School of Continuing EducationStudent Handbook

(issued from September 2009)

Table of contents

Page

Part A Welcome to the School and the programme

1 Welcome and introduction A-1

Welcome A-1 About the School of Continuing Education

A-1 Approach to learning and teaching A-1 Organisation of the School and its programme

A-2 Who’s who in the School of Continuing Education

A-3 How to contact us A-4 How we will contact you A-4 Car parking and security A-5

2 Your responsibilities as a learnerA-6

3 Programme specifications and module descriptions A-8

4 Your programme

Part B Guidance, Support and Services

5 Coursework assignments and assessment

B-1

Presentation and preparing to submit B-1 How to submit your assignment

B-2 Requesting an extension B-3

School of Continuing Education

Extenuating circumstancesB-3

Penalties for late submission B-4 Neglect of work B-5 Plagiarism and academic misconduct B-5 Over-length work and mandatory word limits

B-7

Feedback and return of assignments B-7 Marking criteria B-8 Moderation and Examiners’ meetings B-8 Classification and other results B-8 Notification of results B-9 Reassessment after fail B-9 Appeals B-9 Graduation B-10

6 How we support youB-11

Pastoral careB-11

Confidentiality B-11 Extenuating circumstances

B-12 Students with special needs or disabilities B-12 If you think you might be dyslexic

B-12 If you get behind B-13 Blackboard B-13 Help with writing skills B-13 Feedback and marking criteria B-13 ‘Neglect of work’ B-13 Suspension and withdrawal B-13 How your voice is heard: evaluations and staff student committees

B-14 Financial support B-15 Other support B-15

7 Services and facilitiesB-16

IT facilities and IT skills support B-16 Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment B-17 Library facilities B-17 The University Bookshop B-18 Open Studies Study Skills

B-18 Skills Opportunity at Reading (SOAR) B-18 The study advisors team B-18 If you think you might be dyslexic or dyspraxic

B-18 Study skills website and workshops B-18 Maths support centre B-19 Statistics advisory service

B-19 Careers Advisory Service

B-19 Language opportunities B-19 Postgraduate support B-19

8 Study skills: advice for doing assignmentsB-20

Time managementB-20

How to avoid plagiarism B-20 How to acknowledge sources B-24

9 Record of study B-28

10 Key skills B-30

Appendix: Programme specifications (available separately online)Appendix: The personal tutor

Disclaimer

This is a guide for the convenience of students and staff. Formal Ordinances and Regulations are given in the University Calendar (http://www.rdg.ac.uk/calendar/), in the Programme Specification (available at http://www.rdg.ac.uk/progspecs/) and in relevant module descriptions (http://www.info.rdg.ac.uk/module/); should there be, or appear to be, any conflict between statements in this handbook and the full Ordinances, Regulations, Programme Specifications or module descriptions, the latter shall prevail.

Although the information in this Handbook is accurate at the time of publication, aspects of the programme and of School practice may be subject to modification and revision. The University reserves the right to modify the programme in unforeseen circumstances, or where the process of academic development and feedback from students, quality assurance processes or external sources, such as professional bodies, requires a change to be made. In such circumstances, revised information will be issued. Information provided by the School in the course of the year should therefore be

regarded, where appropriate, as superseding the information contained in the handbook.

Please keep this handbook in a safe place as you will need to refer to it throughout your programme.

1 Welcome

1. Welcome

Welcome to the School of Continuing Education. This handbook is designed to provide you with information about your programme of study, the School and the University. It gives you details about the content of your course, how to submit your assignments, who to contact if you need support and many other vital pieces of information. Finally it provides you with links to electronic forms that you will need during your course.

The bulk of this handbook is generic for many of the School’s courses which means that you may find information that is not directly relevant to you or to your course. If in doubt please ask us (see ‘how to contact us’ below).

About the School of Continuing EducationWhat is the School of Continuing Education?The School of Continuing Education is one of four Schools that make up the Faculty of Arts and Humanities The School provides access to high-quality part-time undergraduate and postgraduate University-level courses, both on campus and at a distance, through excellence in teaching, scholarship and research across a range of disciplines.

The School of Continuing Education works with the wider community and employers to provide courses that meet their needs. We provide a diverse range of courses to very different groups of people. Throughout the School teaching and learning activities are designed to be relevant and effective for the particular student groups taking into account their likely previous experience (educational, professional and personal). We offer full and part-time programmes. Teaching is delivered through face-to-face teaching, distance learning and blended learning. The extent to which e-learning is deployed varies between programmes.

Approach to learning and teachingThe approach to teaching and learning across the School is student-centred and we constantly look for ways to improve its effectiveness, while seeking to maintain academic rigour and deliver teaching and learning in accessible and innovative ways. All programmes are tailored for adult students, whether members of the local community, professional managers and careers staff or more traditional postgraduate students.

Adult learners are a diverse group. The following considerations inform the teaching and learning strategies and curricula of the School:

The adult learner often has considerable and diverse experience to draw upon – teaching draws on this experience and employs strategies to cope with issues of mixed ability and experience levels.

Some adult learners may lack in confidence (personal or academic) – therefore the School provides support to develop skills and confidence.

Some adult learners are primarily independent/self-directed in what they learn – we recognise that it is important to balance an element of choice against aspects of the programmes/assessment that are compulsory.

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1 Welcome The adult learner is often motivated from within –development of

understanding and/or skills relevant to interests or professional needs is often a high priority.

Some adult learners are most likely to be interested in (or to learn easily about) topics that relate to their own experience – we try to facilitate this.

The adult learner is often interested in information and ideas that they can relate to and can be applied – there is a strong emphasis on the integration of theory and practice throughout the School’s programmes.

Organisation of the School and its programmes

The School is organised into two main ‘sections’ and provides programmes in the following areas:

Public Programmes Open Studies: part-time credit bearing short courses in a variety of

disciplines (option modules for the Certificates HE) Certificates of Higher Education in Archaeology, English Literature,

History, History of Art and Architecture and Combined Studies: part-time equivalents to first-year degree courses

Careers Studies Programmes Careers Guidance (MA): approved by the Institute of Careers

Guidance (ICG) Career Education, Information and Guidance in Higher

Education: postgraduate attendance and distance-learning offering continuing professional development for HE careers practitioners; in collaboration with the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS).

Management of Student Work Experience: postgraduate residential and distance learning offering professional development to those working in student work experience in Higher Education and Further Education; in collaboration with the National Association of Student Employment Services (NASES)

The School awards both undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications. The following qualifications are awarded

Certificate of Higher Education in Continuing Education Certificates of Higher Education in Archaeology, English Literature,

History, History of Art and Architecture and Combined Studies MA in Careers Guidance Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma/MA in Career Education, Information

and Guidance in Higher Education (CEIGHE) Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma in Management of Student Work

Experience (MSWE)

The School’s provision is diverse encompassing: undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications; full-time and part-time courses; traditional face-to-face teaching and distance learning; flexible modular courses with multiple start and end dates as well as courses requiring a regular and fixed

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1 Welcomecommitment for one or two years; courses that are taken for professional development reasons and those that are taken for personal development.

Boards of StudiesThe above programmes are overseen by the School’s two Boards of Studies: Board of Studies for the Public and the Board of Studies for Careers Guidance Programme. Both Boards report to the School Board for Teaching and Learning.

Equal opportunitiesThe School follows the University’s regulations for Equal Opportunities and all adults are welcome to our programmes regardless of race, disability, gender, age, background, religion or belief.

Disability and special needsThe School also follows the University’s regulations for disability and special needs, including dyslexia and other learning disabilities. Be sure to notify us of any special need or learning disability as soon as possible if you have not done so already. Contact our School Administrator, Julia Tourell, who is also the School’s special needs coordinator and disabilities representative.

Who’s who in the School of Continuing Education

School Administrative StaffCaroline Guy, School AdministratorJulia Tourell, School Administrator and Special Needs and Disabilities AdvisorRoger Price BSc, Administrative Officer and Area Safety Co-ordinator

School Office StaffReceptionVal Jones Public ProgrammesDenise BlumenthalJackie MercerCareers Studies Programmes Caroline Guy and Val Jones

Academic staffActing Head of the School of Continuing EducationJim Pemberton, MA PhD

Director of the Public ProgrammesEleanor Betts PhD, Programme Convenor Certificate of Higher Education in Archaeology

Director of the Careers Guidance ProgrammesJan Digby MA

Director of the Career Education, Information and Guidance in Higher Education (CEIGHE) ProgrammesPhil McCash MA DCG; Lecturer in Careers Guidance

Director of the Management of Student Work Experience Programmes (MSWE)

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1 WelcomeJan Digby MA; Lecturer in Management of Student Work Experience

Teaching and Learning Co-ordinator in History and English LiteratureSheila Ephraim MA Programme Convenor Certificate of Higher Education in History and English Literature

Teaching and Learning Co-ordinator in History of Art and Architecture Vivienne Loren BA, Programme Convenor Certificate of Higher Education in History of Art and Architecture

How to contact usThe School is based on the University’s London Road Campus. The Administration office is in building 24. Teaching takes place on both the London Road and the Whiteknights University campuses. Some of the Careers Studies courses are also held at various venues throughout Britain and Ireland.

The School of Continuing EducationThe University of ReadingLondon RoadReading RG1 5AQ

Telephone 0118 378 2347E-mail Continuing-Education@reading.ac.uk Website http://www.reading.ac.uk/lifelonglearning

Office hours are Monday 12.00pm-4.45pm, Tuesday to Thursday 9.00am-4.45pm and Friday 9.00am-3.45pm.

