Overview

This module is discipline specific. It uses the kind of genres that students are likely to encounter in a Business and Finance context. Students are taught the academic skills they need to understand and produce the kind of spoken and written texts they will encounter at the Business School.

Module content will include the following topics:

• Institutional culture, practices, norms and expectations • Academic style • Research skills • Reading and listening effectively • Taking good notes • Paraphrasing and summarising • Referencing and avoiding plagiarism • Academic discourse • Critical thinking • Academic writing and speaking • An academic skills portfolio

Assessment Strategy

-threshold -Threshold (40-49% / D- to D+): Student has made sufficient progress in the study of this module to achieve the lowest level of pass allowing for progression onto an undergraduate degree.

-good -Good (60-69% / B- to B+): Student has displayed a sound basic knowledge and understanding of much of the material studied in this module and achieved a high enough grade to indicate a clear ability to cope with the demands of an undergraduate level degree.

-excellent -Excellent (70% + / A- to A*): Student has engaged consistently well with all aspects of the module and strong achievement in assessments indicates the ability to perform effectively at undergraduate degree level.

-another level-Satisfactory (50 – 59% / C- to C+): Student demonstrates reasonably comprehensive coverage of learning outcomes, indicating generally accurate understanding, based on lecture material and some core readings. Some gaps in knowledge and/or understanding evident.

Learning Outcomes

• Be able to take notes from written and spoken texts

• Build confidence in a higher education setting

• Demonstrate an understanding of academic culture and a university’s expectations of an undergraduate student

• Demonstrate critical thinking skills in different academic contexts

• Develop academic literacy and communication skills in order to communicate effectively

• Know how to paraphrase, summarise and reference

• Know when and how to use academic style

• Produce an academic skills portfolio

• Source and evaluate a range of academic sources