Analysis of Academic Skills and Personal Development Plan Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of academic skills and personal development plans (PDP). It defines academic skills and their importance, then delves into the concept of personal and professional development, differentiating between short, medium, and long-term goals with relevant examples. The report emphasizes the value of a PDP and constructs an example using personal goals, outlining strategies and timeframes for achieving each goal. Furthermore, it analyzes the impact of 'Author, Purpose, Reliability, and Relevance' on source evaluation, providing a table that assesses the sources used in the report. The conclusion highlights the crucial role of academic skills and PDPs in achieving individual success, recommending the development of effective plans to enhance weak skills. The report concludes with a list of cited references.

x
Academic Skills and
PDP

INTRODUCTION
Academic skills are commonly referred to those skills which supports individual in their
learning process. This simply includes range of skills such as academic writing, referencing,
presentation skills, critical thinking, note taking, reflective writing and many others (Cowley and
Hyams-Ssekasi, 2018). Academic skills are highly important for every individual as it support
them out becoming more effective learner. Students are highly expected to have huge range of
academic skills so that they can attain success in any career. PDP supports individual in
developing themselves so that they can attain their proposed aims and objectives in effective
manner.
Task One:
Concept of professional and personal development
Personal and professional development is comprehensively said to be as the effective
plan that is developed by the individual with the motive of attaining their desired goals by going
through appropriate learning process (Ktoridou, Doukanari and Epaminonda, 2016). This simply
includes the both the individual as well as organisational goals.
Short term goals
Short term goals are referred to as those goals which allows individual to attain in coming
time. The overall duration of the short goals is the one which is expected to accomplish it within
12 months. Short term goals simply allows individual in focusing on single thing at one time. It
is supportive in raising productivity and also keeps the individual self motivated. This simply
provides value to the long term goals too as they would be automatically achieved with the
fulfilment of short term goals. Some of the core examples of this are:
 To complete 5 chapters in a week
 To change job within 2 months
 To waste less time during working hours

Medium term goals
These are basically referred to the goals which are required to be expected to accomplish
from two months to 3 years. Medium term goal generally relies between small and long term
goals of individuals personal life (Hooker and Whistance, 2016). Some examples are stated as
below:
 To buy house
 To become VP in the current company
 To graduate from college
Long term goals
It refers to those one which are expected by the individual to attain in future. These are
generally time consuming and takes several years in its accomplishment. Long term goals are
highly important as it provides vision to the individual and influence them to take out time as
well as resource. This directly contribute in the accomplishment of their life objectives. Some of
the main examples are explained below:
 To save and maintain good credit record
 To start business
 To gain experience in a leadership role
Description and discussion of the value of a Personal Development Plan and construction of an
example using my goals
Personal development plan is basically referred to as the process of developing an
effective action plan which mainly emphasises on looking forward to improve the weak skills so
that they can attain success in the near future (Rachmawati, 2019). It is highly important for the
individual to focus on developing their own understanding on the core goal so that they can take
respective measures in order to improve it.
Short term goal
GoalTo complete 5 chapters
in a week
Strategy Time frame
To complete 5 chapters in a
week
Attend classes at regular basis 2 weeks
To change job within 2
months
Start surfing on job portal 2 Months

To waste less time during
working hours
Developing work schedule
and complete it accordingly.
2 Months
Middle term goal
Goal Strategy Time frame
To buy house Start developing effective
credit record
2 Year
To become VP in the current
company
Do hard work and adopt new
strategies
1 Years
To graduate from college Putting additional time in the
learning
3 Years
Long term goal
Goal Strategy Time frame
To save and maintain good
credit record
Complete all transactions in
timely manner
3.5 Years
To start business Develop strategy, save money
and follow developed business
idea
5 Years
To gain experience in a
leadership role
Conduct planning, start
working in company as the
leader
2 Years
Task Two:
Affect of ‘Author, Purpose, Reliability and Relevance’
Author, Purpose, Reliability and Relevance’ owes major influence over the source. This
is so because, if the individual attain information from several sources then there are higher
chances that the reliability of the source might not be presented in the supportive manner
(Watkins and Smith, 2018). Here, if the person makes use of authenticate source then its
reliability is higher as compared to other sources whose authors does not stands in terms
relevancy. Usage of the relevant source directly provides support to the person in finding out
desired outcome along with the reliability effectively.
Task Three:
Analysis of sources used in report plan

Sources Author Purpose Reliability Relevance
Journal Cowley, P. and
Hyams-Ssekasi,
D., 2018.
The main
purpose of
including this
journal to grab
information
motivation,
induction and
its associated
challenges
among students.
The chosen
journal is highly
reliable as
covers related
topic and also
contributes in
gathering
information on
the same.
It provides
required
information that
ultimately raises
its relevancy.
Journal Ktoridou, D.,
Doukanari, E.
and
Epaminonda,
E., 2016
Its motive is to
gather
information on
product
development
procedure as
well as graduate
course
It contain
authentic
information
Information
specified in this
is highly
relevant as it is
associated with
the chosen topic
Journal Hooker, J. and
Whistance, J.,
2016
The core motive
is to grab
information on
employability
skills key
transferables.
This covers
information
related to
academic zone.
It is relevant
because it
contain proper
information
related to topic.
Journal Rachmawati, S.,
2019
This covers
information
associated to
the project-
based learning
Information
covered in this
journal is
associated to the
learning of
It provides
required
information that
ultimately raises
its relevancy.

to improve
students’
writing skills.
children which
increases its
reliability
Journal Watkins, H. and
Smith, R., 2018
The purpose
associated with
this is to
develop
knowledge on
Studies in
International
Education.
This is
supportive in
obtaining
information on
the international
education that
ultimately
maximises its
relaibility.
Information
specified in this
is highly
relevant as it is
associated with
the chosen topic
CONCLUSION
On the basis of the above specified report, it has been analysed that academic skills plays
huge role in the success of individuals life. In order to develop their academic skills in rightful
manner individuals are required to develop effective personal as well as professional
development plan by which they can emphasise on the weak skill and enhance it as per the
requirement. It can be further said that usage of short long, middle and long term has their own
value in the personal and professional life which ultimately provides contribution in their
success.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Cowley, P. and Hyams-Ssekasi, D., 2018. Motivation, induction, and challenge: Examining the
initial phase of international students’ educational sojourn. Journal of International
Students, 8(1), pp.109-130.
Ktoridou, D., Doukanari, E. and Epaminonda, E., 2016, April. Designing a product development
process graduate course: An interdisciplinary example. In 2016 IEEE Global
Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) (pp. 1092-1095). IEEE.
Hooker, J. and Whistance, J., 2016. Embedding key transferable employability skills for lifelong
success through blending an innovative portfolio to complement traditional
assessment. Practitioner Research in Higher Education, 10(1), pp.156-175.
Rachmawati, S., 2019. THE USE OF PHOTO COLLAGES IN PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’WRITING SKILLS OF MAN SALATIGA IN THE
ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2018/2019 (Doctoral dissertation, IAIN SALATIGA).
Watkins, H. and Smith, R., 2018. Thinking globally, working locally: Employability and
internationalization at home. Journal of Studies in International Education, 22(3),
pp.210-224.