Resource Lists: Best Practice

We recommend structuring your resource list to align with your teaching approach—whether by theme, weekly tasks, or another structure that suits your course.

Consider your students and what will be most helpful for them. Your online reading list should primarily guide them to the key readings for your module—what are these in your case?

Overly long reading lists can be overwhelming for students and challenging for you to maintain. Students only have a limited amount of time per week for reading, and usually study multiple modules at once. Reflect on how much time students should realistically spend on reading and curate your list accordingly.

The Resource List Framework recommends having Essential (2–3 items) or Further (2–3 items) per week.

Ensure that all texts have an assigned importance. This helps students plan their reading and research effectively while also guiding library purchasing decisions.

If no importance is set, the library will classify the resource as further reading.

Rather than listing specific further reading items, you might prefer to provide general guidance and direct students to their Subject Guide and UR Library Search accordingly.

Please note that only purchase Essential Readings, students can make use of Inter Library Loan for Further Readings.

Help guide students in how to approach and engage with the reading by adding comments or questions for each item using the student note.

Examples include:

• "Chapter 5 gives a good introduction to some of the theories we will be exploring in this module."
• "This document is very useful in helping you of thinking of different ways of analysing media"
• "The entire book is relevant, but chapters 5 and 6 are particularly important."
• "What do you make of this review of this film, do you agree with their take?"

Consider decolonising the curriculum, rebalancing gender representation, and highlighting the work of marginalised voices. The readings you select can create a more inclusive learning experience, foster greater student engagement, and remove barriers to discussion.

Make use of inclusive resources e.g. non text and audio content, inspiration can be found here: Our Collections: Sound and Vision: Film, TV, Images, Music

Ensure consistency in structuring lists across modules to improve student experience.

For more information, please see Assessing Inclusion, Diversity, Equality and Accessibility (IDEA) in Resource Lists

Below is an example of a weekly section of a Resource List embedded in Moodle. Each item has been designated as Essential or Further, and has been annotated to contextualise the resource.