Academic and Research Skills: Planning and Research Development

This assignment focuses on academic and research skills, encompassing self-assessment, goal setting, and research methodologies. The student begins by identifying their strengths and weaknesses, followed by setting specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) targets for self-improvement. The assignment then delves into note-taking strategies, including active listening, information gathering from various sources, and different reading strategies. A significant portion of the assignment is dedicated to creating a detailed research plan, outlining objectives, survey methods, segmentation strategies, and data collection procedures using both primary and secondary sources, such as questionnaires and interviews. The student analyzes findings from a personal development plan and proposes an action plan for further improvement, emphasizing the importance of customer feedback and strategic adjustments to enhance services and achieve market objectives. This assignment provides a thorough exploration of academic and research skills, essential for professional and personal development.

Academic and Research Skills

Table of Contents
Academic and Research Skills.........................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Own strength and Weakness ................................................................................................3
1.2 Setting targets for self improvement.....................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
3.1 Main points of information from various sources :...............................................................4
3.2 Collection of information from different sources using reading strategies...........................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
Research Plan..............................................................................................................................6
2.2 Procedure for research work from different sources of secondary and primary information:
.....................................................................................................................................................7
TASK 5............................................................................................................................................8
Findings upon personal development plan..................................................................................8
Action plan, making notes for further actions required for improvement..................................8
CONCLUSION: ..............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES: ..............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In academic career academic skills are required for professional and personal
development. Various studies are needed and research work is required for an individual to
develop its abilities and skills so that particular person can properly listen , make notes and
conduct research work (Birley and Moreland, 2014).
TASK 1
1.1 Own strength and Weakness
Personal skills are known as the competency which is important for attaining the personal
and professional goals and objectives. In order to accomplish personal and professional objective
for me it is important to understand my strength and weakens.
Here below are provided my strength and weakness
Strength
 I am one of the best communicator as because my communication skills are effective. I
can easily deal with any one through use of my effective communication skills. I listened
to other carefully and respond them in appropriate manner.
 Further, one of my strength is that I am a good researcher as I can easily gather data and
analyse it. Therefore, my research skill is effective enough in respect to carry out my
professional life (DuBrin, 2015).
 I am also good in oral and written communication. These are my strength which is
accomplished through learning from training and other sources.
Weakness
 One of my weakness is lack of appropriate technical skills. As I cannot work on different
types of software effectively.
 Further I faced difficulties in managing my work on time. Due to lack of time
management skill most of the time I delay in my work. For me it is important to work on
these skills so that I can easily carry out my further study in an effective manner and
accomplish my professional goal.

1.2 Setting targets for self improvement.
It is important to set target for self improvement and analyse them in an effective manner
so that improvement can be done. Along with this, it is important to make improvement on
specified time as delay in it can increase the time as well as cost.
.
Specific: I can attempt training and development program for 3 months which help in making
improvement in my technical skills and knowledge. Along with this, I should take proper
guidance from superior so that they can take interview and help in making improvement in my
research skills (Earley, Fidler and Ouston, eds., 2017). To make listening skill more effective I
can take participate in the seminar which also help in improving English skills.
Measurable: For improving my technical skills I have allocated a time of 3 months. After three
months I will be able to achieve precise score in my technical course.
Achievable: I will make redundant efforts in order to improve my technical abilities by learning
numerous and relevant software and systems. I will ask for support from my colleagues,
supervisors and mentors where ever I found difficulties so that I can enhance my skills regarding
paraphrasing and summarising.
Realistic: The time limit and target set by me is realistic as three months will be appropriate for
me to enhance my computing and technical skills. There are loads of institutions who could
provide me specific guidelines through which I can increase my technical skills and
competencies. For interpretation of data, paraphrasing and summarising skills are essential and I
will carry out research on different topics so that my skills can be enhanced in every aspect.
Time Bound: To improve my technical skills, I have allocated 3 months, for improvement of
paraphrasing and summarising skills I have designated 2 months and for enhancing my listening
and comprehending skills I have given my self 3 months (Freedland, et.al., 2015).
TASK 2
3.1 Main points of information from various sources :
Note taking is required for gathering data and study purpose and is considered as an
important skill which is carried out in an effective manner. Research can be carried out through
various academic and fresh ways and methods. I have upgraded my own talent by using listening
technique in class room lectures because it helps in analysing information and learning

