Programme:	BA Business Management
Module:	ACADEMIC SKILLS
Module code:		Contribution to	25%
		Overall Module
		Assessment (%):
Lecturer(s):		Internal Verifier:
Assignment Title:	Assignment 1	Word count (or	1250 Words
	Academic Skills	equivalent):
	(Individual Report)
Submission	To be announced by the	Return date of	20 Working days after submission
deadline:	Assessment team-	provisional marks
	Please refer to the assessments	& written feedback:
	schedule published on
	Students’ Hall in Moodle
Submission	All written assessments, where practical and possible, must be submitted via
	Turnitin unless otherwise instructed by the Lecturer. (Please DO NOT put this
method:
	assessment specification into Turnitin or it will match many similarities with
	other students’ submissions.)
	Alternative submission method (if applicable):
	Late submission of the assessment will result in a late penalty mark.
	Penalties for late submission: Up to one week late, maximum mark of 40%.
	Over one week late, 0%. Only the Extenuating Circumstances Panel may
	approve a change to submission dates.
Academic	Academic honesty is required. In the main body of your submission you must
honesty /	give credit to authors on whose research and ideas your work is based. Append
referencing:	to your submission a reference list that indicates the books, articles, etc. that
	you have used, cited or quoted in order to complete this assessment.

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Module Learning Outcomes (from module syllabus)

Upon the successful completion of this module, the student should be able to demonstrate the ability to:

produce a fully referenced written work in a relevant topic which is well -organised and makes use of an appropriate academic writing style;

produce written work which is well-organised, relevant and makes use of appropriate terminology and academic style;

demonstrate good communication skills in written and oral form;

demonstrate effective use of Information Technology (IT) as required, including but not limited to MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Teams, the internet;

interpret and analyse a range of information beyond mere description in a critical way;

work as a member of a team by cooperating with others, negotiating, listening to others in the group, sharing responsibilities/tasks and meeting deadlines.

Assessment Component 1 – 25% Written Report (1250 words).

Assignment 1 (Learning Outcome one to five):

Select one published source from the Indicative Reading List in the Module Descriptor. Select one section of this source that discusses a specific skill or set of skills that you find useful or believe will be useful to you in the future.

Write a short summary of the discussion of the skill(s) in the published source. Then analyse how you can use this to improve your own skills – either now or in the future. Evaluate what you have learnt from this source.

If you wish, you can refer briefly to other sources from the List to support what you say. You must reference any sources you use using the Harvard referencing system.

NOTE: The guidance offered below is linked to the five generic assessment criteria overleaf.

Engagement with Literature Skills

Your work must be informed and supported by scholarly material that is relevant to and focused on the task(s) set. You should provide evidence that you have accessed an appropriate range of sources, which may be academic, governmental and industrial; these sources may include academic journal articles, textbooks, current news articles, organisational documents, and websites. You should consider the credibility of your sources; academic journals are normally highly credible sources while websites require careful consideration/selection and should be used sparingly. Any sources you use should be current and up-to- date, mostly published within the last five years or so, though seminal/important works in the field may be older. You must provide evidence of your research/own reading throughout your work, using a suitable referencing system, including in-text citations in the main body of your work and a reference list at the end of your work.

Guidance specific to this assessment:

Your research only needs to be based on one source from the indicative reading list for this assignment:


Essential	Bradbury, A. (2006) Successful Presentation Skills. London: Kogan Page.
Essential	Cottrell, S. (2019) The Study Skills Handbook, 5th Ed. London: Red Globe Press.
Essential	Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2016) Research Methods for Business Students, 7th Ed. Harlow: Pearson.
Further	Fairbairn, G., & Winch, C. (2011) Reading, Writing, and Reasoning: a Guide for Students, 3rd Ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Further	Godfrey, J. (2018) How to Use Your Reading in your Essays, 3rd Ed. London: Palgrave
Further	Haber, J. (2020) Critical Thinking. London & Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Further	McMillan, K., & Weyers, J. D. B. (2012) The Study Skills Book, 3rd Ed. Harlow: Pearson.
Further	Oliver, P. (2012) Succeeding with Your Literature Review: A Handbook for Students.Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill / Open University Press.

If you wish, you can refer briefly to other sources to support what you say.

Knowledge and Understanding Skills

At level 4, you should be able to demonstrate knowledge of the underlying concepts and principles associated with your area(s) of study. Knowledge relates to the facts, information and skills you have acquired through your learning. You demonstrate your understanding by interpreting the meaning of the facts and information (knowledge). This means that you need to select and include in your work the concepts, techniques, models, theories, etc. appropriate to the task(s) set. You should be able to explain the theories, concepts, etc. to show your understanding. Your mark/grade will also depend upon the extent to which you demonstrate your knowledge and understanding.

