Overview

Academic sources are the most trustworthy and best to use in your assignments. But you still need to be selective when referencing sources in order to get full marks on your assignments. Like with social media and news media, you should check the content for accuracy, and also evaluate its relevance to your own arguments and research. Evaluating is an important academic skill that involves critical thinking when you are doing your research and finding information. The quality of your dissertation or assignment is directly related to the quality of the sources you use, so knowing how to fact check and evaluate is important to your success at University, as well as future jobs. ​This workshop covers how to avoid 'fake' academic journals and investigate sources using the SIFT method.

 Key areas covered

• Advantages of using academic sources in assignments​
• How to spot predatory journals or fake academic publications​
• Using the SIFT fact checking method​
• Digital skills for verifying information found via academic, news media, and social media sources 
• Where to look for reliable sources

Essex students: book your place here! 

We encourage students to book onto our workshops via CareerHub in order to keep a record of their learning

Don't have access to CareerHub? You can register below.

It's not a requirement to preregister for our online workshops. You can decide on the day to join a session by clicking the Zoom link provided: https://essex-university.zoom.us/j/93270286078?from=addon

Need a room to join from?

If you are on Colchester Campus but don't have a convenient place to join this online session from, you can come to the Library Reading Room Training Room on the ground floor of the Albert Sloman Library on Square 5. If you have trouble finding it, please ask for directions at the Library Helpdesk.

Remember to bring your own webcam enabled device and headphones.