Actualizing my Intellectual Potential

• I have a clear vision of what I want to communicate and whyI only intervene when I have a clear understanding of what I want to say.

  Rarely Often
• I will not ask a question before I figure out precisely what I want to know.

  Rarely Often
• I start writing a text only when my audience, purpose and ideas are clear and precise.

  Rarely Often
• I differentiate the various forms of written communication (essay, report, memo, letter, dissertation, etc.) and know when and why to use each.

  Rarely Often
• I am familiar with various writing formats (descriptive, dialectic, argumentative, comparative, etc.) and I choose the one that best corresponds with my purpose.

  Rarely Often
• I take my audience’s expectations into accountI adapt my words and images to my audience.

  Rarely Often
• I formulate my explanations according to my audience: I take their knowledge, vocabulary and expectations into consideration.

  Rarely Often
• I take time to clarify my teacher’s expectations concerning the development and formatting of my assignments.

  Rarely Often
• I seek information about the performance criteria for an assignment.

  Rarely Often
• I ask for clarification of an exam question, when needed.

  Rarely Often
• I am attentive to any audience signs of misunderstanding, impatience and disagreement.

  Rarely Often
• I am complete, precise and exactI ensure the exactitude and exhaustivity of any facts that I report.

  Rarely Often
• I ensure that essential elements have not been omitted.

  Rarely Often
• I ensure having the level of precision required for the goal that has been set.

  Rarely Often
• I carefully select the elements of my communicationI go straight to the point: I eliminate useless or redundant information, cut out jumbled ideas and avoid complicated detours and digressions.

  Rarely Often
• I am coherent in my arguments.

  Rarely Often
• I use convincing arguments to win over my audience.

  Rarely Often
• I base my arguments on facts and logical reasoning.

  Rarely Often
• I structure my communication using sets and subsetsI note my ideas as they come and classify them, as soon as possible, according to their importance and probable order.

  Rarely Often
• When I write a text, I start with determining my guiding idea, main ideas, secondary ideas and I classify the facts, my arguments, reasoning, examples and opinions based on each idea.

  Rarely Often
• I establish the order of my ideas and arguments before speaking or writing.

  Rarely Often
• When I write, I clearly define the different parts of my text: paragraphs, titles, subtitles, structure markers, etc.

  Rarely Often
• When I prepare a class presentation, I indicate all of my objectives and my plan and underline the transition from one idea to another, from one part to another, so that my audience can easily follow me.

  Rarely Often
• I often rely on tables, schemas, figures and other succinct and visual means to present information.

  Rarely Often
• I do a quality check of my work before I submit itI know the difference between borrowing and plagiarism.

  Rarely Often
• I make sure that my purpose corresponds to assignment requirements before and while working on it (I answer the question asked, I remain on topic, I meet all requirements).

  Rarely Often
• I make sure that my answers are complete and sufficiently precise and that all information and necessary explanations of my view point are included.

  Rarely Often
• I check my work for any mistakes or flaws, once it is finished.

  Rarely Often
• I do not hesitate to have a competent and neutral individual check my work.

  Rarely Often
• I am careful about the presentation of my work: formatting, graphic design, spelling, syntax.

  Rarely Often
• I systematically refer to my grammar and dictionary to check for syntax, spelling mistakes and word definitions.

  Rarely Often
• I am familiar with and use a university-level writing guide.

  Rarely Often
• I do not hesitate to seek assistance from the specialized linguistic services offered by the university.

  Rarely Often

Communication is a social art that we need to perfect. This art is based on several basic principles: clear intentions, taking the listener into account, careful selection and logical structure of the information to be shared, verifying that the message has been received and understood...