Guidance specific to this assessment:

Your writing should be factually accurate, and you should represent the source that you use precisely and concisely. You need to show that you understand the topics and the usefulness of the skills discussed. There should be detailed examples.

Cognitive and Intellectual Skills

You should be able to present, evaluate and interpret qualitative and quantitative data, in order to develop lines of argument and make sound judgements in accordance with basic theories and concepts of your subject(s) of study. You should be able to evaluate the appropriateness of different approaches to solving problems related to your area(s) of study and/or work. Your work must contain evidence of logical, analytical thinking. For example, to examine and break information down into parts, make inferences, compile, compare and contrast information. This means not just describing what! But also justifying: Why? How? When? Who? Where? At what cost? You should provide justification for your arguments and judgements using evidence that you have reflected upon the ideas of others within the subject area and that you are able to make sound judgements and arguments using data and concepts. Where relevant, alternative solutions and recommendations may be proposed.

Guidance specific to this assessment:

Guidance specific to this assessment:

Your writing should not just be descriptive. It should evaluate and analyse the source material. You might need to interpret qualitative or quantitative data. You need to demonstrate the ability to make logical connections between the way that the skills are described in the source material, your evaluation, assessment and opinions about them.

Practical Skills

At level 4, you should be able to apply the basic underlying concepts and principles to evaluate and interpret these within the context of your area of study. You should be able to demonstrate how the subject-related concepts and ideas relate to real world situations and/or a particular context. How do they work in practice? You will deploy models, methods, techniques, and/or theories, in that context, to assess current situations, perhaps to formulate plans or solutions to solve problems, or to create artefacts. This is likely to involve, for instance, the use of real-world artefacts, examples and cases, the application of a model within an organisation and/or benchmarking one theory or organisation against others based on stated criteria.

Guidance specific to this assessment:

You should be able to relate examples from the real world to the descriptions that you encounter, and vice versa.

This is an evaluative report, not a reflective one. However, you may need to reflect on your own current skills before you start – you need to know what your level is before you can find a way to improve it. If you do this, you should make use of the tools you learned in class (e.g. SWOT analysis, time management tools, personal development and planning) and apply them to your own situation.

You may include some of that reflection in the report, but this should be no more than 15% of the word count: approximately 180 words. Most of the report should be evaluative and analytical, based on the information in the chosen source.

Transferable Skills for Life and Professional Practice

Your work must provide evidence of the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring the exercise of some personal responsibility. This includes demonstrating that you can communicate the results of your study/work accurately and reliably, and with structured and coherent arguments; that you can initiate and complete tasks and procedures, whether individually and/or collaboratively; fluency of expression; clarity and effectiveness in presentation and organisation. Work should be coherent and well-structured in presentation and organisation.

Guidance specific to this assessment:

Your report should be appropriately structured; it should have a cover page, a table of contents and logical sections. It should be written using formal language, in clear paragraphs, in a way that conveys the meaning intended. You should ensure that the grammar, spelling, punctuation and use of vocabulary are correct and reflect the way you normally write in English. The use of translation and/or paraphrasing software is discouraged but you are welcome to use a dictionary/thesaurus.

This section details the extent to which the assessment criteria are demonstrated by you, which in turn determines your mark. The marks available for each category of skill are shown. Lecturers will use the space provided to comment on the achievement of the task(s), including those areas in which you have performed well and areas that would benefit from development/improvement.

Generic Assessment Criteria

Engagement with Literature Skills

Extent of research and/or own reading, selection of credible sources, application of appropriate referencing conventions.

Knowledge and Understanding Skills ₂₀

Extent of knowledge and understanding of concepts and underlying principles associated with the discipline

3. Cognitive and Intellectual Skills	20
Analysis, evaluation and synthesis; logic, argument and judgement; analytical reflection;
organisation of ideas and evidence

4. Practical Application Skills		20
Deployment of methods, materials, tools and techniques; application of concepts; formulation of
innovative and creative solutions to solve problems.

5. Transferable Skills for Life and Professional Practice	20
Attributes in professional practice: individual and collaborative working; deployment of
appropriate media; presentation and organisation.

