Independent Study in HE

When you start Higher Education, you will soon discover that the time spent in taught lessons is far less than you were used to in school or college. This is because in HE greater emphasis is put on independent study – that is, you managing your own time effectively enough to be able to juggle the demands of taught study, family and social life, alongside reading, researching and making use of all the resources available to you to further your knowledge. It may sound daunting, but help is available!

Reading and researching go hand-in-hand: read into your subject in books, journals and on the internet. Make notes, follow up on relevant topics that interest you, but be careful not to be sidetracked.  Your course handbook will provide you with lists of relevant sources from which to begin to investigate your subject in depth.

Resources come in all shapes and sizes. In no particular order, here are a few to consider:

• The libraries – books, journals, magazines, newspapers, DVDs, CDs, PCs and laptops.
• The library staff – library staff have a wealth of combined knowledge. Their job is to help you find the information you need, help you with basic IT issues, and general problem solving. They are the detectives of the academic world. They love to be asked so ask them!
• Online secure gateways to resources, such as Discovery, Athens, SAGE, Summon, LibraryPlus and Proquest  – for more information or help please ask in the Learning Curve.
• The Study Skills Team – our one-to-one support is available to every student at Barnsley College. We will explain everything you need to know about the academic skills required for your success. We will look through your work for you and give you tips and advice on how you can improve your written work to get better marks. We will help you to devise ways to make your study better suited to your learning style, and if English is an additional language for you, we can provide that extra support you need.

Don’t struggle on your own!