BUS003 Developing Academic Skills

Assignment Brief

As part of the formal assessment for the programme you are required to submit a Developing Academic Skills assignment.

Learning Outcomes:

After completing the module, you should be able to:

• Identify and explain the key resources available to facilitate own learning and study and reflect on the development of personal academic skills
• Apply time management techniques to study planning

• Identify, summarise, and evaluate credible information from a range of different academic sources

• Explain and demonstrate how to avoid plagiarism through correct referencing

Your assignment should include: a title page containing your student number, the module name, the submission deadline and a word count; the appendices if relevant; and a reference list in Arden University (AU) Harvard format. You should address all the elements of the assignment task listed below. Please note that tutors will use the assessment criteria set out below in assessing your work.

Assignment tasks

There are 4 Tasks designed to cover all 4 learning outcomes. All tasks need to be submitted in a single (One) Microsoft Word document. There are further instructions on how to submit at the end of this assignment paper.

Task One: Time Management

1. Demonstrate your time management skills by creating a timetable for study during this module. In your timetable highlight your work commitments, family time, study time and recreational time.

1. Write a reflection on how you managed your time, utilising the timetable and using Pomodoro or Eisenhower to manage your study. Use Gibb’s model to structure your reflection.

Task Two: Resources and reflection

1. Identify 4 key resources that you have used to support your study during this module. Explain how you used each resource in your studies.

1. Write a reflection on the development of your academic skills during this module. For example, writing skills, referencing skills, researching skills and summarising skills. Use Gibb’s model to structure your reflection.

Task Three: Literature searching, note taking and evaluating

1. Find a book online using Perlego on the topic of Academic Integrity, plagiarism and referencing. Summarise the key points using the Cornell note taking method. State the full reference of the book (AU Harvard), demonstrate your note taking and then give a summary of the source in terms of its credibility (using the CAARP guidance, which is documented on iLearn).
2. Find a newspaper article or website online on the topic of Academic Integrity, plagiarism and referencing. Summarise the key points using a mind map note taking method. State the full reference of the book (AU Harvard), demonstrate your note taking and then give a summary of the source in terms of its credibility (using the CAARP guidance, which is documented on iLearn).

Task Four: Plagiarism and referencing

1. Explain what is meant by plagiarism and academic integrity. Support your explanations with definitions and citations.
2. Produce an ‘at a glance’ leaflet that gives examples and explanations on how to produce a reference list using AU Harvard referencing. Include examples on how to insert in-text citations and direct quotations.