Academic Research Skills: A Self-Assessment Report

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Academic Research skills

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................2
a) Assess own academic strengths and weaknesses including academic English language skills
.....................................................................................................................................................2
b) Set targets for self-improvement.............................................................................................4
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................8
Note Taking Skills.......................................................................................................................8
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................11
Research project.........................................................................................................................11
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................15
write up your findings on your Personal Development Plan.....................................................15
Develop your action plan, making notes of further actions required for improvement............16
References......................................................................................................................................18

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Key requirements for improving notes taking skills........................................................8
Figure 2: Some of the examples of paraphrasing............................................................................9
Figure 3: Example of writing summary.........................................................................................10

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Personal Development plan...........................................................................................4
Table 2: Action Plan....................................................................................................................16

Introduction
Academic skills refer to the capability of an individual to efficiently, find out, categorise,
analyse, and assess the information with an objective to get the fruitful outcome. Academic skills
are vital to conduct the research as it helps to critically analyse the research questions and
support in presenting the summary in an efficient manner. In the present report, some of the
academic skills which are discussed include communication, notes taking, and paraphrasing and
summarising, and English language skills. The present task is bifurcated in four sections, in
which first section focuses on identification of strength and weaknesses of skills and a personal
development plan that helps to improve the lacking areas. The next section focuses on the
significance of notes taking skills, paraphrasing and summarising along with relevant examples.
Third section focuses on the research project on the globalisation while the last section depicts
the findings of personal development plan, based on which action plan is developed.
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Task 1
a) Assess own academic strengths and weaknesses including academic English language skills
Academic skills refer to the process of learning in which an individual acquires wide
opportunities to gain different types of skills for its growth. Academic skills include, conflict
resolution, critical thinking, decision making, etc. plays an important role in the growth and on
the basis of my experiences, I have identified my skills and relevant strength and weaknesses that
supported me to attain my personal and professional targets.
Strengths:
English language skills play a crucial role in expressing my ideas in a qualitative manner.
Academic skills are required to be integrated with English proficiency skills to express views and
opinions whether in verbal or written form. Hence, appropriate and efficient use of language is
essential to express what I want to say to others (Rabiner et al., 2016). I posses decisions making
skills that help me to conduct my research in an effective manner as I can efficiently manage my
team efforts and drive them towards goals and objectives with strategic decisions and
approaches. I also possess critical thinking skills that help me to conduct thoughtful analysis with
effective solutions to address various issues. It also helps me to make informed decisions and get
a positive outcome. I have good problem-solving skills that help me to enhance my capability of
resolving various issues that support me to get accurate and reliable solutions. Such skills are
required to be integrated with research skills so that academic research can be effectively
conducted in terms of positive and accurate outcome.
Weaknesses:
Along with my strength, I also possess some lacking areas which I required to improve through
enhanced learning capabilities. In my English language, I have experienced that my grammatical
and spelling mistakes are made often. This highly affects my writing skills. I somehow lack in
expressing my thoughts through verbal communication. This limitation restricts me in terms of
confidence while sharing my ideas with my colleagues (Trenholm, 2017). In addition, I also do
not have good knowledge of taking and writing notes from different sources of information.
Hence, I require high time to summarise any information to arrive at conclusions. I need to work
2

on my independent learning skills as I always focus on continuous learning; however, I cannot
effectively manage my time and resources that affect the overall outcome of the research.
Skill Audit Plan
Skills required Self Evaluation ( Ratings from 1 to 5)
Personal Skills
Communication Skills 3.5
Problem Solving Skills 5
Critical Thinking Skills 4.8
Academic Skills
Research 3.5
Note taking 2.5
Independent working 2
Summarising 2.5
English language skills
Written English Skills 4
Oral English Skills 3
Spelling and Grammar Skills 3.5
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b) Set targets for self-improvement
Establishment of personal development plan is essential to improve the areas where I lack. The
plan is developed with setting short term and long term goals integrated with SMART objectives.
The starting date for attaining my target is kept at 1st may 2019 from which I will estimate my
target dates to attend the objectives (Beausaert et al., 2013).
Table 1: Personal Development plan
My personal
Development
targets
Short
or long
term
target
How will I
achieve my
targets?
Required
resources
Time
Require
d
(months)
Target
for
attainin
g my
objectiv
es
Actual date
of achieved
objectives
Long term goals
Independent
learning skills
High I need to
focus on self
and
continuous
learning by
eliminating
the nature of
dependency. I
need to focus
on
challenging
tasks and
apply my
critical
thinking skills
to take
decisions on
Attending
meetings, and
seminars with
senior
executives to
learn their
independent
decisions
making and
presentation
skills
Minimum 12 months required to
upgrdade myself, however this
procedure goes on lifelong
4

my own
(Banditvilai,
2016).
English
Communicati
on skills
High
I need to
improve my
writing skills
and focus on
to prevent
grammatical
errors while
writing. In
addition, I
also required
improving my
verbal
communicati
on by
continuous
interacting
with my
colleagues
and senior
executives.
By attending
English
communicati
on
programmes
and courses,
reading
books,
journals, etc.
Minimum 6
moths are
required
how to
attain high
growth and
developmen
t
opportunitie
s, I nned to
focus on
continuous
improvemen
t
01/11/201
9
10/12/20
19
Short Term goals
Summarising
and
paraphrasing
High I need to
focus on my
word power
and key
phrases to
summarise
I need to
attent training
sessions,
reading
comprehensiv
e books, word
4 months 01/08/201
9
01/10/20
19
5

information
effectively. I
need to
improve my
reading
capability so
that
paraphrasing
skills can also
be improved.
power books
and articles
(Van
Nieuwerburg
h, 2017).
Skills of note
taking High
I need to
learn how to
do thorough
reading and
analysis so
that I can
easily identify
what is
relevant in
making notes
and what is
not. Active
listening and
reading skills
may be a
great help in
this context
I need to
develop a
systematic
plan that
allow me to
think
appropriately
to write down
relevant
things. In
addition,
asking
questions,
and reviewing
notes can
help to add
valuable
notes.
6 months 01/10/201
9
20/10/20
19
Other English
language
skills
Modera
te
I need to
improve my
language
Softwares,
learning
tools, book
3 months 01/07/201
9
01/08/20
19
6

while
expressing
my thoughts.
Spelling and
grammatical
mistakes can
be improvise
with learninig
courses, and
reading
books.
Softwares and
other tools
can help to
detect
spelling or
grammar
errors
(Swales and
Feak, 2004).
readings,
blogs, artiles,
etc.
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Task 2
Note Taking Skills
Note taking is the capability of evaluating and assessing the information to present a brief
summary and arrive at appropriate conclusions. Such academic skills are crucial for an individual
in its student as well as professional life as it helps to demonstrate the reactions or expression of
thoughts in an effective and symbolise manner. There are various sources available to get access
of variety of information, like, books, attending lectures, online research, Group discussions,
attending debates, etc (Chang, and Ku, 2015). My personal development plan has helped me to
improve my notes taking skills that can be effectively applied in summarising and paraphrasing
activities. Students are highly supported with such academic skills, as they can prepare notes in
relation to their studies and can be used it in further exams. Also professionals can also apply
such skills in their job by taking appropriate notes of meetings, seminars, and other relevant
aspects to get an overview of all the information effectively.
Figure 1: Key requirements for improving notes taking skills
(Source: Note-taking skills, 2015)
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