The Business Skills Handbook

The Business Skills Handbook

The Business Skills Handbook Examinations and Assignments Week 12

Reading Recommended text: The Business Skills Handbook Horn, R. London: CIPD 1st edition, 2009 ISBN: 1843982188 Chapter 12: Examinations and Assignments (page 289)

Lecture Outline • how to carry out initial research on assessment questions • how to approach understanding the question • how to avoid making mistakes when interpreting the question

Learning Objectives • be able to interpret assignment and examination questions accurately • be able to reflect on your abilities to accurately interpret assignment and examination questions.

Checking out Your Topic Idea A general approach to understanding the question and carrying out preliminary work: • Attend the teaching session where the assignment is issued, and attend all teaching sessions for a period of three weeks after the assignment is issued. • Attend the examination preparation lecture and seminars.

Checking out Your Topic Idea [2] • Carry out all the assigned readings related to the assignment task or to the likely examination questions. • Deconstruct the assignment question into the component tasks or use past examination questions to practise understanding the question. • Carefully consider the language used in the question. • Understand the learning experience that is being encouraged.

Checking out Your Topic Idea [3] • Focus on ‘my’ purpose in completing this assignment or examination. • Discuss the assignment or the upcoming examination with a study group, the tutor and the year group above you. • Spend time considering the academic background and the teaching approach used by the tutor.

Checking out Your Topic Idea [4] • Identify what type of questions have been set, or set in the past, and know the preferred form to answer it. • Carefully check the assignment and examination criteria sheet, or discuss with the tutor the performance expectations if none is issued. • Research the general subject area before investigating the specific question.

Checking out Your Topic Idea [5] • Uncover the general debates around the question subject area from academic and professional associations. • Look at completed assignments in the same subject area; other students or the tutor may help here. Look at the general examination feedback from previous examinations if any is available. • Use your creative skills to brainstorm and mind-map the subject area.

Checking out Your Topic Idea [6] • Build a research base of textbooks, journal articles and websites; keep detailed and accurate notes of these resources. • Form an opinion on the topic and then develop the outline of an argument. • Use the university librarians as a source of help. • Create a WBS chart (see Chapter 1) to ensure you complete the assignment on time or carry out all the revision you need before the examination.

Checking out Your Topic Idea [7] • Create a time plan to control the tasks that must be completed. • Check the technical aspects of the assignment, such as word count, writing form, bibliographic form. • Check the technical aspects of the examination.

Checking out Your Topic Idea [8] • You may now be thinking this is an extraordinary amount of work to carry out before answering the question. All successful tasks require a large amount of groundwork; if the foundations of the answer are weak, your work will be weak.

Reflecting about Assignments and Examinations Learning requires reflection; reflect on assignments and examinations by considering: • How well or badly did this go? – for example, poor use of my time • What did I learn? – for example, you cannot just randomly search the web for assignment stuff • What will I do differently next time? – for example, create a more structured way of working • How will I do it differently? – for example, think about the key words before I start clicking

Reflecting about Assignments and Examinations [2] • What did I learn about myself? – for example, I can be really scatter-brained and unfocused • Is there any help I can get? – for example, the library runs effective searching courses • What skill level do I need to do this task well? – for example, a structured mind and a structured process is needed • How can I develop this skill so that I am successful at level 3? – for example, look back at the PDP notes on reflective learning, read about reflective learning

Reflecting about Assignments and Examinations [3] • When should I review my performance on this again? – for example, two weeks’ time • How you keep this information is very much up to you; a paper file is often used, but an electronic diary in Word makes it easier to manage and learn from the entries. If you read the section on Microsoft OneNote in Chapter 2, then this software would be most suitable.

Deconstructing the Question • By deconstructing the question into component parts, you are aiming to understand the various elements more clearly and thereby address all the elements of the question more effectively. When you deconstruct an assignment question, you can take your time and treat it as a skills development session. In an examination you must still deconstruct the question, but it must be done under the pressure of time.

Deconstructing the Question [2] • But before we deconstruct a question, let’s look to see if there are any more clues about the assignment and examination questions: • What textbook does you tutor recommend? Take a look at the chapter related to the question. Form a view about the style of the text. Descriptive, analytic, well-argued, well-evidenced?

Deconstructing the Question [3] • What style of teaching does your tutor use? Evidence-based arguing? Description and examples? Analysis and evaluation? • What types of assignment are usual for this subject area? See the examples above.

Deconstructing the Question [4] • Can you find examples of assignments or examinations that have already been set for this module? Try the e-learning site, or speak to friends in the year above you. Is there a theme to the assignments set over the last few years? Is the same assignment set every year? Do the examination questions follow a pattern?

Deconstructing the Question [5] • How do the assignments and examination questions relate to the readings and course materials? • What are the learning outcomes (university speak – but you will find reference to them in documents you have been given) for the module? What learning outcomes are being tested by this assessment?

Deconstructing the Question [6] Deconstructing and analysing the question (based on an assignment – but you will need to carry out a similar set of activities for each exam question)

Deconstructing the Question [7] One popular way to deconstruct the question is the three-step process: Step 1 – Clarifying parts you are not sure of • Check the meaning of any words, terms or phrases you are not sure of. Don’t just think, ‘I know roughly what that means.’ If you are not 100% sure, take some time to check!

