THE BUSINESS STUDENT’S HANDBOOK
LEARNING SKILLS FOR STUDY AND EMPLOYMENT
SHEILA CAMERON
Fourth Edition
THE BUSINESS STUDENT’S HANDBOOK
LEARNING SKILLS FOR STUDY AND EMPLOYMENT
Fourth Edition
SHEILA
CAMERON
More than just a study skills book!

The Business Student’s Handbook integrates study, interpersonal
and work skills to help you gain better marks in your studies and
to transfer those skills for success in the workplace. The broad
range of topics covered includes:

• Essential skills such as essay writing, exam techniques and
managing one’s studies.
• Interpersonal skills such as working in teams, communicating
and presenting.
• Work skills such as exploring problems, managing projects and
improving creativity.

Skills are improved by doing, rather than reading, and this book
includes an extensive bank of exercises and activities, both in the text
and online, to help you assess your strengths and to build a personal
development plan to improve on weaker areas.

This new edition has even more content covering the key issues for
today’s students, such as critical thinking and analysis, reective

practice and logic and plagiarism. It also contains more examples
and case studies to help you apply advice to your own studies.

Activities are fully supported with resource materials and teaching notes
for lecturers, all available for free at www.pearsoned.co.uk/cameron.
Sheila Cameron has worked for the Open University Business School
since its inception. She has been involved in its MBA programme in a
variety of roles, including a period as MBA Director and is also the
author of The MBA Handbook, Sixth Edition.
THE BUSINESS STUDENT’S HANDBOOK
LEARNING SKILLS FOR STUDY AND EMPLOYMENT
SHEILA CAMERON
Fourth Edition
www.pearson-books.com
An imprint of
Cover photograph
© Getty Images | Superstudio
9780132349246_COVER.indd 1 17/7/07 10:11:08

THE
BUSINESS STUDENT’S
HANDBOOK
Visit
The Business Student’s Handbook,
Fourth Edition, Companion
Website at www.pearsoned.co.uk/cameron to find valuable student
learning material including:
■ An online study guide to introduce core academic and transferable
skills
■ Interactive activities such as games, multiple-choice questions and

fill-in-the-blank quizzes that will challenge you to improve your own
skill set by applying these skills in practical situations
■ Downloadable templates for exercises and activities that you can
print, complete and keep on file for your PDP portfolio
■ End-of-chapter quizzes to help you assess your progress and
identify areas for further study and development
BUSH_A01.QXP 10/5/07 8:59 AM Page i

We work with leading authors to develop the strongest
educational materials in business, finance and marketing
bringing cutting-edge thinking and best learning practice
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Under a range of well-known imprints, including
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BUSH_A01.QXP 10/5/07 8:59 AM Page ii

THE
BUSINESS STUDENT’S
HANDBOOK
Learning skills for study
and employment
Fourth Edition
SHEILA CAMERON
The Open University Business School

➔
BUSH_A01.QXP 10/5/07 8:59 AM Page iii

Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow
Essex CM20 2JE
England
and Associated Companies throughout the world
Visit us on the World Wide Web at:
www.pearsoned.co.uk
First published 1999
Second edition 2002
Third edition 2005
Fourth edition 2008
© Sheila Cameron 1999, 2008
The right of Sheila Cameron to be identified as author of this work have been asserted
by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the
publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the
Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
All trademarks used therein are the property of their respective owners. The use of any
trademark in this text does not vest in the author or publisher any trademark ownership
rights in such trademarks, nor does the use of such trademarks imply any affiliation with
or endorsement of this book by such owners.
ISBN 978-0-132-34924-6
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

1098765432
11 10 09 08 07
Typeset in 9.5pt Stone Sans by 3
Printed by Ashford Colour Press Ltd., Gosport
The publisher’s policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests.
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List of figures xiv
Guided tour xvi
Preface xx
Part 1 LEARNING: CONTEXT, PROCESS AND MANAGEMENT
1 Learning, skills and employment 5
2 Managing your studies 20
3 Learning and reflective practice 49
Part 2
STUDY SKILLS
4 Critical reading and note taking 79
5 Basic numbers 100
6 Written communication 129
7 Using information and communication technologies 167
8 Gaining great marks 181
Part 3
WORKING WITH OTHERS
9 Talking and listening 211
10 Team working and leadership 237
11 Presenting to others 264
Brief contents
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Part 4 CONCEPTUAL SKILLS

