CODE | NUR1010 | ||||||||
TITLE | Academic Searching, Reading and Writing in the Health Sciences | ||||||||
UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||
ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||
DEPARTMENT | Nursing | ||||||||
DESCRIPTION | Being information literate is essential both for academic success, and for the development and application of Evidence Based Health Care Practice (EBP) to ascertain professional responsibility and accountability, and improve patient safety, efficiency and effectiveness of health care services. The higher purpose of this study-unit is to promote the concept of ‘Professionalism’ and introduces students to the profession’s unique 'body of knowledge' (BoK) and 'landscape of practice' (LoP) which define any given health care science. It empowers students to access and learn from this structured scientific knowledge and establish the foundations for more advanced learning in EBP. To this end, this study-unit enables students develop rudimentary information literacy and academic reading and writing skills in the health care sciences. The study-unit encompasses students’ learning the principles of literature retrieval and information management, with practical sessions to familiarize themselves with library resources such as literature search platforms, bibliographic management software, reading lists solutions and open science. It also extends to the principles of academic integrity. Study-Unit Aims: - To introduce students to the principles and conventions of ‘Professionalism’ with special reference to the profession’s unique scientific ‘body of knowledge’ and ‘landscape of practice’; - To familiarize students with the concept of ‘Evidence Based Practice’ as the cornerstone of professional and ethical practice in the health care professions; - To enable students understand and adopt the principles of ¸£ÀûÔÚÏßÃâ·Ñ Literacy, recognized as basic competency requirements for graduate academic training; - To facilitate students’ understanding and learning of the characteristics and conventions of academic writing for professional and scientific purposes; - To support students become familiar with and master the use of university resources related to information searching, retrieval and management; - To foster among students and empower them embrace a culture of academic integrity. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Define 'professionalism' and outline the meaning of "a scientific body of knowledge' and 'landscape of practice'; - Describe the meaning and important of 'Evidence Based Practice' and recognise the three fundamental principles of EBP; - Identify the key components and processes of '¸£ÀûÔÚÏßÃâ·Ñ Literacy'; - Define the characteristics and purposes of 'Academic / Scientific Writing' and distinguish it from other writing styles; - Distinguish between academic (scholar) and non-academic 'Literature Search Platforms / Search Engines'; - Show awareness of IT tools related to bibliographic management, reading list solutions and open science; - Show an understanding/appreciation of the severity of plagiarism/collusion in academia. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Identify an information need related to the health sciences; - Develop, refine and save a search strategy in health sciences databases; - Locate, access, evaluate, select, extract and organize reliable information & knowledge; - Use academic Literature Search Platforms (e.g. HyDi) and Open Science Platforms (e.g. OAR@UM) to retrieve scientific information related to the health sciences from different sources / locations and diverse formats; - Acknowledge literature sources employing appropriate referencing style (APA) when writing in-text citations, references and bibliographic listing; - Use web-based bibliography and database management software (Refworks) to import references, create personal databases, and manage articles and literature resources; - Practice academic mindful reading and effective note-taking; - Plan, schedule and structure essays and assignments; - Synthesize information, applying appropriate academic/scientific writing conventions; - Access, assess and interpret Turnitin Similarity Index report and scores to prevent plagiarism.. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Byleen, E. Looking Ahead : Developing Skills for Academic Writing. Heinle & Heinle, 1998. Print. Looking Ahead. - Coleman, Helen. Polish Your Academic Writing. Sage, 2019. Print. Super Quick Skills. - McMillan, Weyers, and Weyers, Jonathan D. B. How to Write for University. Pearson, 2014. Print. Smarter Study Skills. Books - Grove, Susan K., Nancy Burns, and Jennifer Gray. Understanding Nursing Research : Building an Evidence-based Practice. 6th ed. Elsevier, 2015. - Melnyk, Fineout-Overholt, Malone, Melnyk, Bernadette Mazurek, Fineout-Overholt, Ellen, Malone, Rycroft, and Sigma Theta Tau International. Implementing Evidence-based Practice Real-life Success Stories. Indianapolis, Ind.: Sigma Theta Tau International, 2011. Web. - Shon, Phillip C. The Quick Fix Guide to Academic Writing. London: SAGE Publications, 2017. SAGE Study Skills. - Strongman, L. Academic Writing. 2013. Web. (available at UoM online access resources. Full text available at : Ebook Central Academic Complete) Documents / Guidelines / Policies - APA 7th Edition Referencing Style - UoM Guidelines. /__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/417795/APA7_Guide.pdf - HyDi - UoM Guidelines and Policies. /library/guidelinespolicies/hydihelp. - Refworks - UoM Guide. /__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/417217/RefWorksGuide.pdf. - OAR@UM Guide. /__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/406098/OAR@UMHelp.pdf. - Plagiarism and Collusion - UoM Guidelines. /__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/436651/UniversityGuidelinesonPlagiarism.pdf. - How to avoid plagiarism - UoM Resource pack. /operatingprocedures/doc/EDU-012-01. - A brief guide to the interpretation of Turnitin Originality Scores - UoM. /__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/349058/guideinterturnitin.pdf. |
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STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture, Independent Study & Tutorial | ||||||||
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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LECTURER/S | Roderick Bugeja |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |