Learning resources
Everything a course requires is inside the course. This page lists what you are given, and where to read further.
What every course gives you
You do not need to buy a textbook to complete a course. What an assessment covers is in the course.
Lessons and readings
Written for the course, in short lessons, each with a quick check of what you understood.
Practical tools
One model, template or checklist in each unit, yours to keep and use at work.
Cases and examples
A shared case, an example of failure, and practice situations where you decide what to do.
Practice with feedback
The study assistant comments on your practice work at any hour. It takes no part in graded assessments.
A course guide
The learning outcomes, the credit hours, the order of the units and how the course is assessed.
Your own record
Your answers, your workplace tasks and your results stay in your account, so you can return to them.
Where to read further
Berkshire is an online university, without a library building. For reading beyond your course, we point you to open libraries that are free to every student in every country.
- Directory of Open Access JournalsPeer-reviewed journals in every field, free to read.
- COREOpen-access research papers collected from universities around the world.
- OpenStaxFree university textbooks in business, science, mathematics and the social sciences.
- PubMed CentralFull-text articles in health and the life sciences.
- ERICResearch and reports in education.
- Google ScholarA search across academic writing in all fields. Not every result is free to read.
These are independent services. The University does not own or control them, and is not affiliated with them. If a course needs a source that is not free, that source is provided inside the course.
Using what you read
- Say whose words and ideas you use. Where your work draws on someone else, name the source. This is the first rule of the academic integrity policy.
- Follow your course guide. It shows how to list your sources in that course.
- Prefer sources you can check. A journal article, a book or an official report can be traced. An unsigned web page often cannot.
- Use your own workplace as a source. Much of your work here is about your own job. Describe what you saw and did, and protect what is confidential to your employer.
Help with finding sources
- For a course taskYour academic advisor can point you to sources for a task you are working on.
- For a projectFor a graduation project or a research project, the reading list is agreed with the member of academic staff who supervises it.
- For a conceptThe study assistant explains a concept again, in a different way, whenever you need it.
See how a course is built
Units, lessons, practice and a task carried out in your own workplace.