Overview
Content
01 Introduction
02 The purpose of mySkills
03 What are academic skills?
04 What benefit can be gained from using these materials?
05 How should the materials be used?
- 01 Introduction
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Welcome to mySkills, the Academic Skills Website of the University of Essex. We have designed the following materials for anyone currently studying or about to embark on an academic study programme at the University of Essex, either at undergraduate or postgraduate level. Our materials do not relate to any one particular subject area and we therefore strongly recommend that you also check your departmental webpages (depts) which may provide you with more subject-related skills advice.
We have attempted to make the materials as comprehensive and accessible as possible; we are certainly open to suggestions about ways to improve them, and would welcome your feedback.
[Back to top] - 02 The purpose of mySkills
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The purpose of this Academic Skills Website, is to familiarise you with the skills you will need to achieve success at degree level in a British university. The materials have been created by a wide range of different authors who are experienced lecturers and tutors working in many different academic fields. We hope that the materials will help you to develop the most effective techniques and study methods which will enable you to get the most out of your learning experience.
[Back to top] - 03 What are academic skills?
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In order to achieve academic success, you will need to cultivate a number of complex skills, many of which are interrelated and transferable. Throughout the website, we have used the term ‘academic skills’ in preference to ‘study skills’, ‘key skills’, ‘core skills’, and ‘transferable skills’, in order to draw the distinction between the basic skills that are developed throughout schooling and those specifically required in a higher education context. Of course, ‘academic skills’ are, for the most part, a continuation of these lower level skills, and are therefore infinitely transferable to non-educational contexts, but some might also be completely new to you.
[Back to top] - 04 What benefit can be gained from using these materials?
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Indeed, you might well assume that since you are already engaged in academic study at the University, you are equipped with a set of skills which will enable you to achieve success in your chosen area. You may, in fact, be quite content to continue to adopt the same study habits that have worked for you so far and may feel that you need no extra advice or guidance. You might also be aware that what works for one person does not necessarily work for another, since each person has their own preferred, unique learning style.
While it is fine to feel confident in this way, it is also true that studying at higher education level will require you to ‘step up a gear’. We therefore strongly encourage you to streamline your study habits and develop your ability to read, write, present, analyse, develop arguments, etc. Take it from us: everyone has a learning development need – even the most accomplished of academics improves over time, in terms of things such as undertaking research and writing journal articles, etc. The very best writers and researchers are those who work closely with criticism and the editorial process, and are always open to suggestions.
The aim of the Website, then, is not to be prescriptive but rather to offer you some additional suggestions and guidance in the areas that you feel may need honing. We are particularly aware that for students coming to study here from overseas, it may be very difficult to adapt to a completely new study environment here in the UK. We therefore recommend that you take the time to consult the webpages for international students in addition to these skills pages. Having said that, no-one coming into higher education has an innate knowledge of the conventions – how and why we do things in the way that we do – and so all students should, in actual fact, benefit from all the advice and resources.
[Back to top] - 05 How should the materials be used?
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The material has been divided into sections which can be accessed via the links on the left hand side of this webpage. You can either identify any relevant section according to your immediate need, or else you can, if you prefer, choose to work through each section in the order in which we have presented the material. We would strongly recommend, however, that you take the time to work through the tasks we have devised for each section. It seems clear that effective learning is more likely to take place as a result of being actively engaged with the teaching material. Model answers have also been provided for you.
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you the best of luck on your chosen degree programme. We hope that your learning experience is fruitful and rewarding, and will open many doors for you.
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