Project Paper

The project assesses your ability to relate your work placement experience to the knowledge that you have acquired during your University degree programme and to further relate your work placement experience to a body of academic literature. The assignment takes the form of an essay.
The question that you should answer is: How did your work experience on the whole, or one specific aspect of your job, relate to a distinct body of academic literature that you have studied during the course of your degree?
It is designed to assess your ability to reflect on the relationship between knowledge which is presented and acquired in the classroom/seminar room and ‘real world’ contexts and experiences outside of the University. It assesses your skills as a critical, reflexive and independent learner.
Your essay should be 2000 words in length (+/-10%). In writing this assessment, you are required to both draw upon and cite at least five sources from a discrete body of academic literature.

Module aims
The aim of this module is to provide you with an opportunity to gain a learning experience which will help you bridge the gap between your current academic studies and your future professional life post-graduation. For the purposes of this module, the concept of placement is broadly defined and might include such things as paid summer internships or unpaid voluntary work.
The module is designed to facilitate the development of a range of employability skills. As part of the experience you will be required to reflect on your respective strengths and weaknesses in an employment context and identify potential areas for personal and professional development.
The module is designed to form an integral part of your programme of study. As such, in addition to the development of core employability skills, you are required to complete a work-based project in which you reflect upon and demonstrate an ability to relate your work experience to a discrete body of academic literature that you have encountered over the course of your degree programme.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
• Undertake a critical audit of their skills and capabilities for their professional career.
• Identify the key areas requiring improvement.
• Articulate a coherent strategy for closing this ‘skills/capabilities gap’.
• Critically evaluate the relative success of this strategy post-placement.
• Demonstrate an ability to relate work practices to a discrete body of academic literature.
Additional resources
• Dacre Pool, L. and Sewell, P. (2007) ‘The key to employability: developing a practical model of graduate employability’, Education and Training, 49.4, 277-89
• Edwards, M. (2014) ‘The impact of placements on students’ self-efficacy’, Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning, 4.3, 228-41
• Foster, E.A., Lee, D., & Snaith, H. (2014), ‘Implementing the employability agenda: a critical review of curriculum developments in political science and international relations in English universities’, Politics, 36.1, 95-111
• Yorke, M. (2006), Employability in higher education: what it is – what it is not. York: Higher Education Academy
• The assessment criteria for the work-based project and example
• You are required to write your assignment on separate sheets of paper which should be submitted via Canvas. You must include a cover sheet that includes the module title and module code, your student identification number and a declaration on plagiarism (which will be provided to you via the assignment page on Canvas).
• When undertaking this assignment, you should avoid vague or generic responses to the questions. You should write answers that are reflective, but also focused and precise. You should not under any circumstances draw upon and reproduce generic answers found on the web or elsewhere. All assessed work will be checked for evidence of plagiarism.
• The question that you should answer is: How did your work experience on the whole, or one specific aspect of your job, relate to a distinct body of academic literature that you have studied during the course of your degree?
• In some cases, this task will be relatively straight-forward, for example, if you are a Political Science student and your work placement is an internship in the House of Commons, you should be able to relate your work experience to a discrete literature on governmental institutions and processes, without too much difficulty. Alternatively, if your degree is in Business Management you should be able to link your work experience to, for example, a literature on business organisation or management practices.
• In other cases, this task will be more challenging because the connections will not be so immediately evident. Nevertheless, in so far as academic programmes require that you reflect upon the relationship between ‘theory’ and/or academic debate and discussions, and concrete practice, you should be able to apply a discrete body of literature that you have studied on your course to some aspect of your work experience.
• For example, a Sociology student undertaking a work placement on a magazine should be able to relate some aspects of this work to Sociological literatures on media, culture and representational practices. An Economics student working in a local government department or for a charity should be able to write about how the current climate of ‘austerity’ is influencing the strategic planning of that organisation. And so on. Your capacity for deep and critical reflection, creativity and originality in linking academic knowledge to ‘real world’ contexts is one of the key abilities that will be tested (and rewarded) in this assignment. Further guidance about this assessment will be provided in both the preparatory and post-placement workshops. You should also read the examples from previous students work which are available on Canvas. The module coordinator and academic contact will also provide further advice if and as required. However, please note that in so far as this assessment is an exercise in independent learning, you should not place unreasonable demands on the module coordinator or academic contact in terms of the amount of help and assistance provided.