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• List of Figures
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgments
• Companion Social Media Site
• Part One The Starter Kit
• 1 Introduction
• Introduction and welcome
• What is university for?
• University is changing
• Introducing us
• Introducing the book itself
• It takes time
• Get out of your comfort zone
• Using this book
• Reflect on it: Keep a diary, blog or vlog
• Social media support
• Coming to university: Hopes and fears
• Activity: Quick quiz: Get ready to study
• Six steps to successful study
• The six steps
• Six steps to success
• Study techniques can be learned – good students are made, not born
• Overview is vital – everybody needs the big picture
• Creativity is essential – and can be developed
• Communicate effectively – have something to say
• Emotions rule – how to survive and thrive
• Review – without reflection there is no learning
• Summary
• Further reading
• Activity: The successful student checklist
• 2 How to Learn, How to Study
• Introduction
• Activity: Past learning experiences
• What is learning?
• Active learning
• Creative and multimodal learning
• Make learning different
• The playful university
• The study apron
• Build on the visual
• Hear it, say it
• Activity: Learn how to learn
• Studying: When, where and how
• When should I study?
• Organisation and time management
• Where to study
• Make the space work for you
• How to study
• The lecture
• The seminar or workshop
• The tutorial
• Blended learning
• The virtual learning environment
• Independent and interdependent learning
• A beginner’s guide to taking control of your studies
• Summary
• Activity: The time sponge
• Further reading
• Activity: 1) Write a learning contract and 2) Fill in your timetables
• 3 How to Survive and Thrive
• Introduction
• Introducing positive thinking
• Feel the fear… and do it anyway
• Why do we experience fear?
• Promote your wellbeing: Reframe fear
• The positive student
• Keep going: Say it, write it, do it
• Get help if you need it
• The counselor says
• Personal and/or academic tutor
• Subject librarian (academic liaison librarian)
• Learning and writing development
• Student union
• Student support services
• And finally
• Activity: Positive things to do at university
• Part Two The Survival Kit
• 4 How to Enjoy Academic Reading
• Introduction
• Reading: Engaging with key ideas and people
• The problem with reading
• Activity: A beginner’s guide to reading
• An active reading strategy: QOOQRRR
• QOOQRRR in more detail
• Question
• Overview – course
• Overview – text
• Question: Why am I reading this now?
• Read – actively and interactively
• Re-read – make notes
• Review notes
• Get ready to read
• A quick note on plagiarism
• Activity: Make reading fun
• Summary
• 5 How to Make the Best Notes
• Introduction
• Activity: Brainstorm: What’s the point of making notes?
• Notemaking is active learning
• A beginner’s guide to ideal notes
• Linear notes
• The problem with linear notes
• Cornell notes
• Concept maps
• Mindmaps
• Pattern notes
• Patterns are best
• A beginner’s guide to pattern notes
• The revision cycle
• Big notemaking tips
• Summary
• Further reading
• Activity: First lecture questions
• 6 How to Be Analytical and Critical
• Introduction
• Critical thinking
• It’s all about critical thinking
• Activity: Practising critical thinking
• What if…
• Critical questions for reading and writing
• Reading tips
• Writing tips
• First break the question down
• Use the paragraph questions
• Flawed logic
• Summary
• 7 How to Be Reflective
• Introduction
• Reflective learning
• Without reflection there is no learning
• The reflective learning diary
• A beginner’s guide to reflective learning
• Reflective learning prompts
• Reflection on practice learning
• Policy and practice
• Assessing experiential learning
• Gibbs, Kolb and Schon
• Gibbs’ reflective cycle
• Kolb’s cycle
• Schon’s model of experiential learning
• How honest should I be?
• Tips on reflection
• And finally – your projects
• Summary
• Activity: Get blogging
• 8 How to Get On in Groups
• Introduction
• Building a group identity
• How we do it
• Unconscious bias
• Study groups and personal learning networks
• Thriving in assessed group work
• What is group work?
• Building a compassionate pedagogy
• Why group work?