Public ProgrammesTelephone 0118 378 2365 (Open Studies OPTION modules)Telephone 0118 378 2345 (Certificates of Higher Education) E-mail Continuing-Education@reading.ac.uk Website http://www.reading.ac.uk/lifelonglearning

Career Studies ProgrammesTelephone 0118 378 2343E-mail careersstudy@reading.ac.uk Website http://www.reading.ac.uk/lifelonglearning

How we will contact youThe School and the University will communicate with you in a variety of ways:

By email. You will be allocated a University IT Account including an email account. Email is used regularly in the University as an ‘official’ form of communication between staff and students, i.e. any communication received or sent by email has the same official status as communications on paper.

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1 WelcomeTo ensure that you are kept fully informed of developments in the School and especially in regard to your course, you must check your university email account regularly and reply as necessary to messages received. It is specifically your university email account that we and other people will use to communicate with you.

As a bare minimum, students are required to check their university email accounts at least once a week during term time.

You may set up forwarding arrangements to automatically send email received in your University account to another email account of your choosing; however, you do so at your own risk and should ensure that you forward to a valid and existing account. The University can only be held responsible for email reaching your University email account. If you wish to forward your University account to a private account login to https://www.mailopts.reading.ac.uk/login.php and follow the instructions for automatically forwarding email.

By post. Please be sure to inform us of any changes to your postal address.

By telephone. Please be sure we have a daytime and evening contact telephone number for you as it is sometimes necessary to cancel a meeting at short notice, in which case we would contact you by phone.

Other information Car parkingFor those students who attend classes on the Whiteknights or London Road campuses in the evening there should be no difficulty parking. However, if you wish to park on either the London Road or Whiteknights campuses during your daytime class you will need to purchase a permit. Application forms are available at Reception in the School of Continuing Education. (Spaces are often in very short supply and the permit, unfortunately, does not guarantee that you will easily find somewhere to park).

SecurityThe security control room is in Whiteknights House on the Whiteknights campus, but the London Road campus is served by a team of Security staff. The security control room emergency number is 6300 (0118 378 6300).

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2 Your responsibilities as a learner2. Your responsibilities as a learner

The programmes covered by this handbook have very different requirements of students but during your academic course at the University of Reading, it will be your responsibility to do the following (where relevant):

to attend punctually seminars, lectures, workshops, placements, Saturday meetings, visits, laboratory work or fieldwork, and personal tutorials as required

to complete and submit all written or practical coursework on time, using the correct procedure for the submission of coursework

to see or contact your tutor or the person offering you tutorial support at least once a module, and to develop this partnership as part of your academic and personal progress

to let your tutor, programme director or module tutor know of any extenuating circumstances you might have, or are worried about

to use the extenuating circumstances form if you find you cannot meet the coursework deadlines, and to supply supporting documentation, if appropriate

to check your University e-mail account at least once a week and to use Blackboard or other discussion format as directed

to give priority to the course when planning holidays or other special events

to prepare for seminar or workshop/online discussion, if required, and to participate in class/online discussion in a helpful fashion

to try to be receptive to a variety of teaching methods and to new or unfamiliar approaches to the subject

to arrange to see your module tutor or programme director to discuss your coursework, if this is felt to be necessary

to make backup copies of coursework and to supply these on request

to keep coursework and feedback in a safe place for your future reference

to keep track of the modules you have completed and to apply for exemption, if appropriate

to be aware of the full range of study skills, library and IT skills and other services offered in the School and the University, and to try to take advantage of them, as needed

to let your module tutor know if you will be missing a seminar, online activity or other scheduled meeting

2 Your responsibilities as a learner

to make arrangements for one of your colleagues to collect any handouts or other course material for you, to use Blackboard or other aid that your programme has set up, to contact your personal tutor or programme director, if necessary, to help you catch up

to let us know if you will not be able to keep an appointment, or give adequate notice of alternative availability

to provide reasons for and, if necessary, supporting documentation for absences

to take the initiative in seeking your (personal or module) tutor’s advice if you are struggling with time-management or the balance between your academic work and your domestic/professional commitments, and to consider extension or withdrawal, if necessary

to play a positive role in the evaluation exercises for your programme, and to respond to any evaluation questionnaires or other requests for information or opinion

to act responsibly and with due regard for the health and safety of

others and for University property; to make yourself aware of the location of first-aid boxes, fire exits and procedures; to take part in fire drills, as arranged

to ensure the School is informed of any change of address, change of email address, transfer to part-time degree study, or other personal or academic circumstances (including financial hardship)

to satisfy all formal assessment requirements

to let the School know of any special needs (including dyslexia) you may have

if applicable, to try to keep the date of graduation free so you and your family can attend the graduation ceremony

NB: Due to the variety of courses offered by the School, not all of these will be relevant to you programme/courses

3. Programme specifications and module descriptions3. Programme specifications and module descriptions

All new students will be given sets of programme specifications, module descriptions and module or programme schedules (where relevant). These will be distributed by post or in person before or at the beginning of the course. In some cases they may already be found in the annexes to this handbook or you will find information on where they can be downloaded from. Please contact the programme administrator if you have not received yours or cannot download them.

Programme specificationsProgramme specifications provide important information on the aims, learning outcomes, teaching and assessment, admission and progression requirements for the whole programme. They also give additional details about transferable skills, career prospects and student support. In some cases they are provided in the annexes to this handbook or you will find information on where they can be downloaded from. Please contact the programme administrator if you do not have a copy of your programme specification or cannot download them.

Module descriptionsModule descriptions give important information on the aims, learning outcomes, content, teaching methods, contact hours and assessments for the individual modules. In some cases they are provided in the annexes to this handbook or you will find information on where they can be downloaded from. Please contact the programme administrator if you do not have a copy of your module descriptions or cannot download them.

Module and programme schedules Some programmes provide module schedules while others provide programme or annual/termly schedules. Their main purpose is to let you know: the dates over which your programme/module(s) are run what you can expect to cover when when any additional meetings (workshops, placements, Saturday Schools

or online activities) will take place when your assignments are dueStudents on the CEIGHE and MSWE courses will be provided with this information via letters, Blackboard and/or AGCAS/NASES websites. The module and programme schedules are provisional and may be altered by your module tutor or programme director.

University of Reading term dates for 2009-10:

Although many courses start and continue outside these dates it is useful to know what the official terms dates are

Autumn Term: 5 October - 11 December 2009Spring Term: 11 January - 19 March 2010 Summer Term: 19 April - 25 June 2010There are no half-term breaks for courses

3. Programme specifications and module descriptions

5. Coursework assignments and assessment 5. Coursework Assignments and AssessmentEach of the modules on your programme is assessed through coursework assignments rather than formal examinations. The module descriptions (filed at the end of this handbook or available on the School website in the case of CEIGHE courses explain how many assignments are required and what length each piece should be. When the assignment topic is set you will be provided with more information on what is expected.

Assignments may be ‘formative’ or ‘summative’. Formative work is designed to give students the chance to develop/practise a skill and receive feedback, but without having the assignment(s) count towards assessment. Summative coursework, on the other hand, is assessed and does count toward the final module mark. You will undertake most assignments in your own time but some take place during classes/workshops or on field visits/placements e.g. presentations, timed writing and practical skills assessment.

Assignment submission deadlines are set out in your programme or module schedules or when you are given the assignment.

Presentation and preparing to submitIt is expected that all written assignments must be word processed on A4 pages, at least one and a half spaced, single sided, with clear margins and numbered pages. For paper submission do not bind your assignments or enclose in plastic folders, but simply staple or use a bulldog/paper clip, or plastic spine which can be removed. You must include:

your name, student number and the name of the module at the bottom of each page in case pages become separated

the question/assignment title page numbers where it is a multipart question, an indication of which part is being

answered acknowledgement of your sources and a bibliography or reference list

where relevant a word count (for Certificate programmes in named subjects this should

go at the end of your assignment; for Career courses it should be entered on the coversheet.)

a completed assignment cover sheet attached to the front (cover sheets are available on your programme website or Blackboard course)

where assignments require audio or video recording (Careers programmes), your name and the name of the module on the recording.

where you are asking to submit a PowerPoint presentation or similar, your name is used as the file name

learning disability stickers where relevant

Whatever form your assignment takes it is your responsibility to keep a hardcopy (and electronic backup if possible) for yourself until after graduation from the course. On occasion it may be necessary to request a further copy from you.

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5. Coursework assignments and assessment How to submit your assignment The method of submitting your assignments varies depending on the programme you are studying

For Certificate of Higher Education You must submit TWO hardcopies OR one electronic copy each accompanied by an assignment coversheet. Where the assignment takes a less traditional form (e.g. DVD, video, poster, and workbook) be sure to follow submission instructions provided with the assignment. Your assignment will be marked and returned to you with feedback. A copy will be retained for moderation purposes.

There are several ways you can submit your assignment: In person: you may deliver your assignment in person to the School Office in

building 24 or put it in the white post box outside building 24By post: see contact addresses in Section 1

(If sending by internal post from Whiteknights remember this will take at least a day to arrive)

By email: you may also send it by email, but be sure to send the coversheet also (see section 1 for contact details for your programme email submission address)

For the Career Education, Information and Guidance in Higher Education programmes You must submit ONE hardcopy OR one electronic copy each accompanied by an assignment coversheet. Where the assignment takes a less traditional form (e.g. DVD, video, poster, and workbook) be sure to follow submission instructions provided with the assignment. Your assignment will be marked and you will receive feedback on it. Your work will be retained for moderation purposes.

There are several ways you can submit your assignment: In person: you may deliver your assignment in person to the School Office in

building 24 or put it in the white post box outside building 24By post: see contact addresses in Section 1

(If sending by internal post from Whiteknights remember this will take at least a day to arrive)

By email: you may also send it by email, but be sure to send the coversheet also. They must be emailed to careersstudy@reading.ac.uk and not to the Module Convenor or the Programme Director

For the Management of Student Work Experience programmeAssignments are submitted via Blackboard, further instructions are found on the Blackboard site, each submission must be accompanied by a completed coversheet.