12 Complexity, cases and diagrams 282
13 Obtaining data and information 307
14 Making sense of data 327
15 Increasing your creativity 353
Part 5 INTEGRATING YOUR SKILLS
16 Managing projects 375
17 Into employment 402
Answers to test exercises 420
Bibliography 430
Index 434
BRIEF CONTENTS
vi
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List of figures xiv
Guided tour xvi
Preface xx
Part 1 LEARNING: CONTEXT, PROCESS AND MANAGEMENT
Introduction to Part 1 3
1 Learning, skills and employment 5
Learning outcomes 5
What employers look for in graduates 6
Key skills and applications for learning and employment 7
Careers within today’s organisations 10
Implications for graduate employment 12
Structure of the book 16
Summary 19
Further information 19
2 Managing your studies 20
Learning outcomes 20

Personal management skills 20
The classic view of management 23
Basic ideas of control 25
Setting Objectives 27
Action planning 31
Motivation 33
Time management 38
Stress management 42
Summary 47
Further information 48
Contents
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3 Learning and reflective practice 49
Learning outcomes 49
Learning theory 49
Learning styles 54
The role of reflection in learning 58
Tools for reflection 63
Managing your learning 67
Learning opportunities and how to exploit them 68
Organising your file 71
Summary 72
Further information 73
Part 2 STUDY SKILLS
Introduction to Part 2 77
4 Critical reading and note taking 79
Learning outcomes 79
‘Simple’ reading skills 80
Selecting materials and choosing reading speeds 85

Reading critically 87
Notes and annotations using words and diagrams 93
Summary 98
Further information 98
5 Basic numbers 100
Learning outcomes 100
The importance of numbers 100
Diagnostic exercise 101
The importance of mathematical skills 102
Sources of difficulty 104
Basic mathematical signs, symbols and operations 105
Units 113
Estimating and rounding 113
Fractions, ratios and percentages 115
Using equations 122
Using brackets 126
Going further 126
Summary 127
Further information 127
CONTENTS
viii
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6 Written communication 129
Learning outcomes 129
Writing as a transferable skill 129
Elements of communication 130
Assessing your writing skills 132
Basic English 134
General points on style 135

Basic written forms 138
Formal letters 139
Memos 142
Email 142
Essays 145
Reports 147
Summary 156
Further information 156
Helpfile 1: Grammar and spelling 157
Helpfile 2: If English is not your native language . . . 164
7 Using information and communication technologies 167
Learning outcomes 167
Organisational impacts of information technology 168
Improving your ICT skills 169
Word processing 172
Presentation software 174
Spreadsheets, databases and statistical packages 175
The Internet 177
Online conferencing 178
Summary 180
Further information 180
8 Gaining great marks 181
Learning outcomes 181
The aims of assessment 182
Why students fail 183
The serious sin of plagiarism 185
Improving your assessment technique 187
Deconstructing questions and planning answers 188
Doing well in examinations 194
Viva voce examinations 199

Portfolio assessment 201
Summary 202
Further information 203
Helpfile: Terms commonly used in assessment 204
ix
CONTENTS
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Part 3 WORKING WITH OTHERS
Introduction to Part 3 209
9 Talking and listening 211
Learning outcomes 211
The importance of interpersonal skills 212
Active listening 214
Giving and receiving feedback 221
Talking 224
Assertiveness 225
Networking 233
Summary 236
Further information 236
10 Team working and leadership 237
Learning outcomes 237
Team working in organisations 238
Discussion groups 240
Formal meetings 244
Task groups 249
Virtual teams 251
Developing effective groups 253
Managing diversity and conflict 257
Developing your leadership skills 259

Potential hazards of team working 261
Summary 262
Further information 263
11 Presenting to others 264
Learning outcomes 264
The risks in presentation 265
Structure 266
Delivery technique 267
Effective visual aids 269
Handling questions 272
Poster presentations 273
Controlling your nerves 275
Preparation 277
Summary 278
Further information 278
CONTENTS
x
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Part 4 CONCEPTUAL SKILLS
Introduction to Part 4 281
12 Complexity, cases and diagrams 282
Learning outcomes 282
Rational approaches 283
Problem definition: description and diagnosis 286
Description as a basis for diagnosis 286
Diagnosis – exploring causes 290
Case study analysis 298
Summary 305
Further information 306

13 Obtaining data and information 307
Learning outcomes 307
Information versus data 308
Literature searches: source types and the Internet 313
Interviews 317
Focus groups 321
Questionnaires 321
Developing your information-gathering skills 324
Summary 326
Further information 326
14 Making sense of data 327
Learning outcomes 327
‘Lies, damned lies and statistics’ 328
Drawing and using graphs 329
Calculus 333
Frequencies and histograms 338
Bar charts 340
Pie charts 342
Summary measures 344
Measures of dispersion 346
Drawing conclusions from figures 348
Levels of significance 349
Developing your inference skills 351
Summary 351
Further information 351
xi
CONTENTS
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15 Increasing your creativity 353