• Advantages and disadvantages of group work
• How to ‘do’ group work
• Activity: Take control of group work
• A business-like approach to group work
• Belbin’s group roles
• Adair’s processes
• A beginner’s guide to group work
• Summary
• Further reading
• Activity: Use the ten steps to success approach – with an observer
• 9 How to Become an Excellent Digital Scholar
• Introduction
• Covid-19 changed everything: We are all digital now
• Being a digital student
• The right hardware
• Great software
• Save it
• Virtual or augmented reality
• Social media
• YouTube if you want to
• Become a digital success: Work out loud
• Virtual learning environments
• Blog to learn
• Twitter for learning
• Do a free MOOC
• Using your digital devices for research
• Using your library e-resources
• Bookmarking
• Evaluate your online sources
• Digital assessments and coursework
• Prevent plagiarism
• Summary
• Activity tips: How to make the digital work for you
• Part Three The Big Assessment Toolkit: Assessments – How to Excel
• 10 University Assessment and How to Succeed
• Introduction
• Understanding and passing your course
• Take control
• Understanding assessment
• Formative and summative assessment
• Formative assessment is developmental
• Summative assessment is final
• Feedback/forward
• Activity: Dealing positively with feedback/forward
• Understanding assignment formats
• The essay
• The reflective essay
• The patchwork assessment
• The report
• The dissertation
• The presentation
• The portfolio
• The project – or problem based learning
• The exam
• The digital artefact
• The literature review
• The reading record
• The annotated bibliography
• Ten steps to assignment success
• Prepare
• Targeted research and active reading
• Write – read – write
• Settle on a first draft
• Leave it!
• Review, revise and edit: Struggle to write
• Proofread
• Hand it in – celebrate
• Getting it back: Think first
• Getting it back: What the tutor said
• Activity: Talk yourself through an assignment question
• Overcoming writing blocks
• Some positive writing strategies
• Activity: Free writing for assignments
• Summary
• Further reading
• Activity: Rich writing
• 11 How to Reference and Avoid Plagiarism
• Introduction
• Reading, referencing and preventing plagiarism
• It is all about referencing
• Activity: Some reasons for plagiarising
• Summary
• Activity: Use your index cards or online referencing tools
• 12 How to Write Great Essays
• Introduction
• What is an essay?
• The legal precedent
• Why write essays?
• The essay explained
• The ‘body’ as argument – the paragraph as dialogue
• The introduction
• The conclusion
• References
• The five paragraph essay
• How to prepare and write an essay
• A beginner’s guide to essay writing
• It starts with the question
• Activity: Thinking around an essay question
• More ways to think about the question
• Activity: Thinking about ‘instruction words’
• SWOT it: Using feedback/forward
• SWOT
• Appreciative Inquiry
• Summary
• Activity: Use the essay checklist
• 13 How to Produce Excellent Reports
• Introduction
• What is a report?
• The ideal report
• Why write reports
• Professional development
• Research projects and dissertations
• The audience or reader
• How to approach reports
• Get creative
• Take logical steps
• Question yourself
• What’s my paradigm: Choosing your methodology and data gathering method
• Transparency, justification, creativity and analysis
• Writing it up
• Getting students started: How we do it
• Summary
• Activity: Different reports, their implications and the questions to ask
• 14 How to Devise and Deliver Excellent Presentations
• Introduction
• What is a presentation?
• It’s a talk
• It’s an act
• It’s interactive
• It’s a scholarly convention
• Why do we set presentations?
• The elevator pitch
• How to succeed in presentations: The four Ps
• Plan
• Prepare
• Practise, practise, practise
• Present: Performance tips and tricks
• Activity: Get creative with your presentations
• Group presentations: Essential things to do
• Seminars and workshops
• The seminar
• Workshops
• Summary
• Coda
• Activity: Use the presentation checklist
• 15 How to Revise for and Pass Exams
• Introduction
• What are exams and why do we set them?
• ‘How long should the answer be? I’m dyslexic and write slowly.’
• ‘I’ve got a really bad memory: How can you learn a whole year’s work in three weeks?’
• ‘I know I’m unusual but… I really love exams and hate coursework.’
• ‘What if I fail? It will all have been wasted!’
• How to develop your memory
• Short- and long-term memory
• Activity: How we learned in primary school
• Learning does not happen by accident
• The revision cycle
• Take control: See it, hear it, say it, do it
• Make revision games
• How to pass exams: SQP4
• Survey
• Question
• Predict
• Plan
• Prepare
• Practise those exams
• Examination day!
• Use the paper – use your time
• Think smart – think positive
• Relaxation
• The night before
• Judgement day
• What examiners like to see
• After the exam
• Summary
• Further reading
• Activity: Use the exams checklist
• Part Four The Employability Kit
• 16 Employability
• Introduction
• Improve your prospects – build your CV
• Think CV
• How to write a bad application
• What employers want
• Going on to further study
• Making the most of university
• A Dean of Students’ open letter to new students
• What the graduate said
• What the head of department says
• What the peer-learning programme leader says
• What the student ambassador leaders say
• What the lecturer says
• What the surprised academic said
• And finally – a message from the careers service
• Employability modules and transferable skills
• Transferable soft skills
• Activity: Are you reflecting?
• Recognition, entrepreneurship and knowledge exchange
• HEAR
• The anchor institution and knowledge exchange
• Summary
• Activity: What to do right now
• Bibliography and Further Reading
• Index