Guidance for completing a Bullet Point Report Plan

1) Analysing the task.

Make sure that you understand the task set.

The most common mistake that students make is writing definitions of emotional intelligence, or
describing emotional intelligence, but this is not the task.

One of your topics is emotional intelligence, but the question asks for much more complex thinking
than definitions.

2) Investigate the reading list

The second common mistake that students make is going to google for the answers. The answer to a
question asked by a serious University Student is never on google.

The assignment brief has a reading list. A number of the sources on the reading list are now available
in folders at the top of the VLE.

You will find that you have already started investigating the sources in your handouts from the past 7
weeks of classes.

3) Make rough notes

The third common mistake that students make is not taking into account that the level of thinking
changes at every new level of University.

Level 4 students are expected to fully explain and to begin to analyse.

Let’s take emotional intelligence as an example. A University Student wouldn’t just write about
emotional intelligence; they would break it down into factors. Daniel Goleman breaks down
emotional intelligence into five factors. Eben Pagan breaks it down into 3 steps.

The first thing you need to understand is WHAT are the factors? But if you stop there, you are not
writing at University level.

Explain means to ‘clarify in detail how (and/ or) why something occurs, or should occur.’

If you don’t explain how or why, it is difficult to even pass level 3. So level 4 must cover this.

So, start with WHY. Emotional intelligence has many factors; which factors are relevant to UNICEF?
Thinking about WHY they are relevant to UNICEF. This could also be called application, which is an
important part of your writing in work related degrees.

Next comes the HOW. This is the most important part. HOW are you going to train each factor of
emotional intelligence? This should be linked to Harrison

So that’s explanation. But what about analysis?

Analysis is when you break down a topic into factors and then consider interrelationships.

You should have already broken down emotional intelligence into factors during your explanation. So,
now you are looking for links and relationships.

The easiest relationship to start with is cause and effect. So consider how the training will
IMPACT the trainee and the organisation

By following this process for every assignment you have at level 4, you will
 Increase your intellectual capacity
 Increase your understanding
  Begin moving yourself from a risk of failure towards a 2:1 (60%)
 Begin preparing yourself for the higher levels of the degree

4) Planning

The next common mistake that students make is to write the report without organising their notes.
They make a lot of points, but it is difficult to understand how they connect to each other.

That is why planning is so important.

Planning involves making a clear decision on how to sequence each point.

It is recommended that you do it this way.

________________________________ [Heading for the first analysis section]

Introduction [summarise the key points of the section]

MB 1: [think about ‘WHAT is the first factor?’ and ‘WHY it should be trained at UNICEF’]
MB 2: [think about ‘How you are going to train the first factor’ and think about how you can link
Harrison’s training theory to the theory on the skills. You could also think about the IMPACT on the
individual and the organisation]

MB 3: [think about ‘WHAT is the second factor?’ and ‘WHY it should be trained at UNICEF’]
MB 4: [think about ‘How you are going to train the second factor’ and think about how you can link
Harrison’s training theory to the theory on the skills. You could also think about the IMPACT on the
individual and the organisation]

MB 5: [think about ‘WHAT is the third factor?’ and ‘WHY it should be trained at UNICEF’]
MB 6: [think about ‘How you are going to train the third factor’ and think about how you can link
Harrison’s training theory to the theory on the skills. You could also think about the IMPACT on the
individual and the organisation]

MB 7: [if you couldn’t write about the IMPACT in earlier paragraphs, then you could write about it
here]

Closing paragraph [summarise the key points]

You will find a report plan template on the VLE close to this document.

Before you give your report plan to the lecturer, make sure it
 Is written in bullet points. NO PARAGRAPHS
 Makes the topic sentence for each paragraph clear
 Includes evidence in the form of a quote and citation for each paragraph

Note: when planning, don’t think about the word count at all.
It is best to start with 3 factors for each topic. You might find that you only focus on 2 factors in your
final report. You have no idea how in depth your explanation and analysis will be yet. As your
intellectual capacity grows, you will find that you have to throw away some facts. That’s okay. But
don’t do this until the final draft