Academic skills

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Academic skills are the specific set of skills required for conducting academic research. They include those listed below.

 

• Academic conventions such as truth, evidence, and argument.

• Academic style and vocabulary.

• Specific skills such as quotation, referencing, and citation.

• Summary, note-taking, and listening skills.

• How to use structure.

• How to use academic databases.

 

• Academic skills are marketable skills that will dramatically improve your employability in the eyes of businesses and organisations that use English.

 

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Research skills

Research skills are the specific set of skills required to find, evaluate and manage information. They include those listed below.

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• How to distinguish between reliable and unreliable information.

• How to find the information you need and evaluate sources.

• How to evaluate sources of information

• How to manage the information you have.

• Online research.

• How to present research.

 

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Reasoning skills

 

Reasoning skills are the most important part of your intellectual skillset. They are the foundation upon which all other intellectual skills depend.

 

But reasoning skills are also a form of intellectual self-defence. Every day people try to persuade you of how you should live, what you should say, what you should buy, and many other things. Most of these messages are crafted by teams of skilled and experienced professionals. Unless you know how to evaluate what you are being told, you are vulnerable to being manipulated. Knowing how to deal with rational persuasion is therefore an essential life skill.

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Reasoning skills include those listed below.

 

• How to tell the difference between good and bad reasoning.

• How to reason in an explicit, methodical and self-aware way.

• How to construct and evaluate logical arguments.

• How to identify the real purpose behind a piece of writing.

• How to deal with real-world examples of reasoning (media, politics, business etc).

 

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Philosophy

 

What is philosophy?

 

• Philosophy was the first academic subject, before there were any others. It is the root from which all other intellectual inquiry has grown. The standard subject divisions in the western world – history, biology, politics, ethics, geography, physics, psychology etc – were all invented by a philosopher called Aristotle around 2500 years ago.

 

• Philosophy is the broadest systematic study of everything there is, and how it all fits together. It involves the careful, systematic examination of ideas, and a commitment to the ideals of reason and truth.

 

• Philosophy has two main elements: theory and practice. Theory is the many systems of ideas that have been proposed and debated over thousands of years. Practice is the process of doing philosophy – reading, writing, discussing. Philosophical theory is the result of philosophical practice.

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Why study philosophy?

 

Many people find philosophy an enjoyable, interesting and rewarding subject to study. They study it simply because they enjoy engaging with the theory and practice of philosophy.

 

However, people who pay for tuition typically wish to acquire skills that will help them in other areas of their lives. And studying philosophy develops a number of important skills that are necessary to succeed in the modern world.

 

• Reasoning skills – the ability to create, criticise and evaluate rational arguments; to solve problems; to work out what it makes sense to believe or do.

 

•  Analytical skills – the ability to identify rational relationships and structure.

 

• Communication skills – the ability to use language precisely, in both written and oral forms, and to use appropriate language.

 

• Interpersonal skills – in particular, the ability to engage in rational discussion and debate in a polite and professional manner, and to interact productively with those who disagree with you.

 

• Research skills – the ability to find the information you need, to evaluate the reliability of the information you find, and to organise the information you have in rational and useful ways.

 

There is no better way to acquire this very broad range of skills than studying philosophical theory and engaging in philosophical practice under the guidance of a well-trained tutor. Throughout history, many of those who have achieved great things, made significant contributions to their societies, or had distinguished careers have had some degree of philosophical training. This remains true today: many of those who hold senior positions in business and politics have studied philosophy.

 

So studying philosophy develops skills that employers value and which assist career progression. In fact, for most careers, philosophy will give you a better intellectual skillset than any other subject. For every dollar you spend, philosophy tuition will return your investment many times over.

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Students will acquire all the skills listed above. But they will also acquire knowledge and abilities that are specific to philosophy, for example those listed below.

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• How to participate in rational discussion and debate.

 

• The fundamental assumptions of western civilisation.

 

• The general outlook and habits of mind that characterise someone who seeks wisdom and truth.

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(Please note that, sadly, I can only teach Western philosophy, as I have no expertise or training in Eastern philosophy.)