ReceiptsWhen we receive your assignment (from you in person, in the post or electronically) it will be date stamped and we will send an electronic ‘receipt’ to your university email account. This is your proof of submission. You should not regard your assignment as having been received unless you receive a receipt. If you do not receive a receipt within 48hrs of submission contact us. Remember that you are responsible for ensuring that we have received your work and the cover sheet by the due date set, however

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5. Coursework assignments and assessment you send it. Work received after the due date will incur a penalty unless you have already been granted an extension. In cases of dispute we will ask to see your receipt. Deadlines and late submission of coursework Deadlines for coursework are reasonable and take into account availability of resources. Time management is a key skill in any kind of academic course and it is important for your own progress that you hand in your work on time. Submitting work late disrupts the plans your tutors will have made in allocating time to mark your work and provide feedback. It can also delay the return of work to others in your group.

How we can help if you are getting behindIf you find yourself getting behind, possibly because you have unavoidably had to miss some class meetings, please do ask for help - don’t just stop attending or taking part in distance learning! Be sure to check your programme or module Blackboard site, as it is a good way to catch up, or you might wish to contact other students in your group.

If you have good reason for getting behind with your assignments, we would also like to support you, so do tell your module tutor and contact your personal tutor or programme director. See Section 6, ‘How we support you’. Requesting an extensionIf there is a good reason why you cannot meet the deadline set you can request an extension. Extensions are now included within the extenuating circumstances procedures (see below), therefore you must complete a standard extenuating circumstances form requesting an extention to a deadlineExtensions are usually for a few days or up to two weeks. If you require a more significant extension (i.e. more than two weeks) or need a further extension to one already granted, you will need the permission of the Programme Director or the Director of Teaching and Learning. You should fill in the extension form and return it to the School Office before the assignment is due. It will be considered and the outcome confirmed to you in person, by phone or by email.

It is strongly advised that you submit extension requests a few weeks before the deadline as the request may be refused and you will need time to do what you can to meet the deadline. A planned extension for a valid reason is more likely to be viewed favourably than a last minute request resulting from disorganisation. Last minute requests for extensions are expected to be as a result of unforeseen circumstances rather than just not getting the assignment done.

You must complete all the coursework assigned, and sometimes it is a practical option to hand a piece in, even though it is not as perfect as you would wish.

If you consider that the decision on your request is unfair, you may seek a review of the decision. Appeals should be submitted to your School Office and will be considered by the Faculty Director of Teaching and Learning for the Faculty ‘owning’ the module.

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5. Coursework assignments and assessment Extenuating Circumstances If there are special circumstances which you think might affect or have affected your performance in assessment, you should complete the University’s standard form for notification of extenuating circumstances. The form is available from your programme website or Blackboard course. You could also obtain one from the School Office, the Health Centre, the Counselling Service, and from the University website at http://www.reading.ac.uk/Exams/extcircs.htm (a copy is also appended to this Handbook together with guidance notes for students). The completed form should be submitted at the earliest opportunity to the School Office. It is expected that the form should normally be submitted at least one week before the respective examiners’ meeting.

Some form of supporting evidence is normally required to support your case, such as a letter from a counsellor, doctor or your Personal Tutor. You should attach any supporting evidence to the extenuating circumstances form. In the case of personal or family illness, the supporting evidence should be a letter from your doctor/counsellor or a medical certificate. However, if you consulted the University Medical Practice or the University Counselling Service, please provide the doctor’s/counsellor’s name, the date(s) of consultation(s) and your signature to give your consent for the University Medical Practice/ University Counselling Service to disclose information from your confidential records which is relevant to the present request.  If you are unwilling for information from your records to be disclosed, you should discuss the matter with your Personal Tutor.

You are responsible for notifying your School of any circumstances which you consider might have affected your performance or your ability to complete a piece of coursework by the deadline, and for providing the relevant supporting evidence.  If you do not submit an extenuating circumstances form, your circumstances will not be considered.In addition to submitting the form, you are strongly encouraged to discuss any circumstances which you consider are affecting or might affect your work with your Personal Tutor or the lecturer responsible for your coursework.

If your ability to complete an assessment has been affected by extenuating circumstances, various actions are possible. For example:  

You may be offered an extension to a deadline to submit a piece of coursework.

You may be deemed not to have sat (DNS), which means that you are permitted a further attempt at an assessment as if for the first time.

The mark for the module may be calculated by a variant of the normal method, for example, a piece of work may be set aside and the mark calculated on the remaining work.

The mark for the module may be set aside.

If you use the extenuating circumstances form to request an extension to a deadline for completion of assessed coursework or the removal of a penalty for late work, you must have valid extenuating circumstances. Some examples of reasons not usually considered valid are set out in the Guidance notes which accompany the form.

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5. Coursework assignments and assessment

In the case of the Career Education, Information and Guidance in Higher Education and the Management of Student Work Experience programmes it may be possible to extend the overall length of the course as a result of extenuating circumstances.

Penalties for late submissionIf you do not ask for an extension, or miss an extended deadline marks will be deducted from the work. 10 marks will be deducted where the piece of work is submitted up to one calendar week after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to that deadline). Once this period has elapsed, a mark of zero will be recorded.

If, however, the submission deadline has past and you have a valid reason for missing a deadline, you may ask for a ‘remission’ (a retrospective extension) by submitting an extenuating circumstances form in the usual way. Remissions are expected to be rare and usually relate to emergency unforeseen circumstances.

Neglect of work Students who have fallen behind with their coursework assignments (and have not notified us of extenuating circumstances) will be contacted by the course team. Those who fail to adhere to schedules and deadlines are unlikely to complete their course successfully and are considered to be guilty of ‘neglect of work’. Serious and persistent neglect of work can result in withdrawal or failure from the course.

It is unusual for students to reach the ‘neglect of work’ stage if they have taken advantage of the ways in which the School aims to offer support. See Section 6, ‘How we support you and Section 7 ‘Services and Facilities’. How to avoid plagiarism: making a bibliography and referencing Section 8 ‘Study Skills: advice for doing your assignments’ includes a section on how to give credit to the authors of any quotations or ideas you have used in your assignment and how to make a bibliography and reference list of the source material you have used, including websites. Please read this carefully so you cannot be accused of plagiarism (using other people’s ideas without giving them credit). The University takes a very serious view of any form of plagiarism, which it considers to be a form of academic misconduct. CEIGHE and MSWE students are expected to use the course-specific guide to referencing available within the Blackboard area.

Academic MisconductThe University takes the most serious view of cheating and other forms of academic misconduct, whether in written examinations or coursework. Any such case will be treated as a disciplinary matter and will be referred to the School Director of Teaching and Learning, who may impose a penalty or refer the matter to the relevant Faculty Director of Teaching and Learning, who has powers to impose more severe penalties. In the most serious cases, the Faculty Director of Teaching and Learning will refer the matter to the Senate Standing Committee on Academic Misconduct, which may lead to a student being failed

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5. Coursework assignments and assessment in all assessments for the relevant Part of their programme or removal from membership of the University.

The University’s definition of academic misconduct is stated in the Guide to Undergraduate Assessment/Guide to Assessment for Taught Postgraduate Students, and on the Examinations Office website at http://www.reading.ac.uk/Exams/academicmisconduct.htm.

CopyingIt is clear to all that, if a student is asked to do a piece of work, then simply copying all or part of someone else’s work is not acceptable: copying is cheating and regarded seriously as academic misconduct. More importantly, perhaps, it is not sensible. If there is a purpose in asking a student to do a piece of work it will be to promote or assess the student’s learning, and copying contributes nothing to that purpose. Equally, you should never employ anyone to write an essay for you: this is a variant of copying.

Falsifying DataFalsifying data, evidence or experimental results is another form of academic misconduct.

PlagiarismFor the purposes of the University regulations, plagiarism is defined as the fraudulent representation of another’s work as one’s own. This applies whatever the source of the material (for example, a published source, the web, or the work of another student), whether the material is copied word for word or paraphrased, and whatever the extent of the material used. Wilful and deliberate disregard for good academic practice in respect of attribution of material will be construed as plagiarism.

How can you avoid plagiarism?See the entry on How can you avoid plagiarism? in section 8 of this handbook.If you have any queries or require further information, you should consult the relevant lecturers.

ConsequencesThe most serious view will be taken within the University of plagiarism and other forms of cheating. Any such case will be treated as a disciplinary matter and will be referred to the School Director of Teaching and Learning who may then refer the matter to the Faculty Director of Teaching and Learning. Minor cases may be dealt with at School or Faculty level, but if the case is more serious it will be referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Academic Misconduct. The Senate Standing Committee on Academic Misconduct has the power to impose disciplinary sanctions, including a failure in all the assessments for a Year or Part of a programme or, in sufficiently serious cases, removal of the student from membership of the University. (See the provisions of the Regulations for Conduct (32) to (44) for the procedures.)

Editorial and proof-reading services Students who feel that they need assistance in writing appropriate English should, in the first instance, seek guidance from their Personal Tutor or

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5. Coursework assignments and assessment Programme Director. They may be referred, where appropriate, to study skills support or the University’s Study Advisors.

Student who use software for assistance with proof-reading or with editing their work, or who seek assistance with proof-reading or with editing from third parties, should be alert to the major risks associated with such intervention, including the distortion of intended meaning and the failure to use technical terms appropriately.

Students are warned that any use of third party proof-reading or editing services must not compromise their authorship of the work submitted and, in particular that the substance of work must remain the student’s own. Students are also warned that they will be held responsible for work which they submit, and that the use of third party services will not be accepted in mitigation of any deficiencies in the work.

The use of any third party proof-reading or editing must be acknowledged in a written statement accompanying the work on submission.