effectively. In class room I have properly faced the speaker and learned making eye contact with
the speaker to receive essence of information. I can give example like different theories of
leadership can be determined by speaker in class room lectures and I have assembled different
major points of these theories which are represented there in class. These points are further used
for analysis. To examine proper flow of authorities and their responsibilities in organisation, its
diagram is represented. No link between lectures have been found. These methods are used at
wide level in class rooms. Listening lectures from class rooms develop a technique of gathering
important notes and thus important information can be extracted (Frich, Brewster and Bradley,
2015). It needs complete concentration
which has to be heard in all senses. Active listener always listen with his/her senses else
speaker's information may found uninteresting. Interest can be developed through non-verbal and
verbal contact messages like smiling, nodding our head and eye contact as discussed earlier.
Listening is considered as fundamental part of communication skills. It is a process in which
proper decision is made and messages are understood by the speaker. I have learned to remain
non-judgemental and neutral. It is not good for listeners to come up with questions all the time to
speakers. Exploring their thoughts is very important.
3.2 Collection of information from different sources using reading strategies.
Various techniques can be implemented by scholars and authors to create a meaningful
note taking talent in a person. For this it is important that a person should go through the
information which has been collected by his own self and properly read out to carry a good
research work. I tried various reading techniques so that I can become expert in note taking. Note
taking is simply noting important points on a paper from a good speaker who has the ability to
explain each and every phrase topic (Hancock and Algozzine, 2016). The crux of information
should be taken out by the listener. First strategy is background knowledge should be activated in
the class lectures. Better comprehension will only occur if students involve themselves in
practices that link their new and old knowledge. Regarding this note taking skill, I also took part
and made presentations and performed practices so that major points can be determined. Another
reading strategy is to study complete structure of text book , journals and articles that are
delivered by speakers in class rooms. So in order to comprehend information letter it is necessary
to understand the design in which material will be presented in class rooms. Then comes,
visualization which is also reading strategy that focuses on visualizing materials. While reading

visual images can be made through text which can be proved as supportive tool to make a
comprehensive text. I applied this reading strategy also to improvise my skill. Lastly,
summarising is also well known strategy which paves path towards enhancement and
improvement of comprehensive passages (Ivers, et.al, 2014). Thus, these strategies help me to
summarise the main concept of the material gathered I the form of diagram, charts and in writing
form.
TASK 3
Research Plan
To achieve objectives and desired goals it is important to target market. For targeting and
positioning of market research work with proper planning is required. For appropriate services
and products a market is targeted where the products could be sold out easily. Customer could be
easily attracted with the products. This positioning can be done through research plan. I have
made various steps for the establishment of my research plan :
Setting objectives and aims: A clear direction should be there before carrying out research
work. For this, objectives should be planned out at first stage. Then only the research work can
proceed further.
Survey: Secondly, pilot survey is conducted to meet the requirements and running trends of
market. In survey, interview is taken from 10 respondents from different classes so that products
can be classified properly (Liu, 2016). In survey a group is targeted and activities are performed
accordingly. The main aim of marketing department is to develop demand in the eyes of
customers and to generate more and more customers as competition is very high. Every
organisation has to face its rivalry in this market. So through research plan managers are already
prepared with the upcoming threats and dangers.
Strategies regarding segmentation: For finding appropriate and potential customers, different
segmentation strategies are applied. These strategies segment the market according to demand
and supply of the product. Requirement of the customers will be analysed according to its
preferences. Prices of the products and services are set when the market is targeted according to
its capabilities (Mafuta, et.al., 2018).

2.2 Procedure for research work from different sources of secondary and primary information:
For the establishment of research work different sources of gathering information are
used like primary and secondary sources. In primary source, new information is collected and
examined.
Primary information
Questionnaire: It is a document prepared for asking questions to various groups of people.
Research consists of various academic topics and research based themes. I have also made
questionnaire in which products requirements are mentioned and its substitute in the market is
described in the research work. This questionnaire targets variety of people whose needs and
demands are considered (O'Sullivan and Dallas, 2017).
Interviews: In this method interviews are taken from selected people which have knowledge of
market and its related products and services. They conduct interviews only to those people who
are active on social sites, participate in seminars and workshops. Their recommendations are
considered.
Secondary Information:
This information is already collected in another research. Different journals, books and
articles can be used to target market for products and services. Best way of accumulating
secondary information is using internet directly.
First draft for research plan
A proper structure of research plan is modulated for its framework. In first draft of
research work objectives, aims, complete background of topic, rationale is described. For
targeting customers various online market reports, literatures, articles are prepared (Trieu, et.al.,
2015).
Listing of the sources used:
In different ways the sources are listed to carry out the planned research work:
Primary sources: Observation, interviews and questionnaire was prepared by me for the
collection of data. Besides this, company's website id is also very helpful to get fresh data. This
site has to be regularly updated.
Secondary Source: Here, different articles and journals are used to collect information. Finally
the draft is generated to benchmark standard.

TASK 5
Findings upon personal development plan.
From the information development plan I found that the feedback of the customers
towards their products was weak. They were not so much satisfied. But the services offered to
them were good which can be improved further (Byrne, et.al., 2014). Much more improvement
is required regarding prices, responding to the customers, testing survey with stakeholders,
properly identifying objectives and then preparing the final report.
Action plan, making notes for further actions required for improvement
The research plan can be improved in a more better way and more key points should be
included in it. Following should be the action plan for the targeted market :
1.) Key topics and aims should be considered in planning work. Main expectations of customers
should be identified.
2.)Budget should be identified for the research work as costing is required at every stage.
3.) Research Methodology should be clear. Whether to perform online or on paper.
4.) Results should be used in a proper way. End goals of research work are affected by the
questions asked to customers.
5.) A pre-awareness email or letter should be introduced before conducting a survey.
6.)Finally detailed report should be summarised with strengths and weaknesses.
These are main points which should be added in action plan.
CONCLUSION:
Finally it is concluded that I should have some strength and weaknesses which can be
nourished through reading strategies and to target market special strategies are applied with
proper action plan. This action plan should be discussed among fieldworkers so that proper result
can be received (Dahl, Lutz and Davidson, 2015). Many techniques are there for note making
which improves my skill and talent. I have to be a good and effective listener to proceed further
within organisation.

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