In the audiogram (mini podcast) our Learning Development Mentors help students with their studying dilemmas. In this episode a student asks "How do I find relevant sources of information?" The response is based on resources that can be found on the
skills hub.
Transcript:
Hi Tamryn here, a UoN Learning Development Mentor and also a student at the university and I'm here to share my top uni tips with you today. Let's dive right into it with today's theme of uncovering the truth and research skills. So let's get an answer to today's burning question. "How do I find relevant sources of information?" Starting off with your topic. Ask yourself, What are you researching? Do you understand the question being asked? And how do you interpret the task that you need to do? What information do you need? Move to a planning phase and plan your search by asking yourself, what are your criteria? Give yourself a list of key words to use and develop your search strategy so you understand what you are searching for and how those keywords fit into the topic. Searching for your information, you need to choose your search tools. So, for example, you can go to the library. You can use Nelson, or you can use alternative search engines. Explore and read the information widely. Abstracts are really, really good places to start to find out what information is going to be held in an entire paper search. Filters are also your friends. So you can edit out any information that isn't relevant to your topic or the time that your topic takes place. Build a picture of your topic. Evaluating stage asks you to evaluate your information. Who, what, where, when and how is this relevant to your topic? Can you use this information? Is there a permission that you need to ask for or is it free? Finally organise, bookmark and save your results. Make notes on the information that you're looking at and decide how it fits into the topic that you're referencing. Keep a record for your referencing later on. This will definitely come in handy. Happy research. Don't forget answers to more questions. Links to show notes, resources and more are all available on the skills Sub. Simply type Skills Hub Northampton into Google, and away you go!