REFLECTIVE WRITING

ACADEMIC ASSISTANSHIP
RAUNAQ DASH
BBA SEC C
20172037

This reflective report writing will discuss the ongoing course – ‘Academic Assistantship’, its
positive implications on me and how I as an Individual has grown and has learned new skills
and capabilities that I did not poses earlier. I had my first AA meeting towards the end of the first
month of the semester, which was unfortunate on my side as I was suffering from minor health
setbacks and had a packed schedule of elective and core classes. Nevertheless, on my first
meeting with my mentor, I was thoroughly briefed regarding the importance of this course in our
academic and as well as future corporate life. I understood the importance of integrating our
spare time out of the designated class schedules into something productive, how vital
establishing a professional relationship with our mentor is and the uniqueness this course
possess. Soon, my first task was assigned to me which was updating my mentor’s (Ganesh R
Sir) attendance record of various classes/sections he taught in, on the JGU UMS portal. This
was an initial step towards integrating a set of organizational skills in myself, as an Individual, as
this exercise or activity didn’t only assist my mentor (which is the point of the whole course) but
also was fruitful and productive on my end. I was also informed and briefed about the app
‘JabRef’ which was meant for me to search and find scholar articles, which would assist my
mentor in writing or developing various research papers, journals, etc. This learning
process/activity not only widened my scope of knowledge but also provided me an efficient and
also effective way of developing research papers, journals, etc in the future, which obviously
acts as a plus, for my future corporate life/career as well. Sequentially, I was assigned my next
task of assisting my mentor by developing ideas for a research paper which was to be created
on the topic ‘RTI (Right to Information) Act. It demanded the potential loopholes, and problems
within the Act and ways to make it better. I researched on a few scholar articles but it was soon
cut down when the global pandemic hit us and also when the college announced that the
summer break was in place now and that classes and college overall was suspended.
Nevertheless, I gained valuable knowledge on a spectrum I had very little idea on, before. When
the semester was in action again, soon I was assigned my next task of assisting my mentor with
developing a potential concept note for a report on the topic – ‘Energy Security in India’. With
the help of various scholar articles and a research paper on the topic, previously done by my
mentor years before (for which an updated one was required now), I managed to send ideas for
the concept note, to my mentor which focused on ‘Coal Security in India’ as coal is the most
used resource/energy in India (on 3/5/20 at 7:00 AM). This process benefited me, and my skill
set as I now had the knowledge of developing a concept note, with all the factors/ components
that are required in it. This not only helped improve my research-oriented skills and my
knowledge on the subject matter but also developed my skills pertaining to developing various
research papers, etc. In conclusion, I was more aware to writing, researching, and developing
reports, papers, journals, etc after this activity. With the help of these detailed, professional
report writing tasks I was able to identify proper research materials, interpret their information
and provide relevant insights to it. This not only has a short-term advantage but will also help
me in the long run in my professional life, as well. Thus, in my perception this course overall
was successful in terms of acting as a ‘learning hub’, where I was able to learn new skills,
capabilities and put them into application. Lastly, it stands out in terms of uniqueness and
provided us with not only with temporary gains but, also with long term gains and hence my
suggestion would be to keep this course running as it is with probably more writing oriented
assessments, which is certainly turning out fruitful on my end.