Assignment Brief Academic Year 20 23-24

Module FY003 Academic Research Module Chaudhry Zohaib Ali

code and and Writing leader: NAWAZ
title:
Assignment Written coursework, 1500 Assessment 100%
No. and words weighting:
type:
Submission Monday the 29th of July Target Three weeks from the
time and 2024 Before 23:59 feedback date of final submission
date: time and
date:

Assignment task

This assignment has three main tasks: You are expected to complete all three tasks.

Task 1
You are required to select one topic from the two listed below:

1a). Analyse the impact COVID-19 had on the business environment. Use a
business of your choice to demonstrate the issues experienced by that business
which were caused by Covid-19.

OR

1b). Analyse the role of digitalisation in a modern business activity.

Task 2
You are required to:

2. Reflect on the academic skills you have acquired during this module which
have impacted on your academic development.

Task 3
You are required to:

3. Write a personal development plan detailing the academic skills you will
need to write your assignment for this and other modules.

1 Academic Research and Writing

Assignment Brief Academic Year 20 23-24

This assignment has been designed to provide you with an opportunity to

demonstrate your achievement of the following module learning outcomes:
LO 1 Understand academic writing and referencing.
Demonstrate awareness and use of evidence-based writing to support
LO 2 conclusions and recommendations.

LO 3 Reflect on personal achievement and continuous improvement.

LO 4 Prepare a personal development plan.

2 Academic Research and Writing

Assignment Brief Academic Year 20 23-24

Task requirements
OVERVIEW

Your task is to prepare a report consisting of three parts. This consists of discussing a
business problem, a reflective piece of writing on your academic skills, and a self-
improvement plan.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TASK – WHAT YOU ARE BEING ASKED TO DO?

The written report should be in three parts as below:

1. The submission of a written report discussing one business aspect

from the choice of the two topics provided in the assignment task. You need to
use a wide range of credible academic resources. Use a minimum of eight
references to support and give weight to your arguments and conclusions (800
words).

2. A reflective piece of writing focusing on the academic skills of

research and writing which you have developed in this module (500 words).

3. Develop a SMART plan for self-improvement to develop your academic

skills for writing your assignments (200 words).

Part 1 – REPORT (800 WORDS)

Throughout the module, we will be examining a variety of current business issues by

using various research techniques. You will need to choose one business issue from
the list below to:

a) Analyse the impact COVID-19 on the business environment

Required: Use a business of your choice to demonstrate the issues
experienced by that business that Covid-19 caused. Please choose any
organisation around the globe impacted by covid-19 and to what extent.

Or

b) Analyse the role of digitalisation in modern business activity.

Required: In this task, you need to analyse how digitalisation works in the
modern technological world and what is the role of digitalisation in
transforming modern business activities.

3 Academic Research and Writing

Assignment Brief Academic Year 20 23-24

Part 2 – REPORT (500 WORDS)

Reflective writing requires you to discuss/analyse your

learning and understanding of academic research and
writing. You are required to discuss how the module
content will support your academic studies using Gibbs’
Reflective Model.

a) What academic skills, such as reading, additional

research, paraphrasing, referencing, etc., have you
learned, built, or improved upon within the module?
This requires you to discuss your own understanding regarding only academic
skills. Do not discuss the taught topics of COVID-19 and or digitalisation. This
assignment is only about developing your academic skills (200 words).
b) Why continuous learning is important, and what can you achieve with the new
knowledge you have learned in this module (200 words).
c) How the new academic skills can be used in your future studies (100 words).

Part 3 – Continuous development plan

(200 WORDS)

Through self-reflection, identify the academic

skills you need to develop to write good
assignments. Use the SMART technique to be
specific about the academic skills.
SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

The plan needs to highlight the following:

S Specific It requires you to identify specific areas for improvement

across each academic skill and create plans around them.
M Measurabl Select your indicators for success. These might be the time
e you spend in completing your work or in searching for
credible resources. If the time you spend on research is
reduced due to your improved strategies, that means you
are starting to achieve successful processes.
A Achievable This requires you to explain how you will functionally utilise
currently available resources to build or improve your

4 Academic Research and Writing

Assignment Brief Academic Year 20 23-24

academic skills, such as SST support, lecturer support,

internet facilities, IT skills, GBS online library, etc.
R Relevant How do the specific academic skill or multiple skills you are
planning to develop help you complete level 3? Such as
additional research is required in all modules of level 3,
developing additional research skills will improve time
management (as mentioned in “M” measurable). Therefore,
the assignment quality will improve which helps to gain
higher marks.
T Time- Set dates to allow for prioritisation. To effectively complete
Bound the development process, you are required to manage time
throughout the learning period, between the 4 and 6 weeks
of each module. Therefore, taking 4 weeks to practice and
build expertise in additional research, could be scheduled. In
this time, every week I will take 1 hour of one-to-one
sessions with a librarian to improve my research abilities.

