Skills Development in Social Sciences - Reading & Writing Tasks

This assignment encompasses several key aspects of skills development within the social sciences. It begins with reading comprehension, analyzing texts to identify the author's message and intended audience. The assignment then transitions to essay and report writing, providing exercises to structure ideas logically and differentiate between the two formats, including the creation of a table of contents for a report. Furthermore, it delves into academic writing and referencing, requiring the integration of abstracts and proper use of Harvard referencing to avoid plagiarism. The assignment also covers presentation skills, outlining factors that contribute to effective presentations and providing practical guidance on using PowerPoint. Finally, it addresses collaborative work, discussing the positive aspects and challenges of teamwork and how to manage disagreements. The assignment provides a comprehensive overview of essential skills for social science students, incorporating practical exercises and theoretical concepts.

Skills Development in the
Social Sciences

Week 4: Reading for Study
You will need to identify how and where to locate literature to read using skills
learnt last week . Your seminar lead will provide you with different texts. Use
them to answer the questions that follow
Text 1:
What is the general message that the author is conveying in this paper?
With the help of this paper i.e. 'Pros and cons of using the Mental Health Act for severe eating
disorders in adolescents' the author want to present a message about the increasing issue of eating
disorder among young people which I affecting their health badly and they require a quick medical
care for reducing its impact over health.
Who do you think is the audience for this piece ?
The audience for this study are young people who are experience quick weight gain and several health
related issues.
Why is the author stating this position on this subject?
The main reason behind author to select this position with the help of study is to create awareness
among young people regarding the severity of this weight gain due to eating disorder by presenting
them with consequences that they may face if it is get ignored.

Week 4: Reading for Study (Continued)
Text 2
What is the general message that the author is conveying in this paper?
Within the paper presented on Inactivity in childhood and adolescence, the author wants to
present a message that the children today as compare to 30 years ago found to be more
inactive. The physical activities among the children are decreasing with the maturation
among them and due to their changing habit like being more constant to watching TV and
playing computer games which is becoming a reason of increasing obesity. This lack of
physical activity is seen among girls more as compare to boys.
Who do you think is the audience for this piece?
The audience for this study is children and teenagers as they are getting more involve in computer
game and TV shows.
Why is the author stating this position on this subject?
The author presented this position with the help of study as the obesity has now become a major
concern within today’s generation which is actually increasing due to bad habit of involving less
physical activity in day to day practices.

Week 5: Essay vs Report writing
You are provided with a list of 10 deas about a topic. Your task is to use the ideas to
sketch a brief essay . To do this you should place teach of the 10 ideas in the right
box below. If you think an idea should be in the introduction , then
place it in the box for the introduction section. In this way, you will be creating
a logical flow of words and ideas from introduction to conclusion
Introduction Referencing not just limited to support a student to get connected with existing
research but also help in differentiating the idea of established arguments and
avoiding the issues of plagiarism. The current essay will discuss about the three major
reason behind referencing. Other than this it also discuss about the reason why
appropriate referencing consider to be essential for the academic work for the
students who remain new to higher education. Hence, this essay will be explaining
about the reason why referencing is consider to be an essential part within academic
writing.
Body The referencing is mainly done with three main reasons i.e. it supports student to
construct, structure, support and communicate about the arguments. Secondly, it helps
in linking the work of writer with existing body of knowledge, thirdly it provides
credibility to the academic work. When a argument within academic work is
performed then it require evidence support which are actually being provided by
referencing. The referencing practice also allows a writer to create a holistic work
using different perspective in order to prove their position from the available sources.
With the help of this the beginners can be able to adapt the precise as well as accurate
academic writing style. The referencing help in creating a collective, connection and
recognition with the body of knowledge which is consider to be the most valuable
reason for doing referencing from the theoretical point of view to link the network of
knowledge.
Conclusion Referencing a work shows that the writer has found the important material from
several sources which help in creating an academic clout within a particular
assignment. The main motive of referencing is to provide the credibility for argument
presented within the report in order to validate the information provided by writer and
keep them free from any kind of academic misconduct.

Week 5: Essay vs Report Writing (Continued)
Using the same 10 ideas that you used for the essay task think about how you would use these ideas for a
report. Your task here is to place those 10 ideas onto the con- tents page below. Remember that your report
contents should also have a logical flow of words and ideas. You can use headings and sub-headings in the
table below:
Table of contents
Page number
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Basic concept of referencing
1.2 Structure of report
2.0 Main body
2.1 three reason of referencing
2.2 Referencing for beginners
2.3 Importance of referencing
3.0 Conclusion
4.0 Referencing

Week 6 : Academic writing and referencing
You will be given three short abstracts about a contemporary topic. Your task
is to integrate them into a short essay . You must reference all three sources
correctly using Harvard Referencing
Today, the cases of student academic misconduct are increasing day by day. The reason being
students are not much aware about the rules or standards that they are required to follow which
preparing their work. For this universities must take actions by making students aware about
the rules and procedures related with the plagiarism or paraphrasing. Over this the president of
National Union of Student stated that the universities must make the plagiarism software
accessible to students so that they can learn the about some of the better ways for detecting
the plagiarism (Díaz, Montoliu and Becerra, 2018). This is so because the students who work
harder to prepare their assignment get into disadvantage in term of getting their marks
deducted or certain punishments that they actually have to face while someone copies their
Work. So, it is suggested that universities must communicate more about the rules regarding
plagiarism which help in avoiding the accidental cheating. This accidental cheating mainly
happens as academics mainly reluctant to avoid minor plagiarism during first year of students
but this can become a major issue and habit of students when it continues till final
year (Suseela and Uma, 2017). Therefore, it is essential for the universities to make students
aware about issues that can arise due to neglect of plagiarism as it can affect their performance.
Additionally, students must also make aware about the referencing as way to keep themselves
Safe from academic misconduct by providing g evidence about eth sources through which data

