Communication Skills

Communications skills are essential to be successful both academically and professionally. In fact, communication skills are some of the most sought after by employers. However, these skills are challenging to develop, so luckily there are plenty of resources here to help you while you are still a student.


Check out some of our helpful resources and guides below!

 

Communication in our Curriculum:

In our accountancy courses, select papers and presentations are evaluated based on four criteria:

1. Coherence The organization and unity of your information.
2. Clarity How clearly and directly you present information.
3. Conciseness The simplicity and precision of your language and information.
4. Mechanics Your use of proper grammar, punctuation and spelling.

While these criteria may seem simple at first, adhering to them can be a struggle. What often helps is knowing how these criteria are graded.

Rubrics & Feedback Guides:

 

Academic Integrity:

Academic integrity also is extremely important here at Illinois, as both a part of our Student Honor Code and as a solid building block for your future professional responsibilities. Therefore, it's crucial for you to properly reference and cite outside sources, and to avoid any potential concerns or issues in regards to plagiarism.

Unsure about the essentials of proper citation and plagiarism avoidance? Visit:

 

Communication Guides:

Have communication questions? Here are some handy documents on various topics:

 

Additional Communication Resources:

  • The University of Illinois Writers Workshop: With five on-campus locations, the Writers Workshop is open during fall and spring semesters and is available to any enrolled Illinois student at no additional charge. Students can schedule an individual, 50-minute appointment to review a specific paper, assignment, or any other written document. You can schedule an appointment online at illinois.mywconline.com or call (217) 333-8796.
  • Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL) : Purdue's OWL is one of the most extensive collections of writing advice on the web. The handouts are generally short but useful and offer plenty of examples. About half of the handouts address punctuation and grammatical issues and others focus on style, reference formats, and advice about the writing process itself ("When You Start to Write," "Overcoming Writer's Block," "Developing an Outline").
  • Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Center for Communication Practices: This is a hyperlinked style and punctuation guide. It is very nicely written and has plenty of examples. It extensively discusses fifty of the most common problems with punctuation and mechanics, including commas, semicolons, colons, dashes, parentheses, ellipsis dots, and hyphens.