Try Paraphrasing instead of copying and pasting from internet for assignments and alike

Without knowing the future impairments, students of most of the educational institutions copy and paste the already published material from the internet for their assignments, term reports and projects. This act can bring in some good marks but not the real knowledge for which they have been perusing their education.

Students should think by themselves that this act of copying and pasting (the word plagiarism is used for copying and pasting someone else work and presented it as yours) cannot help them to improve their knowledge and skills, and when they will go into their practical life they will fail to accomplish the real time tasks. In today’s fast paced environment when opportunities are shrinking and the competition for a single position has been increasing, how one can bear a burden of having an MBA degree or alike and not having adequate knowledge because of copy paste act throughout the academic career. Employer won’t hire a person, who cannot prove to be a right candidate even after having a right degree for the available post.

The effective alternate way: Paraphrasing

Realize the reality and instead of copying the full material, do paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is done by reading related material and jotting down the important points. After doing this, the concept and broader view of a topic should be developed in your mind. Now start to write what is in your mind on a paper or a word- processor on computer. Write randomly without thinking that what you are writing is right or wrong. Once you are done with writing what is in your mind, take a break. After few minutes or even hours, start reading and editing what you have written. Finally, you will see you have produced a very good material with complete hand on information on the topic. This way you will improve your reading skills, writing skills, and creative thinking.

Try once and you will feel pleasure doing this again and again.

Traits of a Great Manager Cum Leader

While reading over the web, I found this article on leadership. Motivation and leadership are those topics which I always like to read and write. I like it, you will like it too. Originally published on the blog of Rozee.pk

You have all seen them, or have been lucky enough to have learnt from them: a teacher in class 5, a manager in your previous company, a captain of your cricket team. How are these people different from us? What qualities do these people possess that make them successful at what they do; how is it that people follow these leaders?

In this article, we will look at some traits of a leader. After reading, reflect upon how many of these characteristics do you possess. It does not hurt to start developing leadership skills at any stage.

Integrity:

Leaders are honest people with high moral values. Rather than playing blame game, where they try to pinpoint a scapegoat when something goes wrong, they hold themselves responsible in front of their management. Their employees trust the leaders and go out of the way to win accolades from them. This allows a very positive energy to flow within organizations.

Thus leaders bring with themselves a strong current of positive energy that helps the company meet tight deadlines, elevate employee morale and allows the company to stay competitive.

Risk Takers:

Leaders are not afraid to make difficult decisions. They take calculated risks. Whereas, a mediocre manager would want to always play safe, avoiding difficult projects or delaying decision making, leaders are always ready to take challenges head-on.

You will hear them welcome difficult projects that are high-profile. They are always ready to prove to the world that they can do it.

Natural Problem Solvers:

Leaders are naturally good at solving all sorts of problems. They are good at looking at issues from different dimensions and therefore offering unique, yet simple solutions. Leaders understand their product. Their solutions keep in mind the end user of their solution.

Good Listeners:

Leaders are good at resolving issues because they are good listeners. Pay attention to the person speaking loudly and continuously in a meeting; he is probably not a leader. Leaders tend to sit back and soak-in the information before offering solutions. And when they do, they are not averse to listening to contrary points of views.

Consensus Builders:

Leaders never take people for granted. They always build a consensus in their team prior to undertaking any major project. This is not to say that they cannot make their own minds up and need a committee. On the contrary, from the bosses who simply tell their employees what to do, leaders will explain what needs to be done and answer any ensuing questions.

People Development:

A very important aspect of what leaders do is that they develop people under them. Leaders are not content in simply lobbing easy tasks that can be hit out of the park each time by their employees. Leaders challenge their employees with new ideas and new tasks so that it adds to the skillset of that person.

Leaders empower people under them to take difficult decisions, to go on meetings by themselves, to propose new and bold ideas. Leaders ensure that, at the end of the year, an employee has grown beyond what he knew 1 year ago.

Enthusiastic:

Leaders are passionate about their work. They infuse energy in whatever assignment they take on. They are committed people who believe in their work assignments.

Eyes on the Prize:

Leaders are always very goal oriented. As they go through the day, they never lose sight of the main objective of a project or a product. They always have a long-term strategy in mind that they do not compromise for short-term gains.

Good Teachers:

Leaders are good coaches. They are selfless in spending time teaching people who work for them or with them. This trait helps people working for such a person to develop themselves and enhance their skills. Leaders make time to explain ideas and thoughts to people. They make time to share knowledge that they have with those that want to acquire it. They do not hoard information. They are approachable by anyone.