Learning outcomes 353
The need for creativity 353
Barriers to creativity 357
Techniques for improving creativity 358
Finding opportunities to be creative 368
Summary 369
Further information 369
Part 5 INTEGRATING YOUR SKILLS
Introduction to Part 5 373
16 Managing projects 375
Learning outcomes 375
Project teams 375
Group projects 376
Finding a topic 379
Project proposals 385
Objectives clarification 388
Literature search 389
Data planning 390
Gaining client agreement 391
Project scheduling 391
Negotiating access 395
Monitoring progress 396
Writing a project report 398
Summary 400
Further information 401
17 Into employment 402
Learning outcomes 402
Reviewing your strengths 403
Reassessing your objectives 405
Finding out about opportunities 406

Becoming more attractive to employers 408
Preparing a good CV 410
Completing application forms 413
Interviews and assessment centres 414
Lifelong learning 417
CONTENTS
xii
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Summary 418
Further information 419
Answers to test exercises 420
Bibliography 430
Index 434
xiii
CONTENTS
Supporting resources
Visit www.pearsoned.co.uk/cameron to find valuable online resources
Companion Website for students
■ An online study guide to introduce core academic and transferable skills
■ Interactive activities such as games, multiple-choice questions and fill-in-the-
blank quizzes that will challenge you to improve your own skill set by applying
these skills in practical situations
■ Downloadable templates for exercises and activities that you can print, com-
plete and keep on file for your PDP portfolio
■ End-of-chapter quizzes to help you assess your progress and identify areas
for further study and development
For instructors
■ Complete, downloadable Instructor’s Manual
■ PowerPoint slides that can be downloaded and used for presentations

Also: The Companion Website provides the following features:
■ Search tool to help locate specific items of content
■ E-mail results and profile tools to send results of quizzes to instructors
■ Online help and support to assist with website usage and troubleshooting
For more information please contact your local Pearson Education sales
representative or visit www.pearsoned.co.uk/cameron
BUSH_A01.QXP 10/5/07 8:59 AM Page xiii

1.1 Framework for a SWOT analysis 13
1.2 A skills framework for the purpose of this book 18
2.1 The basic control loop 26
2.2 Hierarchy of objectives for getting from A to B 30
2.3 Planning chart for course preparation 32
2.4 The expectancy model of motivation 34
3.1 Learning as a continuous process 54
4.1 Typical eye movements while reading 81
4.2 Example of an argument map 91
4.3 Diagrammatic notes on note taking 96
5.1 An equation as a balance 123
6.1 The elements of communication 131
6.2 Possible layouts for a formal letter 140
6.3 Example of a memo 142
6.4 Example of student title and contents page 149
7.1 Example of a spreadsheet 176
8.1 Common causes of student failure (a composite multiple cause diagram) 183
8.2 Mind map based on ‘deconstruction’ of a question about student
performance and control 190
9.1 Assertion and OK-ness 226
10.1 Example of a simplified form used in recording behaviours in a group 243
11.1 Possible layouts for poster presentations 276

12.1 Kepner–Tregoe-type chart of discussion flow 285
12.2 Rich picture exploring factors affecting pressure on teaching staff 289
12.3 Relationship diagram showing factors relevant to developing transferable
skills 289
12.4 Ishikawa-type ‘fishbone’ diagram used in quality analysis 292
12.5 Construction of a multiple cause diagram (a) starting (b) later in the process 293
12.6 Multiple cause diagram showing factors leading to quality problems in an
organisation 294
13.1 Relevance tree for the early stages of a research project 315
13.2 The Boolean logic of searches 316
14.1 Graph showing annual production from two factories 1997–2004 329
14.2 Simple breakeven chart 332
14.3 A rapidly increasing curve 333
14.4 Relationship between stress levels and performance 333
14.5 A tangent to a curve 334
14.6 Graph showing height distribution of males in a particular population 337
14.7 Extract from a student feedback questionnaire, with tally 338
List of figures
BUSH_A01.QXP 10/5/07 8:59 AM Page xiv