Over-length work and mandatory limits Keeping within a word or time limit is an important skill and can improve your writing or presentation style. Assignments are normally provided with some guidance on length. This guidance may be advisory or mandatory and may be expressed in the number of words, pages or minutes (for presentations). It will give you a good indication of how much work to put in and how much detail should be included.

If you are unsure whether the guidance is advisory or mandatory seek clarification from your tutor. It is recommended that you pay close attention to mandatory length limits. If you exceed the guidance, you may receive a penalty or your course tutor may not read (or listen to) all of your assignment. Be sure to include a word count within any written work.

Feedback and return of coursework assignments Written feedback will be provided for each assignment submitted. It is important that you read this feedback carefully taking on board what the assessor has noted as the strengths of the work as well as suggestions for improvement, or in the case of quizzes and short answers, what you got right and what you got wrong. It is helpful to retain feedback so that you can reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of your previous work and assess your progress through the course. We retain a copy of the feedback on your file for review by our external examiners.

The timescales for marking and returning your assignments vary across different programmes in the School. However, we endeavour to return them as quickly as possible, so that you can use the comments on your work to good advantage. When you are given an assignment you will be told the date on which the work will be returned to you. If too many students have requested extensions, however, there may be a delay in returning work.

Certificate of Higher Education programmes in:

ArchaeologyHistoryHistory of Art & Architecture

2 – 3 weeks

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5. Coursework assignments and assessment LiteratureCombined Studies

MA in Careers Guidance 4 – 6 weeks

Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma/MA in Career Education, Information & Guidance in HE & Management of Student Work Experience

4 – 6 weeks

Some large pieces of work take longer to mark than indicated above.

Marking of assignments All work is marked according to the University-wide marking criteria.

Undergraduate level programmes (Certificates of Higher Education): http://www.reading.ac.uk/Exams/classificationpost2007.pdfPostgraduate level programmes: http://www.reading.ac.uk/Exams/pgaward.pdf

More specific criteria may be applied to particular pieces of work e.g. presentations, lab reports, skills assessment, projects/dissertations etc. See your programme website or Blackboard course for more information. It is useful to study the marking criteria in order to gain a better understanding of what assessors are looking for in an assignment.

Moderation of coursework assignmentsA sample of student work is moderated for comparability by both internal moderators and external examiners. Moderators’ comments are not disclosed to students. File copies of your assignments, along with markers’ comments, are kept in your file for this purpose. The University reserves the right to retain coursework for the purposes of programme review, both internal and external.

Publication of marks and gradesStudents should be aware that marks and grades given to them during any part of a programme are provisional and subject to moderation by the External Examiner, who may recommend changes either to the marks of a particular student or to those of a whole group. Marks therefore only reach their final form after they have been scrutinised and approved by the appropriate Examiners' Meeting, which usually takes place at the end of each academic year or at the end of the programme.

Examiners’ Meetings After the coursework has been marked, moderated internally and seen by the External Examiners, final agreed marks are presented to the School’s Examiners’ Meetings. Any extenuating circumstances or borderline cases are considered at a prior Special Cases committee meeting. Marks are finally formalised at a Faculty Examiners’ Meeting, and only after this may results be sent out to students. They are not formally ratified, however, until the University Senate meets late in the Summer Term.

Classification of awards

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5. Coursework assignments and assessment Your qualification will be awarded at Pass, Merit or Distinction. The detailed programme specification for your course indicates exactly what is required to pass your qualification and how your classification is calculated, but in general terms it is the weighted average of the module marks gained throughout the course. The overall mark is classified for Certificates of Higher Education as: Pass (40–60%); Merit (60–70%); Distinction (70% and above). For postgraduates, Pass (50–59%); Merit (60–69%); Distinction (70% and above)

Other resultsIf a student's result is recorded as ‘Deemed Not to Have Sat’, it means that the Examiners have received evidence of extenuating circumstances from the student which they consider sufficient to discount the attempt at some or part of the assessment. Students with this result may retake the relevant assessments at the next opportunity as if for the first time.

Students are reminded that it is their responsibility to submit an Extenuating Circumstances Form and to keep their personal tutor informed of any medical or personal problems which might affect their performance.

If a student's result is recorded as 'Result Not Yet Available', it means that for some reason the result was not available at the time of publication of the results. A student who is not already aware of the reason why their result is not available should contact their School.

If a student's result is recorded as ‘No Recommendation’, it means that they are in debt to the University. Students should discuss the situation with the School Office. A recommendation in respect of their result will not be submitted to the Senate until the debt is paid or an agreement regarding the payment of the debt has been reached. You should note that, if the debt has not been settled within eighteen months of the decision that there be ‘no recommendation’, you will no longer be eligible for re-examination.

Notification of results Results are released after the relevant Faculty Examiners’ Meeting held in mid July or November/December. Following this you will be sent a transcript of your credits and marks.

Reassessment after a Fail If the examination board deems you to have failed the qualification (or in the case of the Certificates of Higher Education a core module) you have the right to be re-assessed on one subsequent occasion on the payment of a re-examination fee which will be collected by the University’s Examinations Office. Students who have failed on individual assignments but passed the qualification (or the module in the case of the Certificates of Higher Education) are not permitted to retake the assessment. Should you fail, the Programme Director for your course will contact you to explain the process in greater detail. Where modules are re-assessed following failure the maximum achievable mark will be 40% for the Certificates of Higher Education and 50% for the postgraduate qualifications.

For students with extenuating circumstances, however, the Special Cases Committee may recommend that the External Examination Committee deem the re-submission to be a first attempt, in which case a mark higher than a Pass can be achieved. A case cannot be made, however, without the

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5. Coursework assignments and assessment submission of an Extenuating Circumstances form and any supporting evidence that may be required.

Students who fail for a second time are normally required to leave the University. All students have the right to make a case for an exceptional third attempt after the failed assessment. Such a case should only be made on the basis of exceptional circumstances. Further details can be found through the University’s Examinations Office website (www.reading.ac.uk/exams)

AppealsAppeals for review of overall result and classification Students who consider that they have a genuine and well-founded reason for asking for their overall result and classification to be reviewed must consult their Programme Director and/or Head of School as soon as possible after the publication of the provisional result. If their concern cannot be settled within the Department/School, they have the right to submit a case to the Senate Standing Committee on Examination Results. Details of the procedures of the Committee and the deadlines for submission of cases are available at http://www.reading.ac.uk/Exams/scer.pdf.

Appeals for review of marksA student who considers that he or she has been awarded unfairly a mark for a module may request that the mark be reviewed, provided that the grounds for the request do not relate to the academic judgement of the Examiners. The procedures relating to students’ requests for review of alleged assessment irregularities in relation to module marks are available at http://www.reading.ac.uk/Exams/ModuleMa rks.htm.

Graduation Students who have successfully completed their programme will be awarded their qualification at the University’s Degree Ceremony in July or December (this does not apply to Post Experience courses). When your programme results have been approved, the University’s Graduation Office will contact you with details of the ceremony. If you cannot or do not wish to attend you will be sent your certificate by post shortly after the ceremony.

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6. How we support you 6. How we support youThis section outlines how the School supports you throughout your programme, particularly when things are not going according to plan. It also contains information on financial support, and other services offered by the University such as the Counselling Services and Chaplaincy.

The School of Continuing Education and the University have many ways of providing academic support. For further details you should consult the University’s Student Diary http://www.info.reading.ac.uk/student/docs/studentdiary.pdf.

Postgraduate supportPostgraduate students will find information on support for postgraduate study at the University on the website: www.reading.ac.uk/Study/study-pg-intro.asp. In particular the Study Advisers have developed excellent resources tailored to postgraduates which can be accessed at http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/studyadvice/ResourcesforPostgraduates/sta-resourcesforpostgraduates.aspx

Pastoral CareNo matter which of the School’s programmes you are enrolled on we are committed to supporting you to enable you to successfully complete the course. There are various members of staff you can turn to for help and advice about academic matters but also other matters which may be impacting on your progress. For example you may wish to talk to someone about the fact that you are finding it difficult to find time to study due to pressures at home or in the work place, you may be finding it difficult to concentrate while going through some personal upheaval in your life, or you may be looking for some advice on how to progress your studies further or how to develop a particular academic skill. On some programmes you will be allocated a personal tutor at the beginning of the course and this is the best person to discuss these matters with (see the annex on personal tutors for more information) but on other programmes you should speak to the programme director or to module tutor who may direct you to the most appropriate person.

ConfidentialityYou may wish to discuss matters with your tutor(s)/programme director that you wish to be kept confidential. They will respect your wishes, although it is important to realise that they must also adhere to the rules and regulations of the University and statutory obligations.Your tutor might wish to keep notes on matters that you have discussed together but which you do not wish to be included in your student file. Tutors are advised that they must inform you if they intend to keep such a record, and agree with you that this record is confidential and will neither be included in the tutor’s copy of your record nor discussed with any third party without your consent.

If at any time, however, the personal tutor judges that it would be in your best interests to inform one or more further members of staff in the Department or University, s/he will advise you of this and may be prepared to speak to them on your behalf if you wish. Before involving another member of staff, the personal tutor will always seek your agreement first, and discuss with you

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6. How we support you when, to whom and how specifically any sensitive subject might be conveyed, still in confidence.

It is important to note, however, that staff cannot take any action, such as recommend that your marks be reviewed in the light of some special circumstance if you are not prepared to allow that person to divulge what the circumstances are (see the section on ‘extenuating circumstances’ below.

Extenuating CircumstancesEvery care is taken to assist students who have medical or personal problems. If we have the form (which is confidential to members of the Special Cases Committee) we might be able to make a case on your behalf at the Examiners’ Meeting should your work fall below your expected level owing to unforeseen circumstances. There is a separate form for extending deadlines.

