofreading and Referencing.
Step (3a): Referencing
1. use citefast to create an APA reference entry on the article that was critiqued.
2. Use google scholar to find two more references. Search using the keywords (Ventilator Associated Pneumonia)
Note: In this paper I included 3 references instead of the 2. The number of references indicated in the instructions is the minimum. It is perfectly okay to use more than that.
Step (3b): Proofreading
1. First read through the entire paper.
2. Then use the Microsoft office Spelling checker to ensure the basic grammar and spelling errors are sorted.
3. Finally allow Grammarly to do all the magic of correcting the more complex errors.
Step (3c): Formatting
Start with formatting styles specific to APA formatting.
– The first page has to have the words: ‘Running head’ followed by the title of the paper and the page number.
– Skip ten lines
– Then write the heading of the paper
– The name of the student
– And finally, the institution Affiliation.
– Subsequent pages will have headers with only the heading and the page numbers. (more on how to do this in the citations section)
Next move on to the general formatting.
1. All papers should be formatted to the Times New Roman font
2. All papers should have a font size of 12px.
3. All papers should be double spaced unless otherwise stated.
4. The reference section of all papers should be ordered alphabetically in descending order.
5. The reference section of each paper should have a hanging indentation of 0.5 inches equivalent to 1.27cm.
Have a look at the complete paper.
What do you think?
Not so hard after all, ha!