Study Skills For Dummies^®

Introduction

Welcome to Study Skills For Dummies! So, what are study skills, and why do you need them? Read on. While your subject of study is concerned with what you learn, study skills are to do with how you learn. Study skills help you use the content of your course as efficiently as possible, so that you get the most out of the efforts you put into your work. They provide you with a basic toolkit of resources to select from and apply to any situation, and each new situation gives you more practice and more confidence in yourself. The skills you practise at college or university will also stand you in good stead in the world of work afterwards. They can help you, for instance, present yourself well at interview, network effectively or challenge with confidence the small print in contracts or other documents.

For most people, going to college or university is their first experience of independence and it can be daunting as well as exciting. For this reason, in this book I take a broad view of study skills so as to include wellbeing as a basic requirement for fruitful studies. The people you meet and interact with, as well as being a joy in themselves – or a problem to solve – contribute to your learning process and skills development. Good students are lively, chatty and well-rounded people who learn from each other as well as their tutors.

About This Book

Study Skills For Dummies aims to help every student get the most from themselves and their studies. Not by burning the midnight oil in a garret and forsaking everything and everyone else – far from it. This book explains some of the reasoning behind how things work in the academic world, the duties and responsibilities of students and their tutors and how and where to seek out answers when something is not clear to you. Knowledge is power and helps to put you in charge of your learning.

The book offers practical strategies to help you use your time effectively and avoid stress, with suggestions for particular tasks like understanding essay titles and taking notes. Regular preparation, followed by discussion or self-reflection on what you’ve learned or how your views have changed in the light of these experiences, are the bedrock of your learning experience. This process of revisiting what you’ve learned strengthens not only your memory for information – a great help later on, when the exams come round – but also your own ideas and views. It also helps you construct your arguments in favour of your views: this process is central to your academic development. In other words, wherever possible, this book shows you how to kill at least two birds with one stone, but you can dip into any chapter and find practical suggestions for solving the problems or tackling the tasks at hand.

Conventions Used in This Book

To help you navigate through this book, I’ve set up a few conventions:

Italic is used for emphasis and to highlight new words or terms that are defined.

Boldfaced text is used to indicate the action part of numbered steps.

Website addresses appear in monofont, so that they stand out on the page.

Sidebars (the grey boxes you come across from time to time) are extra background information that you can take or leave.

What You’re Not to Read

Because this book is about putting you in charge so that you can easily find what you need, I’ve also made it easy for you to identify ‘skippable’ material. This stuff, although interesting and related to the topic at hand, isn’t essential for you to know:

Text in sidebars: The sidebars are fun, and you’ll learn from reading them, but they aren’t essential reading. They share anecdotes, examples or background information only, although I hope they are helpful.

The stuff on the copyright page: Save your time. You should only read what you need to and there’s nothing here of any interest, even if you’re doing a publishing degree.

Foolish Assumptions

In writing this book, I’ve assumed that one of the following is true about you.

You are in your last year of school considering embarking on a course of study at college or university.

You have already started a course at college or university.

You are returning to education after a break to take a higher degree and need some revision.

You are taking a Foundation course instead of ‘A’ levels.

You want the best value from your investment (both financial and physical) in education at university, and you want to know how to get it.

How This Book Is Organised

Study Skills For Dummies is divided into six parts, with each part broken into several chapters. Each chapter is, in turn, broken up into several sections. Each part brings together related material. The table of contents gives you more details of each chapter.

Part I: Study Skills Basics

This part introduces you to the nitty-gritty of being at university telling you about the overall set-up, academic requirements, how things work and how you can develop the basic tools you need to be a successful student. Here’s where you find out about critical thinking, and those essential ICT skills you have to have in modern college education.

Part II: Becoming an Active Learner

One thing you need to get straight from the start is that a college or university education is not something that just happens to you. It’s something you do. Active learning is about asking questions of the information you are taught, and using your critical skills to transform simple facts into understanding. This part covers the various sorts of learning experience you are going to become accustomed to, from intimate seminar groups to lectures in which you might be one of a hundred or more participants. It also stresses the two-way nature of education, accustoming you to the idea of seeking and giving feedback.

Part III: Gathering Your Evidence

This part deals in detail with an area which might be relatively new to you: independent research. At college or university you are in control of your own learning. Part III takes you through all you need to know about acquiring the raw material for knowledge and understanding. I tell you how to find the information you need, where to find it, and how to go about incorporating it into your own work.

Part IV: Getting It Down on Paper

Being able to express your views concisely in writing is a key skill for any student, almost regardless of which course they are on. The chapters in this section show you how to structure your written work effectively and how to use the sort of language appropriate to academic communication. They also stress the key principles of academic communication: honesty, clarity, relevance, and reality. Whether you’re writing lab reports or a dissertation, this part shows you how to get your thoughts down in the most efficient way you can. Writing is about showing what you know and using that as a basis to find out new things – about yourself as well as your subject. Just as poems and whodunits have an expected form, so does academic writing. This part helps you to base your ideas in academic ‘fact’ and be creative.

Part V: Final Reckoning: Surviving (And Enjoying) Exams

Even if you’re studying a subject where a large component of your final grade is made up of coursework, the chances are that you’ll have to sit exams at some point. This part deals with understanding exam questions, tips for remembering detailed information and advice on making the exams period as enjoyable as it possibly can be. If you prepare properly for your exams, there’s really nothing to worry about, and this section shows you how to develop the confidence to sail through with flying colours.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

It’s a For Dummies book, so there must be a Part of Tens. The chapters in this section offer chunks of sound advice to enhance your experience of student life. I talk about how to maximise the time you have available, how to work and have a good time at university, and finish up with ten great ideas for making your essays stand out from the crowd.

Icons Used in This Book

The icons used in this book help you to find different kinds of information that may be useful to you.

This icon highlights practical advice to make study skills work for you. Tips are the inside info you need to make the most of your study time.

This icon is a friendly reminder of important points to take note of. Carry these away with you, and you won’t go far wrong.

You’ll find this icon beside real-life instances of the particular topic I’m discussing, to help you get a grip on the issues.

The ideas and information you’ll find next to this icon tend to be a bit more technical or mathematical than the rest of the book. I’m not saying the info isn’t interesting, but don’t get bogged down in it. You can still get the big picture, so feel free to skip this stuff.

This icon marks things to avoid of be wary of. If you see this icon, steer clear of whatever it is I’m warning you against.

Where to Go From Here

For Dummies books are organised so that you can dip in practically anywhere. You don’t have to start at Page 1 and keep going until the index. In fact that isn’t a great idea at all.

Having said that, it might be an idea to start with Part I, which really does cover the basics of student life. After that, the world – or at least the book – is your oyster. Use the Contents Pages and the Index to find the stuff you really need and want to know about. And enjoy!

Part I

Study Skills Basics

In this part . . .

So now you’re a student. What do you do now? This part gets you up to speed on the essentials of student life. In it I cover the people and places you need to know, the ways in which you need to organise yourself and both your responsibilities as a student and those of others towards you.

I also talk about the very basic skills you need to acquire to be a successful and engaged student. Not just the techie stuff, although I cover that, but the crucial skills of critical and analytical thinking which underpin your time as a student – and set you up for life.