Do I detect a hint of condescension? Hard to tell in text sometimes. I'm not sure how else to read your message, so in the event it is a passive aggressive attempt at being patronising I would caveat my original point with the fact I've spent the better part of a decade in higher education and I've done pretty well for myself in terms of marks, so if after all that I'm still not clear on what is meant by academic research or the point in the practice as presented to me during that time it's hardly my fault.