University Academic and Research Skills: Self-Reflection and Plan

This assignment is a comprehensive exploration of academic and research skills, focusing on personal development and self-assessment. The student begins with a reflection on their strengths and weaknesses, followed by an assessment of their current skill set. The assignment delves into note-taking techniques, emphasizing their importance in acquiring information from various sources. A significant portion is dedicated to the academic research project, explaining primary and secondary research methodologies. The student then outlines a personal development plan, setting SMART objectives to improve communication, time management, and writing skills. The document concludes with a reflection on the progress made and the support needed to achieve the set targets. This assignment showcases the student's ability to identify areas for improvement and create a structured plan for professional growth. Desklib provides this and many other resources for students to aid in their studies and career growth.

Academic and
Research Skills

Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Reflection of own strengths and weaknesses.........................................................................3
1.2 Assessment..................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2.................................................................................................................................................4
3.1 & 3.2 Note taking........................................................................................................................4
TASK 3.................................................................................................................................................5
4.1, 4.2 & 5.1 Academic research project..........................................................................................5
TASK 4.................................................................................................................................................6
6.1 & 6.2 Reflection on own progress...............................................................................................6
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Personal development is referring to the process that consist various activities based
on improving awareness that assist in developing in talent in evaluating as well as realisation
about the dreams. Mainly, it is also considered as an ongoing process that help individual in
their career growth and entire life as well. With the help of this, an individual can easily grow
by attaining their all the set goals and objectives in specified and limited period of time. In
this regard, there are some important academic skills such as learning and research skills
which required by an individual to maintain balance between their career and personal life
(Quinlan and et. Al., 2019). Current research is focus on evaluating as well as identify skill
audit with the of determination of skills that possessed by people to attain their smart
objectives. Setting SMART objectives, use of note taking skills with the aim of developing
and learning new or innovative skills is also mentioned in this report. Furthermore,
development of research plan with primary and secondary method is also discussed in this
that help people in improving their career growth. At last, formulation of personal
development plan is also support individual to evaluate their skills and at the same time also
improve the same to attain their set targets in short period of time.
TASK 1
1.1 Reflection of own strengths and weaknesses
In order to be successful in life and to create good impressions on others, it is important
for a person to effectively evaluate his or her own strengths and strengths. For the purpose of
career growth and development, a person must have different skills and experience. The
person is going to have a personal evaluation in order to evaluate the skills. It is helpful in
deciding both the key strengths and the weakness of the individual. Plan is beneficial for a
person to reach the company's goals in a realistic way (Miller, 2014). In order to formulate an
effective and successful development plan, it is crucial for an individual to carry out an
examination in depth as it provides quality positive results. In this context, through using my
personal development plan, I will define key opportunities for improvement. For the future, it
would be useful to me. in this, I need to examine my own strengths and weaknesses. These
are understood by below given:
Strength: Under this research, my strongest point is that I have the power to explore for new
and innovative ideas. I make a complete commitment to carrying out the duties and also the
tasks at the company. I've got the opportunity to work with my team leaders by inspiring

them. Then they can work with each other and concentrate on achieving the goals and
objectives set within a specific timeframe. I am excellent with statistics that can help to
perform an investigation by analysing the data, explaining the statistics, defining the
likelihood behind the occurrence of the results, respectively.
Weakness: My greatest weakness is the ability to communicate. I have fear to talk in front of
a party and a lot of people. My writing skills are not as good as compared to others. My time
management skills are also not strong. I have not been in a position to accomplish the work as
per the particular purposes.
1.2 Assessment
In this, it is necessary that set objectives should be SMART because it can be beneficial
that assist in improving the performance of the company and its employees. If objectives are
SMART then employees can easily attain all the set goals and objectives in stipulated time
frame. In this regard, I set the objectives that assist in managing time and conflict and better
communication skills and so many others. All these are contributing in improving career aims
and objectives in specified time period. With the assistance of this, I can easily improve all
these skills within the around 8 months.
TASK 2
3.1 & 3.2 Note taking
It is a vital practice that comprises the accumulation of data from multiple sources,
including conferences, presentations, face-to-face meetings, etc. It is an essential skill that
enables the person to discover new aspects. It is appropriate to have excellent listening and
reading skills to take notes in an efficient way (Feldon, Shukla and Maher, 2016). A
significant range of advantages are gained by getting excellent note-taking skills, including
the elimination of deficiency, the creation of new things, the achievement of the confidence
of others, the enhancement with their own value and the growth of personal skills. This also
included an ability to review their own cognitive skills and to gain skills and attributes.
Class room lectures: It is an important tool that helps to develop communication skills. To
develop the communication skills needed to participate on a frequent basis. It could help to
create credibility and offer a chance to talk to a wide number of individuals. It allows me to
express my personal opinions and thoughts and to make an equivalent connection to various
activities.

Direct interact with professionals: This will involve contact with experts and seniors,
which allows them the ability to reach out to their opinions and share their features and
expertise in order to better present and compose information. This choice is particularly
suitable to me, because it gives us the opportunity to discover more about their real-life
experiences. This is going to help improve my overall personality, which he has contributes
in attaining all the positive results.
TASK 3
4.1, 4.2 & 5.1 Academic research project
The research plan means a written document that describes the activities carried out
by a researcher with the purpose of completing this research. This requires the resources,
processes and systems preferred by the researcher to achieve the research. In this regard study
is characterized as the process of acquiring and analysing data on a particular subject area
(McConville, 2017). It is also helpful to the investigator because it aims to enhance his
understanding on the basis of the present market trend and also the new regulations critical to
business expansion. There will be two kinds of study that the investigator wants to collect
information identified as primary and secondary study.
Primary research: This form of research is used to gather data directly from people or
residents by questionnaires, surveys and interviews. Within this data collection process, the
data obtained is reviewed and revised as needed by the study. Huge money is necessary to
bring out this type of study. In addition of this, Primary study is indeed a time-consuming
procedure which needs a larger group of people in order to successfully complete that provide
efficiently and produce reliable results.
Secondary research: Under this, it is important study that allows investigators to obtain
information that has already been reviewed and accessible on the topic. In this way, the
researcher supports different elements, such as papers, journals, magazines, books and so on
to analysis in-depth data. With the aid of this researcher, gather data and knowledge on the
research subject in order to create a definitive conclusion. In addition, it helps to save costs
and time, and also to support researchers to take final decision on the basis of research
subject in order to make it more reliable and authentic.