The continuous development plan (CDP) template is attached below.

Discuss at least three academic skills in your CDP.

Academic Indicators for Resources Action-plan, time- Relation to

Skills success bound academic
success
Example: I can find the Librarian I will take 4 weeks to This will
Database article on the support and practice and build improve the
search: EBSCO lecturer expertise in quality of my
GBS database support for database searching. assignment
Library the GBS During this time, because I will
EBSCO online library every week I will deepen my
database take 15 minutes of understanding
one-to-one sessions of the topic.
to improve my It will improve
research abilities. my IT skills.
Academic Reading a Lecturer,
reading chapter from SSTs, and
the Academic
recommended skills tutors
textbook and
taking notes
Harvard
Referencin

5 Academic Research and Writing

Assignment Brief Academic Year 20 23-24

g
Use of MS
Word
General instructions:
The report must include the following:

You are required to provide in-text citations, for all the points and arguments in your
assignment. Your assignment must have a full list of references at the end of the
report presented in the University of Suffolk Harvard style. In academic writing, even
if you have your own thoughts about taught material you are required to give
reference to the original framework, theory, or principle, because you must give
credit to the author.

You can get reference writing guidance from this link: UOS Harvard - Referencing and
Plagiarism - Learning and Teaching at University of Suffolk

Referencing and research requirements

Please reference your work according to the Harvard style; you can access guidance
on this here: https://libguides.uos.ac.uk/academic/referencing/Harvard

How your work will be assessed

Your work will be assessed by how it demonstrates your achievement of the stated
learning outcomes for this assignment (see above) and against other key criteria, as
defined in the University's institutional grading descriptors. If it is appropriate to the
format of your assignment and your subject area, a proportion of your marks will
depend upon your use of academic referencing conventions.

This assignment will be marked according to the grading descriptors for Level 3

6 Academic Research and Writing

Assignment Brief Academic Year 20 23-24

Submission details

This assignment should be submitted electronically via Moodle, module tutors will
discuss this process with you during class time.

• Please ensure that your work has been saved in an appropriate file format
(Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint, or PDF are the most widely used; Google
Docs is also accepted). Your file must also contain at least 20 words of text,
consist of fewer than 400 pages, and be less than 40MB in size.

• You can submit your work as often as possible before the submission date.
However, if you submit your work more than once, your earlier submission will
be replaced by the most recent version.

• Once you have submitted your work, you will receive a digital receipt as proof of
submission, which will be sent to your forwarded e-mail address (provided you
have set this up). Please keep this receipt for future reference, along with the
original electronic copy of your assignment

• You are reminded of the University's regulations on academic misconduct,

which can be viewed on the University website:
https://www.uos.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Academic -Misconduct-Policy.pdf.

7 Academic Research and Writing

Assignment Brief Academic Year 20 23-24

By submitting your assignment, you are acknowledging that you have read
and understood these regulations.

Submission date and time

This assignment should be submitted to Moodle before 23:59 on Monday, the 29th
of July 2024.

You should submit all work for summative assessments by the above deadline.
However, work submitted up to three days after the deadline will be accepted and
marked, but the mark will be capped at the pass mark of 40% unless there is a valid
reason for the late submission (i.e., having been granted an extension to the deadline
or a deferral under the terms of the Extenuating Circumstances Policy.

Work submitted more than three days after the deadline without a valid reason will
not be accepted and will be recorded as 0% RN (refer to no work submitted).

For more information, please refer to:

http://studenthandbook.uos.ac.uk/index.php/student guides/assessment-the-basics-
undergraduate

This assignment's feedback and marks will be available three weeks from the
deadline.

