MM0SAS: Skills for Academic Study

Module code: MM0SAS

Module provider: Business Informatics, Systems and Accounting; Henley Business School

Credits: 20

Level: F

When you’ll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Dr Dan Luo, email: dan.luo@henley.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 8 January 2025

Overview

Module aims and purpose

The module helps students to develop their academic study skills, especially in the areas of critical thinking, academic writing and research design, in order to be successful as undergraduates.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

1. Learn the academic culture and key skills needed for undergraduate study; 

2. Demonstrate good academic writing skills; 

3. Prepare and deliver an oral presentation; 

3. Find relevant academic literature through structured literature searches; 

5. Identify an appropriate research question, and apply knowledge and skills to investigate it; 

6. Work as a member of a team by cooperating with others, negotiating, listening to others in the group, sharing responsibilities/tasks and meeting deadlines.

Module content

• Introduction to academic culture and academic misconduct  

• The design of research questions and the development of research hypothesis 

• Source evaluation and the conducting of literature review  

• An introduction to essay and report writing 

• The structure and organisation of academic writing  

• Referencing, paraphrasing, and the mechanics of plagiarism avoidance    

• The differences among exploratory, explanatory and descriptive studies  

• Data, sampling and research methods 

• How to work as a team and optimise the group work experience

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

This module is taught with a combination of lectures and seminars. Students are provided with a list of readings and are expected to prepare these as well as the relevant chapters of the accompanying textbook in time for lectures and class discussions. Class discussions in tutorials will take place in small groups, which also form the basis for the presentations students are required to prepare as part of the oral component of assessment.

Study hours

At least At least 50 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.  Please note that the hours listed below are indicative and for guidance purposes only. hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

A minimum of 40% 

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Formative feedback is available throughout the course in lectures and workshops and may take the form of response to questions and activities and feedback from marked report. Exam style questions will be practised in workshops and additional material made available for independent study. Marking guides and feedback are provided where appropriate so that students can assess their own performance.

Reassessment

Additional costs