St Andrew's Cathedral School | In the heart of the Sydney CBD

St Andrew's Cathedral School Library

Senior Study Skills Program
 
Introduction to Program Module C - Using the Library and learning to research
Module A - Organisation Module D - Essay Writing
Module B - Learning Module E - Short Answer Questions


SENIOR STUDY SKILLS PROGRAM

This program is a compulsory program designed to assist you in preparing for the Higher School Certificate.

There are 5 Modules each divided into 50 minute lesson slots which you must complete during your study hall periods. At least one period per week must be allocated to the Senior Study Skills Program. The modules are:

MODULE A- ORGANISATION (4 lessons)

MODULE B -LEARNING (6 lessons)

MODULE C- USING THE LIBRARY & LEARNING TO RESEARCH (5 lessons)

MODULE D -ESSAY WRITING (Completed in term 1 2005)

MODULE E- SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS (Completed term 2 2005)

All the material, and most of your input, will be online.

You can access it by opening the library icon on the school intranet.

Go to the left hand column and choose the heading Senior Study Skills.

You can access this material at home. Visit the library to collect a password.

You will be given a manila folder for the program. A copy of your timetable will be pasted into it. You must indicate one period per week, that you will dedicate to this program. Highlight which period this will be. If you are absent or on an excursion that day you must complete the work in your next available study period.

A learning log should be completed after each lesson. In most cases this simply means ticking a box. You must also sign your log and it must be co-signed by whoever is supervising study hall that period.


SENIOR STUDY SKILLS PROGRAM

The initial materials comes from the following core website. Click on the following sites and follow the simple instructions there.

http://www.jcu.edu.au/studying/services/studyskills/online.html

 

MODULE A ORGANISATION (4 lessons)

Lesson 1 – Getting Started

This lesson asks you to think about your motivations and approaches to study.

  • Read the information on the following sites and complete the simple activities.

Message in a Bottle - http://www.jcu.edu.au/studying/services/studyskills/git/mib.html

What’s important - http://www.jcu.edu.au/studying/services/studyskills/git/whatsimportant.html

Timely Questions - http://www.jcu.edu.au/studying/services/studyskills/git/timelyquestions.html

Activity Log - http://www.jcu.edu.au/studying/services/studyskills/git/activitylog.html

  • Download the template and fill it in.
  • Put the template into your folder.

 

Lesson 2 – Organising Assessments

  • ·        On a wall planner or calendar, write down all the assessment tasks you have for 2004-05.

  • ·        You can download a 2005 calendar from http://www.printablecalendar.ca/

  • ·        Write the ones for 2004 in your diary also

 

Lesson 3 – Mind mapping

 

Lesson 4 – Application

  • ·        Now prepare a mind map based on one topic for one topic in one subject that you have covered so far. You may like to try using the inspirations software available on the school intranet.
    http://intranet/
    then scroll down ‘students’
    open ‘software launch’
    open ‘Inspiration’

  • ·        Put the mindmap into your folder.


 

MODULE B LEARNING (6 lessons)  

Lesson 1 – Learning styles

 

Lesson 2 – Application

  • ·        Summarize your learning style in a paragraph. Put this into your folder.

  • ·        Write down 5 ways you can apply this knowledge of yourself to your experiences of learning.

 

Lesson 3 – Memory

 

Lesson 4 – Oral Presentations

Most subjects have an oral component to assessment tasks and this continues at tertiary level.

Lessons 5 and 6 – Grammar and Writing



MODULE C USING THE LIBRARY AND LEARNING TO RESEARCH

In this unit you will learn how to access a wide range of resources in the library including articles, websites and other library databases.
This is a critical unit since nearly all HSC subjects have some type of research component and/or assessment task.

Lesson 1 – Introduction and Orientation

  • ·      Connect to the intranet
    Open the library website, the icon with a globe on top of some books.
    At present there is no title for this icon  

  • ·       Do a quick scan of the home page. You can see that there is a lot on offer.
    Especially check out the name of staff and the opening hours. Notice the SACS library is open from 7:45am – 5pm! You have wonderful access. The catalogue and website are also available online at home. You will need to collect a password from the library to access parts of the website from home.  

  •       The toolbars on the left hand side, match the sections on the home page. It is a user-friendly site.  

  • ·        Go to ‘Understanding Dewey’ and read this information  

  • ·        Click on the library catalogue ( web OPAC) and learn how to use it.  

  • ·        Check out the online reference desk for dictionaries, weather, train timetables, maps and similar information.

 

Lesson 2 – Information and Research Skills

  • ·       Click on this heading on the library home page or http://intranet.sacs.nsw.edu.au/library/informationskills.htm  

  • ·        Read the sections
    - Information Process
    - Graphic organizers (an extension of mindmaps)
    - How to write a bibliography

  •      The section: Text type scaffolds will be a useful reference point for writing.

 

Lesson 3 – Tips and Tutorials

This is a really practical lesson in which your learn how to access the vast array of resources held in (or through) the school library.

  • ·        Read the information on ProQuest ELibrary (previously Big Chalk). ELibrary is an electronic database which allows you to search for full text documents such as newspaper articles, magazines, books, TV and radio transcripts etc. It is an excellent resource  

  • ·         To access Pro Quest ELibrary click on the link  under “Libraries-Online”.  

  • ·        Read the information on Infocus. If there is an item the school stocks it will be on the library catalogue and stored in the vertical file. If you would like to order an item provide details to the library staff and they will order the item/s.  

  • ·        Read the information on Weblinks Online. This database is updated regularly.  

  • ·        Read the information on Herald in the classroom.  

  • ·        Read the information on Media on Demand. You can play curriculum-related videos from your computer! You must use headphones which you can borrow from the library circulation desk or the study hall desk.

 

Lesson 4 – Using the Internet

Many students do not know how to use the internet efficiently and critically. This lesson will help you become a more astute consumer of electronic data.

  • ·        Open the link “Finding information on the Internet” A tutorial  

  • ·        Read all the information and open all the links. This will take most of the lesson.  

  • ·        Read the link “Boolean Searching for the Web” which will help you refine your searches – they will be more accurate & efficient  

  • ·        Read p1 of “Three Basic Families”  

  • ·        Click on “The best search engines to use” which will give you a table of recommended search engines and specific details about them. Test them out. They are terrific.

Lesson 5 – Evaluating a website

It is important you understand what makes a good website and particularly how reliable information you have accessed is.

  • ·        Open the link on the library website Evaluation Webpages: Techniques to apply and questions to ask  

  • ·        Read the first 3
    -        What can the URL tell you?
    -        Scan the perimeter of the page
    -        Look for indicators of quality information  

  • ·        Open the link Webpage Evaluation Checklist

  • ·        Print out the page/checklist  

  • ·        Open the following website:

  • ·        Use the checklist to evaluate the website

  •        Submit the work in your folder.