Essay Writing and Portfolio Assessment

This assignment focuses on evaluating your essay writing abilities through a portfolio task. It requires you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the essay writing process, including conducting research, supporting arguments with evidence, constructing well-organized paragraphs, and adhering to academic style guidelines (Harvard referencing). The task includes a self-assessment checklist to gauge your progress against various criteria, such as content depth, critical thinking, and communication effectiveness.

English for Academic Purposes 2
(EAPB3017)
Name:
Student
Number:
Tutor name:
This is your English for Academic Purposes 2 e-portfolio which you must submit on Thursday
27th April 2017 by 2pm via the Student Portal. This should be completed throughout the
course and you must make sure you save your work regularly (e.g. on your computer, on a
USB stick, on email or on the Cloud drive). Please refer to suggested word counts for each
task included within this portfolio.
Assessed Learning Outcomes:
1. Produce elements of a cohesive and coherent researched essay
2. Listen to an academic lecture whilst taking coherent notes
3. Read, compare and summarise a number of written academic texts.
PORTFOLIO TASK
Week 1: Where are you now?
Using the list from EAP 1, tick (X) the same boxes for each skill in the first column, and tick () the appropriate
box for each skill in the second column, according to how well you think you can do this now.
Skill This is new for
me
I need to
develop this
skill
I can improve
this skill
I
c
a
n
1

d
o
t
h
i
s
w
e
l
l
2

Looking for information
Identify which book / journals/ websites
to use ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Select relevant parts of a text ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Using sources
Acknowledge sources of information ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Write a reference list correctly
Avoid plagiarism ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Planning/Writing
Brainstorm ideas ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Plan written work ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Link ideas effectively ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Paraphrase & summarise ideas ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Write an introduction ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Write a conclusion ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Personal Study
Work independently ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Manage my time ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Oral Presentation
Brainstorm ideas with peers
Discuss written work in a tutorial ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
IT
Access the internet ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Use search engines ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Create word documents ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Use PowerPoint
PORTFOLIO TASK
2

Week 1& 10: Personal Development Plan (PDD): Specific – Measurable – Achievable – Realistic – Timescale [SMART]
3

Write down the strengths and weaknesses you listed in EAP 1 in the box below, which can also be from your
feedback. Use complete sentences.
Strengths
My strength is that I am very much capable to access the Internet. I have
also done my entire work on my own. .
Weakness
My weakness is that I am unable to manage my time properly and also I
am not able to design appropriate plans for my tasks and activities.
Now think about what you would like to improve. Be specific when describing your goals and how you will
achieve and measure them. (100 – 150 words)
Tar
get
Goal Action Success Criteria Completed by?
e.g. Time management- It
refers to those
methods through
which I can organise
and plan my work as
to how much time I
should spend time on
each task and activity.
It will enable me to
organise and form
plans for dividing my
time between
particular activities.
Make time tables,
schedules and
prioritising my
tasks.
Take feedback
from superior
and my peers.
Also I will be
doing self
monitoring
to supervise my
skills and
improvement
June 2017
1 Planning skills- These
are the skills which
will allow me to see
ahead and achieve
objectives. These
skills will facilitate me
in making and
executing decisions.
Make schedules for
uninterrupted time
for each day.
Foresee the
sequences of
activities to
accomplish goals.
The results after the
plans are implemented.
Click here to enter
text.
2 Brainstorming Try to read out new
things for becoming
more creative and
finding new ways of
The outcomes when
creative ideas are
executed.
Click here to enter
text.
2

performing tasks.
3 Write an introduction To study different
reports to gain
knowledge about
how to form a
proper introduction
to a report.
Comments and reviews
of seniors
Click here to enter
text.
PORTFOLIO TASK
2

Organising your ideas: Are my sources reliable?

Using the sources you have found (not from GSM Learn or the reading list), answer the questions below to
determine if they are reliable. Make notes.
Source 1 Source 2
Who wrote/said it? Parker, 2013 Powell and Miller, 2014
Are they qualified to speak on this topic? Yes he is qualified. Yes they are qualified.
Do they have a personal interest in that
issue?
Yes he has a personal interest
on this issues.
One of the author Powell has more
interest than the other Miller.
What type of source is it? Books Journals
Has it been verified in any way? Can it be
proved?
Yes it is verified. Yes it is verified
Is there evidence to support this claim? No there is not proof for
supporting this claim.
In this sources also there is no
evidence to support.
Was the source created to persuade, sell,
entertain, inform or for another purpose?
Source is created to inform. This source was also intended to
provide information.
Is the content relevant to your research? Yes the content is relevant. Yes the content is relevant to a
great extent.
When was it published/last updated? 2013 2014
Does this impact its relevance or
objectivity?
Yes it influences its relevance
and objectivity.
No it does not affect its relevance
and objectivity.
Give the full references of both your sources here in Harvard Style:
Parker, D., 2013. The Official History of Privatisation, Vol. II: Popular Capitalism, 1987-97.
Routledge.
Powell, M. and Miller, R., 2014. Framing Privatisation in the English National Health Service.
Journal of Social Policy, 43(03), pp.575-594.
2

