Make the most of Intute now

Intute at http://www. intute.ac.uk/ is best described as a hand-built directory of ‘best-of-the-web’. It is a pool of resource sites that are carefully examined and evaluated by subject specialists, who plough through thousands of websites every day before adding them to their database. Intute was originally created for students, teachers and researchers.

Topics can be browsed by subject under the following categories:

* Agriculture

* Food

* Forestry

* Architecture and Planning

* Biological Sciences

* Business and Management Studies

* Communication and Media Studies

* Creative and Performing Arts

* Education and Research Methods

* Engineering

* Geography and Environment

* Humanities

* Law

* Mathematics

* Computer Science

* Medicine

* Modern Languages and Area Studies

* Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health

* Physical Sciences

* Psychology

* Social Sciences

* Veterinary Medicine

The information under these categories is comprehensive. For example, in the Business and Management Studies segment, the material has been researched and recommended by a team of subject specialists from universities across the UK. Topics include Business (General), Accountancy, Business by Country, Business by Region, Business History, Society & Environment, Company Information, Globalisation, Management, and Marketing & Communications.

Intute can also help you develop your internet research skills through its virtual training  tutorials that are hosted at http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/. Written by lecturers and librarians from universities across the UK, this virtual suite provides free sessions on how to use the web for education and research purposes.

These interactive, teach-yourself tutorials are available under various links and among them are Aeronautical Engineering , Agriculture, Allied Health, American Studies, Anthropology, Archaeology, Architecture, Art & Design, Biodiversity, Business and Management, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Computer Science & Informatics, Dentistry & Oral Health, Development, Earth Science, Economics, Education, Electrical Engineering, English, Environment, European Studies, Fashion & Beauty, Geography,  Government & Politics, Health & Safety, Health & Social Care, History, History & Philosophy of Science, Hospitality & Catering, Law, Leisure, Sport & Recreation, Materials Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Media & Communication, Medicine, Microbiology, Midwifery, Modern Languages, Music, Nursing, Performing Arts, Petroleum & Offshore Engineering, Pharmacy, Philosophy, Photography, Physics , Psychology, Religious Studies, Social Policy, Social Research Methods, Social Statistics, Social Work, Sociology, Travel & Tourism, Veterinary Medicine, and Women’s Studies.
Intute also hosts, at http://www.intute.ac.uk/criticalthinking.html, a set of free teaching resources designed to help students with their analytical skills, using the web as source material.

Students are invited to explore the web and find a number of sites that address a chosen topic, and then, in a teacher-led group discussion,  share and discuss their findings. There are two models that are currently available, each consisting of a series of exercises for either classroom or seminar use.

Intute is created by a consortium of seven universities, working together with a host of partners. The Intute consortium comprises University of Birmingham, University of Bristol, Heriot-Watt University, University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Nottingham and University of Oxford.

But this easy to access, free of cost service will soon disappear from the web because it has lost a large percentage of funding.  Intute’s executive director recently announced that the website will continue its service only till August 1, 2010. After August, Intute will be available, but with minimal maintenance. Fans can harvest information from its vast database, right now!