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Deadline? | Relative Value (McAdoo, 2015) | ||
Enough time? Marked your calendar? Plan time well to prevent last-minute crams Track deadline using 'countdown' on phone app |
Any clashes with other tasks? Spend more time on assignments with higher grade weightage Prioritise and manage your time Use a checklist to manage priorities and deliverables |
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Assignment requirements? | For groupwork | ||
Understand what is expected Clarify doubts with your professor Avoid loss of time in the correction of errors |
Set up a collaboration and file-sharing platform (e.g. Google Docs) Plan schedules with your groupmates Make sure that the workload is fairly allocated |
Apart from your lecture notes, your module will include readings (compulsory and supplementary)
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To find your online readings, Go to Canvas : your module's Course Readings. Course Readings FAQs can be found here.
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To find your print readings. Search your module code via the library search engine. Your required readings will be located at RBR. It is a section located at the library. And stands for Reserve Books and Readings. Click image below for an example of what to expect.
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If your topic is set for you, refer to your Assigned Readings (previous tab) and Assignment Requirements (below).
If your topic is to be developed, ask yourself if your topic can be researched?
Limited by Assignment Requirements
Interesting and meaningful to you
Ask yourself questions to help you scope your topic. Watch the video below by using the 5W1H Framework!
To get a feel of how much information there is on the topic of your interest and choice, you can seek out Wikipedia for a quick search. Wikipedia is increasingly used by academics even though it is not considered a credible source. Despite its potential inaccuracies, it can also be a gold mine for research information and a good starting point for your topic.
Need more information on finding a research topic? Contact us at askalib@nus.edu.sg
Literature Review
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You need to support your assignment with scholarly sources. Why is this important?
FindMore. Watch this video to learn how to search for resources in the Library's collection.
Google Scholar. You will find Proxy Bookmarklet and FindIt!@NUS tools very handy.
Other handy tools include Libkey Nomad and Unpaywall.
Scopus. A library-subscribed indexed database which may be useful and you can watch this video to learn more.
Why can't we just use Google for research? Let's compare Library Databases vs Google/Google Scholar
FindMore (Library search engine) |
Library Databases |
Google Scholar/Google |
Good starting point for (discovery) for quick search |
Results are more focused |
Retrieves many search results |
Allows searching NUS Libraries collection with one search |
Results may include those not found in FindMore |
Limited methods to filter results |
Combines Google-like search |
Better search features and control, e.g., specific field search, relevance ranking, etc |
Provides a simple way to do a broad search for scholarly literature across disciplines and sources like books and articles |
Find out what is available if unsure of what database to use |
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Need to evaluate results retrieved |
Have you selected the best information to cite in your assignment?
For more on evaluating scholarly information using the CRAAP Test, watch the video below:
For evaluating non-scholarly information e.g. media sources, click here.
The above video is © NUS Libraries, All Rights Reserved
This work by Lisette Blanco-Cerda is licensed under a CC BY NC SA 4.0 International License
Are you citing all materials that you use?
Watch the video below on citation basics in academia.
Doing your Assignment
Need more help doing your assignment? Contact us at askalib@nus.edu.sg
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References
15 foolproof tips for writing a great assignment. (n.d.). University of Essex Online. Retrieved March 19, 2022, from https://online.essex.ac.uk/blog/15-foolproof-tips-for-writing-a-great-assignment/
McAdoo, M. L. (2015). The student’s survival guide to research (pp. 59-72). Chicago: Neal-Schuman.