Personal Development Plan: Goal Setting & Academic Skills

This assignment solution provides a comprehensive overview of personal and professional development, emphasizing the importance of setting short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. It explores the concept of a personal development plan (PDP) as a roadmap for personal and career growth, outlining its value in identifying areas for improvement and guiding individuals toward skill enhancement. The report also discusses the significance of reliable and relevant sources in academic writing, highlighting the CRAAP test for evaluating source credibility. The assignment includes a personal development plan with specific activities and resources for improving time management and public speaking skills, ultimately aiming to enhance self-awareness, self-motivation, and overall capabilities for future career success. Desklib offers a wealth of resources, including past papers and solved assignments, to support students in their academic endeavors.

Academic Skills and PDP

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................2
Concept of personal and professional development....................................................................2
Value of short-term goals with 3 personal short term goals........................................................2
Value of medium-term goals with 3 personal short term goals...................................................2
Value of long-term goals with 3 personal short term goals.........................................................3
Value of personal development plan and construction of PDP for identified goals....................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
How author’s purpose, reliability and relevance affect the use of source...................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
Evaluation of sources...................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
A personal development plan is a document that outlines skills and goals that individuals
need to accomplish in order to support continuous improvement (Lejeune, Beausaert and
Raemdonck, 2021). This study is going to show value and importance of setting short-term,
medium term and long term goals in personal and professional lives.
TASK 1
Concept of personal and professional development
Personal development is a process by which individuals develop themselves in their lives
in order to become the better one and as like this in professional development process,
individuals develop themselves in their role that they need to perform at the job (Rubens,
Schoenfeld, Schaffer and Leah, 2018). This process of self-development plays a vital role as it
helps them out in career growth in the future. People can make sure with these processes that
their knowledge and skills of their area of expertise of their career is always at the highest
possible level. Overall, it can be said that processes and reflection that increases individuals’
capabilities and make them better in their future is known as personal and professional
development that is vital for self-esteem and self-motivation (Elufiede and Barker-Stucky, 2021).
Value of short-term goals with 3 personal short term goals
Before discussing about value of short term goals, it is important to understand about goals
as what they are and how they play a vital role in our lives. So, in regard to goal, it can be said
that it refers all thing that we want to accomplish in our lives. We all live for getting something
and all those things are known as goals. Short term goals are those that can be accomplished in
3-5 months and those goals that act as a milestone in our journey to reach long term goals for
self-satisfaction (Abhayawansa, Adams and Neesham, 2021).
My short-term goals that I want to achieve for self development and growth include:
 To improve public speaking skills and preparing presentation
 To develop time management skills or reducing procrastination
 To finish foundation year with higher grades
Value of medium-term goals with 3 personal short term goals
Medium term goals are those that take a bit longer to accomplish as compared to short term
or those goals that can be accomplished within 6-12 months. Short term goals are first stair of

accomplishing long term goals and they boost our confidence (Busco, Fiori, Frigo and Angelo,
2017). While medium term goals increase self-motivation and work as the last step of meeting
long term goals for self satisfaction.
Some medium term goals that I want to meet within 6-12 months include:
 To build my personal brand as an expert.
 To master a new skill.
 To strengthen my portfolio with new project.
Value of long-term goals with 3 personal short term goals
After accomplishing both short term and medium term goals, individuals need to set some
long term goals for self-improvement and career development. Long term goals help us out in
shaping the direction of our career and lives (Kasych and Vochozka, 2019). In other words, it
can be said that it represents plans that individuals can see in their future and by accomplishing
such goals, we can make our life in a manner that we wanted to live since long.
My personal long term goals that I want to accomplish within 2-5 years include:
 To open a new business.
 To speak at a conference with confidence.
 To create a retirement plan.
Value of personal development plan and construction of PDP for identified goals
Personal development plan is an effective tool that is being developed to provide a road
Map for personal growth and career. It is an effective framework that provides a direction in
which we need to go and help us out in identifying all those areas in which we need to focus for
improvement. With guidance and proper activities, we can increase our skills and knowledge that
required for career development and performing job role (Blaze, 2018).
Areas need to be
improved
Activities and resources Time-scale
Time management skills For improving this skill, I will prepare a time table
by prioritizing job roles and activities. By reducing
procrastination and making use of some time
Approximate
2 months

management tools, I can improve this skill and can
complete all activities in a timely manner.
Public speaking For improving this skill, there will be requirement of
participating in seminar and engaging in other
presentation, I can improve this skill. Initially, I can
practice of presentation in front of mirror by imaging
as people are sitting there and it can boost my
confidence.
3 months
TASK 2
How author’s purpose, reliability and relevance affect the use of source
Resources that we use should be reliable as it improves our academic writing and image and
makes sure to readers that this study is relevant and ethical. Overall, it can be said that reliability
and relevancy of sources that we use improve quality of academic research. With the help of
CRAAP test, we can understand the meaning of relevancy, accuracy and other features and their
importance such as:
Currency: It shows the value of sources that whatever sources we use are up to date.
Relevance: It shows suitability of data or sources to our research (Belotto, 2018).
Authority: It shows publication place and date as we are not allowed to use data that are years
older.
Accuracy: It shows quality of data or sources as whatever data we have used is accurate or not
copied from other sources.
Purpose: It shows the main reason of information used in research.

TASK 3
Evaluation of sources
All sources that have used in this study are relevant as all sources are no older than 5 years. Most
of the writers are independent as they represent considerable authority in online content with
experience working.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized from the above study that personal and professional development
plan or reflection plays a vital role in increasing skills and knowledge. It has discussed value of
all short-term, medium term and long term goals and ways of accomplishing them.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abhayawansa, S., Adams, C.A. and Neesham, C., 2021. Accountability and governance in
pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals: conceptualising how governments create
value. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal.
Belotto, M.J., 2018. Data analysis methods for qualitative research: Managing the challenges of
coding, interrater reliability, and thematic analysis. Qualitative Report. 23(11).
Blaze, D.A., 2018. Law Student Motivation, Satisfaction, and Well-Being: The Value of a
Leadership and Professional Development Curriculum. Santa Clara L. Rev., 58, p.547.
Busco, C., Fiori, G., Frigo, M.L. and Angelo, R., 2017. Sustainable Development Goals:
Integrating sustainability initiatives with long term value creation.
Elufiede, K. and Barker-Stucky, C., 2021. Personal and Professional Support: Finding
Inspiration Through Your Community. In Strategies and Tactics for Multidisciplinary
Writing (pp. 45-59). IGI Global.
Kasych, A. and Vochozka, M., 2019. The choice of methodological approaches to the estimation
of enterprise value in terms of management system goals. Calitatea. 20(169). pp.3-9.
Lejeune, C., Beausaert, S. and Raemdonck, I., 2021. The impact on employees’ job performance
of exercising self-directed learning within personal development plan practice. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management. 32(5). pp.1086-1112.
Rubens, A., Schoenfeld, G.A., Schaffer, B.S. and Leah, J.S., 2018. Self-awareness and
leadership: Developing an individual strategic professional development plan in an
MBA leadership course. The International Journal of Management Education. 16(1).
pp.1-13.
ONLINE
Mishu. M. and Deepak, S., 2016. Prevalence of Anaemia among Pregnant Women in Rural
India. 2018. Online Available through: <
https://www.ijrcog.org/index.php/ijrcog/article/view/447>