Portfolio Assignment: Information Sources and Support Services

This portfolio delves into the critical aspects of information evaluation, support services, and financial analysis within a business context. It begins by emphasizing the significance of reliable information sources and the CRAAP test for assessing credibility. The portfolio then examines various support services offered, including those provided by Leeds Trinity, encompassing student services and mental health support. Furthermore, it explores the role of the help tab in facilitating access to information and referencing guides. Finally, the portfolio concludes with an analysis of financial ratios, specifically the net profit margin and gross profit margin, highlighting the company's performance and areas for improvement in comparison to industry standards. The student provides a critical analysis and evaluation of the company's performance and strategies.

PORTFOLIO

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PORTFOLIO....................................................................................................................................1
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REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

PORTFOLIO
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Information is very important for each and every field. The kind of information will
represent about accuracy and reliability of the data gathered. At individual we gather information
from different sources and it is not essential that all the information gathered is essential and
useful. Today there are number of sources available through which information could be
collected for different purposes. The automation has made access to the information more easy
and free as compared with other sources. Now we can get bank of information through just one
click and can also get access to world libraries from our homes. The information for this project
has been gathered from internet. However it is also essential that sources used from internet are
reliable and credible. For ensuring its credibility I have used published journal articles,
information posted by the company itself and other press release about the country. I have also
collected information about the current and future trends about the industry and external factors
that can influence the company from the internet. All the major companies are reporting their
every actions and forces influencing them on net. There are various method to evaluate the
credibility of the source but I have used CRAAP test for reliability of information.
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Credibility of the information is very essential to derive accurate outcomes and results.
There are number of sources with large number of data available with them. It could be found
that the information is available but it is important to know the relevancy and its appropriateness
for specific purpose and objectives. The sources of information could be evaluated using number
of methods so that results and outcomes drawn are accurate and fulfils the objective of gathering
data. The method I used is CRAAP to evaluate the source of information. This evaluates
currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose of the information. Currency refers to
determining the time, date or publication of the information gathered. It has to be analysed
whether information will be useful for current study or objective as too old information could not
be applied accurately as the world and scenarios have changed completely.
Relevance helps to know the relevancy of the source for research and whether it cover
topic for the needs. There are credible and authentic information available but we have to choose
information which is relevant. Authority aims at determining credentials of authors, their
knowledge and expertise of the field. After identifying the authority it also essential to identify
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the accuracy of information and to ensure whether the information could be verified. It is
suggested to use the information which could be verified. Lastly we should evaluate the purpose
of author for creating the sources and how it could affect the usefulness of research. This test
helps in selecting the credible sources for the topic of my study and also the research that I
conduct during the graduation. It helps to get accurate, authentic and current information related
to my studies that gives me more clarity of the topic and concept.
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The support services are the functions of the organisation that do not generate the main
business. These services provide the internal support to main business of the organisation.
Mainly logistics, finance, admin and the IT are support services and the club together. These are
to be incurred in addition of the main services. The main support services provided by the Leeds
Trinity Services include
 New, events, blogs
 Human Resource Department
 Accounting
 Administration
 Social awareness
Other support services provided by the Leeds University are
Services to Students with disabilities
The university provides extra services to students who are incapable to carry out its work
on their own or have incapabilities. Such students are provided additional advice and support by
the university to carry out their studies efficiently and properly. They are provided increased
access to services with lower costs and also are provided with resources through which they can
study more properly.
Services for mental health
The university for the mental health of students provides appropriate support services by
the experienced and qualified practitioners in campus and also through local NHS when needed.
These services help the students who are under excessive stress or depression and not getting the
right direction.
Services for well being
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Such services include those which are taken for the well being of the students and society
both. It includes providing the information and awareness about health. Students are given
knowledge about the different health diets and how they could make themselves fit and fine.
They are educated about the current scenarios and what precautionary measures could be taken.
Health awareness and exercise programs are included in this mainly
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The tab particularly when the help tab is clicked. This tab incorporates number of details
including assessment and the referencing of data. This is essential as it helps the students who
never visited site before and helps them in browsing through this site. The students could review
reading lists clicking over search section. It cold also be used for searching number of academic
inquiries and essays through typing the key words and appropriate materials which could be used
by them.
Evaluating information tab for helping students using information sources through
evaluating right sources for the information according to CRAAP. The referencing tab provide
help regarding referencing and guides for APA and Harvard styles
From the help section Brilliant tab , I could use it for accessing the different materials and
also for right referencing styles and methods. It enables me know about the resources that could
be used for completing my assignments, how search could be made online sources from journals
and materials effectively using advanced key words that helps in completing my work more
appropriately. Thus the Brilliant is useful for the students for finding the right information using
reliable sources so that the results drawn from the research are accurate and reliable.
Ratio is used to analyse the profitability of company for measuring the results of carrying out the
business. The net profit margin of company is 10.25% where of the competitors is 31% and it
shows that the ratio of company is very low from the industry standards. Lower net profit menas
that existing strategies and policies of the company are not effective and also not helping it to
derive the adequate profits from the business. It is required that it analyses the current scenarios
so that it could frame more effective policies that will help it to increase the profits. Lower profit
margins will affect the confidence of investors in company and they will tend to move towards
competitors giving higher returns.
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Gross profit margin reflects the efficiency of management in earning adequate margins from the
main business. It includes trading and manufacturing costs and expenses. Gross margin should
be higher so that company has enough money to carry out the further expenses of the business.
The gross margin of competitors is 54% where of company is 25% only which is very low. It
could be evaluated from the ratio that management is required to implement more cost effective
strategies that will help to increase the gross margins. It is also required to increase the sales so
that it has adequate funds to meet the expenses of business. It could increase the gross profits by
undertaking cost control measures and also adopting promotional measures that will increase he
sales of company.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Phillips, J. and Ward, K.E., 2019. Evaluating Sources of Information about Botanical
Products. Principles and Practice of Botanicals as an Integrative Therapy. p.1.
Reif, M., Kübler, F., Eichberg, M., Helm, D. and Mezini, M., 2019, July. Judge: identifying,
understanding, and evaluating sources of unsoundness in call graphs. In Proceedings of
the 28th ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis (pp.
251-261).
Taxakis, B.J. and Dobbins, E., 2020. An Engaging, Hands-On Activity for Evaluating Sources
through Problem-Based Learning.
Chandler, R., Guillaume, D., Parker, A.G., Mack, A., Hamilton, J., Dorsey, J. and Hernandez,
N.D., 2020. The impact of COVID-19 among Black women: evaluating perspectives and
sources of information. Ethnicity & health. pp.1-14.
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