The Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, on Tuesday, intensified efforts towards improving students research writing skills.
In a workshop tagged “Students in Action: Writing Research Papers for Relevance,’’ organized for postgraduate and final year students of the Department of Applied Microbiology and Brewing, Faculty of Biological Sciences, ESUT, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Aloysius-Michaels Okolie, stated that the workshop became necessary owing to the poor research writing skills of postgraduate and undergraduate students across tertiary institutions in the country.
The Vice Chancellor who was represented by his Deputy, Prof. Chike Nwoha, equally bemoaned rampant cases of copyright violations and other forms of academic thefts amongst students of tertiary institutions in the country, urging the students to take the workshop seriously in order to ensure that their future research papers would be of global standard as well as relevant to solving societal needs.
In his opening address, the Dean of ESUT PG School, Prof. Charles Chime, stressed that effective research lies not only in discovery of new knowledge but also in effective communication of its processes, procedures and findings to policy makers, industries and communities, hence the need to master effective research writing skills.
‘A research paper is more than an academic exercise; it is a bridge between your findings and the world waiting to apply them. Consider this: A breakthrough in microbial biotechnology remains dormant if buried in jargon or unclear structure. Relevance demands that your writing answers the “so what?” question, connecting your hypotheses to real-world solutions,’ Prof. Chime remarked.
Prof. Chime, who was equally the chairman of the occasion also urged the students to embrace collaboration, seek peer feedback, and uphold ethical standards. He equally charged them to let integrity guide their citations, methodology, and interpretations.
While lauding the ESUT Management for promoting the culture of academic excellence in the university, the Dean, Faculty of Biological Sciences, ESUT, Prof. Emmanuel Ogu, enjoined the students to embrace the gains associated with the rigours and painstaking activities of academic researches.
While urging the students to eschew academic frauds, he disclosed that his faculty has adopted anti-plagiarism software to detect those who engage in academic theft.
In his presentation titled ‘’Academic Writing and Avoidance of Plagiarism’’, the guest speaker, Dr. Okechukwu Ocho, told the students that the basic features of academic writings include methodology, objectivity, precision and proper referencing, adding that it must also be research-based.
Other features according to Dr. Ocho, include logical structure, thesis statement, evaluation and conclusion, adding that the aim of an academic writing is to educate and inform readers, especially, on a new knowledge.
He urged the students to avoid plagiarism in their academic writings, stating that it frustrates the progress of ongoing discussion in a subject matter.