14.8 Bar chart showing absence and labour turnover rates at three sites 340
14.9 Risk of some causes of death 341
14.10 Bar chart showing changing proportions of dwelling types 343
14.11 A very simple pie chart 343
14.12 A pie chart with too many slices 344
15.1 Option selection by successive choice of divergence 356
15.2 Three simple maps reflecting different systems relevant to higher education 365
16.1 Skills needed for project management 378
16.2 Student’s mind map and subsequent thoughts on a possible absenteeism
project 382

16.3 Algorithm for project choice 386
16.4 Part of a hand-drawn network 392
16.5 Part of a hand-drawn schedule for project planning 394
17.1 Circles of employment 404
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
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Guided tour
Most students want to get good marks for their essays, and pass every exam. Most
students worry about not knowing enough to do this. Some are right to worry. But you
may not realise that your marks depend at least as much on how well you can
communicate your knowledge. This chapter looks at how you can use what you know to
the very best effect. Getting great marks is a skill in its own right, and is obviously
important at university. Less obviously, most of the constituent skills are highly
transferable.
181
Getting great marks
➔ 8
By the end of this chapter you should:
■ understand what is involved in the activity of assessing
■ appreciate the perspective of those doing the assessment
■ be aware of some of the common causes of student failure
■ understand what constitutes plagiarism and why it is essential to avoid it
■ appreciate the importance of taking action immediately there is a threat to
success
■ be better able to interpret assessment questions correctly
■ be better able to plan a structured answer
■ be better able to use analytical and critical reasoning skills in your answers.
Learning outcomes

The general ability to communicate in writing, dealt with earlier, is essential to gaining
good marks. But there are some factors more specific to assessment. Key among these
is the ability to understand precisely what is being asked and write an answer to that
question. Another key requirement of most university assignments will be to
demonstrate your conceptual skills – the ability to analyse a situation in the light of its
context, and of the theory which you have learned, and to construct a balanced and
well reasoned argument in response to a question.
This chapter looks at interpreting questions and planning the content and structure of
a good answer. It looks at meeting assignment requirements in the context of essays,
reports, written exams, portfolio assessment and viva voce examinations. It also
discusses some forms of assessment you may encounter once working, such as annual
performance appraisal and seeking professional accreditation.
➔ Ch 6
Learning outcomes
introduce topics
covered and
summarise what you
should have learnt by
the end of the chapter.
Chapter linking arrows highlight
connections between chapters and
indicate where you can find further details
about a topic or concept.
People are afraid of failing or looking silly. Many are uncomfortable with
ambiguity, and like things to be clearly ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Many have a
compulsion to judge ideas, whether their own or others’. They cannot
relax enough to play mental games with ideas. This seems so
‘unserious’ as to be inappropriate. All these feelings get in the way of
creativity.
Most education discourages lateral thinking while encouraging rational,

convergent, ‘left-brain’ thought.
Creativity techniques are broadly directed at breaking convergent
habits by deliberately specifying steps in problem solving when you do
things that have the effect of broadening your thinking. They aim to
overcome emotional resistance to this by creating a situation in which
‘play’ is in some way made respectable and/or by encouraging use of
the right brain. For example, drawing a rich picture, when you put
down everything you can think of as potentially relevant, acts against the convergent
habit. Involving a group in drawing fairly juvenile cartoon representations makes play
respectable and, being non-linear, encourages right-brain involvement. (Indeed, most
diagrams will aid creativity.) Practising such techniques should help you to develop the
skills you need if you are to be creative and overcome any emotional resistance to this
sort of approach. Indeed, you should become equally happy with using either type of
thinking.
TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING CREATIVITY
There are many, many techniques for encouraging lateral thinking. Using them will
make it more likely that you will come up with new ways of looking at a situation and
new approaches to making it less problematic. What follows is a small selection, to give
you an idea how they can work. If you want to try a wider range, read some of the
books suggested at the end of the chapter.
The first way of overcoming limitations is to try to ensure that nothing is left out.
Techniques already introduced in the problem-solving chapter serve this purpose.
These include rich pictures, the use of fishbone diagrams and systematic ‘questioning’,
trying to answer the ‘who’, ‘what,’ ‘when’, ‘where’ and ‘why’ questions about the
problem situation. Aiming for this breadth of understanding of the scenario is equally
important for rational and arational or lateral approaches, so it should not be forgotten
when aiming for a creative approach. The other techniques given here are more clearly
aimed at going beyond rationality.
Brainstorming
You will almost certainly be familiar with this term, but you may not have actually used

