Online writing and communication tools inspire and facilitate cooperation. For example, social media platforms enable students to complete group projects and improve collaborative skills. As students communicate various material crucial to their writing abilities, academic essays become more explicative. Additionally, it is feasible to create discussion forums in which academic writers confront the linked issues by acquiring fluidity, empathy, and interpersonal communication skills. Technology improves performance as pupils become more attentive and reflective towards knowledge (DarshMam). Students connect with more skilled and accomplished authors who assist them in getting higher marks. As students develop their general writing abilities by focusing on the specifics while creating content, correctness and appropriateness are enhanced. Tools like as grammar and plagiarism checks, urban dictionaries, and citation generators enhance writing abilities for the purpose of achieving higher marks.
There have been detrimental consequences on writing abilities as a result of the use of new technologies, despite the fact that technology has produced a number of good benefits. First, authors are increasingly using abbreviations and shortcuts to accomplish their job (Berman). Due to the increased use of abbreviations, the overall quality of academic writing has decreased. This is mostly attributable to the prevalence of short text messaging programs (Berman). Texting style is often used by writers while composing formal documents. This impacts the quality of the work produced by certain authors.
The contemporary world demands swift and precise responses. In the contemporary academic environment, students are expected to complete a variety of tasks. Regardless of whether you are enrolled in a course in management, accounting, anatomy, nursing, or the arts, you must present papers of the highest quality (Purcell et al.). All essay tasks are intended to highlight analytical, research, and writing abilities. With the discovery of new information and technology, essay writing today needs multitasking, in-depth research, careful preparation, and effective concept structure.
The ability of professors and students to communicate effectively in writing is essential to the success of the higher education sector. Academic writing serves not only as a kind of academic, moral obligation in disseminating information but also as part of the tasks provided to students by their lecturers in the form of essays, reviews, scientific articles, and papers, and even as a requirement for earning a degree (Purcell et al.). Students at the college level need to practice academic writing because of this. Furthermore, the need to create and publish scholarly papers is inescapable in higher education. In order to evaluate a student’s academic abilities, they must demonstrate their proficiency in writing academic assignments.
The frequency of undergraduate students having their scholarly work published in peer-reviewed journals still needs to be higher. According to a study performed between 2017 and 2019 at a university in West Java, Indonesia, twenty pupils’ academic writing was observed, and many notes were taken on the poor quality of that writing (Supriyadi et al. 6024). Their citations came mostly from regional publications rather than national or international journals. These materials could have been more reliable and were rather old. Many citations in the text did not appear in the bibliography since the citing process was done manually. A Turnitin scan revealed that, on average, their paper included between 45 and 70 percent plagiarized material (Supriyadi et al. 6024). This suggests that pupils may have been somewhat creative in their approaches.
The situation indicates the pupils’ lack of technical literacy and poor writing skills. As a natural result, the output will not be up to snuff for serious publishers. Therefore, this study aims to discover strategies for enhancing students’ technical literacy to raise the output of quality scholarly articles. The development of pupils’ technological literacy is the primary focus of this investigation. Students should also be equipped with the more general academic writing abilities of introspection, analysis, and creativity. Because of their close connection to reading and writing proficiency and the importance of critically and analytically processing information, these skills are likewise anticipated to increase when students’ abilities do.
When one realizes that most publications are now available digitally, it is possible to see the significance of the push to improve people’s familiarity with technology. Because of their inability to use modern technology effectively, students risk producing subpar research papers and theses that peer-reviewed journals will only accept. This is due to the fact that high-quality publications serve as a benchmark for judging writing quality. For students to write academically at a level acceptable for publication in peer-reviewed journals, they need to develop the critical and practical skills necessary to use technology effectively.
A student’s academic life, particularly the student’s academic writing, are conceptually separate from the act of writing. Students need to be able to write because it helps them learn new things, generate new ideas, organize and explain complex ideas, and develop their objectivity in preparation for careers as researchers and writers. Reading and writing are inextricably linked because of the nature of academic writing. Reading well-written academic pieces prepares one to write their own. One standard for evaluating academic writing quality is its appearance in respected periodicals. Information literacy and expertise with IT connected to academic writing are prerequisites for accessing the literature in the modern internet age.
According to Cumming et al. (47), one of the most difficult aspects of teaching students to write academically is helping them learn how to properly and efficiently incorporate source information into their writing. They discovered that students struggle with the complicated processes of writing from sources, but they learn techniques to overcome these challenges (Cumming et al., 47). Students’ success in writing from sources was affected by their background knowledge and experience (Cumming et al., 47). There may be discrepancies in how native and non-native speakers of a language utilize sources in their writing (Cumming et al., 47). The task settings and the kinds of texts being produced and read had different impacts on how well people did on writing-from-sources tasks. Students’ usage of sources in their writing might be enhanced with the right guidance.
Further, as stated by Guzmán-Simón, Garca-Jiménez, and López-Cobo (196), students’ development of information and ICT literacies is an integral aspect of the process of academic literacy. The authors of this research examined the relationship between academic literacy practices and the growth of information and ICT literacies among first-year students in Spanish universities. According to their research, there is a significant chasm between the digital competence shown in informal learning contexts and the level of literacy seen in formal learning environments like universities. Generally speaking, ICT and information literacy processes were not included in the academic literacies of students at Spanish universities. Teachers’ professional growth might be hindered by their lack of computer and information literacy. The ability to recognize or evaluate a writer’s credibility in writing relies heavily on their level of knowledge and ICT literacy.
