Skip to main content

Information skills: Scope your search

Scope your search: Why should I know this?

 When you are thinking about scope, you need to ask yourself two questions: 

1) What do I need to know?

2) Where will I find this information to succeed?

  • Use a variety of sources such as online and print or primary sources such as statistics to get your point across.
  • Remember each discipline has its own special sources so you will need to familiarize yourself with these. 
  • Check out your subject guide or talk to your tutor to find out more.
  • Decide how much you need to find to do a good assessment.                                                                                                                                                       CC0-Pixabay

When you follow this process, you should be able to decide which sources of information are suitable  for your assignment. You will earn more marks for your content because it will be appropriate to the assignment.

One way to review what you already know and what you will need to find out is through Mind Mapping which is a visual way to plan and order your ideas. Below are helpful printable guides and videos to explain this popular concept further..

Mind Maps

Tony Buzan - creator of the mind map - talks about how how and why to use them.

Mind Maps in six steps

Less about the why and more about the how a mind mapping tutorial by Tony Buzan's company iMindMap. Breaks the process down to 6 simple steps.

What are primary and secondary sources?