the technique or you may have used it in a watered-down form which did not allow
for much creativity. The intention of brainstorming is to create a situation where
people feel free to play. The idea is to disable the judgemental censors within
PART 4 CONCEPTUAL SKILLS
358
Barriers to creativity:
■ existing thought habits
■ fear of failure or
ridicule
■ ambiguity avoidance
■ inability to play.
To become more creative:
■ value playfulness
■ draw
■ deliberately break
mindsets
■ practise techniques.
➔ Ch 12
practised in organisations, is all about making effective use of resources in order to
achieve objectives and satisfy a market. A widely accepted definition of management is
‘a process of achieving objectives through the effective use of resources’. As a student,
your resources include time, brain power, books and university facilities. These
resources are finite and need to be actively managed. You also need to manage the
processes, including the learning process, in which these resources are deployed.
You may already have developed these skills to a high level, but many students (and
not a few middle managers) are woefully unskilled in this area. Use the following
activity to assess your own starting point (honesty is essential here!).
21
PERSONAL MANAGEMENT SKILLS
Managing


your

studies
2
Use this quiz to assess how good you are at managing your work. Score 4 if your
answer is ‘never’, 3 for ‘rarely’, 2 for ‘sometimes’, 1 for ‘quite often’. File your answers
so that you can retest yourself later and assess progress.
Quiz
How often have you:
Spent days wondering what exactly you are being asked to do for
an assignment? ________
Put off working on an assignment because your weren’t sure how to start? ________
Done less well than you might have because of procrastination? ________
Gone to the library too late to secure resources? ________
Left yourself with no time to redraft work before handing it in? ________
Fallen victim to clashing deadlines and had to skimp on one piece of work? ________
Asked if you could hand in work late? ________
Stayed up all night to finish something? ________
Failed to complete work in time? ________
Total ________
ACTIVITY 2.1
Of course there will be some unforeseen circumstances so don’t expect a perfect score
of 36. But many of my students have skill levels that would give scores in the low 20s. I
receive an endless series of requests to hand in work late. Reasons include things like:
■ ‘I’ve had to work a lot of overtime because I’ve reached my overdraft limit.’
■ ‘I had another assignment due yesterday and I have only just finished that.’
■ ‘My girlfriend has just left me.’
■ ‘I have had ’flu.’
■ ‘I couldn’t get hold of the data I needed.’

■ ‘The library didn’t have the books I wanted.’
■ ‘It took longer than I thought.’
■ ‘I had it almost finished but then my computer crashed.’
certainly have observed inadequacies in understanding what the problem is, and
subsequently what caused it, because of this unsystematic approach.
An analytical approach
The rational approach to problem solving is supposed to be analytical as well as
systematic. ‘Analyse’ is a term frequently used in assessment, and something you will
frequently need to do as a manager. You will remember from the Chapter 8 helpfile
that analysis was about examining something ‘part by part’. In taking an analytical
approach to problems you are trying to make sense of complexity by teasing out
different elements in the situation. By looking at these separately and in combination
you can advance your understanding of the problem.
Jumping straight to ‘Action’ is not an analytical approach. If you want to be analytical
you need to put a lot of effort into exploring the problem in detail, looking for key
elements and problem themes. Proper diagnosis is crucial. And you also need to
separate out different causal strands. Few problems have a clear and simple cause; it is
much more common for a wide range of factors to be involved. Each of these factors
may be fairly insignificant if taken alone, but in combination they produce something
highly significant.
A good analysis will explore all these different factors and the different causal chains
to which they contribute, drawing upon what you have learned about relevant
concepts and relationships between them in your course. This will normally be
followed by a synthesis which pulls this together into a coherent picture pointing the
way forward. In the jumpy discussions described above, this analysis–synthesis
sequence is clearly missing. And things often start to go wrong from the very
beginning if the essential first stage of ensuring that the problem was clearly defined
was omitted.
285
RATIONAL APPROACHES

Complexity
,
cases

and

diagrams
1
Irrelevant
contributions
Problem/description
oriented
Cause/diagnosis
oriented
Action/solution
oriented
Fig 12.1 Kepner–Tregoe-type chart of discussion flow
➔ Ch 8
SOURCES OF DIFFICULTY
Most small children are perfectly comfortable with numbers once they have learned to
count. They can make fairly sophisticated judgements about things like ‘fair shares’ or
what their pocket money will buy. But for a significant proportion of these children
something seems to go wrong once they are ‘taught’ maths. Either they fail to
develop their skills further or they lose even those skills which they have. Furthermore,
they develop almost a phobia about anything with a number or an equals sign in it.
Even totally straightforward explanations of simple operations cannot penetrate. If you
are one of these people, take frequent deep breaths as you move through this
chapter!
Even if you are not disturbed by the sight of an equation, you may still have suffered
from the shift in teaching methods before you entered education. It used to be the

