Skills in Accessing, Finding & Reviewing Information - Safari

Skip to content

1 . Understanding information 1. Introduction 2. What is information? 3. The information age 4. Everyday uses 5. Types of information 6. Information universe 7. Mapping sources 8. Identifying needs 9. Summary

2 . Unpacking information 1. Introduction 2. Information journeys 3. Supply chain 4. Research supply chain 5. Categorising information 6. Shape of the literature 7. Finding information 8. Summary

3 . Planning a search 1. Introduction 2. Describing information 3. Databases 4. Library catalogues 5. World Wide Web 6. Which to use? 7. Planning a search 8. Choosing resources 9. Summary

4 . Searching for information 1. Introduction 2. Basic principles 3. Databases 4. Library catalogues 5. World Wide Web 6. Tracking progress 7. Your subject 8. Summary

5 . Evaluating information 1. Introduction 2. Information quality 3. Presentation 4. Relevance 5. Objectivity 6. Method 7. Provenance 8. Timeliness 9. Summary

6 . Organising information 1. Introduction 2. Why organise? 3. Ways to organise 4. Social bookmarks 5. Citing references 6. Bibliographies 7. Summary

7 . Where do I go from here 1. Introduction 2. Sharing information 3. Electronic communication 4. Keeping up-to-date 5. Summary

Topic 5 Citing references

When you are writing an assignment, you will often find that you need to refer to the work of other people in order to support your ideas and illustrate the arguments you are putting forward.

Acknowledging the work of others in your writing is all part of the process of communicating your own work to other people interested in what you have written. This process of acknowledgement is known as ‘citing’.

Activity Why cite?

Why do you think it is important to cite references in your work? Make a note of your thoughts and then go to the next page to see our comments.

© The Open University +44 (0)845 300 60 90 Email us