Wise Up
University and college students sometimes fail assignments or get poor marks in their coursework because they have used the Internet in ways that are inappropriate for work at this level.
You may have used the Internet to help with school work or personal research but you can't necessarily rely on the same web sites and skills to get you through higher or further education.
Repeating information from a single source (eg. a text book, encyclopaedia or Web site) is not likely to get you very far.
Common mistakes made by students:
- They rely on Internet searches for their research and ignore other key sources
- They don't critically evaluate the quality of the information they find
- They copy information from the Internet and don't acknowledge their sources
At university or college you will need to take your Internet research skills to the next level
At this level of your education you will be expected to:
- Be able to do your own independent research
- Locate and use a wide range of information sources
- Critically evaluate the information you find
- Synthesize information to form your own original piece of work
- Present a balanced and well-informed argument leading to your own conclusions.
You should take full advantage of your reading list, course materials and library resources. You might also be tempted to turn to the wider web in which case you need to tread very carefully.
You will need to develop some advanced Internet research skills.
This tutorial can help!