Choudhri et al. (736), in a similar vein, investigated bibliometric factors. They argue that measuring academic output using bibliometric indicators is crucial in the present day. The goal of these criteria is to rank books and periodicals. Academic production, including eligibility for promotions and other prizes, may be evaluated using current and new bibliometric techniques. However, the data might be misconstrued and even manipulated if its significance needs to be fully grasped. In order to maximize the usefulness of bibliometric analysis, it is helpful to be familiar with the parameters of bibliometrics and how they may be used for the evaluation of authors (both singular and collective) and journals, as well as the potential use of these metrics in the review of promotions.
All of this leads us to believe that a lack of familiarity with IT contributes to the low rates of student publishing that we see in the academic world. The study’s overarching goal is to help students become more proficient in using technology so that they can generate work suitable for publishing in scholarly journals. The Science and Technology Citation Index contains citations from scholarly publications around the country (SINTA). This official government site indexes all Indonesian journals that have received accreditation from the National Journal Accreditation Board, making it possible to evaluate journal quality in accordance with international standards for accreditation and citation (SINTA is Evolving). In addition, SINTA offers metrics for the success of the scientific community as a whole, from individual researchers and labs to scholarly publishers and government agencies (SINTA is Evolving). Google Scholar, Garuda Portal, the Indonesia Science, and Technology Index, and the Indonesian Publication Index are only a few of the current indexing technologies. Access to Scopus and other international indexing portals with advanced functionalities like Citation, Networking, Research, and Score may be gained via SINTA (Muriyatmoko). For example, ScienceDirect, Proquest, Ebscho, Web of Science, Scopus, and other indexing organizations are indicators of high-quality international journals.
As internet-based information technology has advanced, so has the medium to publish scholarly articles in the form of digital journals, making these publications widely available to readers across the globe. This is true for magazines all across the world. Academic journals serve a dual purpose: as a medium for publishing scholarly work and as a resource for scholars interested in learning more about their peers’ study findings. This leads to intellectual dialectics among scientists, particularly when building on previous studies’ findings or filling in knowledge gaps. Academics, particularly college students, may get valuable experience communicating their views to the public via the advent of online publishing mediums. Contributing to scholarly journals may encourage an optimistic and inventive approach to writing (Salam et al. 16). As a result, students will study academic writing as part of every aspect of their college education.
Publishing the results of one’s scholarly study is a fundamental part of the function of both educational and research organizations. The amount of scholarly works published annually is a proxy for a university or research institute’s quality and hence advancement. Academic credibility improves when more of their work is published (Salam et al. 61). Academic writing is evaluated not just in terms of its quantity but also of its quality, which is determined by the extent to which it has both immediate and long-term effects. Quality is determined not just by the effect of the academic work, which may be deduced from the number of citations, but also by the publications that publish them (Sellers et al. 143).
Journals indexed by major databases like ScienceDirect, Proquest, Ebscho, Web of Science, Scopus, and others like them are more likely to be of high quality than those not. Journals included in Scopus are regarded as gold standards for scholarly publication in Indonesia (Supriyadi et al. 6024). In light of this fact, many scholars in Indonesia cite articles from publications included in Scopus. Despite receiving extensive assistance to publish their academic works, several undergraduate students in this study still needed help, owing to the prohibitive fees associated with doing so. Undergraduates may miss out on the professional development opportunity of having their papers published in foreign publications due to a lack of funding. Universities, like any other institution, need to take this into account.
A teacher’s education should be continuous for the development of students. A teacher’s capacity to foster learning necessitates that he or she be well-read in areas that might aid in skill development, such as the methods by which teacher learning is studied and the types of models for teacher professional development that have been proposed or discussed (Clarke and Hollingsworth 947). To properly address the topic of teacher transformation, it is crucial to consider the processes via which educators acquire new knowledge and skills (Clarke and Hollingsworth 947). Based on these findings, teachers must adopt an action research stance in an attempt to improve student achievement.
Findings from the study of Supriyadi et al. (6032) suggest that seven phases of activities are necessary to improve the number of student publications in higher education. They range from provision of instruments for academic writing to advocating for modifications. A strong drive and grasp of core writing approaches are two of the most significant and fundamental things in academic writing. However, in order to boost the number of publications, students need to be equipped with an understanding and proficiency in information technology in academic writing tools like Microsoft Word, the Publish or Perish application. It is necessary for searching for sources of information from journal indexing institutions, and reference manager applications for collecting references digitally, citing, and compiling bibliographies.
A total of four factors have been enhanced as a result of the seven actions conducted in this action study. Firstly, a boost of 88.09 percent in proficiency with Microsoft Word’s toolset is noticeable (Supriyadi et al. 6032). Additionally, the capacity to track down references from databases of indexed journals has increased by 93.65% (Supriyadi et al. 6032). Moreover third, the reference management app’s usability has improved by 88.09 percent (Supriyadi et al. 6032). In a fourth point, students’ odds of being able to write high-quality academic writing have increased by 84.92%—the cumulative effect of the first three price hikes in the fourth (Supriyadi et al. 6032). This indicates that it is possible to improve academic writing quality by raising proficiency with essential technology.
In conclusion, writing is an essential skill inseparable from the academic culture that must be fostered in the proper setting. Along with its progress, the dissemination of academic works transcends regional constraints, so making it simpler for scholars to conduct literature reviews. However, these advantages do not correspond with the students’ capacity to produce academic work. Although it might be raised with the implementation of technology and boosting the proficiency of utilizing vital apps to enhance their writing.
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