1 Which lecture(s) referred directly to your research topic?
A. Look in the tutor’s slides for any of the assignment keywords.
B. Search especially for any mention the tutor made of the relationship between
those variables.
C. Read these selected class materials carefully until you understand the concepts
presented by the tutor about this topic.
D. If there are terms or concepts you are still uncertain about from the lecture
materials, consult some general reference sources (these may be dictionaries/
encyclopaedias/core textbooks) to clarify your understanding.
E. Create a document on your computer as a template for your essay. Write about
the variables’ relationship from the understanding in your mind that you have
gained by studying the tutor’s lecture(s).
F. Do not worry about editing these ideas at this stage; you are only aiming to get
words onto the page as an initial draft.
2 Which other materials has your tutor provided on this topic?
Review the resources that the tutor uploaded for this module on your university
virtual learning environment. These could include videos, podcasts and
additional readings. Whilst you may have already reviewed these as you went
through the course, now you know your assignment title, you can read and
review with a more focussed purpose.
Repeat stages A to E above with these further sources of core ideas on that
topic.
The next step is to assess the value of these in terms of your reading purpose. You
must have a way of doing this quickly, simply and ruthlessly. The following two
activities show you some helpful techniques to select the best sources from the
different possibilities that confront you at this stage:
3 How about the textbook?
Consider your core textbook in a similar way to the above. Search in the Contents
page, or if necessary in the Index, for the keywords from your topic. This will lead
you to a certain chapter, perhaps even a specific section within that. Ag