fashion to teach mathematics as a series of techniques. These were learned by rote
rather than understood. Thus children learned to go through the mechanics of long
multiplication or division, with absolutely no understanding of what they were doing. I
remember being taught an incredibly complicated method for finding square roots by
hand, even though any book of mathematical tables (before the calculator became an
everyday item such tables were essential) had lists of square roots and we also knew
how to find them from log tables in the same book.
Such a method of learning was difficult, boring and often pointless. But the endless
calculations it required gave a great deal of practice in basic arithmetic. The ability to
multiply or do long division without a calculator is still useful. It allows quick tests of
the answers that your computer or calculator produces and means that you can afford
to go out without a calculator on occasion.
The ‘discovery’ approach to maths teaching which replaced the above was intended to
be more interesting. Unfortunately it often left students feeling they were floundering
in a foggy mathematical swamp, not knowing where they were going or how they
would get there even if they did. At least with the old-fashioned method students were
drilled in the basic techniques to such an extent that they would remember them for
the rest of their lives.
PART 2 STUDY SKILLS
104
Cartoon by Neill Cameron, www.planetdumbass.co.uk
Cartoons, figures and
diagrams feature
throughout the text to
illustrate key points
and clarify topics
discussed.
Information boxes appear throughout the
text offering either guidelines on how to
tackle an issue, or a summary of key

points from a section of text.
A website icon in the
margin highlights
where checklists,
additional exercises
and other useful
resources are
available on the
book’s Companion
Website
(www.pearsoned.
co.uk/cameron) to
further help you with
your studies.
A file icon highlights
important activities
that you should add
to your file or
portfolio.
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xvii
GUIDED TOUR
Having noted these commandments, consider the different ways in which ICT can
improve the effectiveness of your studies. The main uses you are likely to make of ICT
in the near future are for drafting text, analysing data, accessing information and
communicating with others. If, by the time you graduate, you are comfortable with at
least one software package for each use, you will have an excellent foundation for
developing any further IT skills which a specific job may require.
WORD PROCESSING

If you are not already word processing your assignments, your life could be easier. Is it
lack of skill that is deterring you? Assess your skills to identify the problem.
PART 2 STUDY SKILLS
172
If you scored less than 48 on the above activity, or if you had very low scores on any
item, you should consider making an action plan for improving your text processing
skills. If you are compiling a portfolio evidencing your competence, this would be a
good area to use as the basis of an exhibit showing both managing learning and IT
skills.
How would you rate your skills in the following basic areas? Score 5 if you think you are
really good, 4 if you are fairly good, 3 if a lot of people seem better than you, 2 if you
are at a really basic level, and 1 if you are completely incompetent.
Keyboard – touch typing, speed and accuracy _________
Keyboard – inserting fancy symbols/subscripts/superscripts _________
Editing – moving sections of text within a document _________
Editing – retrieving text deleted in error _________
Editing – using wordcount, spell and grammar checker _________
Formatting – changing font, paragraph spacing, columns of selected text _________
Formatting – presenting text in the form of a table _________
Formatting – highlighting areas of text using borders and shading _________
Formatting – numbering pages, adding headers and footers _________
Graphics – importing diagrams from other applications into a report _________
Graphics – using the ‘draw’ facility to generate diagrams in text _________
Filing – storing in systematically named files and folders _________
Total score _________
A web version is available to allow repeated assessment and filing.
ACTIVITY 7.1
more quickly and your motivation will be higher if you feel you are making rapid
progress, so the rewards of improved reading techniques are many.
If practice is all that is needed, you may wonder why we are all reading so slowly.

Surely we have been practising reading most of our lives. But remember that learning
requires a change of behaviour, usually in the light of feedback. If there is no feedback
which suggests the need for improvement, we are likely to establish bad habits more
firmly, rather than to develop rapid reading techniques. Breaking such habits is
extremely difficult. It takes considerable effort, at least at first, to read at an increased
speed. Improvement will be made only through the practice of exercises specifically
designed for that purpose. Even when you have developed efficient reading
techniques, you may still find that you have to make a point of consciously practising
them at intervals, to prevent yourself from falling back into less efficient habits.
PART 2 STUDY SKILLS
82
➔ Ch 3
Look at your watch again and note the time ________ . Note how long it is since you
last noted the time ________ . There were approximately 590 words in that piece of
text. Divide that figure by the number of minutes elapsed in order to find your reading
speed in words per minute. Write this down ________ .
READING SPEED CALCULATION
TEST EXERCISE 4.1
The activities you have carried out so far have not had ‘right’ answers, although
sometimes the text which followed may have suggested the sort of thing that you
might have written. The quiz which follows is the first exercise where your answers can
be checked. Answers to test exercises are given at the end of the book.
Now check your comprehension and retention by answering the following questions,
saying whether each statement is true or false according to the preceding text. Do not
glance back at the text! Cover it so that you cannot. This is a check on what you have
understood and can remember. Do the whole quiz before checking any of your
answers. Remember, the information is for your use. It will tell you whether or not you
need to do subsequent exercises. If you look back (or forward) before answering, you
will lose this information.
True/false

