Personal Planning Paper

Additionally, points may be taken off for misspelling, poor grammar and/or disorganization. Be sure to double-space, use subheadings and APA cover page as shown in Course Resources. Thanks!

APA Cover Page includes

By the end of Week One, your Personal Planning Paper is due and must be posted in the assignment thread.  This paper should be between 3 – 5 pages using APA-style. A cover page is required.

The paper will consist of three sections (please remember to include section headings):

• The first section will be a “Time Analysis,” in which you will complete a time log, in table format (see sample below), that lists the total number of hours you spent on the various activities during the week (Monday through Sunday).  Make sure it totals 168 hours (24 hours per day times 7 days). This figure should be included as an appendix at the end of the paper, after the Reference page and referred to in the body of your paper as “Figure 1 – Weekly Time Analysis.”  Then, write a brief summary of what you learned from this analysis.

Activity                                  # of Hours

TOTAL 168

Fig. 1 – Weekly Time Analysis

• The second section will be “My Strengths.”  Discuss your strengths and preferences at work.  Include topics such as what makes you more valuable to your company than your co-workers?  How do you prefer to be managed (e.g., directed, delegated to)?  What is your dominant Management style?

• The third section will be “My Professional Goal.” Detail your professional goals and include a list of tactics and target dates to meeting those goals.  Make sure you state why these goals are important to you.

PERSONAL PLANNING PAPER GRADING RUBRIC

Description                                                                                                                    Points

——————————————————

How to write a perfect paper

• Write for your audience (in this case your professor). This means follow their guidance and parameters. Most editors and publishers reject manuscripts that do not explicitly adhere to their guidelines (page length, references, style, etc). Remember, your professors may have a great deal of knowledge about your topic so please don’t write as if they are novices; e.g., avoid,  “you should…you can; etc.”. The same concept applies to speaking, by the way. ALWAYS customize your speeches and writing to the listener/ reader.  Be respectful, positive, interesting and educational.
• (For research papers) Choose a topic that personally interests you.  What challenges are you facing at work? What is going on in the world (or should be) that you are passionate about? Writing an effective paper requires a lot of time so be sure you have the commensurate energy to write right! Never write (or speak) on something that doesn’t interest you because you will bore your audience, too. Topic selection frequently requires a narrower focus to comply with page and length requirements. Please avoid the mistake of trying to solve a very complex set of problems in a single paper. Even book authors set limits by clarifying the scope (see below).
• Start with a clear purpose and scope. Put this in the first paragraph and/ or abstract (if abstract is required) — (I do not require abstracts). Many students/inexperienced writers fail this introductory focus so the rest of the paper suffers disorganization and reader confusion. Don’t make your reader guess.  The scope previews your subtopics as well as relevant areas you are NOT going to include. There should be no less than two, nor greater than five, subtopics that are clearly indicated by relevant subheadings (left-side justified; first letter of each word capitalized; do not bold, capitalize or enlarge). Think of your subtopics as the main points you want to get across to the reader; and then write everything in support of those main points. Make a compelling case for the reader to absorb your thoughts!
• References. Academic writing requires writers to substantiate their thoughts and opinions with experts/published authors (e.g., literature search) so please do so by integrating, synthesizing (combining) and evaluating the best of classical and contemporary (last five years) writers’ thoughts with your ownthoughts. Search for counter-evidence/contrary opinion, too, and include opportunities for further research. This demonstrates your critical thinking.
• Edit, edit and then edit some more. This is not just for APA-compliance; spelling and grammar; and paper length. It is also to edit for a neatness, standardization, smooth flow and sequencing of substantiated ideas. Can lengthy paragraphs be shortened or replace by efficient, self-constructed tables? What can be said better, more efficiently? What needs to be expanded?  How can creativity be expressed and integrated to make it more interesting and readable? Is the paper mechanically correct/flawless? These tough questions require the writer to make some additional decisions before you hit “save as” and “send”! Rest a few hours (overnight if you can) and review your draft with a clear head/open mind!

—————————————