Your foundation year
Discover the study, information and digital IT skills you'll need during your foundation year at University.
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1. Get Ready
Learning at University
What is covered:
- Understand your learning preferences.
- The difference between surface and deep learning.
- Different ways of thinking about and approaching your learning and how to develop a learning mindset.
Formats:
2. Finding Information
Planning your search for academic information
What is covered:
- Learn why it's important to plan your search for information.
- Understand how to identify keywords and key phrases from your assessment brief to search for relevant and useful results.
Formats:
Search the web well for University study
What is covered:
- Learn when to use different web search pages, such as your favourite search page or Google Scholar.
- Understand how to use Google Scholar to find academic information.
Formats:
Use Library Search to find academic information
What is covered:
- How to perform searches for different types of academic information.
- How to use filters to make your results more relevant.
Formats:
3. Referencing and Academic Integrity
Academic integrity in assessment
What is covered:
- What academic integrity is and why it is important.
- How to avoid plagiarism when referring to the work and ideas of others.
- When collaboration becomes collusion.
Formats:
Introduction to referencing
What is covered:
- What referencing is and why it is important.
- Types of information you need to reference.
- How to identify what you are referencing.
Formats:
Creating references using APA 7th edition
What is covered:
- What the APA 7th style looks like in your work.
- How to use in-text citations.
- What your reference list is for.
- How to format you references.
Formats:
4. Developing your Academic Skills
Understanding your assessment brief
What is covered:
- The different parts of the assessment brief.
- Using your assessment brief to plan and complete your assessments.
- Where to get help if you don't understand the assignment brief.
Formats:
Approaching your assessments: Six steps to success
What is covered:
- Analysing the task and planning your research.
- Finding and evaluating information.
- Reading and note-taking.
- Planning and writing.
- Editing and submitting.
- Using feedback.
Formats:
Read, take notes and use academic information
What is covered:
- Best practice tips for getting the most out of reading for academic purposes.
- Identifying different note-taking strategies.
- How to use the academic information you have found in your assessments.
Formats:
Academic writing tips
What is covered:
- Using an appropriate style for academic writing.
- Writing objectively and with caution.
- Showing the connections between your ideas.
- The importance of drafting and editing.
Formats: