The Ability to Adapt is an Important Academic Skill

One of the most important academic skills I have learned in my entire academic career so far is the ability to adapt my work to a certain set of specifications. I have been given many assignments that have seemed insurmountable or an assignment that seems extremely boring, but I have had to make the best of it. There are a few steps that I have learned to take so that the assignment works for me as well as the professor and the college.

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In my own academic work, I try to find something that fascinates me within the confines of the assignment. If I can find something that interests me that fits the scope of the assignment, I will learn a lot and make it through, because my passion then fuels me to throw my whole self into the assignment. Sometimes this requires a bit of creativity. I have had a professor tell me that having personal interests inform my academic interests is a legitimate way of developing my professional work.

I have also learned to take all professor feedback seriously. Different professors have different preferences and often the difference between a good grade and a great grade is catering to the professor’s preferences. I might have a great concept, but if I don’t adapt my writing, it may not get as far. In my literary studies, some professors prefer a lot of direct quotes from the literary texts, and some prefer less, with my own words being of more value. Taking the professor’s feedback and running with it, even if it’s not my preferred method, yields better results. This doesn’t mean I change the content of my work it means that I adapt the writing style to someone else’s preferences in order to be more successful.

One of my favorite exercises is workshopping: the assignment where I post my work to be critiqued by fellow classmates. Workshopping is basically a version of peer review and if I continue in the academic world, my work will be peer-reviewed. The thing I like best about workshopping is that in critiquing the work of others, I learn more about my own work. I know when I workshop, I tend to find mistakes in the work of others that I make myself. Knowledge is power, knowing that I tend to make certain mistakes means I can fix them because I’m looking for them.

Another thing I remember is that the syllabus is my best friend. The requirements for the assignments are all in the syllabus, which is basically a contract between me and the college, meaning that the professor and myself are bound by the syllabus. Reading the syllabus over and over and becoming intimately acquainted with the assignment requirements really helps me as I work.

To be successful in academia, adapting to meet certain requirements is an important academic skill. Paying attention to the details has gotten me far.