Thus, it is crucial for investigator to use right and suitable method that contribute in gathering
reliable and valid information towards the specified topic and research area (Wernersbach
and et. Al., 2014). As it also helps in undertaking successful research plan that contributes in
determining alternative ways to competing study in a systematic manner, in this context,
there are some important factors are that consider by researcher before evaluating the
investigation are as follows:
 Determine the research topic
 Established aims and objectives
 Develop or implement strategies
 Identify required resource
 Time scale
 Conclusion
Furthermore, developing an effective plan is also important to determine the ways to
completing the entire research activities. For this, there are some steps that must be follow by
researcher at the time of developing the plan in effective wat are as follows:
 Determine the research topic and area
 Analysis the issue within the research
 Formulate the plan
 Review the plan
TASK 4
6.1 & 6.2 Reflection on own progress
It is crucial for each person to enhance their understanding by engaging in a number
of conferences, interpersonal communication, group discussions and so on activities
(AlHassan and Wood, 2015). Throughout this instance, I may develop my interpersonal and
research skills by participating in a group discussion. By this assistance, I can potentially
improve my capabilities and abilities. I'm going to take the blessing of my senior manager for
this. My power also allows me to achieve my career goals, which lead to an improvement in
the productivity of a company that leads to a higher degree of profitability on the market. For
this academic, it is crucial to adhere to a continuous cycle as it allows for people to develop
their understanding activities on a continuous basis. To this purpose, I would use the
guidance of a personal development initiative to enhance their strategies that will enable me
to carried out my work activities within the business organization as well.

Personal
development
target
Long
- and
short
-
term
targe
t
How will I
attain my
target?
What kind
of activities
are
undertakin
g to attain
the same?
And what
support do
I want?
Revie
w date
Progress
towards the
set target
Action
required
Actual
date of
attainin
g target
Improve my
communicatio
n skills in
around 2
months
Short
Term
target
It is
important
for me to
engage with
my team
members
take part in
seminars
and various
group
discussion
that helped
me in
improving
my
knowledge
towards
how to
effectively
interact
with others
and manage
2
Januar
y
As I have
improved my
communicatio
n skills by 60
%
For this there
are some
important
action
required like
take part in
seminars,
team activities
so that I can
easily
communicate
with team and
members and
improve
communicatio
n skills.
1 March

all the task
activities in
a team so
that I can
attain the
same in
specified
time frame.
For
attaining the
same, I
need
support of
may top
managemen
t and their
guidance.
Improve time
management
skills
Short
term
target
Under this,
I take
multiple
tasks to
manage my
time. Along
with this, I
also attain
my target in
improving
time
managemen
t skills by
involving in
different
activities of
business
8
Januar
y
I have
enhanced my
time
management
skills enough
and as per my
target line.
Under this, I
prepare as
well as
formulate an
effective time
management
plan that
helped me in
managing the
time in
executing task
activities. By
this I can
manage my
time in
performing
activities of
8 March

organization
so that I can
understand
how to
manage
time and
perform
multiple
tasks in
specified
time frame.
For
attaining the
same,
support and
guidance of
top
managemen
t is crucial
for me.
company.
Improve my
writing skills
Long
term
target
For
improving
this type of
skills, I also
take
participate
in written
competition
that support
me in
effectively
manage the
same. In
this I used
12
Januar
y
I have
enhanced my
writing skill
by 90 %
For
improving
this skill, I
take
participate in
different
classes and
competition
that support in
improving the
same.
11 April

to practice
for my
written
skills so that
I can
improve the
same in
limited
period of
time. For
this activity
I need
continuous
support
from my
team and
senior
managemen
t.
CONCLUSION
It's been surmised in the above-mentioned study that personal growth tends to help to
create career paths with learning experience and new ideas that could help enhance work in
the future. The study contains research on the recognition of specific strengths and
weaknesses. The interaction and analytical competencies required to be developed in an
efficient way to develop it. In order to learn something, various learning factors are research.
It is beneficial to grow an individual in an efficient manner and to connect with other
individuals.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Quinlan, C. and et. Al., 2019. Business research methods. South Western Cengage.
Miller, J., 2014. Building academic literacy and research skills by contributing to Wikipedia:
A case study at an Australian university. Journal of Academic Language and Learning, 8(2),
pp.A72-A86.
Feldon, D.F., Shukla, K.D. and Maher, M.A., 2016. Faculty–student coauthorship as a means
to enhance STEM graduate students’ research skills. International Journal for Researcher
Development.
McConville, M. ed., 2017. Research methods for law. Edinburgh University Press.
Wernersbach, B. M. and et. Al., 2014. Study skills course impact on academic self-efficacy.
Journal of Developmental Education, pp.14-33.
AlHassan, L. and Wood, D., 2015. The effectiveness of focused instruction of formulaic
sequences in augmenting L2 learners' academic writing skills: A quantitative research study.
Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 17, pp.51-62.
Bortnik, B. and et. Al., 2017. Effect of virtual analytical chemistry laboratory on enhancing
student research skills and practices. Research in Learning Technology, 25.