Sending &

Receiving Skills
Reflective Analysis
1008HSV Interpersonal Skills: Assessment 2
Overview
• Assessment description
• Skill focus
• Structure: Introduction, Body &
Conclusion
• Writing: Integration, Synthesis & Balance
• Scholarly literature
• Assessment guide
• Submission
• Criteria
Assessment
Description
Choose an interpersonal interaction from your
own life (e.g. with family, at work, or at university)
and write a 1500-word reflective essay that:
1. Identifies interpersonal skills that you used
well and explains, with reference to scholarly
literature, how you know you did this well,
and;
2. Identifies interpersonal skills that you could
have used better and explains, with reference
to scholarly literature, how you know you
could have done this better.
Assessment
Description
This is a reflective essay.
You are required to use professional first-person
tense.
Your essay should be formatted according to APA 7
standards.
You must include relevant scholarly literature and
use APA 7 referencing.
Your essay should have an an introduction, body, a
conclusion and a reference list
Skill Focus
• Choose two sending skills (one you’ve used well and one you could
have used better)
• Choose two receiving skills (one you’ve used well and one you could
have used better).
• Carefully select the skills that you will analyse. You want to have
depth in your analysis. Some skills and examples will allow for greater
depth. Reflect upon your usage of skills, what in particular will give
you room to analyse with depth?
• Stronger essays will consider skills in relation to others (e.g.,
reflection of feeling and content being limited by a lack of eye
contact) rather than simply focusing on the skill itself.
• Choose skills from the course content NOT other skills taken from
elsewhere.
Skill Focus
• Choose two sending skills (one you’ve used well and one you could
have used better)
• Choose two receiving skills (one you’ve used well and one you could
have used better).
• Carefully select the skills that you will analyse. You want to have
depth in your analysis. Some skills and examples will allow for greater
depth. Reflect upon your usage of skills, what in particular will give
you room to analyse with depth?
• Stronger essays will consider skills in relation to others (e.g.,
reflection of feeling and content being limited by a lack of eye
contact) rather than simply focusing on the skill itself.
• Choose skills from the course content NOT other skills taken from
elsewhere.
Structure
Structure: Introduction
• Describe what the essay will focus on specifically.
• Define the first and second position (they are the focus of the essay).
• Provide a basic description of the interpersonal interaction you will
focus upon
• Chronologically state what your essay will explore.
• Example: Using the provided example, the essay will describe,
identify, and analyse the effective use of a second position skill,
specifically reflection of feeling. It will then proceed to examine
a second position skill, reflection of content, that could have
been utilised more effectively. Areas for improvement in the use
of reflection of content will also be stated.
• Do not introduce your essay to a general discussion of interpersonal
skills. You need to be more specific in terms of what your essay
focuses upon.
 Structure: Body
• There are no strict rules for paragraph length.
• Each paragraph should focus on a main idea or subtopic.
• The most obvious way to view this assessment is that the analysis of each
skill is a subtopic.
• You will have to ask yourself what order makes most logical sense in the
context of your writing.
• Two examples:
• Introduction -> Sending skill I’ve used well -> Sending skill that
could have been used better -> Receiving skill I’ve used well ->
Receiving skill that I could have used better ->Conclusion
• Introduction ->Sending skill I’ve used well -> Receiving skill that
I’ve used well -> Sending skill that could have been used better
-> Receiving skill that could have been used better-> Conclusion
 Structure: Body
• Either approach could work. You have to ask yourself what makes
more sense to you? Which approach do you think you can make
more cohesive? You want your approach to make sense to your
reader.
• Define individual skills as you to come to discuss them (i.e., at the
start of each subtopic)
• Remember how you initially introduced your interaction in the
introduction? You can now build upon that in reference to each skill
and highlight specifics from the interaction that are relevant.
• Provide citations for everything you’ve read and included in your
essay!
Structure: Conclusion
• Summarise the main points in your essay
• Reflect on how this self-assessment will contribute to your personal
and professional growth.
• Provide a final statement that summarises the key message that
you’ve taken away from the essay. Try to go beyond the superficial “I
have learnt that interpersonal skills are important”. What is the one
thing you want the reader to take away from your essay? Be
memorable.
Writing
Writing: Integration
• Integration is where you use a piece of literature to bolster your
point, include explanations, present facts, or present statistics.
• Integration shows you are a reliable scholar.
• Integration lets readers know where to find information a topic.
• You can integrate sources by paraphrasing and quoting.
• Quotations are used sparingly and only when:
• The original statement loses its essence when paraphrased.
• The original form and its explicit wording is needed (e.g., a
policy document).
• Ask yourself, do I really have to use a quotation? In this
essay, it’s incredibly rare for a student to need to use a
quotation. Paraphrasing is much more effective at
demonstrating your knowledge (and that’s the
underlying point of the task).
Writing: Synthesis
• Higher end essays will include synthesis
• Synthesis is where you find a number of sources that state the same
fact/finding/assumption and you use this evidence simultaneously to
support your point whilst showing that you have considered multiple
sources.
• For example, let’s say that Fannon (2015) and Lewis-Driver
(2019) have both highlighted the importance of empathy when
being assertive with employees. You can then put this into one
sentence by writing the following:
“Empathy has been highlighted to be crucial when
communicating assertively with employees (Fannon, 2015;
Lewis-Driver, 2019) – two references in brackets separate by
a semi-colon. Your reader can see that your point is
supported by more than one author.
Writing: Balance
• To show that you have been fair and balanced use synthesis.
• Be explicit and make statements regarding the literature
you’ve reviewed.
• For example, “Among authors there is consensus that
empathy is crucial to listening (Crowther, 2014;
McAullife, 2018; Frost, 2020)”. However, it is worth
noting that Lewis-Driver (2019) has found that empathy
is less important in professional contexts focused on
process.”
• At minimum, we expect higher end papers to include
synthesis (and of course execute other requirements of the
essay to a high level of achievement).
 Scholarly Literature
• Largely speaking, journal articles and books (peer-reviewed)
• You need 4 or more pieces of scholarly literature to be able to
meet the requirements for criteria 3.
• To meet requirements for criteria 1 (identification and
explanation of skills used well) you need to attempt to use
scholarly literature.
• To meet requirements for criteria 2 (identification and
explanation of skills that could have been used better) you need
to attempt to use scholarly literature.
• The textbook is a compilation of readings so you can cite each
reading separately.
• If you want to impress your marker, you’ll go beyond the citing
different parts of the text.
• Try to include recent literature where possible. If you include
recent literature, it’s ok to use some older literature (see my
guide). Supplement older literature (>15 years) with recent
literature through synthesis.
• Be creative in your searches. While you don’t want to focus on
‘negotiation’, there may be useful information in papers about
negotiation. Try looking into your own discipline.
• If you can’t find literature on a specific skill, think wider. For
example, instead of looking for simply ‘reflection of feeling’,
look up empathy.
 Assessment Guide
• A guide for how to approach the assessment is on
the course site in the relevant “Assessment 2
Information & Submission: Sending & Receiving
Skills Reflective Analysis”.
• The guide does not tell you how to achieve a high
mark. It is an example, not an exemplar.
• The guide focuses on a skill that could be used
better BUT basically shows you how to discuss skills
you’ve used well as well.
• The guide identifies where a skill could have been
used better. It shows you
• Skill identification
• Synthesis of literature
• Integration of literature
• How an example can be provided
• Explanation for why that skill could have been
used better.
• How you can provide an idea for improvement.
• How you show that you’re trying to be
balanced and informed in your usage of
literature.
• How you generally use citations
 Submission
• On the course site head to modules>assessment
information and click on “Assessment 2 Information &
Submission: Sending & Receiving Skills Reflective
Analysis”
• The final submission point is where you submit your
final copy.
• You can resubmit as much as you like to check for
unintentional plagiarism
• Plagiarism is detected through Turnitin. The percentage
detected is somewhat irrelevant. Have a look to see
what is highlighted by Turnitin.
The Criteria
Note that the other columns don’t
include this statement

