RLO: Working with Reading Lists Online

This page will help you create reading lists that are easy for students to use, make it clear what is expected and improves engagement with resources: 

5 simple steps improving your reading list:

• Structure your list into sections (e.g. weekly or by topic/theme).  This helps students to plan and prioritise their reading throughout the module. 
• Set the importance of each resources so students can see if they are 'Essential' or 'Background' material.
• Annotate your lists by adding notes to each resource explaining why it has been added or directing students to specific chapters or sections.
• Include a variety of materials types to address different reading preferences.
• Publish your list to make it visible to your students.  Publishing your list will also automatically send the list to the Library for Review so that we can check the availability of resources and purchase any new materials that are required.

 Activity: Explore our example reading lists for inspiration

• Reading list divided into weekly sections
• Clear instructions given in the introduction
• Annotations made
• Items identified as Essential or Background

• Reading list divided into weekly sections
• Clear instructions given in the introduction
• Annotations made
• Items identified as Essential or Background 
• Digitised copies of relevant book chapters and journal articles availale

There are many ways you can encourage students to engage with the resources included on your reading list.

• Incorporate reading lists into class discussions. Use the readings in your tutorials - for example in the note field 'Read this article. We will be discussing it in the tutorial this week' .
• Encourage co-creation of the reading list with students. For example you might want the students to read a chapter or an article, or watch a short video and then ask the students to research and find supporting literature on the same topic. You could then ask them to justify why the literature they have chosen is a good source. This will also encourage critical reading and thinking.
• Open up a discussion board on your BB site and ask for students views.
• Use the types of resources you expect your students to be using in their research - for example
  • Books, book chapters, journal articles, e=books, reports, conferences, government publications, legal articles, newspapers, industry reports, industry cases, podcasts, videos...
• Have a diverse range of voices to make your reading list inclusive. Feedback from students at Edinburgh Napier University:
  • The reading list is nice, but I feel like there is more stuff to explore. I would love to see more outside of a western context. There is diversity of authors, but it would be interesting ... to explore outside of America or the UK'.
  • The reading list was incredibly comprehensive and insightful, although I would have liked to see more contemporary sources and female authors.

These are just a few of the ways you can engage students with your reading list.

Recent research/research presented at WHELF

King, M and Robertson, C (2024) Pedagogical approaches to using reading lists. Edinburgh Napier University. [Power Point] . WHELF Reading Lists online event 6-7 March 2024 - WHELF

• For Essential reading, your Library will aim to acquire a multi-access electronic version.
• Single User or Limited User access eBooks can be problematic for student access and should be avoided. Your Learning & Teaching Support Librarian can advise you on which resources are single or restricted licences. 
• Where resources are available in print format only, or with limited electronic access, extracts should be selected for digitisation (one chapter or 10% of a book, one journal article per journal issue), or another title selected. For more information please see the below section on Digitisation.
• Where print format is the only option, items should not be made Essential reading.
• If an RLO is not structured and prioritised, especially in the case of long lists (over 75 items), Learning and Teaching Support Librarians will contact academics and ask them to identify 10-15 books that will feature highly in their teaching. These will be checked for eBook availability and the academics will be notified to allow them to decide which items should be made Essential.
• Librarians can also provide advice on alternative resources for the subject area.

Digitisation of print only items

You can use the Request a Review option if you bookmark chapters or articles that are not available electronically.  Wherever possible we will digitise these (copyright law permitting).  We recommend you liaise with your Learning & Teaching Support Librarian if you have any questions regarding resources that need ordering. Alternatively, you can complete the Digitisation Request form linked at the end of this section.

Digitised readings on reading lists

Digitised readings will have a note to students to explain this.  They may also appear grouped in their own section as pictured below. 

Digitised readings across lists

The digitised reading will have been made purposefully for that particular module, and details such as the module code and student numbers will have been recorded for copyright auditing.  Therefore, please do not copy the link across and use it on an RLO for a different module. If you need  a digitised reading for a new RLO, please either add it to the RLO and send it to review or complete the form linked below.