University Academic Skills Assignment: Self-Assessment and Plan

This assignment delves into the self-assessment of academic and research skills, including personal and English language abilities. The student evaluates their strengths in leadership, research, and vocabulary, while identifying weaknesses in communication, note-taking, and fluency. A detailed improvement plan is outlined, setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) targets for skill enhancement over periods ranging from one to two months. The assignment showcases note-taking strategies using active listening, reading techniques, and paraphrasing. A research plan is presented, focusing on the impact of organic products on Sephora, with objectives, segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies. The marketing mix of Sephora is discussed, covering product, place, price, and promotion strategies. Finally, the student reflects on their targets, methods of improvement, and timeframes for achieving enhanced skills in personal, academic, and English language domains. This assignment demonstrates a structured approach to self-improvement and professional development.

Academic and Research Skills

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
a. Estimating self strengths and weaknesses...............................................................................1
b. Targets for improvement.........................................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
Note taking using active listening skills......................................................................................3
Note taking using reading strategies...........................................................................................3
Note taking by paraphrased and summarised information..........................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................3
RESEARCH PLAN....................................................................................................................3
Discussing the marketing mix of Sephora..................................................................................4
TASK 5............................................................................................................................................4
Targets and ways of achieving it.................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

TASK 1
a. Estimating self-strengths and weaknesses
Learning involves a variety of processes and so, when I analyse my own skills to check
efficiency of my weak and the strong points, t there comes a wide variety of skills. Although
there are various skills and talents in which I am excellent but still, there is a need of improving
some of them so that I can be able to achieve a sort of efficiency in learning and understanding
things better. This can also help in acquiring a better set of knowledge and understanding in life.
So, on the basis of some skills, evaluating my weak and strong factors are given as below:
Personal skills
Strengths I think, I have an efficient rate of leadership skills. It is because; whatever the situation is,
I know how to manage it. Also, I can very easily handle employees as well as the
operations. So, I consider this as my strengthening factor.
Weaknesses
 I am not able to interact with people and this may be because I am shy. But along with
that, I think there is some lack of confidence in me because of which I am not able to
speak in various situations. I want to interact with people but my less confidence does not
let me to do so. Therefore, I think I need to improve my confidence level in order to make
my communication skills better.
Academic skills
Strengths
 I think doing research is easy because it is interesting enough to search through different
articles, websites, etc. It also helps in enhancing my knowledge. My Summarising power is also good because I think after reading whole article carefully,
I found it easy to summarise it in short.
Weaknesses
 My note taking power is not efficient because I find it difficult to make notes. I get
confused actually. So, this is one of my weak factors.
 In paraphrasing as well, although, it is easy but I found it time consuming. So, I think I
need to make improvements in order to have a speed in paraphrasing.
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English language skills
Strengths I have good vocabulary and also, I write quite better because I am interested in doing
researches. So, this is one of my strengths.
Weaknesses
 Even if I have a good vocabulary, I am not able to speak fluent English. So, I need to
make improvements in achieving a better fluency.
b. Targets for improvement
Skills/ Area of improvement Target duration
Personal and communication skills 2 months
Academic skills, note taking and paraphrasing 1 month
English language skills and Fluency in English 1 month
Analysing the efficiency of the targets as under:
Specific
The targets that I have are specific because the duration I have given for improving them
is accurate and will be enough for learning of these skills (De Alencar, 2016).
Measurable
The tasks that I have set of improvement of these skills are meaningful and can actually
help. I have included various meaningful tasks for achieving the perfection in these skills.
Achievable
The targets set are achievable within the duration allotted. It is because; on the basis of
requirements only, I have allotted the time frame so that I will achieve them within same.
Relevant
I have set some goals with an appropriate duration and I think that is realistic enough
because there is an efficient probability that I will achieve them within this duration. Ways
included for improvement are also relevant and realistic that they can help in achieving the
targets soon.
Time bound
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I have assigned timeframe for each skill and will try to cover within the same as well.
Time durations are assigned on the basis of proximity and will be sufficient for covering skills.
TASK 2
Note taking using active listening skills
I was attending a conference by management authorities and they were discussing some
very important factors. So, with the help of my active listening skills, I noted each and every
single point. I stay focused enough on what they were saying and then, I noted every single
point.
Note taking using reading strategies
Although my summarizing power is good enough but I still lack in note taking. So,
while improving my note taking skills, I took help of some reading strategies. There are various
reading strategies that actually helped me (Rornsuk, Riach and Klanrit, 2015). Searching helped
me to increase my patience as well as knowledge and it further helped me in improving my note
taking skills.
Note taking by paraphrased and summarised information
I was efficient in summarizing but not in paraphrasing. So, I started giving more efforts
and finally, I learned to paraphrase at a fast pace. Therefore, when I started paraphrasing, I found
it easy enough to re-phrase the matter I have studied. For that, I made smaller notes and then on
that basis, I paraphrased. This helped me in making my note taking skills efficient.
TASK 3
Research plan
Aim
To analyse the impact of organic products in Sephora
Objectives
 To evaluate the concept of involving organic range To analyse the impact of organic range on achieving business objectives
Segmentation
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Sephora can ensure to consider each segment of marketing segment such as
demographics, behavioural factors, different situations etc. so that on that basis, they can decide
the benefits they can achieve after including an organic range. So, focusing on each segment is
important for a better decision making.
Targeting
Targeting the market that can act suitable is important. Therefore, Sephora can evaluate
the markets where people are interested in organic range but due to the unavailability, they are
not able to get it. So, Sephora can decide their target markets on this basis.
Positioning
Different ways that Sephora can use for a better positioning of products such as
strategies. They can apply for achieving a better competitive advantage.
Discussing the marketing mix of Sephora
Product
Sephora is about to involve organic range so that they can attract more customers. So,
they can ensure using better quality ingredients so that it can stay safe on the skin of people.
Place
Sephora can ensure to expand in place where there is a requirement of organic products.
It is because; by this way, they can attract a higher rate of population (Chen and Rybak, 2017).
Price
While implementing organic range, Sephora can ensure to have an affordable range so
that every customer can afford it.
Promotion
Sephora can also promote their organic range by various factors such as by means of
social media or through their own website etc. A better promotion can help in increasing the
profitability of customers (Whittaker, Forrester and Jones, 2016). Thus, it will further help in
increasing the productivity rate of Sephora.
TASK 5
Targets and ways of achieving it
Skills Methods of improvement Time frame
4

Personal skills  I was lacking in
communication skills,
so I joined personality
development classes. It
helped me to improve
my confidence level to
a huge extent.
Academic skills  My note taking skills
was not efficient, so I
used various reading
strategies to focus in a
better way. Now, I am
able to make notes
effectually.
 For paraphrasing as
well, I started focusing
on it with patience and
begin making notes. It
took some time but
now, I am efficient in
making notes faster.
English language skills  As I was not fluent
enough in English, so I
joined English learning
classes.
 Although, my
vocabulary is good but
to increase the fluency
in it, I joined these
classes and it helped
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me to achieve the
target.
 Also, I started speaking
with everyone in
English and it also
helped me.
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