If you have special problems you should speak to your personal tutor/module teacher/programme director, complete an Extenuating Circumstances form and return the form to the administrator for your programme, along with a letter from your doctor or counsellor, or any other documentation that may be required. The Extenuating Circumstances form is found on the School website http://www.reading.ac.uk/lifelonglearning, or on your course’s Blackboard site.

It is your responsibility to submit an Extenuating Circumstances form and to keep your personal tutor informed of any medical, personal or employment problems which might affect your academic performance. If you have problems, we can usually support you, but we cannot do this unless you complete the form (it is not enough to tell one of us in person or by email).

Students with special needs or disabilitiesThe Disability Discrimination Act requires schools to make appropriate adjustments for students with disabilities prior to entry and during their time at Reading so that all students gain maximum benefit from their time here. To enable us to offer you the best possible support, it is important that you let us know of any disability (physical, medical condition, mental health etc) or learning difficulty (dyslexia, dyspraxia etc) which you feel could be relevant.

If you did not indicate on the application form that you have a special need or learning disability and would like to let us know, please let the School’s Special Needs and Disabilities Advisor, Julia Tourell, know and also tell your personal tutor or programme director so that we can support you and take your special needs into account. Further information can be found at www.reading.ac.uk/disability

If you think you have dyslexia If you, your module teacher or personal tutor thinks you might have dyslexia or some other learning disability, it will be recommended that you see a member of the Study Advice team in University’s Counselling services, which will make an assessment and suggest ways of helping. Your dyslexia will then be taken into account when assessing your coursework.

Dyslexia and other learning difficulties

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6. How we support you Students who have been assessed with having dyslexia, dyspraxia or other learning problems will have this taken into account when assignments are marked. You will be given special stickers to put on your assignments. To make this happen, you should first speak to your personal tutor, and then obtain a written report from an educational psychologist, the University’s Study Advisor, or the University Counsellor, who will then advise the marker(s) accordingly. You will also need to fill in the Extenuating Circumstances form and return it to the School Office or the programme director. The form is found on the School’s website http://www.reading.ac.uk/lifelonglearning or on your course’s Blackboard site.

If you need wheelchair access or have any other special need and you wish it to be taken into account you will also need to fill in the Extenuating Circumstances form and return it to the School Office or the programme director. If you would like to discuss your requirements in relation to your specific learning difficulty or special needs please talk to your personal tutor, the programme director or the Special Needs and Disabilities Advisor, Julia Tourell.

If you get behindIf you find yourself getting behind, possibly because you have unavoidably had to miss some class meetings, please do ask for help—don’t just stop working on your programme of study! Don’t stop coming to class or participating in distance learning. Be sure to check your programme or module Blackboard site, as it is a good way to catch up. The other students in your group may also be able to help you by collecting up handouts and taking notes for you, so do ask for help from the friends you make in your group. We do have other ways of supporting you and helping you to catch up, so do tell your module tutor or programme director.

BlackboardBlackboard is an online learning environment. No special software is needed to use it, all you need is your ITS username and password. All programmes in the School make use of Blackboard. At a minimum the Blackboard site will include essential course documents and details of what is covered. Some Blackboard courses contain discussion groups and other interactive features. You may find the University’s Blackboard Support website useful: http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/vle-support/vle-bbhelp.aspx

Help with writing skillsStudents who feel that they need assistance in writing appropriate English should, in the first instance, seek guidance from their personal tutor or programme director. They may be referred, where appropriate, to study skills support or the University’s Study Advisors.

Feedback and marking criteriaYou should find that the written feedback you receive on your assignments helps you to identify your strengths and areas for improvement as a learner. You may use this as a basis for any meetings with you personal tutor, programme director or module tutor. It is also useful to study the marking criteria on the feedback sheet and in the course Blackboard area to gain a better understanding of what assessors are looking for in an assignment.

‘Neglect of work’

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6. How we support you We monitor students’ work, and if you get behind you might receive a ‘neglect of work’ letter. This is a warning, and is meant to encourage you to ask for help. If you ignore it, you may be withdrawn from the course or fail the module/programme.

Suspension and withdrawalIf you genuinely feel unable to continue with the course, you should first discuss this with your personal tutor or programme director and decide whether to suspend or withdraw (suspension is not generally available on the CEIGHE courses due to their already extended nature). You may be asked whether your reasons were personal (details are not necessary) or whether you were dissatisfied with the course.

SuspensionSuspension requires approval. It means that you wish to interrupt your studies for a certain period (typically a year). Approval is normally granted by the Director of Teaching and Learning, in consultation with the Programme Director. The Director of Teaching and Learning of the Faculty of Arts & Humanities may also need to give approval of the suspension. In order to apply for suspension, there must be some health, domestic or work-related problem which makes it impossible for you to study for some time.

If you suspend, you may normally resume your studies at a later date, usually after a year. Suspension is not indefinite and you should let your Programme Director know if you do not intend to resume your studies the following year. It is important to realise that if you delay your return, your modules and even your programme may have changed substantially.

Withdrawal Withdrawal means you no longer want to stay on your programme of study. It may be possible to resume your studies later, but you will need to re-apply. You must contact your personal tutor or programme director, as it is very likely that we can offer you some support that will enable you to stay on the course. If you do decide to withdraw, it is essential that you let us know. If you simply stop attending classes or submitting work, you may find that you have failed the programme.

Credit transferIf you relocate, it may be possible to transfer the credits you have gained to another institution, but it is up to the receiving institution to decide whether or not to accept your credits and will usually depend on how well the modules you have taken map on to those of the receiving institution.

How your voice is heardThe main way your voice is heard is through meetings and correspondence with staff; however, there are other ways in which you may also make your voice heard. The main one is the School’s evaluation procedure, and we try to support you by following up issues raised in student evaluations. The Staff Student Committee is another good channel for communication between students and the School.

The benefits of evaluationWe find that important issues are identified by student feedback, and that students appreciate the opportunity to reflect on their modules. Any issues arising from evaluations are followed up as soon as possible, and a report is

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6. How we support you written which covers how issues were dealt with. These are published on the School’s website.

Issues in the past have included the movement of courses to more suitable venues, changes in the syllabus and coursework assignments, purchase of new equipment, and the scheduling of staff development sessions. Modules are evaluated primarily through asking you to complete an evaluation questionnaire for each module.

Financial support

Fee waiver grants and bursariesFee waiver grants and bursaries are available for some of the School’s programmes. These are designed to help with the cost of books, travel expenses, etc. and they are available to people on low incomes under certain circumstances. If you have any questions, please contact the administrator for your programme.

Hardship fundsIn addition to fee grants, the University also has some special hardship funds to help students who are experiencing unexpected financial difficulties. The amount depends on the financial circumstances of the applicant, the number of applications received, and on academic merit. If you need more information, contact the administrator for the programme.

Other supportThe University’s Student Diary lists the full range of facilities for student support. This may be viewed online http://www.info.reading.ac.uk/student/docs/studentdiary.pdf. A selection are outlined below:

Mature Students’ SocietyYou may join the Mature Students’ Society, which organises meetings and social events, and represents the interests of mature students in the Students’ Union and the University.

Student Advice CentreThe Student Advice Centre in the Students’ Union on the Whiteknights campus offer free information and advice on a range of topics from student finance, housing, health, academic matters and immigration. You can drop in any weekday.

CounsellingIf you suffer from serious stress or other personal problems, please see your tutor or Programme Director, who may be able to help you find a counsellor or arrange a date with one of the University Counsellors. http://www.rdg.ac.uk/Counselling/

Chaplaincy CentreThe Chaplaincy Centre is located in the middle of the Whiteknights campus and all are welcome, whatever their faith or background. The Chaplains are always ready to consult individuals on any matter. There are several Christian

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6. How we support you societies within the University, as well as a number of other religious groups, including Muslim and Jewish societies. http://www.rdg.ac.uk/chaplaincy/

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7. Services and facilities 7. Services and facilitiesAs a student of the University of Reading you are welcome to take advantage of all that the University offers. We are a School in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and have access to the academic and social facilities available on all three University campuses in Reading (Whiteknights, Bulmershe Court and London Road).

Many of the Services and facilities described below are ‘campus based’ and will therefore be most relevant to students who attend the campuses on a regular basis, however, more and more facilities are available online and are therefore accessible also to distance learning students.

IT facilitiesWhen you register on any of the programmes covered by this handbook you will receive a University IT account which allows you to access the University computer network, including email and internet access, on and off campus. Through this, you will be able to access the Library, Blackboard, and a wide range of helpful University websites such as SOAR (Skills Opportunities at Reading, see below), and other study skills information.

Email is used regularly in the University as an ‘official’ form of communication between staff and students, i.e. any communication received or sent by email has the same official status as communications on paper. To ensure that you are kept fully informed of developments in the School and especially with regard to your course, you must check your university email account regularly and reply as necessary to messages received.

You may set up forwarding arrangements to automatically send email received in your University account to another email account of your choosing; however, you do so at your own risk and should ensure that you forward to a valid and existing account. The University can only be held responsible for email reaching your University email account. If you wish to forward your University account to a private account login to https://www.mailopts.reading.ac.uk/login.php and follow the instructions for forwarding email.

IT skills supportThe IT Services website is www.rdg.ac.uk/ITS and help can be requested from ITS-Help@reading.ac.uk . Here you can ask questions, report faults, and get help through online notes.

If your general word-processing and IT skills need improving, the University runs an extensive programme of IT courses. Please see the IT Services website for details. There is an IT Services Help Desk in the Whiteknights Library.

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7. Services and facilities Computers on campusThere are approximately 20 University PC facilities on the Whiteknights campus, each with a varying number of workstations. There are also workstations on the London Road campus. The ‘S@il’ Centre on the first floor of the Whiteknights Library houses a large collection of PCs which can be used on a drop-in basis. There are also computers in the Palmer Building and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Building.

