Academic and Research Skills: Personal Development and SWOT Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of a student's self-assessment, focusing on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). The introduction highlights the importance of various skills in the business environment and the role of personal development plans. Task 1 presents the SWOT analysis, identifying the student's innovative nature, problem-solving abilities, work ethic, and honesty as strengths, while communication skills, a lack of interest in learning new things, inflexibility, and a lack of discipline are recognized as weaknesses. Opportunities include training seminars and workshops, while threats include competition. Task 2 discusses essential skills like note-taking, listening, and reading, and how they can be improved. Task 3 explores primary and secondary research methods, emphasizing the importance of a research plan. Task 4 outlines the student's personal development targets, focusing on improving communication skills and flexibility, with timelines and actions to achieve these goals.

Academic and
Research Skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
In today's business environment, various skills are there which should be there in an
individual to perform a specific job at workplace and to attain career goals and objectives. For
identify major strengths and weakness an individual can carry out personal assessment (Bhatia,
2014). For deal with its weakness, an individual can take help of personal development plan as
this help in improve the skills of individual which is very important to perform a specific job
role. Development of qualities and skills help an individual to manage the activities of routine
life. Present report contain information about strengths and weakness of an individual, use of
personal development plan to deal with the weakness is all included in this report.
TASK 1
I evaluate the my own strengths. I have also mentioned my weakness so that I can easily
remove them. I have many opportunities so that my weakness can become my own strengths.
Various threats are there which can hinder my work so I have to remove threats to improve my
career.
SWOT: It is a process in which I have mentioned my strengths, weakness, opportunity
and threats. I have to create that strategies which can remove my weakness. Thus the SWOT
analysis is described below:
Strength
 I am innovative person who creates
new ideas and suggestion for the
company. Thus they can give
innovative and distinct ideas to
company.
 I can solve all my problems in an cool
and effective manner. Thus as a result
they can solve all issues and problems
in every situation.
 I am hard working and perform all my
work with full dedication and passion.
Thus as a result I can complete all my
Weakness
 I do have effective communication
skills so that I can influence on other
people. Hence I have to create such
methods and strategies so that I can
easily enhance my own communication
skills.
 I am not interested in leaning new
things and recent techniques through
which I can manage all activities and
task in proper manner. Thus as a result
they can easily there is problem in
managing and handling all activities of
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work in minimum time.
 I am honest and performs all activities
in legal and right manner. Thus all
friends have trust on me. Thus as a
result they can easily perform all
activities in an effective manner.
business. I do not have flexibility in
taking decisions. Thus I cannot change
myself according to various situations.
 I am not disciplined and punctual so
hence I cannot attend urgent meetings
and important seminars of the
company. This hampers my work ton
larger extent.
Opportunities
 I have various opportunities through
which I can easily develop my career.
There are training seminars and
workshops through which I can easily
enhance my knowledge and skills.
Through this I can manage all activities
and task in efficient manner.
 I have to attend more seminars and
workshops so that I can improve my
knowledge and can improve my
interactive skills.
 I can also read some good books and
and watch good movies so that I can
get knowledge of every aspect.
Through this I can easily remove my
weakness.
 I have opportunity to interact with as
many people as I can. This helps in
reducing my fear in interacting with my
friends or other professional persons.
Threats
 I faces big threat due to competitors
companies. As due to changing
technology and tools I have to
continuously enhance my technical
skills and knowledge. If I cannot update
my skills then I cannot survive in this
competitive world. Thus I have brush
up my knowledge and skills so that I
can manage all activities and task in
effective manner.
Objective: I have be punctual and disciplined and enhance my knowledge and skills in 6 months.
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TASK 2
Different skills and qualities are require to handle activities of routine life and to perform
job roles and duties in an organisation. Note taking is one of the essential skill which should be
there in an individual. Mainly note taking is the process in which an individual collect and
analyse the information from various sources (Cormier and Hagman, 2014). One of the major
advantage of this is that it help in reveal the major findings and relevant information related with
a topic. Before collect notes, it is very important for an individual to have information about the
main topic and main objective of gather data.
Listening skills is one of the major skill which should be there in an individual. One of
the main benefit of this is that it help an individual to listen and analyse the opinions of others.
This increase effectiveness of note taking process and support in gather all the data related with
the main topic of research (Hebert and Hauf, 2015). It is very important for me to be attentive
and open mind during listening and I can provide my feedback to the sender to ensure my
understanding. In addition to this for improve my this skill in require to take part in different type
of presentation and seminars. By improve my listening skill I can increase the effectiveness of
note taking process.
Reading is another skill that is very important for an individual as this help in explore to
new knowledge and skills. This largely help an individual to attain it career goal. With this I can
collect relevant information related with the topic of research and with this I can communicate
with others in an effective manner (Krueger, 2014). By reading I can gather useful data related
with the main topic and in this way I can find an effective solution of the problem. With
collected data I can interact with others in effective manner. Reading is the skills through which I
can present my views before others.
Paraphrased is another skill which improve the effectiveness of note taking. I can
paraphrase various data in order to improve my this skill. I can take out some inspirational
information or data related with my topic for the purpose of rephrase. In this way I can gather all
the information related to my research. With this, I can represent information before others and I
communicate better with others.
