Developing Academic Skills

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Developing Academic Skills
Portfolio of Tasks
Date for Submission: Please refer to the timetable on ilearn
(The submission portal on ilearn will close at 14:00 UK time
on the date of submission)
Assignment Brief
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As part of the formal assessment for the programme you are required to submit a
Developing Academic Skills assignment. Please refer to your Student Handbook for
full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on
preparing and submitting assignments.
Learning Outcomes:
After completing the module, you should be able to:
1 Identify and explain the key resources available to facilitate own learning and study
and reflect on the development of personal academic skills
2 Apply time management techniques to study planning
3 Identify, summarise and evaluate credible information from a range of different
academic sources
4 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.
Maximum word count: 3000 words
Please note that exceeding the word count by over 10% will result in a reduction in grade
by the same percentage that the word count is exceeded.
You must not include your name in your submission because Arden University
operates anonymous marking, which means that markers should not be aware of
the identity of the student. However, please do not forget to include your STU
number.
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There are 4 Tasks. 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:
Create a timetable of study, covering the duration of the module. You should apply time
management techniques and record what time you will spend on studying for the module
and assessment writing. You should also include other commitments, such as work, family
and leisure time. Your timetable needs to be realistic (nobody works 24/7). Try to be
specific (how exactly will you spend your time – what will you do within the given time
frame, i.e. research a journal, a book, write task 2, 3, 4 etc). You could also use different
colours to show different activities.
Following this, produce a written explanation of the time management techniques
chosen and how you will use these to complete the module and assessment.
(Max 750 words)
(25 marks)
(LOs:2)
Task Two:
A) Imagine that you had to give advice to future students studying this module. What
advice would you give concerning the key resources that can be used to help study and
learn about this module? What have you found useful and why? Create a 300 word
podcast script, covering this topic.
B) Write a diary, on how your academic skills have developed over the course of this
module. This diary should be reflective and detailed. In particular, you should describe:
• What you have learnt during this module
• How you have felt throughout this learning journey
• Strengths AND weaknesses of the approach(es) you have taken
• Ways forward, i.e. how could you adapt your approach(es) to study in
the future
• A conclusion (summarising the key points)
c) Create an annotated bibliography, which documents what resources you have used
during the first four weeks on this module. You should utilise AU Harvard Referencing to
reference the sources. For each source, discuss how recent the text was written, and
evaluate them in terms of their accessibility, their scope, currency and credibility. You
should outline how each of these sources have helped you to learn. You can use the
diary for reflections in your writing. You can access a template for this from your tutor.
(Max 750 words for the whole task)
(25 marks)
(Los:1)
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Task Three
Identify 3 sources of information; one paper based, one freely available online and one
from an academic database, that explores the issues of climate change. You should
provide a full reference (using AU Harvard Referencing) for each source, summarise the
key arguments presented using a different note-taking technique for each one, and
evaluate each source in terms of its credibility (using the CAARP guidance, which is
documented on ilearn).
(Max 750 words)
(25 marks)
(LOs: 3)
Task Four
Produce a poster that provides guidance concerning how to uphold academic integrity,
how to avoid plagiarism and how to reference correctly using AU Harvard Referencing.
You should ensure that the poster is visually attractive and includes appropriate and
meaningful images and examples to highlight your explanations.
(Max 750 words)
(25 marks)
(LOs: 4)
(Mas3000 words)
(100 marks)
(Los:1,2,3 &4)
End of questions
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Formative Feedback
You have the opportunity to submit a draft copy of your work (up to 1,000 words) to
receive formative feedback.
The feedback is designed to help you develop areas of your work and it helps you
develop your skills as an independent learner.
If you are a distance learning student, you should submit your work, by email, to your
tutor, no later than 2 weeks before the actual submission deadline. If you are a blended
learning student, your tutor will give you a deadline for formative feedback and further
details.
Formative feedback will not be given to work submitted after the above date or the date
specified by your tutor – if a blended learning student.
Guidelines
You MUST underpin your analysis and evaluation of the key issues with appropriate
and wide ranging academic research and ensure this is referenced using the Arden
Harvard system(s).
The My Study Skills Area on iLearn contains useful resources relating to referencing.
Additional notes:
Students are required to indicate the exact word count on the title page of the
assessment.
The word count excludes the title page, tables, figures, diagrams, footnotes,
reference list and appendices. Where assessment questions have been reprinted
from the assessment brief these will also be excluded from the word count. ALL
other printed words ARE included in the word count. See ‘Word Count Policy’ on
the homepage of this module for more information.
Submission Guidance
Assignments submitted late will not be accepted and will be marked as a 0%
fail.
Your assessment should be submitted as a single Word (MS Word) or PDF file. For
more information please see the “Guide to Submitting an Assignment” document
available on the module page on iLearn.
You must ensure that the submitted assignment is all your own work and that all
sources used are correctly attributed. Penalties apply to assignments which show
evidence of academic unfair practice. (See the Student Handbook which is on the
homepage of your module and also in the Induction Area).
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Assessment Criteria (Learning objectives covered – all)