Assessment Mark (Assessment marks are subject to ratification at the	Late Submission Penalties (tick if	100%
	appropriate)
Exam Board. These comments and marks are to give feedback on module work	Up to 1 week late (40% Max)
and are for guidance only until they are confirmed. )
	Over 1 week late (0%)

Level 4	FAIL	MARGINAL FAIL	SATISFACTORY	GOOD	VERY GOOD	EXCELLENT	EXCEPTIONAL
Level 4	FAIL	MARGINAL FAIL	(3^rd/ Pass)	(2.2 / Pass)	(2.1 / Merit)	(1^st/ Distinction)	(1^st/ Distinction)
Category	0-29%	30-39%	40-49%	50-59%	60-69%	70-84%	85-100%
Engagement	Little or no	Poor	Engagement	Engagement	Engagement	Engagement	Exceptional
with literature	evidence of	engagement	with a limited	with an	with a wide	with an	engagement
(including	reading and/or	with essential	range of mostly	appropriate	range of	extensive range	with an
reading,	reliance on	reading. No	relevant and	range of	literature,	of relevant and	extensive range
referencing,	inappropriate	evidence of	credible sources	literature,	including	credible	of relevant and
academic	sources.	wider reading.	but with some	including	sources	literature.	credible
conventions and	Views and	Reliance on	reliance on	sources	retrieved	Consistently	literature. High-
academic	findings mostly	inappropriate	information	retrieved	independently.	accurate	level referencing
honesty)	unsupported and	sources, and/or	gained through	independently.	Selection of	application of	skills
	non-	indiscriminate	class contact.	Some over-	relevant and	referencing.	consistently
	authoritative.	use of sources.	Some omissions	reliance on texts	credible sources.		applied.
	Referencing	Heavily reliant	and minor	rather than other	Generally sound
	conventions	on information	errors.	sources.	referencing, with
	used	gained through	Referencing	Referencing may	no/very few
	incoherently or	class contact.	conventions	show minor	inaccuracies or
	largely absent.	Inconsistent and	evident though	inaccuracies or	inconsistencies.
		weak use of	not always	inconsistencies.
		referencing.	applied
			accurately or
			consistently.
Knowledge	Major gaps in	Gaps in	Limited	Knowledge of	Competent	Excellent	Exceptional,
and	knowledge and	knowledge of the	knowledge and	the basic	knowledge of the	knowledge and	detailed
understanding	understanding of	basic underlying	understanding of	underlying	basic underlying	understanding of	knowledge and
(Knowledge of the	the basic	concepts and	the basic	concepts and	concepts and	the basic	understanding of
basic underlying	underlying	principles, with	underlying	principles is	principles.	underlying	the basic
concepts and	concepts and	flawed or	concepts and	accurate with a	Exhibits very	concepts and	underlying

Level 4

FAIL

MARGINAL FAIL

SATISFACTORY

GOOD

VERY GOOD

EXCELLENT

EXCEPTIONAL

(3^rd/ Pass)

(2.2 / Pass)

(2.1 / Merit)

(1^st/ Distinction)

Category

0-29%

30-39%

40-49%

50-59%

60-69%

70-84%

85-100%

principles of a

principles of the

superficial

principles within

good

principles of the

concepts and

subject.)

subject matter.

understanding.

the subject area.

understanding of

understanding.

subject.

principles

Inclusion of

Some significant

Some elements

the field of study

irrelevant

inaccuracies

may be missing.

but lacks depth

material.

and/or irrelevant

and/or breadth.

Substantial

material.

inaccuracies.

Cognitive and

Wholly or almost

Largely

Limited attempt

Good evaluation

Sound

Excellent

Exceptional

intellectual

wholly

descriptive work,

at evaluation of

of the underlying

evaluation of the

skills

descriptive work.

with superficial

the underlying

concepts and

underlying

(Evaluate

Little or no

evaluation of the

concepts and

principles. Can

concepts and

underlying

evaluation of the

underlying

principles,

interpret

principles. Can

principles based

concepts and

underlying

concepts and

tending towards

qualitative and

interpret

evidence.

principles of a

concepts and

principles. Weak

description.

quantitative

qualitative and

Outstanding

subject and

principles.

interpretation of

Can interpret

data, with minor

quantitative data

interpretation of

interpret

Failure to

data, flawed

qualitative and

errors.

accurately.

accurately and

qualitative and

develop

development of

quantitative data

An emerging

Ability to devise

with some

quantitative

quantitative data

arguments,

arguments and

but with some

ability to use

arguments using

insight. Excellent

data.

in order to

leading to

judgements.

errors. Some

evidence to

ability to devise

Exceptional

develop lines of

argument and

illogical or invalid

Information

evidence to

support the

make mostly

arguments using

ability to devise

make sound

judgements.

accepted

support

argument.

appropriate and

evidence and

arguments using

judgements.)

Minimal or no

uncritically, uses

emerging

Mostly valid

valid

make

evidence and

use of

generalised

arguments and

judgements.

appropriate and

make wholly

evidence to back

statements

judgements but

logical

valid

appropriate and

up views.

made with scant

these may be

judgements.

valid

evidence and

underdeveloped

judgements.

unsubstantiated

or with a little

opinions. Ideas

inconsistency /

sometimes

mis-

illogical and

interpretation.

contradictory.

