Using information for learning

When we study at university, the way we use information is often different from the way we use it in daily life and at work. At university, we frequently have to make decisions about:

• where helpful information may be (there is no one place where all the useful information is available)
• whether the resource we have chosen is suitable: 
  • reliable (e.g. can you trust the author's integrity and competence to produce the work you need?), 
  • relevant to our research (e.g. if your research is focused on the UK policy, the analysis of the US policy in the same area is likely to be of little relevance to you), 
  • and of the right depth (sometimes you will need a basic introduction to a topic, but other times you will need to investigate the subject inside out; choosing sources of the right depth saves time and effort).
• when to stop searching, researching, and reading, and to start writing (sometimes you will stop searching and researching because you found enough to answer your questions; other times, you may decide there is very little information or that it isn't accessible (e.g. behind a paywall), or that the topic is under-researched, so spending more time on it wouldn't be productive).

To a certain extent, our ability to produce high-quality academic work depends on making the right decisions about the information we use.

As you progress in your course, you will notice how tasks (assignments) change:

• they will increasingly require from you a critical and analytical reflection; and
• they will also expect you to engage with an increasingly broad selection of suitable information sources; for example, textbooks and webpages found by googling alone will not be enough to produce good work.

You do not have to jump into the deep end of the pool straight away. You can and should start using various types of information sources gradually. This is the best information strategy for students. As broad guidance, judging by your course content, librarians anticipate the following:

• At Level 4, you should focus on textbooks, monographs, and trade publications.
• At Level 5, you should make scholarly journal articles and conference papers an important source of your research. At this time you should also increase your use of market research, data, and statistics, while continuing to use textbooks, monographs, and trade publications.
• Thanks to this, by Levels 6 and 7 you will have become a proficient researcher, comfortable with all the information source types mentioned above.