In addition University Wireless Zones are available throughout campus including Whiteknights Library and the Palmer Building. For more information see www.reading.ac.uk/ITS/wireless.

BlackboardAll programmes in the School make use of Blackboard, an online learning environment for the posting of course information, handouts, assignments, discussion groups etc. Some programmes include specific study skills information, as well as links to University study skills websites.

Library facilitiesStudents registered on campus based programmes will be issued with an ‘access card’ which, amongst other things, allows you to borrow from the University Libraries on the Whiteknights and Bulmershe campuses. All students are issued with IT accounts which provide access to electronic journals and other databases held by the library. For general information about the University’s library provision and opening hours see http://www. rdg.ac.uk/library/

Learning to use the libraryThe library has produced a self-paced course, CyberLibrary, which gives you help in using the library and its electronic catalogue. This is found through Blackboard at www.bb.rdg.ac.uk.

There are also workshops in the Autumn Term to show you how to use Unicorn, the Library’s database. They are called ‘Finding your way in the library’ and may be booked at the main desk. The Library Information Desk can help you at any time. Just ask!

Helpful guides are available in printed form in the Library and also online. There are guides for many academic subjects, guides to the Library catalogue and guides to online databases.

Librarians are always willing to help you find what you need, and you are free to browse, and to pick up helpful leaflets showing you how to use the Library. Christopher Cipkin is the Librarian with special responsibility for part-time students.

Special facilitiesInter-library loans help you obtain books and articles from other libraries.Photocopying facilities in both colour and black and white are available.

Distance Learning StudentsNeed to contact their course administrator for information on library access for their programme.

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7. Services and facilities The University BookshopBlackwell’s Bookshop has a branch on the Whiteknights campus. It has a wide-ranging stock especially suitable for University students.

Additional academic support

Open Studies study skills modulesThe School also offers short study skills modules through its Open Studies programme. These are highly recommended for students on all campus based programmes. These include ‘Critical thinking’ and ‘Effective time management for university study and beyond’.

Skills Opportunity at Reading (SOAR)Skills Opportunity at Reading (SOAR) is an extremely useful website www.reading.ac.uk./SOAR which helps you with essay and report writing, numeracy skills, revision skills, and research skills. It also includes volunteering opportunities, work placement schemes, clubs and societies. There are detailed online guides, printable ‘quick tips’, workshops and information about how to get one-to-one support.

Study Advisors TeamVisit the study advisors in the Carrington Building (Whiteknights Campus) or on the first floor of the Whiteknights Library. They can provide help with a wide range of concerns including writing skills, time management, revision, or assessments for dyslexia or dyspraxia. See http://www.reading.ac.uk/studyskills/ for further information. You can sign up for a one-to-one advice session, attend a workshop or make an appointment for a longer consultation. See http://www.reading.ac.uk/studyskills/appointments.htm for further information or phone 0118 3784242 to make an appointment.

If you think you might be dyslexic or dyspraxic If you, your module teacher or personal tutor thinks you might be dyslexic or have some other learning disability, you should contact the counselling services on 0118 378 8658 to make an appointment. They will make an assessment and suggest ways of helping. If you are dyslexic, this will be taken into account when assessing your coursework.

University study skills websitesExcellent information can be found on http://www.reading.ac.uk/studyskills/study_resources.htm and www.rdg.a.uk/math support.

Study Advice on BlackboardStudents can access Study Advice resources via the new Study Advice Blackboard Organisation. The site includes printable versions of the Study Guides and slides from the Study Advice workshops. Students can self-enrol, by searching for ‘Study Advice’ in the Organisation catalogue, and click on ‘Enrol’.

University development workshopsThese take place on Wednesday afternoons and any student can attend without booking. They are advertised on the University website http://www.reading.ac.uk/studyskills/workshops.htm . Topics include time

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7. Services and facilities management, organisation, note-taking, essay writing, academic reading, oral presentation skills, and exam preparation skills (if relevant).

Mathematics Support CentreIf you require help with Maths visit the maths support centre where experienced mathematicians will help with your difficulties and build your confidence in a relaxed, friendly environment. The Centre is open on the 1st floor of the Main Library. Just turn left at the top of the stairs and then left again. You don't need to make an appointment, just drop in from Monday to Friday. In addition, the maths support centre has a Blackboard area which has links to online resources. See http://www.rdg.ac.uk/mathssupport/ for more details.

Statistics Advisory ServiceThe School of Biological Sciences offers a Statistics Advisory Service to all University registered students who engage in research. The ‘drop-in’ service two to three days per week, including vacations, and operates on a “first come - first served” basis. Please consult the news web page to check the days on which advisory is available since this may change from time to time: http://www.rdg.ac.uk/Stats-Advisory

Careers Advisory ServiceThe University has an excellent Careers Advisory Service in the Carrington Building on the Whiteknights campus, and you are welcome to take advantage of its expertise. Their role is not just to help students ‘find a job’ but rather to help anyone (staff or student or ex-student) to work out what their skills are and support them to ‘get where they want to be’, whether that is further study, employment or contributing to the community in which they live. You can contact them by email: careers@reading.ac.uk or by phone: 0119 378 8656. You can see a careers adviser on a ‘quick query’ basis or make a longer appointment to discuss your skills and options. There are, in addition, special events and a Job Shop. See their website at www.careers.reading.ac.uk

Language OpportunitiesThe Institution-wide Language Programme (IWLP) offers accredited courses (20 credits) in Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Italian, Modern Greek ,Japanese, and Spanish. For further details see http://www.reading.ac.uk/iwlp. The School of Continuing Education also offers a small range of accredited language courses in the Open Studies programme.

Postgraduate support and resourcesPostgraduate students will find information on support for postgraduate study at www.reading.ac.uk/Study/study-pg-intro.asp and http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/studyadvice/ResourcesforPostgraduates/sta-resourcesforpostgraduates.aspx, including access to online resources, particularly useful to distance learning students.

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8. Study skills and advice for doing assignments8. Study skills and advice for doing assignments

You should find that your academic skills improve throughout your study. All programmes in the School have study skills support built into them in various ways: in workshops, group tutorials, and individual assignment guidance.

If you need further help, however, you may take advantage of some of the additional support offered by the School and University. The previous section (7 – Services and Facilities) outlines the support and services available to you, including the library and IT services, and tells you of the many other ways the School and University can support you through its courses, workshops, online help and one-to-one support.

Some students on programmes in the School, especially those on the School postgraduate and professional programmes, will already have developed a range of academic skills. But many others may need help, for example, in structuring an essay, presentation or project. Help is most often needed in focusing on the question and in ‘signposting’ (saying where your thinking is heading, and reminding the reader of what has already been said).

This section gives you important advice on how to make citations and references in your assignments. General study skills advice on essay-writing, note-taking etc. is not included in this handbook, as this may be accessed on the University’s websites http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/studyadvice/sta-home.aspx as well as via the School Open Studies modules http://www.reading.ac.uk/conted/09-10-courses/conted-0910option.aspx

Time managementIf you have not had recent experience of study at HE level, you may at first need some help learning how to schedule your reading, information-gathering, writing, supervisions and tutorials. You can speak to your tutor or programme director about this. A dedicated course on time management is available from the Open Studies programme (http://www.reading.ac.uk/conted/09-10-courses/conted-0910option.aspx)

Engaging with the ideas of others and giving credit for themMany, if not most, of your assignments will ask you to find out what other people have already thought and written on the topic, and to critically evaluate what you have discovered. Whatever form your assignment comes in, it is a requirement that you let your reader know the sources that have influenced your thinking. This is done by creating a ‘citation’ and ‘reference’.

Doing this properly shows your reader what you have read and where you have gained your ideas. It shows that you are aware that you are entering into an academic debate and giving others the credit they deserve for their expertise and ideas.

For any of your written work to qualify as a piece of academic writing, your tutor must be able to follow your research and ideas back to their sources.

Whenever your thinking has been influenced by any outside source - a book, article, website, media programme, friend or another student - you must give credit to

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8. Study skills and advice for doing assignmentsthese sources, even if you are summarising or paraphrasing. This applies when giving a presentation as well as writing an essay or other written assignment.

This makes it possible to see whether any misinterpretations are your own mistakes or whether you have been misled by the way in which they were presented in the sources you read. Also, if you express ideas which are genuinely your own, you will get credit for them.

You should get into the habit of recording full details (including the page or section), when you take notes, even if you are not quoting directly. This applies to books, articles, websites, other printed matter, media programmes, etc.

Even if you are not quoting directly be sure to process the information fully so that you do not inadvertently use the author’s ideas or words without giving the author credit. You must cite and reference all ideas you use - even when you are paraphrasing or summarising.

Why do we ask you to do this?

• to give due respect to those whose work has contributed to your discussion• to set your work into the context of other research• to allow you to enter into a debate with the ideas of others• to allow readers of your work to:

– read more on the topic– check your interpretation– replicate your study/experiment– see the range and nature of your source material– detect plagiarism

• to highlight your own ideas and thinking

Taking notes from books, articles, and websites is important not only as a guard against plagiarism. Research has shown that taking notes and sorting out the material afterwards improves concentration and helps you to remember. It is a skill that improves with practice.

Plagiarism and academic misconductIf you do not cite the ideas of others, you may be accused of plagiarism, a serious academic offence. Plagiarism is the fraudulent misrepresentation of the work of others as one’s own (including ideas, arguments, words, diagrams, images or data). If you fail to acknowledge that you have been influenced by something you have read in a book, article, website, or hear on the radio etc, then you are claiming that someone else’s thinking and hard work is in fact your own. This applies whatever the source of the material (for example a published source, a website, a verbal communication, or the work of another student). Plagiarism is a serious form of academic misconduct.