1 Poor readers fixate once per word.

2 With practice a poor reader can increase from a speed of 100 to 1000
words per minute.

3 A speed reader will fixate only once per line. 
4 Once you have mastered speed reading techniques they will become
second nature.

5 The only drawback to rapid reading is that it tends to reduce comprehension. 
6 The duration of each fixation can range from as little as 0.25 of a second
to as much as 1.5 seconds.

Elements of grammar
Obviously, it is beyond the scope of this chapter to teach you all the complexities of
English grammar. But the following rapid overview may help you to avoid some of
the more common mistakes and to feel more secure in expressing yourself. You may
find it helpful, first, to become more familiar with a number of different parts of
speech, serving various functions in a sentence. The most basic (with examples in
italics)are:
■ A noun, which names a person, thing or quality (James, essay, incompetence).
■ A pronoun, which stands in for a noun, to save repeating it (it, he, them).
■ A verb, which expresses an action or state of being, past, present, future or possible
(ran, is, will go).
■ An adjective, which describes a noun or pronoun (unhappy, my own, incompetent).
■ An adverb, which modifies a verb, adjective or other adverb (ran quickly, deeply
unhappy, extremely well).
■ A conjunction, which joins or relates words or clauses (rich and famous, poor but
happy, working despite his illness).
■ A preposition, which introduces a phrase and is followed by a noun or pronoun

which it ‘governs’ (put it in my pigeonhole, between you and me).
Nouns
Nouns can be subjects (the thing ‘doing’ something) or direct objects (the thing
affected by the action). In ‘You wrote your essay’, you is the subject and essay is the
object. With the verb ‘to be’ the noun is a complement, i.e. completes the sense of the
verb, as in ‘You are a student’.
Phrases
A phrase is a group of two or more words that acts as a noun, adjective or adverb. (To
write well requires a basic knowledge of grammar. Students ignorant of this will do
poorly. You need to learn every day.)
Sentences
Sentences need to be complete. Simple sentences contain one finite verb, i.e. a verb
with its subject. The finite verb may, depending on its tense (past, future, etc.), be
several words. And it may have an object, adjectives or adverbs. (I [subject] should have
written [finite verb] more clearly [adverb].)
Clauses
A clause is a group of words containing a finite verb that forms part of a sentence. The
main clause is the backbone of the sentence and could often be used as a sentence in
157
GRAMMAR AND SPELLING
Written

communication

-

Helpfile
6
HELPFILE 1
Grammar and spelling

SUMMARY
This chapter has argued the following:
■ Effective written communication requires clarity concerning your objectives in
communication, understanding of your recipient’s needs and expectations and
choice of appropriate content, style and form.
■ Correct spelling and grammar and good presentation will create a good impression
and make it more likely that your message will be understood and accepted.
■ Your writing is more likely to be clear if you keep your language as simple as the
complexity of your message allows.
■ You are likely to be able to improve your writing considerably if you set your first
draft aside for a day or two before editing/redrafting.
■ Although there is some agreement as to the correct form for memos, emails,
essays and reports, there is also some variation in preferred style among tutors and
organisations. You should check with your intended recipient to find out their
preferences.
■ Careful and correct referencing is essential.
Further information
■ Bentley, T.J. (1978) Report Writing in Business, Kogan Page.
■ Blamires, H. (2000) The Penguin Guide to Plain English, Penguin.
■ Bowden, J. (2004) Writing a Report, 7th edn, Howtobooks.
■ Burchfield, R.W. (ed.) (1996) The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage, 3rd edn, Oxford
University Press. A classic – Fowler’s first edition appeared in 1926 – which is a sort of enlarged
dictionary with hints on how to pronounce and use the words included. A mine of
information.
■ Giles, K. and Hedge, N. (1994) The Manager’s Good Study Guide, The Open University.
■ Gowers, E. (1954) The Complete Plain Words, HMSO, now available from Penguin. This is the
classic work on the use of English. It has been regularly updated even since the author’s death
and is well worth acquiring.
■ Gravett, S. (1998) The Right Way to Write Reports, Elliot Right Way Books.
■ Seely, J. (2002) Writing Reports, Oxford University Press.

