FEEDBACK TUTORIAL LETTER 1st SEMESTER 2018 ASSIGNMENT 1 AND 2 SELF DEVELOPMENT AND STUDY SKILLS SDS010S 1
Feedback Tutorial Letter SDS010S ASSIGNMENTS 1 and 2 Dear Student Introduction Thank you for the effort put into doing your assignments one. I really appreciate that most of you typewrite your assignments. It was neat and easy to mark. Next time you will score a zero for not complying with assignment criteria. This assignment was based on information from you study materials. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS FOR BOTH ASSIGNMENTS Professional or Personal Development is about developing yourself in terms of your career, not about your trainees or your institution. Most of you have misinterpreted the assignment by either writing about how to develop your institution or your trainees. Most of you also failed to provide relevant examples to substantiate your arguments. You also did not read and follow instructions properly by not including the rubric for scoring you a mark. It was quite obvious that the rubric was not followed to help you answer your assignment question and to be led by the marks allocated to the criteria. It is quite obvious that you did not read your First Tutorial Letters where the basic elements the structure of the assignment was discussed. A proper academic assignment should have the following elements: Table of contents Introduction Conclusion Referencing Here follows an explanation of what the criteria means. TABLE OF CONTENTS Every assignment should have a table of contents. The table of contents navigates the reader through the content and what is to found in the assignment under different headings and subheadings. Each heading or subheading should indicate the page number where the reader can find that specific heading or subheading. Most of you did a table of contents, but some of you did not include the headings under deliberation or omitted the page numbers. It is imperative to include a table of contents to navigate the reader through the paper and what content to find on which page, just like when you read a book. INTRODUCTION After the table of contents follow the introduction. It is an important part of your assignment. Here you introduce your topic; you tell the reader what the assignment is about. State the focus of your assignment clearly, describing the main parts of it and explain the key point/issue of discussion. If the assignments consist of more than one question refer to the actual wording of the different questions. It was quite disappointing to observe that at this stage of your career as students, you still do not write proper 2
introductions to your assignments. However, if in some cases you did, you did not relate your introduction to the content of the assignment. CONCLUSION After the introduction the main body of your assignment follows. Here you elaborate on the topic/question/s. It should contain the facts and opinions of it. You must present your work in a logical sequence in clear paragraphs. One paragraph should lead logically to the next. When you make a statement or an argument, support it with evidence, examples or quotations. Remember to acknowledge your sources. Make use of headings and subheadings where necessary. No objectives were sated too. All this small mistakes led to a loss of valuable marks Each assignment or piece of writing ends with a conclusion. In your conclusion you sum up the main points of your discussions. Comment here on the main points of your assignment from your own point of view. Your conclusion must link clearly with your main arguments/points. Also refer back to your objectives. Here you can also give recommendation if necessary. Most of you wrote a conclusion but some of you failed to state what you learnt from the assignment or what challenges did you experience when doing the assignment. Most of you rather stated what was said in the introduction already. REFERENCING The last part of your assignment is your reference list. The reference list must always be on a new piece of paper. Although most of you did the reference list, it was in most cases not done correctly. The following common errors were picked up: Referencing not done according to APA; Omission of references used in-text from the reference list; Addison of referencing not used at all; and lastly Incorrect referencing of internet sources and when received. The purposes of referencing are the following: 1. Reference gives recognition to the original author from whom the facts are taken 2. The author provides proof of where he got his information and shows whether he has consulted the most authoritative sources in the field 3. The references to sources can confirm the completeness of the study 4. References renders proof to the reader about the provenance of the author's thoughts/ideas 5. A source list provides information to the readers so that in turn they can consult the sources and so verify whether the sources have been correctly quoted /interpreted 6. The source list serves as additional source list about the topic - if the reader wishes to consult more sources about the topic Proof reading 3
It is very important that your assignment is written in a professional manner and that you avoid all grammar and spelling mistakes. Use the spell and grammar checker on your computer to assist you in this or ask somebody to read through your assignment before submitting it. Once your assignments have been completed, proofread very carefully before final submission. Proofreading is a close reading of the final version to eliminate errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation, as well as typographical errors that have survived the revisions. Proofreading should be done slowly, preferable aloud. If possible allow some time to elapse between final writing or typing and proofreading. In this way the writer is more likely to read with a fresh eye. When proofreading, check that: No words are omitted or carelessly repeated; No words are misspelt; No plurals are left out; No apostrophes are omitted for possessiveness or contractions; No full stops, dashes, commas or quotation marks are left out or used unnecessary Pointers for next assignment Make sure that you understand what is expected from you. Read the assignment two or three times. Analyse the assignment by breaking sentences up in order to try to make sense of it. Read the chapters relevant to the assignment in the prescribed textbook and write down preliminary answers. Read through your first attempt to make any changes if and where possible. Get someone to edit it first before you submit it. Failure to do so can cost you dearly. If not possible to type your assignment, please write neatly and legible. DETAILED FEEDBACK ON ASSIGNMENT 1 Your assignment one was based on the following task: Discuss the different steps in writing your personal development plan under the following headings: a. SWOT analysis b. Formulating an ultimate goal and reasons for wanting to achieve such goal. c. Action steps to be taken to realise your goal and the resources needed. d. Providing a time-line when you want to achieve your ultimate goal. 4
1. Conducting a SWOT SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. You were supposed to do your own Personal SWOT in order to identify the Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and how to build these into your PDP, and not those of your trainees and institutions. The SWOT should be conducted to identify your own personal and professional development needs. 2. Formulating an ultimate goal and reasons for wanting to achieve such goal. After identifying you focus area, decide what your ultimate objective for each of those focus areas would be. List reasons for wanting to reach that ultimate objective. Add these to your PDP. 3. Action steps to be taken to realise your goal and the resources needed. Here you needed to draw up an action plan explaining how you would achieve your objective. The ultimate objective can be broken down into long terms and short term goals. Your goals should be measurable, actionable items which can be achieved, in other words your goals should be SMART. 4. Providing a time-line when you want to achieve your ultimate goal. After identifying all places where you want to improve set up a timeline for it. Try to work on it at least once a week. By not setting a time line and deadline it is easy to lose interest and just to let it go. Some areas will take longer to work on and also more commitment than others, but eventually you will succeed. DETAILED FEEDBACK ON ASSIGNMENT 2 Your assignment TWO was based on the following task: Visit any Transport company in your area / or Google a Transport Company and prepare a REPORT ON THEIR FLEET MANAGEMENT UNDER THE FOLLOWING HEADINGS: Introduction and rationale Scope Objectives Driver Eligibility Conditions to drive vehicles Responsibilities of drivers Loading of passengers Loading of goods Adherence to regulations Safety Interpretation of the question Although all of you showed some understanding of what was expected, you did not own the assignment by writing a report, but rather copied and pasted what you could find from the company of what you Googled. This does not reflect reading with understanding or a deeper analysis of the data you collected. 5
Once again you did draw out the key issues, but rather copied and pasted everything you could get, meaning you did not filter the information to extract the most important information for your assignment. Although the arguments flowed in a logical and coherent manner as given in the question, most of you failed to either underline or number your headings. No practical examples were provided. Good luck with your next test. Mr. L.J. Bock Tel: 081 896 5385 E-mail: bock@namcol.edu.na 6