Practical skills

Limited or no

Rudimentary

An adequate

A good and

A very good

An advanced

Exceptional

(Different

use of taught,

application of

awareness and

appropriate

application of a

levels of

approaches to

basic methods,

taught, basic

mostly

application of

range of basic

range of taught,

application and

solving problems

materials, tools

methods,

appropriate

basic methods,

methods,

basic methods,

deployment

in particular

and/or

materials, tools

application of

materials, tools

skills in

contexts.)

techniques.

and/or

basic methods,

and/or

particular

Little or no

techniques but

materials, tools

techniques.

practical

appreciation of

without

and/or

Clear

Very good

The context of

contexts.

the context of

consideration

techniques.

appreciation of

consideration of

the application is

Outstanding

the application.

and

the context of

identification of

Level 4

FAIL

MARGINAL FAIL

SATISFACTORY

GOOD

VERY GOOD

EXCELLENT

EXCEPTIONAL

(3^rd/ Pass)

(2.2 / Pass)

(2.1 / Merit)

(1^st/ Distinction)

Category

0-29%

30-39%

40-49%

50-59%

60-69%

70-84%

85-100%

Very weak

competence.

Basic

the context of

the application.

well considered,

problems in

evidence of

Flawed

appreciation of

the application.

Very good

and insightful.

particular

different

appreciation of

the context of

Good evidence

evidence of

Excellent

contexts and

approaches to

the context of

the application.

of different

different

evidence of

formulation of

problem-solving

the application.

Can identify

approaches to

different

wholly

in particular

Weak evidence

problems in

problem-solving

approaches to

appropriate,

contexts.

of different

particular

in particular

problem-solving

thoughtful

approaches to

contexts and

in particular

solutions /

problem-solving

propose basic

proposes mostly

proposes

contexts and

different

in particular

alternative

appropriate

proposes

approaches.

contexts.

approaches or

solutions.

appropriate

solutions though

solutions.

there may be

errors.

Transferable

Work is poorly

Mostly ordered

Mostly coherent,

Work is

skills for life

structured,

presented in a

presentation and

organised and

accurate,

coherent, very

accurate,

and

disorganised,

disjointed

structure in

accurate work, in

coherent, fluent,

fluent and is

exceptionally

professional

inaccurate

manner. It is

which relevant

a suitable

well-structured

presented

coherent, very

practice

and/or

loosely, and at

ideas / concepts

structure and is

and organised.

professionally.

fluent and

(Communicate

confusingly

times

are reasonably

for the most part

Can work

presented well.

the results of their

expressed. Very

incoherently,

expressed. Work

clearly

effectively

Can work

study/work

weak use of

structured, with

may lack

expressed. Can

independently

effectively

accurately and

language and/or

information and

coherence

work effectively

and/or as part of

independently

reliably, and with

very

ideas often

and/or accuracy

independently

a team, with very

a team, with an

and/or as part of

structured and

inappropriate

poorly

in places. Can

and/or as part of

good

excellent

a team, with an

coherent

style. Failure to

expressed.

work as part of a

a team, with

contribution to

exceptional

arguments; the

work effectively

Weak use of

group, meeting

clear

group activities.

contribution to

qualities needed

individual or as

language and/or

most obligations

contribution to

Demonstrates

group activities.

for employment

requiring the

part of a group.

inappropriate

to others but

group activities.

very good skills

excellent skills

Demonstrates

exercise of some

Little or no

style. Flawed

perhaps with

Demonstrates

for employment

exceptional skills

personal

evidence of the

approach to

limited

the skills for

requiring the

for employment

responsibility

skills for

individual or

involvement in

employment

exercise of some

requiring the

within a structured

employment

group work,

group activities.

requiring the

personal

exercise of some

and managed

requiring the

meeting only

Demonstrates

exercise of some

responsibility,

responsibility

personal

environment.)

exercise of some

partial

the basic skills

personal

with just

with an appetite

responsibility

personal

obligations to

for employment

responsibility,

occasional minor

for further

with an appetite

responsibility.

others. Limited

requiring the

with some areas

weakness.

development.

for further

evidence of the

exercise of some

of strength and

development.

skills for

personal

some of minor

employment

responsibility,

weakness.

requiring the

with some areas

Level 4	FAIL	MARGINAL FAIL	SATISFACTORY	GOOD	VERY GOOD	EXCELLENT	EXCEPTIONAL
Level 4	FAIL	MARGINAL FAIL	(3^rd/ Pass)	(2.2 / Pass)	(2.1 / Merit)	(1^st/ Distinction)	(1^st/ Distinction)
Category	0-29%	30-39%	40-49%	50-59%	60-69%	70-84%	85-100%
		exercise of some	of minor
		personal	weakness.
		responsibility.

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