PORTFOLIO TASK
Organising your ideas: Are my sources reliable?
Create an outline using bullet points and not full sentences. Include in-text citations where necessary. You
should add to this throughout the course. (150 – 200 words)
Essay Question
NHS should be privatised or not?
Arguments in Favour (Yes) Arguments against (No)
Economic
If the number of people using services
of NHS are less, it will enable the
government to bring down the taxes and
makes reduction in borrowing. Also
selling of owned assets to private firms
will increase revenues of the
government (Frith, 2015). It will also
grow the efficiency level of
management in health care services.
Private firms operates for shareholders.
They place profit margins before the
patient and their health. If NHS is
privatised then companies will overcharge,
over-treat and will pay less attention on
safety and health of patients. Transfer of
ownership of this sector may bring an
inbuilt monopoly (Powell and Miller,
2016).
Social
Absolute privatisation of NHS will
surely remove political intervention and
interim goals in managing NHS. The
government institutions makes bad
business managers as their actions are
impacted by political ideologies
(Iacobucci, 2015). Thus, a privatised
NHS enterprise will be operated
through business ethics. With
privatisation the important decision will
be based upon economic principles.
When NHS is given in the hands of private
firms, public will lose the authority to hold
healthcare services providers responsible
(Dyer, 2014). This is because private firms
are legally needed to give rewards to their
stakeholders by making revenue generation
their priority. They do not depict public
interest for rewarding their stakeholders.
2

PORTFOLIO TASK
Making notes with confidence
[Insert a screenshot/photo of you in-class notes here]
Click here to enter text.
2

Write a summary about what you have just listened to. (No more than 100 words)
It has been concluded that there are more strong arguments against the privatisation of NHS. The
economic benefits of privatisation may seem to be fascinating but the negative economic aspects of
privatising healthcare organisation are strong enough. Thus, it can be seen that although there are
some good benefits of privatisation of NHS but one cannot ignore the negative implications. Same is
in the case of social aspects (Davis and et. al., 2013). If NHS is given in the hands of private
organisations then it may lead to an increase in inequality. There are more positive benefits of this as
compared to the economic aspects. So it can be summed up that economic aspects give more
disadvantages while social aspects provide more benefits.
Write a response to the opinions given. (No more than 100 words).
One should not only consider the benefits of social aspects in privatisation of NHS. Equal attention
has to be given to the economical disadvantages of privatisation of healthcare services. So, both the
negative and positive perspectives of social and economic implications should be given with due
emphasis so that effective results can be drawn (Smith and Peedell, 2014). They have to be balanced
in an effective manner. The demerits and merits both should be considered equally as both of them are
important.
2

PORTFOLIO TASK
Developing your arguments: Paraphrasing/Summarising
Choose one aspect (e.g. Economic or Social) and summarise and/or paraphrase the main points you noted in
the outline. Use complete sentences and include in-text citations where necessary. (150 - 200 words).
Arguments in favour (Yes):
Economic aspect: Private healthcare service providers can give their help in reducing the fiscal burden
of state by reducing expenditure on NHS for those who can afford quality health insurance. Also, if
NHS is privatised then it will not be restricted by public budgets (Kaehne, 2014). Also, it will bring
more improvements in the financial and clinical results for healthcare sector.
Arguments against (No):
Economic aspect: As it is stated in the above arguments, NHS brings together critical elements in
healthcare services that makes it the biggest unions in this industry. If the ownership of NHS will be
transferred to private organisations then it may introduce an intrinsic monopoly. This monopoly can
increase the risk of deterioration of citizens (Parker, 2013).
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PORTFOLIO TASK
Developing your arguments: Combining Sources
Combine the summaries from the previous task to create the first body paragraph of your essay. Use the
guide below to help you and highlight each part with the same colour. (250 – 300 words).
Body paragraph 1
Say why this is a key issue (e.g. Economic/Social)
(this is your topic sentence)
What is the counter-argument of this issue?
(this is the opinion you do not agree with)
What is the main argument if this issue?
(this is your opinion)
Why is your argument stronger than the counter-argument?
What evidence/examples do you have to support this?
What can you conclude from this? What are the implications?
You should use at least 2 sources in this paragraph.
Economic aspects are a major issues because financial health is very important for a nation which
showcases its economic condition and position.
This cannot be alone the argument which is true. The social aspects are also equally essential which has
significant impacts if NHS is privatised.
If NHS is privatised then it will have several economic implications which should be considered as it
will also impact the pockets of the patients or services users.
To consider economic aspects is more important then social issue as it is related with the financial
conditions of the nation as well as the services users.
For instance: If economic aspects are ignored and only social implications are given attention then it
can harm the financial status of the NHS sector.
It can be concluded that if economical aspects are not taken into account, then it can give harmful
affects on the financial conditions of NHS sector, country and the patients.
2

