ASSESS YOUR ACADEMIC SKILLS Student Orientation September 2013

What are academic skills?  Complex, interrelated, transferable  Crucial to being an effective learner  Go hand in hand with academic content Examples of skills?

Time management and organisation Do you:  have strategies to help you plan and organise your time?  know how much time you have available for your studies?  know what makes studying more effective for you (i.e. when and where you study best)?  keep a diary or calendar so you know when to attend lectures and when assignments are due?

Reading Can you:  select and use different reading strategies (e.g. skim, scan, in-depth)?  think about what you need to find out before you start reading (are you reading to verify facts, to understand a subject in general or to analyse a particular argument)?  critically evaluate reading?  deal with new vocabulary?

Note making Can you:  make effective notes when reading?  make effective notes when listening (e.g. during lectures)?

Critical thinking Can you:  distinguish between fact and opinion?  draw conclusions based on evidence?  account for different points of view and detect bias?  see the wider picture?

Expressing yourself in public Can you:  use strategies to engage and influence your audience?  express agreement and disagreement while considering other points of view?  summarise a discussion?  structure an argument properly for presentations?  use PowerPoint to tell your story effectively?

Writing Can you:  express your ideas clearly in written form?  make an outline of what you are going to write?  write in clear sentences and paragraphs?  link your ideas in a logical order?  use correct grammar?

Library and IT skills  Two key skill areas  Includes finding materials (in print and online), research and producing documents and  Support and training is provided through the Library and IT Services

Where to get more help  Birkbeck Library has a website with books on different academic skills that links to the catalogue. It is available at:  Academic Development Workshops are available at Birkbeck. More information can be found at:  There are interactive tutorials to help you develop various skills available on the Get Ahead Stay Ahead website at:  The Library has an induction tutorial available at: and more general Library information is available at:  IT Services has workshops and information available at:

Where to get more help Learning Support in Schools and Birkbeck Stratford School of Arts Dr Fleur Rothschild School of Business, Economics and Informatics Richard Carabine School of Law Pat Costall School of Science Dr Kirsty Rowan School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy Helen Fuller Birkbeck Stratford Dr Sarah Potter Centre for Transformative Practice in Teaching and Learning Dr Jennifer Fraser Administrator