Research and Study Skills
Revision for Exams
Exam Vocabulary an explanation of common command words used on exam papers.
Study Skills Packs
Skills4Study - a general study skills site aimed at first year undergraduates. Based on Palgraves Study Skills. Includes revision and exam techniques, time management, presentation, essaywriting, referencing and plagiarism.
STAR (Study Tips to Achieve Results) – produced by the University of Swansea. This is a Study Skills Handbook for students who are either about to embark upon or are currently undertaking studies in Year 12 and Year 13.
Organisation
Time management This comes from a website called Mind Tools. It has tips to help you 'Beat Work Overload. Be More Effective. Achieve More.'
Organising a daily "to-do" list Tips on how to create effective 'to do' lists.
Essay Writing
Student survival guide to writing a good essay - Podcast - aimed at first year undergraduates.
Referencing and Bibliographies
Why do I need to cite my sources? (KS4-5)
The difference between popular and scholarly sources (KS5)
The difference between primary and secondary sources (KS4-5)
Harvard Referencing
(Recommended as the simplest to use plus widely used by many universities)
NTU's guide to Referencing and Plagiarism - includes definitions of References, Citations and Biliographies (KS5)
A comprehensive guide to Harvard referencing from Anglia Ruskin University
Neil's Toolbox - Harvard referencing generator (KS4-5) Take the hard work out of creating correctly formatted Harvard references with this simple to use tool. Type in the resource details and it will create the reference for you to copy and paste.
Demystifying citing and referencing – a twenty minute online tutorial
MLA & MHRA referencing
MLA Referencing generator (KS5) Take the hard work out of creating correctly formatted MLA references with this simple to use tool. Type in the resource details and it will create the reference for you to copy and paste.
MHRA - Footnote referencing (Humanities) (KS5)
Plagiarism
Universities take plagiarism (passing someone else's work/ideas off as your own) very seriously. You will probably be surprised by some of the things that are classed as plagiarism.
Are you a theif? Newcastle University Powerpoint about plagiarism
Online plagiarism checker (KS4-5)
Bias
Bias Detection - short video to help you understand and identify bias
Search Strategies, or how to start looking for information
An easy guide to web search strategies (KS4 & KS5)
Intute guide to a better search strategy (KS5)
Use DeeperWeb by Google to get more accurate results when you search. See below for a quick tutorial on how to use DeeperWeb.
DeeperWeb Search - a tutorial showing how DeeperWeb can enhance your web searches (Ks4 & KS5)
Search engines
Boolean Logic and other Search Strategies - Powerpoint. (KS3)
How to search for copyright-free images (tutorial) (KS4 & KS5)
Best 7 Image Search engines (KS4 & KS5)
Best Search Engines for audio and video
GoogleScholar
What is Google Scholar and How do I use it?
Guide to How to Use Google Scholar
Google Scholar Tips from the University of Otago
Using Google Scholar hints and tips (KS5)
Google Books
Using Google Books to find and download books - a Powerpoint guide (KS5)
Video tutorial - how to use Google Books
Use Google Books alongside our County Library Online Catalogue to see if the books are available locally. Advanced Search tool recommended.
Beyond Google
Mining the Invisible web (KS5) Please note IPL2 and Infomine referred to on the website have both now closed down. Has some useful tips on the value of searching for databases.
OAIster - (pronounced oyster) OAIster is a union catalog of millions of records representing open access resources that was built by harvesting from open access collections worldwide using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). OAIster includes more than 30 million records representing digital resources from more than 1,500 contributors.
Academic gateways and web directories (KS5)
Statistics - Loughborough University's guide to the best websites to choose if you are looking for statistics (KS4-5)
Evaluating websites
The QUICK guide to evaluating websites (KS3-4)
Evaluating websites tutorial (Ks4-5)
Evaluating the authority of websites tutorial (Ks4-5)
Glean Who Is - can help you to find out who owns a website
Online Tutorials for internet training
Intute virtual Training Suite -How to develop your internet Research Skills - subject based (KS5)
The Internet Detective (KS4 and KS5)