Assessment Brief
This is an individual written piece of 2000 words which outlines your skills and goals, in developing personally, professionally, and academically in the future. This will be accompanied by a Personal Development Plan.
Indicative structure / content:
- 1 cover page with student name and number, title of program of studies, name of tutor, and title of the assessment
- 1 page with table of contents
- Introduction. As with any introduction, this part should introduce readers to the topic, explain its importance, and briefly summarize how the author intends on approaching it. [Indicative length: 300 words]
- Main part:
- Definition / description of personal, professional, and academic development according to relevant literature [Indicative length: 400 words]
- Definition / discussion of the skills necessary for personal, professional, and academic development. [Indicative length: 600 words]
- Concluding remarks. A summary of what has been discussed and your final “thoughts”. [Indicative length: 200 words]
Tips / advice:
- This written piece can be considered as mixture of essay and reflective report. Therefore, your writing style should be adopted accordingly. Except for the PDP section, you style should be kept strictly academic / formal. In the PDP section, which is a reflective one, you may adopt a more informal tone.
- Back your arguments with reliable sources of data, knowledge, and examples. It’s one thing to say that “business management requires…” and another thing to say that “a recent survey in the UK service sector revealed that contemporary businesses expect from their employees to be…”.
- If you reflect on your experience or present your personal views, opinions, etc, make sure you let the audience know about it (i.e. clarify it).
- Proofread your text to correct grammar / vocabulary / expressional errors. While reading what you wrote, put yourselves in the shoes of readers: would you understand the meaning if you were not the author? If yes, leave it as it is. If not, change it. Also ask if you are to the point, i.e. use only the absolutely necessary quantity of word to express yourself. Remember that too many words do not always guarantee clarity. On the contrary, they may distort meaning and your reader’s understanding.
- Use visual aids (graphs, pictures, tables etc.) only if add to your writing’s quality. If you do use them, it is necessary to provide relevant comments. If these aids are taken from elsewhere, i.e. not produced by you, it is essential that you provide the respective source (book, website etc.) below them.
Minimum Secondary Research Source Requirements:
Level HE4 – It is expected that the Reference List will contain between five and ten sources. As a MINIMUM the Reference List should include one refereed academic journals and three academic books.