CW2 Portfolio: Importance of Skills in Business and Career Development

This portfolio, submitted by a student, provides a comprehensive overview of essential skills for business development and career success. It begins with an introduction defining an e-Portfolio and its benefits, followed by a discussion of 12 key skills, including research, plagiarism avoidance, reflective thinking, academic writing, SWOT and PESTEL analysis, problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, interpersonal skills, data interpretation, and presentation skills. The student reflects on their development of these skills throughout their academic journey, emphasizing their importance for future professional endeavors. The portfolio highlights how these skills contribute to effective communication, problem-solving, and overall career readiness. The conclusion reiterates the significance of maintaining a portfolio to showcase skills and abilities to potential employers. The document serves as a valuable resource for students seeking to understand and develop these crucial skills.

CW 2 Portfolio

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
Definition of E-Portfolio ............................................................................................................3
Documents...................................................................................................................................4
Research skills ............................................................................................................................4
Plagiarism ...................................................................................................................................4
Reflective thinking skills ............................................................................................................4
Academic writing skills ..............................................................................................................5
Analysis approaches (SWOT and PESTEL)..............................................................................5
Problem solving skills ................................................................................................................5
Critical thinking skills ................................................................................................................6
Communication skills .................................................................................................................6
Interpersonal skills .....................................................................................................................6
Benefits of data interpretation ....................................................................................................7
Presentation skills .......................................................................................................................7
Summary ....................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Portfolio is known as online treasure for an individual. This is a pathway by which a
person displays sample of work, projects, details about yourself. This provides organisations to
know what skills and talents an individual is having and how they are useful to success of the
company. The following report discusses about 12 different research and presentation skills that
a students must have for having a successful future.
Definition of E-Portfolio
An e-Portfolio is defined as digital collection of work over time and this reflects abilities,
skills, experiences, values, competencies through wide range of evidence based leaning. This
includes a number of artifacts and media files or documents which gives a holistic representation
of an individual of who the person is professionally and personally. An e-Portfolio is used to
function as venue for collecting and sharing academic work with the students and faculty
members. An e-Portfolio has potential to demonstrate personal as well as professional growth.
This exemplifies evidence based practise and gives a planning process for future development
experiences and needs. There are following things for which e-Portfolio is used for and these are
listed below -
Work integrated learning and evidence based assessment - The e Portfolio helps in
facilitating the holistic integration of individual assessment factors for learning outcomes,
objectives and attributes. Students are given assessment activities and it includes practical
settings. There are instructors who are assigned to evaluate the work of students.
Student showcase Portfolio – The personal portfolio area is private and nobody can
assess that without permission of the student. Personal portfolio can be shared by the student
whenever wanted.
Student academic use of e-Portfolio – Students can submit assessment from e-Portfolio
that demonstrates competency against the learning outcome. Students are able to develop skills
in reflection and activity. The external supervision is helpful in providing feedback to the
students.

Documents
Research skills
Research skills are as essential part of a student's life. This means the ability for
searching, finding, collecting, analysing, evaluating and interpreting the information which is
relevant to the subject and important for doing the research work properly (Bassok, and Latham,
2017). In the initial phase when I went to college, I was not having good research skills. But after
attending the classes and doing research projects, I developed these skills. This is helpful for me
to achieve success in future. Research is helpful in shaping future and it teaches me new
concepts and things that help in evolving and adapting. Employers are attracted to research skills
so I have the opportunity to impress them by adapting this skill. I am good at report writing as
research skills are good. I will be able to do the competitor strategy effectively and update
myself with the technology.
Plagiarism
This means if knowingly someone presents work of another person in a way that this is
their work. Plagiarism is academic misconduct and students are strictly advised not to entertain
such work. University has taught me not to present plagiarised work or projects. Our university
has academic integrity policy and under this we are punished if there is high similarity in our
work presentation. In university, I learnt that I can avoid plagiarism by developing a clear thesis
early on the report writing process. I should note down important points and elaborate them on
my own (Cottrell, 2019). I should use new citations and present them properly. Also research
and reading helps in doing the project work easily and without copying it from others.
Reflective thinking skills
Reflective thinking is defined as part of the critical thinking process that refers to the
process of analysing and making judgements about the things that happened. Reflective thinking
is process by which students are able to write about the process of what happened. During the

