Develop an Action Plan Explaining How You will Further Progress and Apply Your Research Skills: Personal Reflection Coursework, SMU, Singapore

Task overview

For this task you need to reflect on how your research skills have developed over the course of this module, incorporating appropriate feedback from others, and develop an action plan explaining how you will further progress and apply your research skills following completion of this module.

How to approach the task

Throughout the module, you will have been given opportunities to reflect on your research skills. Look back over these reflections, and review the self-evaluation questionnaire you completed at the start of the module, and compare this to the self-evaluation towards the end of the module.

Make notes that address the following questions:

1. How have your knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors changed over the course of the module?

2. How confident are you about various aspects of research now?

3. What feedback have you received about your work? – this could be from academic staff, your fellow students, work colleagues, family/friends, etc.

4. Take an overview of your research skills: what are your areas of strength, and where can you still make improvements?

5. Try some ‘forward reflection’ – predicting how you would respond to situations in your future academic work and/or professional practice where research skills would be needed (or useful) – e.g. in a job or role that you aspire to hold in the future. How might your response might be affected by what you have learned in this module

6. What are your goals for the further development of your research skills? What improvements do you want to make over the next 2-3 months (short-term goals) and 6-12 months or more (long-term goals)?

7. What are your next steps in relation to research? What actions do you need to take to achieve your stated goals? How will you know if you have been successful in improving your skills to achieve these goals?

Use these notes to help you think about how your research skills have developed. Try to take a holistic approach that considers all the different aspects of research skills – most people will have areas of strength and other areas that they find more difficult – what are these areas for you?