The Study Skills Toolkit
The Study Skills Toolkit is an online resource set of 80 learning activities (60+ hours of study). This set aims to support students in academic study skills. It can be delivered over the Web or through a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment, such as Blackboard) and consists of:
- Learning awareness (14 activities)
- Academic writing (30 activities)
- Reading and critical thinking (16 activities)
- Aspects of academic language (10 activities)
- Academic speaking, listening and note-taking (10 activities)
List of contents of the Study Skills Toolkit view ¦ download (Word doc, 74kb)
Try an activity now!
You will need Adobe Flash Player (http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/) installed to view these activities.
How to take good notes while listening
You will identify what makes a good set of lecture notes and explore some note-taking techniques for saving time and presenting information clearly. You will also practise making notes yourself while listening.
Using paraphrase in your writing
You will consider how to paraphrase appropriately for academic writing and practise the skill yourself.
In these activities, you will consider your own use of time in general and practise planning how to use your own study time in the most effective way.
Study Skills Toolkit - list of contents
Learning awareness
1. Ways of learning
2. The best conditions for learning
3. Identifying the study skills you need
4. Managing your time
5. Learning logs and reflective journals
6. Personal Development Planning and e-Portfolios
7. Recognising good study skills
8. Planning and prioritising
9. Using feedback to improve
10. Searching on the internet
11. Preparing for exams
12. Working with other people
13. Remembering what you learn
14. Managing stress
Academic writing
1. Assignments and academic writing
2. Understanding essay titles
3. Brainstorming and managing an academic writing task
4. Structure in writing
5. Improving your paragraphs with topic sentences
6. Using examples to support written statements
7. Expressing fact and opinion in writing
8. Creating cohesion in your writing
9. The role of the introduction to an essay or report
10. Finding out about plagiarism
11. Identifying plagiarism and avoiding poor practice
12. Avoiding plagiarism
13. Using quotations effectively
14. Quoting from sources
15. Using paraphrase in your writing
16. A strategy for effective paraphrasing and summarising
17. Revising your written work
18. Introduction to redrafting and editing
19. Editing paragraphs and final checking
20. Understanding conclusions
21. Writing an effective conclusion
22. Proofreading a text
23. Proofreading for common mistakes
24. Compiling a reference list
25. Organising bibliographic entries
26. Presenting your written work
27. Recognising the elements of a dissertation
28. Biological sciences: producing a lab report
29. Law assignments: answering the problem question
30. Nursing studies: assessing patient-based scenarios
Reading and critical thinking
1. Preparing to read for your course
2. Reading online and printed texts
3. Introduction to reading skills
4. Prediction strategies for reading
5. Speed reading
6. Good practice in note-taking to avoid plagiarism
7. Critical reading using part of a business case study
8. Reading to identify main points
9. Evaluating sources
10. Reading and note-taking
11. Scanning for specific information
12. Thinking critically about what you read
13. Skim reading practice
14. Analysing the elements of an argument
15. Recognising functional academic language
16. Identifying main ideas using skim reading
Aspects of academic language
1. Introduction to academic register
2. Being clear and concise
3. Contrasting academic writing with other styles of writing
4. Using appropriate levels of complexity and formality
5. Using basic punctuation marks effectively
6. Using colons and semi-colons
7. Choosing the right vocabulary when writing
8. Expressing abstract ideas effectively
9. Writing sentences containing complex noun phrases
10. Using noun phrases for better writing
Academic speaking, listening and note-taking
1. How to take good notes while listening
2. Improving general note-taking skills
3. Speaking in an academic context
4. Taking part in seminars and group tutorials
5. Communicating effectively online
6. Dealing with new concepts when listening
7. Getting the most out of lectures
8. Listening for main points and summarising
9. Identifying key points in a lecture
10. How to deliver an oral presentation