Deconstructing the Question [8] • Some assignments use direct quotes from published material. ‘Google’ the exact phrase and you should be offered a number of places where you can obtain the source document. Tutors tend to use newspaper or journals as the source for quotes, so if you log onto Athens you should be able to look at the original source document.

Deconstructing the Question [9] • This will enable you to look at the context of the statement and the wider argument that supports the statement. The reference list in a journal article will lead you to other theory and ideas connected with the statement.

Deconstructing the Question [10] Step 2 – Identifying the main parts of the question • In this three-step process there are also three steps to identifying the main parts of the question:

Deconstructing the Question [11] Instruction • These are instruction or directing words that tell you what to do, such as analyse, compare, discuss, evaluate, critique. If you are not sure what the instruction word means, look it up on the web or in a textbook. A vague idea of what the instruction means will not do! You need a clear, precise, thoughtful and reflective understanding of what you are being asked to do.

Deconstructing the Question [12] Topic • This is the general area of the assignment. Asking the ‘what’ question is a good way to understand the topic area. Analyse – what? Evaluate – what? By carefully thinking about the topic area you will develop a precise understanding of exactly what is being asked in the question.

Deconstructing the Question [13] Focus • This will qualify the topic area to a specific area, for example, the assignment topic may be diversity. The wording of the assignment may then focus on age diversity. Look out for words and phrases that focus the assignment – if you miss these explicit or implicit terms your answer will be too broad and wide-ranging and will lose marks for lack of focus.

Deconstructing the Question [14] Worked example Question: Analyse the value of work–life balance practices to modern business? At first glance we may separate the question into the following sections. • Instruction: analyse • Topic: work–life balance • Focus: modern business

Deconstructing the Question [15] • The instruction ‘analyse’ requires you to find a way, maybe theory, to separate the topic ‘work–life balance’ into its component parts so as to understand it better.

Deconstructing the Question [16] • The topic work–life balance encompasses a wide range of ideas, practices, policies and procedures designed to create some amount of balance in a person’s life between work and home or social life.

Deconstructing the Question [17] • The focus on modern business requires that you have an idea about what modern business is and how it might differ from traditional business.

Deconstructing the Question [18] Step 3 – Internalise and contextualise the question • Internalising and contextualising the question is an important part of fully understanding the question. • Internalising is a process that makes it personal to you. Rewriting the question in your own words can do this. • Once you have done this, check carefully that you have not changed the meaning or focus of the question.

Deconstructing the Question [19] • Contextualising places the question into a context that you know. So if the question is concerned with learning, you could place it into a context of which you are familiar, such as university. • You then explore and think about the question in this context before rethinking it in other contexts that arise from your thoughts. Effectively, you are ‘testing out’ the question idea in different circumstances.

Deconstructing the Question [20] • Our three-step process has created more clarity, understanding and focus and should therefore ensure that your writing will have clarity and focus and display understanding.

Deconstructing the Question [21] • However, there may be a problem. • List the words in the question that we have not used in our analysis so far.

Deconstructing the Question [22] You should have identified that we have not considered: • value, or the value • practices • to • the • of

Deconstructing the Question [23] • Value? Now that is an interesting word! What does it mean?

Deconstructing the Question [24] • You might be surprised to know that academic conferences are organised around discussions and papers are written about the meaning of ‘value’ in various contexts. So this word is going to be a bit of a problem in this question.

Deconstructing the Question [25] • Notice I am using the word as an instruction. It does not look like an instruction word! We already have one – analyse. This is a second instruction word. Failing to spot that would have created a real weakness in your answer. As an instruction, ‘value’ may mean ‘evaluate’, express an idea about its ‘worth’, its ‘usefulness’, its ‘monetary worth’, its ‘merit’.

Deconstructing the Question [26] • Hopefully with this example you will see the usefulness of spending time carefully examining the words used in questions.

Deconstructing the Question [27] • ‘Practices’ is a little less troublesome for our analysis; this is another focus word meaning the practical ways that the idea of work–life balance is used. This excludes discussion of aspects that are not commonly translated into organisational practices.

Deconstructing the Question [28] • The three other words are linking words: ‘to’, ‘the’, ‘of’. But, be careful; these words can change the meaning and required task in the assignment. Let’s just look at ‘to’. This is used in front of ‘modern business’. The phrase is ‘to modern business’.

Deconstructing the Question [29] • This means that your earlier analysis and evaluation (value) of work–life balance practices is to the business, not to the employees. Your answer will need to address the value to the business. It should not use many words discussing the value to the employees of that business.

Deconstructing the Question [30] • But, notice there is still a problem: value to employees may become value to the organisation. If the work–life balance practices are seen as of value to the employees, new employees may want to join the company, assisting with recruitment.

Reflective Summary • We have seen that even an apparently simple question needs analysis. • The three main sections of any question are: instruction, topic and focus. • There are often more than one of each of these words in a question.

Reflective Summary [2] • Phrases must be analysed as well. • Linking words can modify the meaning, focus and instruction. • If any word or phrase is unclear, spend time reflectively thinking about the word or phrase and what it means in the context of the question.

Reflective Summary [3] • Carry out some background research on your tutor, course, subject area and any quotes used in the assignment.

Reflective Summary [4] Instruction words • It is vitally important that you have a good working understanding of a range of instruction words. The following table shows a range of instruction words and their meaning. • Reference – table of instruction words and their meaning (see page 307)

The Business Skills Handbook