Understand your assessment topic. Do some background reading - use reference sources such as Credo (citable academic source) and Wikipedia (Not academic source but good for understanding and keywords on the topic). Read the marking rubric for the assessment in your subject outline and familiarize yourself with what you are required to demonstrate.
Develop a mindmap to help you explore the topic, find alternate terms and synonyms; then decide on your approach to answering the quesiton.
Develop some effective search strategies - use some of the terms you discovered in your background reading and your mindmap.
Do some searches in the recommended databases, One Search and the web if appropriate. If your results don't match what you are looking for, try different search terms. Use the advanced search features of the database. Check under the Key Resources tab, find your subject code under the Subject Codes tab or look under the Cunningham Case Study tab for recommended databases and other sources.
Evaluate your sources particularly if you are using non academic web sources.
Read your journal articles, book chapters and other web sources and take notes.
Write your assessment.
Rewrite and proof read - several times until you are sure you have answered the question - not just discussed the topic.
Ensure you have satisfied the marking rubric requirements for the assessment. Check your subject outline for marking rubrics.
InfoSkills ToolkitThe InfoSkills Toolkit is a self-paced training tool to help you understand what is needed to unpack your assignment question, work out the keywords for your research, find good quality sources and reference them appropriately.
There are four modules, and you can work through them in order, or jump straight to the part you need. Come back to the guide whenever you need a refresher on basic searching skills.
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