■ Truss, L. (2003) Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, Profile
Books. An amusing defence of appropriate punctuation.
PART 2 STUDY SKILLS
156
Test exercises help
you to check your
understanding.
Answers are
provided at the back
of the book.
Activities, practical
tasks and tests are
provided at key points
in the text to help you
apply concepts to
your own learning.
Helpfiles offer ‘back-to-basics’
guidance to master key skills such as
maths, grammar and examination
terms.
Summaries pull together the
key points addressed in the
chapter to provide a useful
reminder of topics covered.
Further information
offers sources of
additional
information for those
who wish to explore a
topic further.

BUSH_A01.QXP 10/5/07 8:59 AM Page xvii

Guided tour (
continued
)
Online study guides introduce you
to the core academic and
transferable skills that you will be
developing.
Interactive activities such as
games, multiple-choice questions
and fill-in-the-blank quizzes will
challenge you to improve your own
skill set by applying it in practical
situations.
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xix
GUIDED TOUR
Downloadable templates for
exercises and activities that you
can print, complete and keep on
file.
End-of-chapter quizzes help you
assess your progress and identify
areas for further study and
development.
BUSH_A01.QXP 10/5/07 8:59 AM Page xix

This book was written because students often get far less out of their degree studies

than they could. It might be because they do little work. But it also happens that those
who work very hard still fail to enjoy the work, learn very little, get a poor degree and
have trouble getting a good job on graduation. This is a tragic waste of their efforts,
and the efforts of their lecturers, and a waste of a lot of money. At the same time,
graduate recruiters repeatedly complain that it is difficult to find good recruits because
graduates lack key skills.
This is true of graduates in most subjects. This book was written primarily for business
students but much of it is relevant to students on any degree programme who want to
learn as much as possible and have a successful career thereafter.
This book is intended to prevent such waste of resources and help you to enjoy your
studies while getting a good degree and developing the skills that employers seek.
Fortunately these skills are precisely those needed to gain academic benefit from a
course. By developing them you can get a better degree for less effort. But you will
need an active approach towards managing your learning and a clear idea of what you
need to learn (above and beyond the academic content of your course). This book
applies basic management concepts to the process of learning in order to help you do
this.
These concepts will be – or become – familiar to you if you are on a business studies
programme, but apply to any course of study. If you are not studying management or
business you will still find the book useful as all necessary concepts are clearly
described. The basic skills of reading and note taking, using numbers, finding
information – whether from libraries, the Internet or your own research – working in
Preface
Cartoon by Neill Cameron, www.planetdumbass.co.uk
BUSH_A01.QXP 10/5/07 8:59 AM Page xx

groups, and writing essays and reports are essential for almost any study, as are the
skills of managing yourself, your time, your stress levels and your learning.
You need, too, to be able to demonstrate your skills, first to your examiners, then to
potential employers. Thus you need to prepare a good CV and job application, and

perform well in interviews and other selection tests. Once you are in employment you
will still need to use the skills you have developed to manage yourself and your
learning. Those who are successful are good at both, and pay considerable attention to
their continuing professional development.
The book is not a textbook, and should be used very differently from most texbooks. It
offers few ‘facts’ and fewer theories. Instead it is an invitation to take on the challenge
of developing yourself, and to treat that development as a project. It offers a
programme of activities designed to help you be successful in this. Although the book
is easy to read, the thinking and practice that it demands will be hard work, and
reading is not enough. You do need to do the activities. The potential rewards for this
effort are substantial: more effective and enjoyable learning, better grades, a richer
student experience and a more successful and stimulating working life.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Among the many people I should like to thank are Penelope Woolf for persuading me
to write this book in the first place, the Open University as an institution, and close
colleagues in particular for giving me the space to write, and my students for being an
endless source of challenge, stimulus and ideas. Last but definitely not least, I should
like to thank Hester, Neill and James for their research, comments, suggestions and
general support throughout, and in particular Neill for the superb artwork in this
edition.
Shelia Cameron
xxi
PREFACE
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LEARNING: CONTEXT,
PROCESS AND
MANAGEMENT

1 Learning, skills and employment
2 Managing your studies
3 Learning and reflective practice
➔
Part 1
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