Higher School Certificate (HSC)

Are you currently studying for the NSW Higher School Certificate (HSC)? There are many things that can help you prepare for your examinations.

The Library has a great range of HSC resources such as the Excel textbooks. A quick search in the catalogue using the word “excel” and adding onto the end the subject you are studying such as “excel history” will bring up the items for you. These books are very popular, but if the copy you can borrow is out you might want to check to see if there is a copy in the reference collection. You can’t take this copy home with you, but you can use it in the library and take photocopies from it.

You may also like to check out our HSC student resources web page which has some great information to help you prepare for your exams.

I would also recommend going through the NSW HSC Online website, this site has information on every subject for the HSC and is an invaluable resource.

Another great way to study and prepare is to practice. Did you know that the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards of NSW has past HSC examination papers on their website? Not only do they have past papers, they also have the marking guidelines and the notes from the markers for each paper. Click the link to check out the examination papers from 2014. These papers are in PDF format so you are able to print copies out to use. Think about trying the past papers and timing yourself as if you were in the exam.

 

Can I use that website?

The internet is amazing; it is full of fantastic information that will help you with assignments. However, not all of the information you find on the internet is correct. You need to be able to work out what information is reliable and therefore suitable to use in assignments.

There are a number of ways you can decide whether an online source is credible, I like to ask myself the following questions:

Who wrote it?
Check who has written the content. You might find this information on the ‘About us’ page of the website, the author might be an individual, a group or an organisation. Hopefully they will also include information on the author’s credentials, for instance if you are reading an article on literacy programs in primary schools and the author has a master’s degree in education then they have appropriate expertise on the subject they are writing about. If you cannot find any information about who wrote the website then you should be wary about using any information on the website.

What kind of website is it?

The above image shows how to break down a URL to tell what kind of organisation created the website. Below you will see how to identify what the organisation part of a website address means. If a website is commercial then you can expect that the information on the site will be geared towards trying to get you to purchase something or agree with something they have said. Organisation (.org) website can often be very useful, the Beyond Blue website is a .org website www.beyondblue.org.au and is a great source of information and tools. However you still need to be careful about who created the website, make sure the information is accurate, some organisation websites will not be as good as Beyond Blue.

As a general rule I would concentrate on aiming to use websites that are government, education or academic websites with some organisation websites where appropriate. If you are ever in doubt ask your teacher, I’m sure they will be able to help you.

Types of websites you may come across

Is the information biased?
Information can be presented in certain ways with the aim of convincing the reader of something. For example if you were reading a website about the effect of pesticides on our food that was written by a company that sells pesticides you would find that more than likely the chemicals would be discussed in a positive manner. This website therefore would not be suitable to use for an assignment.

Is the information accurate?
Is it written in appropriate language without spelling mistakes? Does the information provide facts or statistics? If so then are you able to check the sources of these statistics to ensure they are accurate.

Is the information current?
How recent is the information in the website? For many subjects you don’t want to look at information that is more than 5 years old when you are looking at online resources unless the information is of historical significance to the subject of your assignment.

Amazing Australians: Fred Hollows

Image source: www.hollows.org.au

Fred Hollows was a New Zealand and Australian ophthalmologist, it is estimated that more than 1 million people can see today as a direct result of Fred Hollows work. Fred strived to provide eye care for the underprivileged and poor, and to improve the health of indigenous Australians. He also travelled overseas to underprivileged areas and organised training programs to train technicians in eye surgery. The Fred Hollows foundation was founded in Australia in 1992 to carry on his work when he passed.  

Fred is an amazing Australian and information on him is relatively easy to find, but be sure that the information you are gathering is from reputable sources.

In the Library & on the Library website

Searching the catalogue using the keywords “Fred Hollows” will get you some good results.

If you go to the Information desk online webpage on the Library website you will see that you have access to encyclopaedias like World Book which has information on Fred Hollows.

If you then go to the Reference Databases webpage try using the name “Fred Hollows” to search in Biography in Context which will give you some great information.

Online

If you decide to Google once again you can use the name Fred Hollows, other terms you could try include Fred Hollows Foundation.

Other websites that you might find useful

Fred Hollows Foundation
This foundation was set up in 1992 to continue the work of Fred Hollows following his death in 1993. It contains some great information about Fred and his work.

Australian Stories: Fred Hollows
In 1990 Fred Hollows was awarded the title ‘Australian of the Year’, this page provides a brief biography as well as links to related information.

Fred Hollows collection

This page contains great information about Fred as well as pictures of items from the Fred Hollows collection at the National Museum of Australia. It even contains a map which shows the movements of National Trachoma and Eye Health Program teams from 1976 to 1978 as well as some interesting links to related information.