READING LEADER

PRESENTATION FOR INYO-504

UNAIS KHAN MOHAMMED (G01472042)

Chapter 3- Deciphering Academic
Jargons
 Contents:
• What does the phrase “deciphering academic jargons” mean?
• Pervasive use of academic jargons.
• Problems student face due to existence of jargons in academia.
• Benefits of deciphering academic jargons.
• Categories that academic jargons fall under.
• Conclusion
Deciphering Academic Jargons
 What does the phrase “ Deciphering Academic
Jargon” mean ?
• Deciphering - Breakdown, understand, interpret, understand.
• Jargons - Special words or expressions that are used by a particular
profession or group and are difficult for others to understand.
• Academic - relating to education and scholarship.
• Deciphering Academic Jargons basically means to understand/interpret
special terminologies and words that are related to one’s academic studies
that can sometimes be hard to understand as they are very technical. It can
include abbreviations, ranks, titles names etc.
 Pervasive Use of Academic Jargons:

• Very common in day-to-day life of students.

• Hard to understand for students and can sometimes be an hinderance or a
barrier for them to proceed in their classes.
• Exists in every discipline.
• Using them makes one look educated in the subject.
• Has been used in education through out history.
 Problems with the Existence of Jargons in
academia.
• Jargons have discipline-specific meanings.
• Hard to pronounce.
• Impractical to use in real-time conversations
• People not belonging to the same discipline and sometimes even people of
a discipline can get confused.
• Many words can have the same meaning.
• Leads students to get confused or to fake an understanding of the subject.
Benefits of deciphering academic jargons
• Helps student navigate discipline-specific subjects
• Helps students understand better.
• Helps students not fake an understanding
 Categories that academic jargons fall
under
They can fall into multiple categories. However, the come ones are:
• Degrees and requirements
• Jargon terms and acronyms
• Ranks and titles
• Jargon: Insider knowledge by design
 Degrees and Requirements
• Some degrees contain words that have the same meaning but are used differently under some
special context related to the discipline-specific programs
• Exams – Preliminary, comprehensive, qualifying, oral etc.
• Dissertations – Doctoral thesis, thesis, written report, literature review. Generally, varies across
degrees, departments and disciplines.
• Protocols – Different protocols for different disciplines. (Example human testing, animal testing
etc)
• Proposals – Different degrees, disciplines and programs require different layouts of proposals that
are very particular in their approach and require different types of approvals.
• Defenses - Proposal defense, dissertation defense or sometimes both.
 Jargon terms and Acronyms
• Jargons, abbreviations, and acronyms are present in academia as well.
• Abbreviations and acronyms sometimes may and may not differ between different
disciplines/departments.
• Examples for general acronyms: CV( curriculum vitae), TA (Teaching assistant), RA (Research assistant),
LOR (Letter of recommendation)etc.
• Some examples for discipline-specific acronyms: CM (Construction Manager), BIM (Building
Information Modeling) SWAT can mean special weapons and tactics in one field, and it can mean soil
and water assessment tool in civil engineering etc.
• It takes time to understand and learn both types, it also takes effort and curiosity.
• It can be challenging but is essential to understand one's discipline better and to get one's academic work
accepted.
 Ranks and Titles
• Academia also consists of an organizational order or a hierarchy of power.
• It can vary based on different member of an organizational structure, by status,
authority and responsibility.
• It can vary within a department and also outside the department.
• There can be different words for same things across different organizations.
• For example: Jobs with different names could have same requirements.
• For examples: Undergrads, Grads, doctoral candidates, lecturers, professors,
assistant professors, associate professors etc.
Common Hierarchy Prevalent in Universities
Common Hierarchy Under an Academic
Department
Based on Students
Common Construction Hierarchy
 Jargon : Insider knowledge by design
• Jargons can be confusing.
• Not all grad students know all the jargons belonging to their discipline, sometimes even
professors don’t know few jargons.
• No need to worry about that and neither should one have self-doubt.
• It is necessary to be passionate about learning different academic jargons especially as
graduate students sometimes it might be expected from us to know them as well.
• Surround yourself with people who don’t judge you and who encourage you in learning them.
• It will be initially hard and confusing when exposed to jargons but over time you’ll get
comfortable with them and get used to them and maybe even take them for granted.