Expert: The expert level skills would be expected to be developed by the end of a final year undergraduate or taught postgraduate programme.
Expert level skills are essential for Masters level study and beyond. You will be researching independently across topics of your own choice as well as studying modules with pre-set assignment questions.
You should be developing skills that help you to:
- Identify problems or gaps in existing research and independently devise a thorough and comprehensive strategy to address a research topic of your choice.
- Apply clear scoping techniques to identify appropriate keywords, related concepts etc. and identify any limits or parameters to build your advanced search strategy.
- Undertake systematic and thorough background research across a range of academic or specialist resources to inform your literature review.
- Demonstrate a critical and systematic approach to staying up to date with the research area using the most appropriate tools and resources. For example, set up personal accounts and alerts on a range of relevant academic databases.
- Apply your knowledge of Library resources, their characteristics and strengths to identify multiple sources relevant to your research needs.
- Understand issues of access to and availability of information sources. For example, subscription databases, Open Access, licence restrictions.
- Explore a broad range of academic and information literacy skills topics in more depth, for example by using published resources such as study skills books.