TASK 3
Research help an individual to collect and analyse the relevant information related with
the topic. This help in draw reliable conclusion and at the same time support in identify and
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effective solution of the problem. Various activities are carry out by an individual to complete
research and it is very important that all activities should be complete in time. For this,
researcher can develop a research plan that help in identify the resources and time require to
complete the research. Various type of research are there which can utilise by investigator to
complete the research. Method use by research worker is depend on the topic and nature of
research. Various type of research can be understood by the following points:
 Primary research: Under this research, researcher identify and collect up to date and fresh
data related with the topic of research. Major tools use by research worker in this are
interviews, questionnaire and survey (Litosseliti, 2017). One of the main benefit of this
research is that it help researcher aware about the trends exist in market and this help in
draw reliable conclusion which increase the effectiveness of whole research. Huge
amount of funds are require to complete this type of research and this is very time
consuming also.
 Secondary research: This is another type of research which can be carry out by
investigator in order to analyse the topic and to collect relevant information related with
the same. One of the main feature of this research is that it is time saving and cost
effective method and also provide basis to carry out primary research. This help in deal
with the research issue and support in find an effective solution.
It is very important to choose a right research method as per the topic of research and as
per the funds and time available (O'Neil, 2014). Research plan is the one which play a big role in
success of research so it is very important for an individual to formulate an effective research
plan as this help in complete all research activities in given time and with available cost.
Following are the major activities included to complete a research:
 Determine topic of research-based
 Develop objectives
 Formulate strategy to complete research
 Determine the resources and cost require to carry out research
 Time scale
 Conclusion
TASK 4
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My personal
development
targets
Long or
short
term
targets
How will I attain my
targets? What activities
do I applied to
undertake to
accomplish my
objectives? What
support do I need?
Date of
review
Progress
made
towards
target
Further action
needed
Actual
data of
accomplis
hing
targets
Communicat
ion skills
Long
term
In order to enhance my
communication skills, I
attend conferences,
seminars, lectures by
experts etc. which helps
me in increasing my
understanding
regarding various
methods to improve my
communication skills. I
also watch movies,
videos and reading
different books and
novels which beings
fluency in my language
and enable me to
interact with others in
effective way.
4
months
After 4
months, my
communica
tion skills
gets
improved
and I am
able to
interact
with others
in more
effective
and
efficient
manner. I
attain 40%
progress
towards my
target.
For improvising
my
communication
skills I also take
some further
actions like
taking
participation in
group activities,
debates etc. I
also host some
events which
will increase
my confidence
level and
enhance my
interactive
skills.
1 year
Lack of
flexibility
Long
term
For increasing
flexibility, I keep
updating myself from
prevailing trends which
5
months
My
flexibility
is increase
by 20% by
I keep
participating in
group activities
so that further
1 year
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help me in adapting
myself with those. Self
motivation is also one
of the factor that assists
me in adapting with
changes. Apart from
this, I keep myself
indulge in team
working so that I can
work coordinately with
others.
taking these
actions. I
am able to
adapt
myself with
every
situation.
improvements
can be made. I
also include
myself in
various
activities so
that I may get
opportunity to
interact with
others and
increase my
flexibility.
Discipline
and
punctuality
Long
term
For managing time in
proper way it is very
important to bring
discipline in life. I set
some boundaries and
stay away from bad
distractions. I also gets
some technical help in
order to manage my
tasks. All this will help
me in improving my
skills and managing my
time in an effective and
efficient manner. This
will help me in
finishing my work on
time.
6
months
My time
manageme
nt skills are
improve to
very much
extent.
Now, my
tasks are
completing
on time and
my time is
managed.
For further
improvements,
I prepare time
schedule for
each work and
prioritize each
activity
according to its
importance.
1 year
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CONCLUSION
From the given project report, it can be concluded that it is very important for an
individual to utilise personal development plan in order to improve the skills and qualities. This
make the individual aware about the activities require to implement by him in order to improve
his skill. It also help individual in identify the parties whose support is very important for attain
set goal. All this assist individual in attain its career goal and objective.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bhatia, V. K., 2014. A generic view of academic discourse. InAcademic discourse(pp. 31-49).
Routledge.
Cormier, S. M. and Hagman, J. D. eds., 2014.Transfer of learning: Contemporary research and
applications. Academic Press.
Hebert, A. and Hauf, P., 2015. Student learning through service learning: Effects on academic
development, civic responsibility, interpersonal skills and practical skills. Active
Learning in Higher Education.16(1). pp.37-49.
Krueger, R. A., 2014.Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research. Sage publications.
Litosseliti, L., 2017.Research methods in linguistics. Bloomsbury Publishing.
O'Neil, H.F. ed., 2014.Learning strategies. Academic Press.
Robson, C. and McCartan, K., 2016.Real world research. John Wiley & Sons.
Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016.Research methods for business: A skill building approach.
John Wiley & Sons.
Wilson, E. ed., 2017School-based research: a guide for education students. Sage.
Wright, M., 2014. Academic entrepreneurship, technology transfer and society: where next?.The
journal of technology transfer.39(3). pp.322-334.
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