Academic misconductPlagiarism (the deliberate failure to give credit to outside sources) is a form of academic misconduct and the University takes a most serious view of it. Any such case will be treated as a disciplinary matter. Minor cases will normally be dealt with at School level and will be referred to the School Director of Teaching and Learning, where such penalties as are deemed appropriate may be imposed. More serious cases may be referred to the Faculty Director of Teaching and Learning who may impose such penalties as are deemed appropriate. The Faculty Director of Teaching

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8. Study skills and advice for doing assignmentsand Learning may also refer serious cases to the Senate Standing Committee on Academic Misconduct, where such penalties as are deemed appropriate may be imposed.

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8. Study skills and advice for doing assignments

The Senate Standing Committee on Academic Misconduct has the power to impose disciplinary sanctions, including a failure in all the assessments for a Year of Part of a programme. In sufficiently serious cases the Senate Disciplinary Committee has the power to remove the student from membership of the University (see the provisions of the Regulations for Conduct (31) to (41) for procedures.)

Poor academic practiceNot all instances of plagiarism will be considered a wilful intention of cheating. Where a marker considers work to be excessively derivative and pporly refernced but not to be plagiarism (within the terms of the University definition) the work will be treated as an instance of poor academic practice and not academic misconduct. The student will be given an appropriately low mark, appropriate advice and a warning in respect of future academic conduct. A note that such advice and a warning have been given will be entered on the student’s record.

How we detect plagiarismPlagiarism is not simple, and there can be a problem of distinguishing between poor practice at referencing and deliberate cheating. To protect yourself from being accused of cheating, you must give credit to those who have influenced your work. This includes information from the internet. It is all too easy to look something up, especially on the web, and not take the trouble to reference it. Valuable time is then wasted trying to find a reference at the last minute before handing in your work. Most module tutors are pretty good at spotting plagiarism. They routinely use Google and other search engines, just as you may do, and can recognise sources that you have used but failed to acknowledge. So we cannot advise you strongly enough to get into the habit of referencing, even when you are paraphrasing or summarising.

If you plagiarise and it is not spotted it does not mean that you may continue to plagiarise.

Turnitin®UKThe University also uses dedicated software (‘Turnitin’) which can identify plagiarised sources. The JISC funded Plagiarism Advisory Service www.jiscpas.ac.uk was established in 2002 to address increasing concerns about plagiarism. The service provides generic advice to institutions, lecturers and students on all issues related to the prevention and detection of plagiarism. It also provides access to an online detection system, to which student work can be uploaded. The work is then compared against a database of previously submitted material, 4.5 billion URLs, material from the Gutenberg project and other subscription services. This is followed by the creation of an originality report indicating the extent to which the work has been plagiarised. The University of Reading is registered to use the JISC online plagiarism detection service. The Centre for Development in Teaching and Learning has produced some guidelines for use of the TurnitinUK system and TurnitinUK have an example form for informing students. See: http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/cdotl/e-Learning/cdotl-Anti-PlagiarismSoftware.aspx

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8. Study skills and advice for doing assignmentsTips for avoiding plagiarism

An essay allows you to enter into a debate with other people’s ideas. You give credit to other people’s ideas to show how their ideas have influenced your own thinking.

You are expected to write an essay in your own words entirely save where you are using direct quotations from primary or secondary sources.

If you are not using a direct quotation from any printed source, but are instead ‘paraphrasing’, you must still acknowledge the source.

If you use material from the web you should acknowledge it too just as you would any other printed source.

When reading for your essay you will discover ideas that you wish to use. If you come across a particularly important passage or a phrase where the author seems to put a point in a very effective way, you may want to copy out the exact wording into your notes (called a ‘direct quotation’).

When you do this make sure you indicate to yourself using a foolproof method that you will always remember (such as highlighting, a different colour pen or inverted commas) to show you have copied out the passage from an outside source.

Always note the name of the source and the page number where the material you have copied occurs so you can cite it as a quotation.

If the quotation is a phrase or sentence then it should appear between inverted commas and be given a citation. If the quotation is longer than a couple of lines, it should be indented, and given a citation.

If you are using someone else’s ideas but not quoting directly, you will be ‘paraphrasing’ their ideas. You should employ phrases such as 'Jones argues' or ‘according to Smith’ and you must give the source of your information by providing a citation even though it is a paraphrase and not a direct quotation.

You should never take material from a book or article and merely change the wording a little, thus passing it off as your own work. Even if you paraphrase, you are using someone else’s ideas, so you will need to acknowledge this.

Works cited, whether as direct quotations or as paraphrases, should always appear in the reference list.

Any other books or articles which you have read for preparation but have not been used in the writing of your essay should be listed in a bibliography.

Never put together an essay in a kind of cut-and-paste fashion by stringing together phrases or sentences from a series of works even if they are acknowledged. You will need to develop and show your own thinking by engaging in a debate with the ideas of others.

Never employ anyone to write an essay for you.

Never download essays from any web site in part or in full.

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8. Study skills and advice for doing assignmentsThe way to avoid plagiarism is to get into the habit of keeping track of what you have read and to reference the work of others that has influenced your thinking.

Doing your own thinking Although we encourage you to learn about other people’s ideas, and to give credit to them, we also want you to reflect on what you learn and to do your own thinking. We do not expect your essays to be a series of quotations from other sources or just a summary of something you have read or heard. Part of what you will be learning is to have confidence in your own critical and evaluative thinking. A tremendous sense of achievement can be found in developing your own ideas and responses and by engaging in discussion and debate with others.

If you get into the habit of citing the ideas of others, then your own ideas will stand out and you will be given credit for them. Your tutors cannot give you credit unless they are sure that these ideas are your own, and they only know that they are your own because they have learned to trust your skills in citation and can see where you have given credit to other sources.

How to acknowledge your sourcesYou do this by creating citations, references, a bibliography and a reference list. It may sound complicated but it is very easy once you get into the habit of doing it.

A citation is– the formal recognition, within the body of your text, that you are

referring to someone else’s work or ideas, including the page number or other indication of exactly where you got the idea from

A reference is– the detailed bibliographic description of the source you obtained your

information from (who wrote it, what it is called, when it was written etc)

– the description of the source must be sufficiently precise and detailed to identify it and enable it to be located

A reference list is– simply a list at the end of your assignment which includes a list

of all the source material you have directly cited or paraphrased within the body of the text.

A bibliography is– the wider list of works that you have read as background in your

research but did not cite or paraphrase directly in your text. This also appears as a list at the end of your assignment.

How to make citations in the body of your essayNote that some programmes, such as the CEIGHE courses, produce a course-specific referencing guide. This is available on the Blackboard area or from the programme director and should be used in all cases.

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8. Study skills and advice for doing assignments

The first thing to do is to remember to write down information about your sources. For printed sources this will be the name of the author or editor, the title, its date of publication and who published it. For websites it will be the same, although you will give the website address as the ‘publisher’.

Although you may have read or listened to, for example, ten sources for your essay, you may find that you use quotations, information or ideas from only three or four of these sources. You will need to provide a citation in the body of the essay for any direct quotations or paraphrases from the sources that have influenced your thinking.

Start with your bibliographyThe easiest way is to write your bibliography first, as you do your research. This is a list of sources that you have read or listened to (even if they did not influence your thinking) that appears at the end of the assignment. This list should include all websites you have consulted, even if they did not influence your thinking.

Entries for books will look like this: Author, A.N. (year of publication). Title of book. Place of publication: PublisherPeck, J and Coyle, M. (2001). The student’s guide to writing: grammar, punctuation and spelling. London: Macmillan Palgrave.

Articles will look like this:Author, A.N. (year). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume No., page numbers of article.Lee-Riffe, N.M. (1998). The role of country dancing in the fiction of Jane Austen. Women’s Writing, 5.1, pp103-113.

A website will look like this:Author, A.N. (year) full URL website address and date accessedHolland, M. (2006). Citing References . [online] Available from: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/citing_references/docs/Citing_Refs.pdf [Accessed 31 August 2007]

A chapter in a book will look like this:Author, A.N. (year). Title of chapter. In: Editors, Title of book. Place of publication: Publisher.Symons, D. (1992). On the use and misuse of Darwinism in the study of human behaviour. In: L. Cosmides, J. Tooby & J. H. Barkow (Ed.s). The adapted mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Notice that the name of the source is in italics to make it stand out.

Your reference listFrom the bibliography you can then easily construct your reference list later after you have finish researching. This is the list of the sources which did influence your thinking. This too appears at the end of your assignment. Your citations in the body of the essay are backed up by your reference list.

Most programmes will require either a bibliography OR a reference list (although sometimes you may be asked to do both). Just follow the directions given to you by your module tutor or programme director.

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8. Study skills and advice for doing assignments

What citations look like: the Harvard ‘name and year’ systemThere are different ways of making citations. The School of Continuing Education normally recommends the Harvard ‘name and year’ system. Your programme director may recommend a particular version of the Harvard system or another system. If so, you should follow the procedure your programme director recommends.

The Harvard system simply indicates the name of the person who wrote the material, followed by the date of publication AND the page number, section number or other information as to where the information is located in the source. This is put in brackets immediately after your direct quotation or paraphrase.

Example of a direct quotationHere is a direct quotation from page 54 of Peck, J and Coyle, M. (2001). The student’s guide to writing: grammar, punctuation and spelling. London: Macmillan Palgrave. Notice that the quotation is indented, and that the citation is at the end of the quotation.

‘Writing is not the same as thinking out loud. There is another stage involved after thinking, in which words are sifted and selected, and then crafted and combined, in order to create a memorable impression. In this process, each sentence of an essay is both designed and built by the writer. Good sentences do not just happen: there is no such thing, in a finished essay, as an automatic flow of writing.’ (Peck and Coyle, 2001, p 54).