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Week 6 : Academic writing and referencing (Continued )
Is collected. This is so because taking ideas or word of some another person and not
acknowledging their name can be result into a plagiarism. Hence, each student must ensures
That they should acknowledge the name of a person whose idea are being discussed through
report which also help the reader in identifying the original sources through which the data is
actually gathered as per the requirement of report or not (Curtis and Tremayne, 2019). So
universities must make students learn about eth importance of systematic referencing
throughout each paragraph with the help of in texting wherever the idea of another person is
being presented (Hidayat, Suhartoyo and Fikri, 2020). This systematic and accurate
referencing allows the reader that a thorough research is being made which in turn help a
student in getting good marks out of their efforts.
Reference list
Díaz, J.C.T., Montoliu, J.M.D. and Becerra, M.H., 2018. Plagiarism, internet and academic
success at the university. NAER: Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 7(2),
pp.98-104.
Suseela, V.J. and Uma, V., 2017. Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty: Study of Users’
Perceptions in the University of Hyderabad. SRELS Journal of Information
Management, 54(6), pp.293-301.
Curtis, G.J. and Tremayne, K., 2019. Is plagiarism really on the rise? Results from four 5-
yearly surveys. Studies in Higher Education, pp.1-11.
Hidayat, A., Suhartoyo, E. and Fikri, D., 2020. STUDENTS’PERSPECTIVE ON
REFERENCE AND WRITING STRATEGIES IN AVOIDING PLAGIARISM. Jurnal
Penelitian, Pendidikan, dan Pembelajaran, 15(28).

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Week 7: Presentation skills
The slides that are prepared to present the idea behind preparing a presentation are consider to
be the foundation of one’s presentation and information behind it. In order to deliver a
presentation effectively it is crucial for the presenter to have a clear idea about the information
to be presented in front of audience. There are certain factors that are required to be consider
before preparing a presentation as these factors either make a presentation good or problematic.
Points that make a presentation good
 A presentation must contain more visual content such as images, graphs, charts etc.
instead of using a detail theoretical content in slides.
 A presentation will be good if it has a clear objective behind its preparation. It must
provide a clear idea to audience about thing that is going to be discussed.
 It must be presented in structured and sequential form like introduction, then idea,
conclusion, recommendation etc. for making a presentation good.
 Each slide must contain notes to explain the images or concise content presented within
the slide.
Points that make a presentation problematic
 Just reading information from slide instead of explaining it make the presentation worst
 Ignoring audience while explaining information
 Using inappropriate content to extend the presentation
 Using unrelated visuals within presentation.

Where can you find out how to use PowerPoint?
In class lecture we have learned about how to use the power point
presentation and tools to be used for preparing a presentation effectively.
How can you access PowerPoint?
The power point can assess by going to window button and clicking on
Microsoft office then power point presentation. This will open the power point
window.
How can you edit a slide using power point?
For editing a slide there is a option in view tab of power point, just click on
view and go to slide master where a range of layout are presented. Click on
the type of layout which is to be edited as per the required and after clicking
it start working.
How can you save a PowerPoint slide?
In slide thumbnail pane at left side window of power point, select the slide to
be save. Click on the option file, then save as and select the address where a
slide to be save and type the name of file. Then click on save.
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Week 7: Presentation skills (Continued )

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Week 7: Presentation skills (Continued )
Provide a sketch about what this PowerPoint presentation will
look like the space below

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Week 8 : Working with others
What are the positive things about working with others?
Working with other in a group always brings a better learning as it helps in enhancing the level of
creative and critical thinking. Additionally, allow a peer to per learning by integrating the knowledge
and skills of team members all together. Keep each member motivated and alert toward deadline.
Additionally, also help in improving the skills such as leadership, communication, decision making,
conflict resolution, problem solving etc.
What are the challenges of working with others?
The major of working within a team is that it creates conflict among the team member in case when
view point of each member is different. Other challenges can be developing trust, harmony, setting
out goals, delegating work etc.
If you were in this situation, how would you manage the disagreement and still ensure the
outcome was met?
In such situation I will firstly make them clear about the mistake done by the another team member
while discussing with all the other team member to present my disagreement to the work as the
mistake was not from my side. Then I will present a view in front of other people to divide the whole
work equally and then do it. as due to this mistake the time provided for task is almost get completed
and it is very much essential to submit it on timely manner. So, if we all work together over the task
then it surely gets completed on available time period and on the other side do not increase stress over
a single person.

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How well did your work meet the stated assessment criteria?
All the team member were very much supportive and our team dynamics was also very strong
which support in meeting up with the stated assessment criteria as required for this project. We
completed all our tasks in effective manner within the time provided for completing it.
How can you improve your performance in future tasks?
While performing work on this group presentation I realise the importance of team work other
than this I also came to know about several weaknesses which I required to overcome in order to
improve my future performance. So, I decided to firstly divide the task among team mates and
then prepare a chart about who is performing which task so that no confusion will remain among
us. Other than this I also decided to have a regular meeting among team mares to have a
discussion regarding the progress of work so that it remain clear that work is moving toward right
direction and no body get out of the track so that work can be performed without any chance of
mistaken.
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