PORTFOLIO TASK
Writing your argumentative essay
Complete your essay below. (900 words: +/- 10%).
The NHS should be privatised. Discuss
The arguments which are presented in the above section in favour of economic aspects are that transfer
of NHS in private hands will increase the efficiency level in the management of healthcare services and
resources. Improved efficiency is a prime factor for supporting privatisation of NHS. The private firms
are majorly focused towards their profit margins with a possible reduced operational cost. This profit-
oriented focus is driven by the requirement of rewarding the stakeholders and investors who contribute
their resources in a venture expecting for gaining profits after a specific time period. These approaches
have an ability to enhance the potentiality of NHS as a whole and not only for financial goals, but also
for delivering services (Powell and Miller, 2014). On the other hand, the government enterprises does
not share their profits with the stakeholder or management, therefore very less or can say zero
motivation for working hard is there. Further, profit-oriented firms are more focused towards long term
and sustainable approaches.
The arguments against the privatisation of NHS in terms of economic factors are that if the healthcare
service are given in the hands of private organisations then there are possibilities that it creates an
inherent monopoly. Apart from this, the desire for high profit margins and effective services will
obviously outlast other organisations, which will make the privatised NHS a single provider of
healthcare services and thus it will dominate the industry (Reynolds and McKee, 2015). This
domination will increase risk of exploitation of services users as privatised organisations can take high
prices for necessary services. This in turn will increase the cost and will deteriorate the healthcare
services because of the needs to cut the cost of functioning for growing the profit margins.
Considering the social factors favouring the privatisation of NHS are that full privatisation of the NHS
will surely eliminate interference by political parties and internal objectives in the management of
healthcare services in NHS. Government enterprises make poor managers as their actions are inspired
by political ideologies and focuses contrary to economic potentiality and ethics of doing business. For
example, government agencies may choose to hire surplus employees or make an increase in wages for
pleasing the electorates, this will increase the burden on healthcare enterprise (Greener, 2015). This can
also keep off from retrenchment of employees due to the fear of negative publicity and the effects
during the period of elections. Evidently, most of the authorities are concerned about the coming
elections, growing the preference for having internal plans and projects, relying on the immediate social
or political requirements of the society. This is totally different when privatisation is concerned. A
privatised NHS firm will be operated through ethics of doing a business. In these organisation, essential
decisions are taken on the basis of economic principles. For management of healthcare sector populist
resolutions will not appear at the cost of economic development (Krachler and Greer, 2015).
If negative arguments are considered, social implications also have some disadvantages. Government
organisation represent the interests of public at the cost of economic ethics and principles. In addition to
this, public puts the responsibility on the government for any mess or bad event which may happen in
public sector. If the NHS is given in the hands of private companies then people will have no power to
blame healthcare providers and puts liability on them (Reynolds, 2013). This is due to the fact that
2

