This module will introduce Information Literacy Skills (ILSs for short). These are the skills that will enable you to locate information that is appropriate for academic study, and then use and manage it effectively.
Developing high-quality ILSs will help maximise your chances of achieving good grades while you are studying at Queen Mary, but it is important to realise that these are life-long skills which will be of great value throughout your entire career. Spend time understanding and acquiring these skills now and it will pay off in the short and long term.
After completing this module you will have a good understanding of:
- why, when looking for information for your studies, it is a mistake to rely solely on Google and Wikipedia
- where you can go online to find reliable information
- some methods you can use to evaluate the information you find, and an understanding and increased awareness of the issues surrounding plagiarism
- some of the main referencing styles used in academic writing
- how you can use freely available software to efficiently manage your library of references and help you to prepare a perfect bibliography
You may well come across some terminology when working through this module which is only vaguely familiar or perhaps even completely new to you: 'abstracts', 'citation', 'grey literature', 'periodical' and 'peer review', for example, sound rather obscure, but they are all commonly used in academic research and writing.
Learning the meaning of these and other terms will help you produce good quality coursework and essays, make sure you have a look at our glossary further down on this page
The Teaching & Learning Support Team are always contactable: look out for this button: Contact the T&LS Team
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