Study Skills

Academic reading can often be seen as a very passive task, and individuals often skim over articles or textbooks, missing crucial details. Here we will discuss ways to avoid falling at the first hurdle in research, and how to get the most from your reading. 

Sometimes just reading one article isn't enough. You only get one view, one small selection of the research available. Employing further reading around a topic can be invaluable, but it's often difficult to identify what you need to be looking for. See here for how to find the perfect resources to further your knowledge.

Critical thinking is an invaluable tool which can be applied to unfamiliar subjects to develop an objective understanding of opinions and ideas, and to make an accurate decision for oneself.

Note-taking is a careful art, and one which can only be perfected for oneself through trial and error. It is important for the retention of information, allowing you to re-digest and use content at a later date.

There are various ways to approach assignments. Different questions, different subjects, and different objectives will require different methods of writing. Here we outline a few of the various writing styles employed in academic writing, when they are appropriate, and how you would go about utilising these to full effect. 

Writing letters, reports, notes and other communications are important skills for business and personal life. Good letters help to get results, where poor letters fail. People judge others on the quality of their writing, so it's helpful to write well. Here are some simple tips for writing letters and communications of all sorts.

One of the most important skills for any student or academic is being able to reference correctly. Here, we explain both Vancouver and Harvard referencing, how to write in-text citations, and how to build a reference list (bibliography).

One of the two major research styles, qualitative research generally involves an exploration of opinions, motivations, or other underlying causes which may have contributed to a phenomenon. Due to it's nature, qualitative research can be difficult to tackle, and should only be approached with a full understanding of methodology. Here we provide an introduction to this research style, so that you can hit the ground running.

One of the two major styles of research, quantitative research revolves around the collection, analysis and interpretation of numbers and other statistics. 

Academic literature makes up the core basis of most research projects. Without a full understanding of the key research to date, you cannot define your own research questions. Here, we provide some tips on how to access academic writing.