private firms are legally required to give rewards to their stakeholders as it is their priority of generating
revenues. Apparently, private firms does not represents the interests of people for rewarding the
stakeholders. On the contrary, the government takes stands for common public and their interests. For
example, government agencies are morally and legally bound to offer necessary services, even if there
is no profit generation from those services. Specifically, NHS should provides its duties irrespective of
the profits or losses being received. This kind of approach is not there is vocabulary of private firms.
They are only profit-oriented business organisations which prefers to abjure form the areas or assets
having disadvantaged returns as they show for accomplishing sustainable financial progress. In the case
of privatisation of NHS it is feared that they would make it a priority to pay more attention on care and
treatment of patient instead of profit generation (Goffey Pettinger and Speed, 2014). Also, in a
healthcare industry there is no need of profit motive for improving standards.
Apart from economical and social aspects there are some another aspects also which are to be taken into
account for this debate of whether NHS should be privatised or not. Those in favour of privatisation
have a view that in the present political scenario there is a noted commitment towards the virtues of
private firms and rivalry in the free market (Dyer,2014). But those against in this concept holds an
opinion that there is no requirement for the government agencies to release control and power on NHS.
Basic healthcare for everyone is a broadly accepted right in the country and issues related with NHS
such as overburdening of healthcare staff and much more cannot be solved by handing over this
accountability to private enterprises. If the government desires to make improvements in NHS then it
should raise taxes for raising the standards of national healthcare services for everyone.
Reference List
Davis, J., Banks, I., Wrigley, D., Peedell, C., Pollock, A., McPherson, K., McKee, M., Irving,
W.L., Crome, P., Greenhalgh, T. and Holland, W., 2013. Act now against new NHS
competition regulations. BMJ: British Medical Journal (Online), 346.
Dyer, C., 2014. Bill to curb privatisation in NHS clears first hurdle. BMJ: British Medical Journal
(Online), 349.
Frith, L., 2015. The Changing National Health Service: Market-Based Reform and Morality:
Comment on'Morality and Markets in the NHS'. Browser Download This Paper.
Goffey, A., Pettinger, L. and Speed, E., 2014. Politics, policy and privatisation in the everyday
experience of big data in the NHS. In Big Data? Qualitative Approaches to Digital
Research (pp. 31-50). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Greener, I., 2015. Wolves and Big Yellow Taxis: How Would Be Know If the NHS is at Death's
Door? Comment on'Who Killed the English National Health Service?'. Browser Download
This Paper.
Iacobucci, G., 2015. Privatisation of cancer and end of life care services in Staffordshire could threaten
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NHS providers, warn critics.
Kaehne, A., 2014. One NHS, or Many? the National Health Service under Devolution. Political
Insight, 5(2), pp.30-33.
Krachler, N. and Greer, I., 2015. When does marketisation lead to privatisation? Profit-making in
English health services after the 2012 Health and Social Care Act. Social Science &
Medicine, 124, pp.215-223.
Parker, D., 2013. The Official History of Privatisation, Vol. II: Popular Capitalism, 1987-97.
Routledge.
Powell, M. and Miller, R., 2014. Framing Privatisation in the English National Health Service.
Journal of Social Policy, 43(03), pp.575-594.
Powell, M. and Miller, R., 2016. Seventy Years of Privatizing the British National Health Service?.
Social Policy & Administration, 50(1), pp.99-118.
Reynolds, L. and McKee, M., 2015. Is the NHS really safe from international trade agreements?.
BMJ: British Medical Journal (Online), 350.
Reynolds, L., 2013. The future of the NHS--irreversible privatisation? Interview by Jill Mountford.
BMJ (Clinical research ed), 346, p.f1848.
Smith, R. and Peedell, C., 2014. Is the private sector a good thing for the NHS?. BMJ: British
Medical Journal (Online), 349.
PORTFOLIO TASK
Week 10: Getting a First!
Tick (✓) the appropriate column to check that your essay has included the necessary parts to help it get as
high a grade as possible!
Good
evidence
Some
evidence
Insufficient
evidence
Knowledge and
understanding
Have you worked through the tasks in this portfolio? ☐ ☐ ☐
Have you paraphrased/summarised ideas effectively? ☐ ☐ ☐
Do your portfolio tasks show understanding of the essay writing
process? ☐ ☐ ☐
Have you researched and supported your ideas with evidence
and examples? ☐ ☐ ☐
Cognitive/Intellectual Skills
Does your essay include an introduction and conclusion? ☐ ☐ ☐
Do your body paragraphs contain a counter-argument,
argument & evidence/examples, using appropriate linking
☐ ☐ ☐
2

words?
Have you used at least 4 sources (2 of them can be from class or
reading list) & combined your sources effectively? ☐ ☐ ☐
Have you made your opinions clear? ☐ ☐ ☐
Graduate: Transferable
Employability & Practical
Skills
Are you within the word count? ☐ ☐ ☐
Have you checked for spelling, grammar and punctuation
mistakes? ☐ ☐ ☐
Have you used appropriate academic style and appropriate
vocabulary? ☐ ☐ ☐
Have you included in-text citations and a reference list that
follow Harvard Style? ☐ ☐ ☐
Do you show good awareness of your strengths and weaknesses
(skills audit and PDP target)? ☐ ☐ ☐
2