The reader of the essay can look at the reference list to find full information on Peck and Coyle’s book.

Example of a paraphrase with short quotationsIf Peck and Coyle’s idea were not quoted directly, but paraphrased with additional small quotations, it would look like this, and would still need a citation:

‘Peck and Coyle put the case for drafting and re-drafting very neatly, stressing that “writing is not the same as thinking out loud”. They dispense with the idea that one can write through inspiration only, saying that “Good sentences do not just happen: there is no such thing, in a finished essay, as an automatic flow of writing.” (Peck and Coyle, 2001, p 54).

If readers want to know more about Peck and Coyle’s idea, then the reference list tells them where to look.

Example of a paraphraseA paraphrase of Peck and Coyle’s idea would look more like this. It would still need a citation. ‘Peck and Coyle put the case for drafting and re-drafting very neatly, stressing the need for the writer to build an essay almost as if it were a work of architecture. They totally reject the idea of writing as a kind of stream-of-consciousness.’ (Peck and Coyle, 2001, p 54).

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8. Study skills and advice for doing assignmentsThis Harvard format can then be applied to articles, chapters in books, and other sources, simply by recording the name(s) of the authors, the date of publication, the page number or numbers, and creating a reference list from your overall bibliography.

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8. Study skills and advice for doing assignmentsA warning about information from the internetFinding information from the internet is easy, but you must be very wary of the quality and accuracy of the information you have obtained. The web pages you access may not provide a balanced view. Some pages are positively unhelpful. Research papers in printed journals undergo a peer review process to ensure some degree of balance and validity in what they present, as do textbooks, but there is no equivalent for the kind of quality control found in the vast majority of websites.

Obviously, it is a serious form of plagiarism to download essays from a website and this must never be done. Please remember that your module tutors can use Google as easily as you and that if you plagiarise from a website, you are likely to be caught out. You must put in your bibliography every related website you have read.

Other sourcesWhat if you gain ideas or information from other students’ essays, from someone else who has studied the subject, a radio or TV programme, etc? Here, too, you should give people credit for their ideas, and you can simply cite them in the body of your essay (‘Another interesting way of approaching this problem has been suggested by Lisa Jardine (2003). . .’) and add them to your reference list as ‘Jardine, L. (2003), BBC Radio 4 ‘Start the Week’, 4 August.’

Third-person proof reading and editingYou should not pay anyone to proof-read or edit your work. There is nothing wrong with reading your work out loud to someone else to see if it makes sense, or asking someone to correct typographical errors, but if this influences your thinking, you should acknowledge this help at the end of your assignment.

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9. Record of study9. Record of studyThis section is for you to file details of your modules and marks, copies of assignments and feedback on assignments. You may also include any reflections on your progress or notes on how you might enhance your learning.

Details of your modulesYou may keep track of your modules, credits and marks on the sheet in this section.

Other information you may wish to file here

The assignments your tutor has set Reading lists Copies of your assignments and feedback sheets Copies of any presentation feedback sheets Copies of workshop, placement, lab report etc feedback sheets A record of other relevant courses you have completed, whether or not

they contribute to your programme (for example, short courses or professional development events attended at the University or other institutions), along with feedback and transcripts

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9. Record of study

RECORD OF YOUR STUDIES

As you finish a module please complete the table below, so that you can record your overall progress.

It is useful to keep a record of the modules you complete as you progress through your course. You may also wish to list other relevant courses or events you have attended, even if they are not formally part of your programme.

Year/date

Module number/title Credits

Marks achieve

d

Level, type of course, instituti

on

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9. Record of study

10. Key skills development

This section outlines the main key skills and provides a place for you to record when and how you have built on your existing skills throughout the year.

Whatever your motivation for studying a programme in the School of Continuing Education, there are many skills you will develop that can be useful in other areas of your life, your current employment or indeed potential future employment. The development of both subject specific and more general skills is an important part of higher education.

In many cases you may not realise that you are developing skills that will prove useful when applied in other contexts. For this reason we have outlined the basic key skills that you will have the opportunity to build.

You may also use this section to keep track of when and how you have had the opportunity to work on these skills. This will be a useful record for the beginning of your programme when you may be asked to reflect on your progress to date.

Please use the sheet in this section and decide on three dates during the course on which you will reflect on the development of your skills. Don’t worry if you cannot provide examples for each of the skills listed.

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Skill Definition Examples of how you have developed this

skill Date 1

Examples of how you have developed this skill

Date 2

Examples of how you have developed this skill

Date 3

TEAMWORK Work with colleagues to achieve a particular goal. Involves cooperation and being sensitive to others, sharing ideas, helping the group to work effectively

VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Giving clear, accurate instructions. Speaking to a group or presenting ideas. Being a spokesperson.

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

Ability to abstract information. Writing concisely conveying meaning in a manner appropriate to different readers. Presenting a persuasive, balanced argument.

PROBLEM SOLVING

Applying knowledge or understanding to practical situations. Having to think on your feet and improvise.

NUMERACY / WORKING WITH DATA

Being able to understand and interpret figures and non-verbal data. Ability to spot errors and estimate.

PLANNING AND TIME MANAGEMENT

Setting objectives and action planning for yourself and others. Prioritising, scheduling and

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working under pressure to achieve objectives.

ENQUIRY AND RESEARCH SKILLS

Collecting, collating, classifying and summarising data in a systematic way. Using the results effectively.

ABILITY TO USE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Knowing how to use popular packages for word-processing, email, browsing the web. Ability to locate useful resources on the Internet or in the library.

LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL

Organising and motivating others. Using initiative and accepting responsibility. Overcoming problems with a positive attitude.

DECISION MAKING

Evaluating available information and reaching effective conclusions. Making decisions which can be realistically implemented and taking responsibility for them.

SUBJECT SPECIFIC SKILLS

Make a note of the skills you have acquired in your particular subject

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Annex: The Personal Tutor

Students on the Certificate of Higher Education Programmes are provided with a personal tutor for the duration of their programme

One-to-one support: the personal tutorialThe main way the University supports its students is through the ‘personal tutor’ system. This is a series of meetings underpinning our pastoral care. Meetings may make take the form of group meetings, one-to-one meetings, and email correspondence or by telephone calls. Personal tutorials give you an opportunity to discuss your general progress, and any personal, academic or financial problems you may be experiencing. If you wish to discuss any difficult circumstances, your personal tutor or programme director are your main points of contact.

Your personal tutorDifferent programmes in the School offer slightly different ways of providing a ‘personal tutor’, but in all cases you will receive an opportunity for 1:1 support.

Certificates of Higher Education in Archaeology, English Literature, History, History of Art and Architecture and Combined Studies: you will be allocated a personal tutor and will be invited to attend a meeting once a module. You may also email or phone your personal tutor.

Careers Guidance Programmes (MA): You will be allocated a personal tutor.. Students may request an individual meeting. Emails and phone calls are also regular means of communication between students and personal tutors.

Career Information, Education and Guidance in Higher Education (CEIGHE) and Management of Student Work Experience (MSWE): the Programme Director acts as personal tutor. Owing to the wide geographical spread of the programme, personal tutorials also form a part of the residential component of this programme. Students are not expected to attend tutorials at the School of Continuing Education, but are welcome to contact the Programme Director by email or telephone.

All of those teaching you will take an interest in your academic progress, provide feedback on work submitted and act as a point of contact for any guidance you may need on academic matters.

In addition to the help you receive from those teaching you, your personal tutor will:

provide guidance on matters of personal development advise on study skills provide information and advice on course choice discuss personal problems affecting your work

The personal tutorial formIt is advisable for tutors and students to make a brief summary record of meetings. We find that it provides a valuable record of your progress and

development throughout the course. The Certificates of Higher Education in Archaeology, English Literature, History, History of Art and Architecture and Combined Studies use a dedicated ‘personal tutorial’ form. This provides an agenda for the tutorial meeting and gives you an idea of how to prepare for the meeting. It is also used to record briefly the meeting. Please take a copy of the form with you to your tutorial. It can be found at:http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/conted/certhe/conted-certhestudentinfo.aspx or on Blackboard site for those courses.

Your responsibilities for your tutorialIn order to benefit from your tutorial you should:

make sure you know when and where the meeting will take place be prepared to discuss the items on the agenda for the meeting reflect on yourself as a learner and identify any study skills you may

need to improve keep an up-to-date list of your module credits be prepared to mention any problems you may be encountering,

including extenuating circumstances, special needs or learning disabilities

be prepared to complete an extenuating circumstances form and to provide documentation as required

think about progression after completion of the programme bring the tutorial meeting form to the meeting (if used)

Your personal tutor’s responsibilitiesYour personal tutor should:

check for all relevant information and paperwork in our files agree action points for your further development advise on aspects of study skills and key skills as appropriate advise you on your choice of modules, where relevant advise you on progression after completion of the programme

ConfidentialityAn important point about any records of meetings with staff is that they are not confidential. They are intended to contain only material that both you and your tutor consider appropriate. This means that you should be content for the tutor’s copy of the record of your meeting to be shown to a third party, e.g. a member of staff who is not your tutor. Your tutor, however, will respect the confidential nature of any conversation which you ask to have so treated.

Your tutor might also wish to keep notes on matters that you have discussed together but which you do not wish to be included in your student file. Tutors are advised that they must inform you if they intend to keep such a record, and agree with you that this record is confidential and will neither be included in the tutor’s copy of your record nor discussed with any third party without your consent. If at any time, however, the personal tutor judges that it would be in your best interests to inform one or more further members of staff in the Department or University, s/he will advise you of this and may be prepared to speak to them on your behalf if you wish. Before involving another member of staff, the personal tutor will always seek your agreement first, and discuss with you when, to whom and how specifically any sensitive subject might be conveyed, still in confidence.