classes, I learnt that emotionally supportive environment within the classroom is helpful in
encouraging re-evaluating conclusions made for research. The society is becoming more
complex and information is becoming available and changing rapidly. Therefore, it is important
for prompting reflective thinking during the learning as it helps learners to develop strategies. I
have good reflective thinking and I can write about my experience if doing effective work and
projects (Cronin, and Et. al.). The reflective thinking helps in analysing my strengths as well as
weakness effectively. While writing reflection, I know myself better and evaluate the things in
which I lack.
Academic writing skills
The academic writing skill is important as it means writing the assignments and projects
effectively. It is ensured that all the work is according to the regulations made by the university.
Definition of academic writing is explained as writing which is done for fulfilling requirements
of college or university. The academic writing is used for publications which are read by tutors. I
learnt that academic writing is important for me as this will help me to get good marks in
assessments. The different concepts that I have learnt in the university about academic writing
skills are planning, outlining, tone, language, point of view, approach, etc. I learnt that while
giving presentations or writing reports it is important for me to use good gesture and body
language as it will help me in attracting audience's attention.
Analysis approaches (SWOT and PESTEL)
This is an approach which is used for analysing any situation of business. There are
basically two type of approaches that organisations uses for evaluating marketplace. The main
approaches are SWOT and PESTLE. These are used for analysing what are the main factors that
can affect the success of business in international market. In this university, I was taught that
SWOT analysis helps in evaluating strength and weakness of the company. Also, it evaluates

opportunities and threat that an organisation possesses. PESTEL analysis includes political,
economical, social, technological, environmental and legal factors that can affect any
organisation's success. In my sessions, I was taught that it is important in business to have good
knowledge about these two models for betterment.
Problem solving skills
The problem solving skills helps an individual to have proper knowledge about how to
tackle various situations of business. It is essential for people to have problem solving skills for
solving and maintaining the business environment. Almost all career revolve around finding
solutions and thus it is essential to solve problems. It is essential for me to have good problem
solving skills so that I do not get troubled at workplace. As a manager, it is responsibility to have
problem solving skills (Kimbark, Peters, and Richardson, 2017). This will help me in future to
manage conflicts and fights within workplace effectively. The tutors of university provided me
knowledge about how to handle conflicts and fights among employees and employers.
Critical thinking skills
The critical thinking skills are those that help in improving the quality of how to react
within workplaces. This is an ability for thinking in a rational and organised manner. This is
helpful in understanding connections between concepts and ideas. In the university, my tutor told
that critical thinking is basically - “thinking about thinking”. This means identifying, analysing
and fixing flaws in the way of thinking. To become a good critical thinker, it is important for me
to practise and have patience. The key points that I have to follow in order to have critical
thinking are identifying a problem, gathering data, analysing and evaluating data, identifying
assumptions and making decisions (Rabiner, Godwin, and Dodge, 2016). This will help me to
handle various issues at workplace.

Communication skills
Communication is the key to various problems of life. Thus, to be a good communicator
it is very important for people to develop this skill. The communication skills are abilities I have
when giving and receiving various type of information. Communication skills are important for
expressing own views, thoughts, ideas, observation, feelings in a more effective manner. In this
university, it learnt the various ways of communication. I have to use different method of
communication in different situation. The main thing is considering of audience effectively. If I
have to talk to potential employer, it is better for me to send a formal email or call them. It is
easier to communicate complex information through video conferences. I have developed
communication skills effectively while learning in University.
Interpersonal skills
During my tenure of graduation, I developed interpersonal skills. It is essential for me to
have good interpersonal skills. This includes my behaviour and tactics that an individual uses for
interacting with other people effectively (Tanujaya, Mumu, and Margono, 2017). Within the
business world, employers requires that their employees have good interpersonal skills. The
interpersonal skill is helpful to me in interacting with others at job as well as outside. This skill
also include social intelligence. I have both personal as well as interpersonal style but there are
some people who are more successful. I have good interpersonal skills and thus within
workplace I am valued for the positive, solution oriented attitude. The learning sessions helped
me to learn interpersonal skills. In this way, I am able to manage different business situations.
Interpersonal skills that I excel are conflict management, public speaking, collaboration and team
building.

Benefits of data interpretation
Data interpretation is defined as analysing and interpreting solution and result for the
various problems. If I have good data interpretation skill, I can make good decisions. This is
helpful in understanding finance effectively and where to lose and gain money. Data
interpretation basically deals in evaluating negative and positive aspects of any scenario. If any
research is conducted, the main thing is data interpretation. If it is done properly then there are
good results for the research. I have developed data interpretation skills and this has helped in
analysing and evaluating things in right manner.
Presentation skills
This means how presentations are given within classrooms and business. The key role for
an effective presentation is clearly and effectively communicating the message to audiences. I
was not confident in giving presentations so it is important for me to develop this skill for
gaining success (Underwood, and Et. Al., 2019). Presentation skills enables me to give proper
messages to people. In business world, there is need of having good presentation skills. In this
university, I have given various presentations from the beginning and now I excel in giving
presentations.
Summary
I have learnt various skills and abilities while attending the sessions. The academic
sessions of mine are very good. I was able to develop my both personal as well as professional
growth. These skills help me in building up bright future. It is important for me to develop skills
so that I can maintain my work effectively. Some of the skills that I learn while attending
sessions in the university are communication skills, presentation skills, team development skills,
group collaboration skills, etc. I have developed these skills so that I can do effective work at
workplace. I have analysed that communication skills and presentation skills are important so
that I can manage my work and project effectively. In my academic profession I was keenly

interested for learning various skills (Espelage, Rose, and Polanin, 2016). In this competitive
world, it is very important to have all the skills that will help in future.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it is concluded that portfolio are very important to be
maintained by students as they help in providing information to the companies about skills and
abilities of an individual. The project work, assignments, achievements all are present within the
e-Portfolio. There are some skills needed by students for conducting effective researches. It is
essential for a student to have proper knowledge about all skills so that in future they can do
better work.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bassok, D. and Latham, S., 2017. Kids today: The rise in children’s academic skills at
kindergarten entry. Educational Researcher, 46(1), pp.7-20.
Cottrell, S., 2019. The study skills handbook. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Cronin, and Et. al. "The importance of life skills for sports degree students: How they contribute
to students’ academic performance, health-related quality of life and flourishing."
In British Association of Sport & Exercise Science/European Federation of Sport
Psychology (BASES-FEPSAC) joint conference. 2017.
Espelage, D.L., Rose, C.A. and Polanin, J.R., 2016. Social-emotional learning program to
promote prosocial and academic skills among middle school students with
disabilities. Remedial and Special Education, 37(6), pp.323-332.
Kimbark, K., Peters, M.L. and Richardson, T., 2017. Effectiveness of the student success course
on persistence, retention, academic achievement, and student engagement. Community
College Journal of Research and Practice, 41(2), pp.124-138.
Rabiner, D.L., Godwin, J. and Dodge, K.A., 2016. Predicting academic achievement and
attainment: the contribution of early academic skills, attention difficulties, and social
competence. School Psychology Review, 45(2), pp.250-267.
Tanujaya, B., Mumu, J. and Margono, G., 2017. The Relationship between Higher Order
Thinking Skills and Academic Performance of Student in Mathematics
Instruction. International Education Studies, 10(11), pp.78-85.
Underwood, V.L and Et. Al., 2019. Strategic Learning Skills of Walden Students: Highlighting
the Resources.