The Study Skills Toolkit is a comprehensive set of interactive, learning resources for developing students' academic study skills for higher or further education. It comprises over 90 items (70+ hours of study) and can be used by students for independent study or by teachers in the classroom. It is aimed at English first language speakers. It is available for licence by institutions and can be delivered over the Web to students at a particular institution or through a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) such as Blackboard or Moodle. It has been licensed since 2005 and has recently undergone a further refreshment.
The Study Skills Toolkit consists of five folders. Click on the folder title to see the full list of contents.
Understanding learning styles
Recognising your own approach to study
Identifying the study skills you need
The best conditions for learning
Managing your study time
A day in the life of a student
Active and reflective learning practices
Finding and evaluating sources on the internet
Planning how to meet your workload
Learning logs and reflective journals
Prioritising study tasks
Using search engines for academic purposes
Setting your own goals and targets
Remembering what you learn
Preparing for exams
E-portfolios and PDP
Working with other people
Using tutor feedback to improve your work
Understanding stress
Managing stress
Assignments and academic writing
Understanding essay titles
Brainstorming and managing an academic writing task
Structure in academic writing
Improving your paragraphs with topic sentences
Supporting written statements
Expressing fact and opinion in writing
Creating cohesion in your writing
The role of the introduction to an essay or report
Understanding plagiarism
Identifying plagiarism and avoiding poor practice
Avoiding plagiarism
Introduction to quoting and paraphrasing
Using quotations
Using paraphrase in your writing
A strategy for effective paraphrasing and summarising
The role of a thesis statement
Revising your written work
Introduction to redrafting and editing
Editing paragraphs and final checking
Understanding conclusions
Writing an effective conclusion
Proofreading a text
Proofreading for common mistakes
The details needed for entries in a reference list
Organisation and order in reference lists
Referencing using APA or Harvard style
Presentation of written work
Recognising the elements of a dissertation
Introduction to reading skills
Reading and note-taking
Reading and critical thinking
Preparing to read for your course
Good practice in note-taking to avoid plagiarism
Introduction to scanning
Scanning for specific information
Reading to identify main points
Prediction strategies for reading
Skim reading and its uses
Skim reading practice
Identifying a writer's purpose
Introduction to speed reading
Evaluating sources
Recognising functional academic language
Analysing the elements of an argument
Critical reading using part of a case study
Finding clear and concise language
Introduction to academic register
Recognising style features of academic writing
Choosing the right vocabulary for academic writing
Using abstract language precisely
Reviewing punctuation
Using the comma
Using colons and semi-colons
Reviewing the sentence
Reporting verbs for academic writing
Using appropriate levels of complexity and formality
Producing complex sentences
Using noun phrases to be concise
Writing sentences with complex noun phrases
How to take good notes while listening
Getting the most out of lectures
Improving general note-taking skills
Features of lecturing style
Taking part in seminars and group tutorials
Presenting in seminars
Speaking in an academic context
Communicating online in an academic context
Distinguishing useful detail in lectures
Dealing with unfamiliar terms when listening to lectures
Identifying key points in a lecture
Listening for main points and summarising
Try some content from the Study Skills Toolkit
Our Toolkits work well on both PCs and most tablets (usability testing with some tablets is still in progress). For access from PCs, Android tablets etc. you will need Flash Player (version 9 or above) installed to view these samples. For iPads you will automatically be taken to a non-Flash version.