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Some people are born with these leadership traits, others acquire it over time. Try to learn from your mistakes, pay attention to those around you who emulate these leadership attributes and try to learn from them first hand. There is no better time to start than now.

Previous Posts Roundup of this Blog

1. Do you want every update of this blog directly to your email?

I wrote this post in the start of this blog to ask readers to get every new post of this blog directly in their emails. Few points in this post about the location of email subscription are not any more valid, but you can still get subscribed via email by just putting your email address in the field where “Enter your email address:” is written right below the banner of this blog and completing the action by pressing “Subscribe” button.

2. Use LinkedIn to Get a Job

This post was for the people who have been looking for the job but didn’t know that there is a new social network established where professionals from around the world are gathered. Anyone can find the job opportunity anywhere in the world and even in Pakistan.

3. UK STUDENT VISA SYSTEM SIMPLIFIED: Steps for Visa Application

I talked about the new student visa policy for UK in this post, and copied exact lines from the dawn newspaper.

4. Get Rid of the Fear of Public Speaking: An effective exercise for you

I talked about how one can remove the fear of public speaking by copying the exercise from a book which I read few months back.

5. Say no to Failure…

A motivational article about success. Why one should not scare of failure and keeps moving until he achieves his goals in life.

6. Some Job Interview Questions With Possible Ways of Answering

How to well perform in the job interview, a guideline for job seekers.

7. Guest Post: How to Motivate Yourself to Study

I received a guest post for my blog on how to mobilize yourself for studies when you feel like no study.

8. Improving Writing Skills: 10 Points to Become an Impressive English Writer

10 proven tips for improving English writing skills.

9. Thrive in your Career with Book Reading Habit

A most recent post about how to develop a book reading habit to make your career thriving.

Thrive in your Career with Book Reading Habit

Reading a book or any other material is certainly the hardest thing to do in this world. Very few people motivate themselves to read a book instead of watching TV or playing video game. But still some people find reading a most interesting thing to do; they can’t live without reading something every day.

Various researches have shown that people who read books, their career growth rate is higher than the non reader. Moreover, they have better managerial and people skills and have excellent decision making skills too. So, reading on regular basis is mandatory if you are willing to boost in your career path.

My focus through this article is on those who want to read books but can’t find themselves motivated or can’t continue reading after two or three lines. Developing a reading habit is quite difficult on initial stages, but once you develop this habit, you will find yourself restless until you grab a book and read something from it.

As I have mentioned already, developing a reading habit is difficult exercise, but it’s not impossible. The following few points can help a lot in this regard:

1. If you are a non book reader, buy your first non academic book of your area of interest. Like your first book could be an English grammar book.

2. Carry this book with yourself wherever you go. Even bring it while on picnic at the beach.

3. Read one or two paragraphs initially, increase it gradually to one page or two. After a certain period of time you will find more capability to read a book for hours.

4. Reading a book is one thing, but understanding what is written is more important than reading it. Hence, read it slowly and with understanding. If you don’t understand a sentence read it again and again. Take your time for reading a book there is no rush, because you need to extract the juice out of that particular book.

Improving Writing Skills: 10 Points to Become an Impressive English Writer

English is not our native language; therefore we are not guilty if our English is not good. However, learning English could be fun and it’s also a need for our career growth. Writing skills in this age are very crucial to become credible and respected in our job and in our daily life. If you write well you will be more respected and honored in your surroundings. I have seen many people lack in English writing, although they are good in speaking English. Therefore, I have mentioned 10 points to improve English writing skills which I have been using to improve my own writing skills.

1. Read grammar book, wherever you go take this book with yourself and read whenever you find time whether in the library, in the cafeteria, or even while travelling.

2. Try to write everything by yourself. Write reports and other material by your own-self, don’t copy,

3. See how successful writers make sentences. Try to copy their style of writing.

4. Whenever you listen any new word write it down, and check the meaning in the dictionary later.

5. Write something every day, even a small paragraph.

6. Read a piece of writing every day.

7. I know it’s hard to write in English, and generating sentences is difficult. Just write whatever is in your mind and don’t worry about the mistakes.

8. Check after few days what you have written, you will find grammar and other mistakes.

9. Ask your friend, who should be good in English writing, to check what you have written. Allow him to find mistakes and give the needful advice.

10. Finally, it’s all about practice. So, write, write and write.