This page collects together some resources to help you develop your approach to learning and covers reading, engaging with sources, writing and referencing. These are very much overlapping domains, so look out for the common themes across these areas.
There are also a range of workshops, one-to-one support, and resources on study skills more generally - more details on the Academic Skills Library Guide. You can also book an appointment with the School of Arts librarian for additional help with research and there is a chat service called Ask Us for basic help with accessing resources.
Graham Gibbs below sets out four key areas that have been shown to positively impact students effectiveness as learners. These areas are not only relevant for learning at university, but relevant to lifelong learning.
It has more impact on educational effectiveness to change learners than it does to change teachers
Short article by Graham Gibbs in the series 53 Powerful Ideas All Teachers Should Know About (15 minute read)
All of the elements mentioned above are important when completing essays. Any writing task requires you to synthesise the other aspects of your research practice - your approach to learning, your critical reading, note taking, referencing etc. Having said that it is also worth noting that the top thing that impresses or distresses lecturers when marking written assignments is language, grammar, and expression.
The list in order of frequency is as follows:
Pete Greasley & Andrea Cassidy (2010) When it comes round to marking assignments: how to impress and how to ‘distress’ lecturers …, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 35:2, 173-189, DOI: 10.1080/02602930802691564
1. 32 responses from Health, and Social Sciences and Humanities departments at Bradford University
In the article 'It has more impact on educational effectiveness to change learners than it does to change teachers' Graham Gibbs contrasts the different approaches to reading of two types of student. One student reads everything in the same way and without purpose:
Well I cast my eyes across the rows till I got to the bottom and then turned over!
The other reads much more actively, linking the reading to specific objectives and questions.
Well I wasn’t sure if this chapter would help me with the section on X in my essay so I did a quick skim first to see if it was worthwhile – and it was – it had several sections on exactly what I was looking for. So I then started taking notes on the three things I had spotted. I read those sections carefully and went back over bits I had not grasped properly the first time, and wrote some notes that will help with the sentences I need to write on that. Then finally I had a quick scan forwards to see if there was anything else I had missed.
The following video may help you think about your own approach to reading.
With so much information and misinformation available online, it is more important than ever to read critically. This section includes an extract from an article by Tara Brabazon which sets out ten pivotal questions to ask of a text, and is a useful framework to follow.
'The Google Effect' (2006) is a ten page article on the difference between academic research and using Google. I have quoted the key message below, but it is worth reading in its entirety even though it was written some time ago. It will give you an idea of the approach to research that most academics expect.
Our first lessons in schools and universities must teach and re-teach how to evaluate the quality of all information, including Internet-based data. I encourage students to ask ten pivotal questions as they approach any text, and attempt to build an interpretative matrix from it.
Who authored the information?
What expertise does the writer have to comment?
What evidence is used? Are there citations in the piece?
What genre is the document: journalism, academic paper, blog, polemic?
Is the site/document/report funded by an institution?
What argument is being made?
When was the text produced?
Why did this information emerge at this point in history?
Who is the audience for this information?
What is not being discussed and what are the political consequences of that absence?
Brabazon, T. (2006) 'The Google Effect', Libri, Vol. 56, No. 3, September 2006, pp. 157-67.
Login to your university Googlemail account to access this Harvard referencing sample to see what Harvard referencing looks like in practice. Even if you are using a running notes style this is still useful. The notes also explain the basic principles of referencing.
Look at:
There are a series of questions with answers to help develop your understanding of referencing practice.
Critical Reasoning for Beginners - a free Oxford University course, focusing on identifying and evaluating different types of argument. If you are at all interested in this area, its definitely worth taking. It is interesting, but also quite a commitment - about six hours.