8 Academic Research and Writing

 Marks 1st: 70%- 2nd: 60%- 2.2: 50%- 3rd: 40%-49% 35%-39% 20%-34% ≤20%
Descriptor 100% 69% 59%
Max Grade
100.00 77.00 65.00 55.00 45.00 37.00 10.00
Analysis High quality Solid quality Adequate Simple factual Weak work Little evidenceUnsatisfactor
(40%) work work work showing approach showing that student y work
1000 words showing showing understandin showing limited and has understood showing
report detailed competent g of limited fragmentary the specified major gaps in
outlining the understandin and underlying understanding understanding topic or the understandin
complete g of consistent concepts, of underlying of underlying assignment g of
analysis of underlying understandin examined concepts, concepts, brief. Little underlying
business concepts, g of current examined examined evidence of concepts,
issues by examined underlying business current current research. examined
using current concepts, issues, business business current
productive business examined limited use of issues, limited issues. The business
research issues by current research use of work is issues.
conducting using business techniques research characterized Inclusion of
techniques effective and issues by Narrow or techniques. by largely
efficient using misguided Narrow or inaccuracies, irrelevant
research effective and selection of misguided irrelevant information
techniques efficient material with selection of information and absence
research missing or material with and/or of
techniques. inaccurate missing or absence of appropriate
elements inaccurate appropriate information
elements information and no use of
research
techniques
Reflective High-quality Productive Adequate Satisfactory Highly Poor Does not
Writing reflective quality quality quality unsatisfactory understanding reference
(25%) writing skills reflective reflective reflective understanding of what any
Reflective are used to writing skills writing skills writing skills of the purpose reflection is. scholarship
writing highlight the are used to are used to used to of reflection. Poorly written on the
outlines importance highlight the highlight the highlight the Some skills and incoherent, importance

9
Academic Research and Writing
 certain skills of academic importance importance of importance of are listed but likely a list of of reflection.
learned in writing skills, of academic academic academic their bullet points Composed
this module no errors in writing skills, writing skills, writing skills, discussion is that do not mainly of
and how it the some errors fewer errors errors in incoherent discuss how bullet points
will help in grammar, in the in grammar, grammar, and and vague. the specified which are at
constructing and most grammar, and most most The student skills will help times vague
personal importantly, and most importantly, importantly, may have them in their and
development it has been importantly, limited use of no use of a simply career. incoherent.
plans. It done with it has been reflective reflective continued
requires the help of done with models in model in writing about
students to using the help of constructing constructing a business
discuss/anal reflective using the reflection the overall issue from the
yse your models such reflective reflection preceding
learning and as the Gibbs models such report.
understandi Reflective as Gibbs
ng of model Reflective
academic model
research and
writing
Continuous A well- A good An adequate Satisfactory Limited An A poor
Developmen written CDP attempt to attempt to attempt to understanding unsatisfactory attempt to
t Plan (CDP) plan write a CDP write a CDP write a CDP and attempt to prepare a
(15%) identifies plan plan plan identification prepare a CDP CDP plan that
skills that identifying identifying identifying of skills used plan identifying doesn’t
CDP plan
students skills that skills that skills that to prepare skills that define skills,
reflects how
need to use students students need students need CDP to plan students need and abilities
certain
their abilities need to use to use their to use their their career to use their to build a
skills will
to plan their their abilities abilities to abilities to and elaborate abilities to plan career and
help
careers and to plan their plan their plan their its role in their their career personal
students in
elaborates career and career and career and personal and elaborating development
their career
its role in elaborating elaborating elaborating its development its role in their
and
their its role in its role in role in their as well. personal
personal
personal their their personal personal development
developmen
development personal development development as well.
t
as well. development as well. as well.
as well.
Format and Exemplary Well- Work is Ordered Unsatisfacto The work is
Work is
10
Academic Research and Writing
 Structure presentation formed structured in structure ry extremely
loosely,
(10%) of work that presentatio a largely presentation presentatio disorganize
and at
is fluent and n of work coherent of ideas in n in a d, with
Presentatio times
flawless that is manner and which disjointed much of the
n of work, incoherentl
throughout coherently is for the relevant and content
relevant y,
structured most part concepts are incoherent confusingly
subheading structured,
and clearly clearly reasonably manner. expressed.
s, with
expressed expressed. expressed. Information and
introduction informatio
throughout. ideas are very
, n and
poorly
conclusions, ideas often
expressed
structure, poorly
format, and expressed.
design.
Referencing Insightful Consistent Engagement Evidence of
Poor Limited No
(10%) and effective engageme with an reading is
engageme evidence of evidence of
use of a nt with a appropriate largely
Use of nt with reading reading or
carefully wide range range of confined to
scholarly essential and/or engageme
selected of relevant reading essential
articles, texts and reliance on nt with
range of reading. beyond texts, but
reports, no inappropriate taught
relevant essential mainly
blogs, and evidence sources. elements.
reading. texts. reliant on
research to of wider Limited Absent or
Consistently Referencing taught
build a reading. engagement incoherent
accurate may show elements.
comprehens Heavily with taught referencing.
application minor Referencin
ive and reliant on elements.
of inaccuracies g may
productive taught Very poor use
referencing or show
assignment elements. of referencing.
inconsistencie inaccuraci
Inconsistent
s. es and/or
and weak use
inconsistencie
of referencing
s.

11
Academic Research and Writing
 12
Academic Research and Writing