We’re asking you to use literature to support your

explanation of skills that were used well. However, at this
level you may be applying a deeper understanding of the
literature you’ve reviewed.
Note that the other columns doesn’t
include this statement

See previous slide. Also note that to attain a mark of 9 or

10 you must provide ideas for improvement that are
based on the literature.
Through your writing and synthesis you show to us that you have been
balanced and informed. For example, “a consensus of researchers
have highlighted that vocal tone is essential to assertion”
(King, 2015; Lovecraft, 2016; Kafka, 2007)

Synthesis is where you make one statement based all more

than one piece of literature. Here we have three authors, who
have said the same thing so we cite them all.
Through your writing and synthesis you show to us that you have been
balanced and informed. For example, “a consensus of researchers
have highlighted that vocal tone is essential to assertion”
(King, 2015; Lovecraft, 2016; Kafka, 2007)

Synthesis is where you make one statement based all more

than one piece of literature. Here we have three authors, who
have said the same thing so we cite them all.
 Final Tips
• APA 7 is important!
• Only the markers will have access to your paper – be honest. But do
choose a safe interaction to reflect on (nothing too provocative)
• Don’t forget the library is there to help.
• Do not cite Wikipedia or random websites. They will not count
towards your minimum references.
• The skills might have slightly different names in the literature. They
are still the same skill that you’ve learned. Note that.
• Don’t buy your essay or use AI.
• Ask all questions on the course discussion board.
 Final Tips
• APA 7 is important!
• Only the markers will have access to your paper – be honest. But do
choose a safe interaction to reflect on (nothing too provocative)
• Don’t forget the library is there to help.
• Do not cite Wikipedia or random websites. They will not count
towards your minimum references.
• The skills might have slightly different names in the literature. They
are still the same skill that you’ve learned. Note that.
• Don’t buy your essay or use AI.
• Ask all questions on the course discussion board.
 Final Tips
• APA 7 is important!
• Only the markers will have access to your paper – be honest. But do
choose a safe interaction to reflect on (nothing too provocative)
• Don’t forget the library is there to help.
• Do not cite Wikipedia or random websites. They will not count
towards your minimum references.
• The skills might have slightly different names in the literature. They
are still the same skill that you’ve learned. Note that.
• Don’t buy your essay or use AI.
• Ask all questions on the course discussion board.