Acknowledgements                                   viii
Introducing The Study Skills Handbook              1   (1)
      How to use The Study Skills Handbook         2   (1)
      Where to begin                               3   (1)
      Seven approaches to learning                 4   (2)
      What do I want from university?              6   (1)
    Preparing for university                       7   (18)
      Appliying to university                      8   (1)
      Am I ready for Higher Education?             9   (1)
      What to expect in Higher Education           10  (2)
      Independent study                            12  (1)
      Independent learning: taking control         13  (1)
      Skills and personal development              14  (1)
      The student's year                           15  (1)
      What is expected from you?                   16  (1)
      Anxieties and resources                      17  (1)
      Managing anxieties                           18  (2)
      What are my jpersonal resources?             20  (1)
      Eight things you can do before starting      21  (2)
      at university
      Joining up and induction                     23  (1)
      Review                                       24  (1)
    Identifying your skills                        25  (16)
      Five study-skills components                 26  (1)
      Skills and qualities you have now            27  (2)
      Current skills and qualities                 29  (1)
      Turning personal skills into academic        30  (1)
      skills
      Study skills: priorties, stage 1             31  (1)
      Study skills: priorties, stage 2             32  (1)
      Study skills: action plan                    33  (1)
      Monitoring skills development                34  (1)
      Personal profiles                            35  (1)
      Transferable and soft employment skills      36  (1)
      Turning academic skills into transferable    37  (1)
      and soft employment skills
      Recording achievement                        38  (1)
      Developing a protfolio                       39  (1)
      Review                                       40  (1)
    Intelligence and learning                      41  (14)
      `Am I intelligent enought for university?'   42  (1)
      Nine different views of intelligence         43  (5)
      What is `learning'?                          48  (2)
      Six conditions for learining                 50  (3)
      Optimal learning                             53  (1)
      Review                                       54  (1)
    The C.R.E.A.M. strategy for                    55  (38)
    learning-Creative, Reflective, Effective,
    Active, Motivated
      Finding your creative streak                 56  (1)
      Be a professor---and other ideas             57  (1)
      Creative learning                            58  (1)
      What is my learning style?                   59  (2)
      Reflective learning                          61  (1)
      How well am I doing?                         62  (1)
      Reflective learning journals                 63  (1)
      Virtue versus effectiveness                  64  (2)
      Effective learning                           66  (1)
      Settling down to study                       67  (1)
      When, how and where?                         68  (1)
      Organising space for study                   69  (1)
      Managing your time                           70  (1)
      Effective diary-keeping                      71  (2)
      Ten time-saving suggestions                  73  (1)
      Study time                                   74  (1)
      Where does the time go?                      75  (1)
      Time circle                                  76  (1)
      Time management                              77  (1)
      Priority organiser                           78  (1)
      Working backwords from deadlines             79  (1)
      Combininng work and study effectively        80  (1)
      Effective management of work-based           81  (1)
      projects
      Effective management of study-release time   82  (1)
      Active learning                              83  (1)
      Emphasis on action!                          84  (1)
      Active learning strategies                   85  (1)
      Motivated learning                           86  (1)
      What do I aim to achieve at university?      87  (1)
      Using desired outcomes to guide study        88  (2)
      strategy
      Achieving desired outcomes                   90  (1)
      The C.R.E.A.M strategy                       91  (1)
      Review                                       92  (1)
    Working with others                            93  (18)
      Studying with others                         94  (1)
      Ways of working with others                  95  (1)
      Talking and listening skills                 96  (1)
      Making your point                            97  (1)
      Making the group work                        98  (1)
      Being an effective group member              99  (1)
      Dealing with difficult moments in the        100 (1)
      group
      Prejudice, unfairness and discrimination     101 (1)
      Dealing with unfair discrimination           102 (1)
      Coping with unfair discrimination            103 (1)
      How will do I contribute to seminars and     104 (1)
      groups?
      Study support networks                       105 (1)
      Sharing work without cheating                106 (1)
      Making a presentation or giving a talk       107 (2)
      How effective am I in giving a talk?         109 (1)
      Being aware of your audience                 110 (1)
      Review                                       110 (1)
    Research skills                                111 (28)
      Identifying the task                         112 (1)
      Making the most of the library               113 (1)
      Finding information in the library           114 (1)
      Identifying and selecting relevant           115 (1)
      informatuin
      Am I a smart reader?                         116 (3)
      Improving reading comprehension              119 (1)
      Improving reading speed                      120 (1)
      Strategies for speeding up your reading      121 (1)
      Making notes                                 122 (1)
      Note-making styles                           123 (2)
      Shortcuts in he note-making                  125 (1)
      Making notes with confidence                 126 (1)
      Recording and using information              127 (1)
      Plagiarism                                   128 (1)
      Detecting palgiarism and copying             129 (1)
      References                                   130 (1)
      Giving references                            131 (2)
      Writing out most out of lectures             133 (1)
      Getting the most out of lectures             133 (1)
      Lecture notes: cover sheet                   134 (1)
      How helpful are your notes                   135 (1)
      Problem-solving                              136 (1)
      Practicals and laboratory work               137 (1)
      Review                                       138 (1)
    E-learning, technology and personalised        139 (28)
    learning
      Using computers for effective study          140 (1)
      Basic health and safety when using a         141 (1)
      computer
      What computer skills of I need?              142 (2)
      Organisational skills for studying on the    144 (2)
      computer
      ICT and e-learning: key terminology          146 (1)
      Making the most of the internet              147 (1)
      Searching online                             148 (1)
      Conducting an online search                  149 (1)
      Narrowing or exxtending your online search   150 (1)
      Advanced online searches                     151 (1)
      Academic resources online                    152 (1)
      What is e-learning?                          153 (1)
      E-learning: getting started                  154 (1)
      E-learning and personalised learning         155 (1)
      Personalised e-learning: portals and VLE     156 (1)
      E-learning: wikis, blogs, podcasts           157 (1)
      Using e-communications for study             158 (1)
      Personalising your own study                 159 (1)
      More about personalising your study          160 (1)
      Managing an e-project                        161 (1)
      Managing an e-communications for projects    162 (1)
      Managing an e-project: planner               163 (3)
      Review                                       166 (1)
    Writing for university                         167 (34)
      How good am I at managing writing tasks?     168 (1)
      Writing for the fearful                      169 (1)
      Developing your writing                      170 (1)
      Anxieties about writing                      170 (1)
      Similarities between academic writing and    171 (1)
      other activities
      Overcoming writer's block                    172 (1)
      Tricks for getting started                   173 (1)
      Students' solutions to writing blocks        174 (1)
      Essays and other academic writing            175 (1)
      A seven-point procedure for writing          176 (2)
      assignments
      Analysing the title                          178 (1)
      Academic keywords used in titles             179 (1)
      Devising your own essay title                180 (1)
      Common features of all academic writing      181 (1)
      Structuring your writing                     182 (1)
      Organising information: planning your        183 (1)
      writing
      Structuring an essay                         184 (1)
      Planning your writing assignment             185 (1)
      Planning stages                              186 (1)
      Concept pyramids organise ideas              187 (2)
      Essay plans as pyramids                      189 (2)
      Writing drafts                               191 (1)
      Pragraphs                                    192 (2)
      Checking your paragraphs                     194 (1)
      Linking ideas together                       195 (1)
      Editing your draft                           196 (1)
      Editing final drafts                         197 (1)
      Presenting your writing                      198 (1)
      Lecturers' preferences                       199 (1)
      Review                                       200 (1)
    Developing your writing                        201 (24)
      Stylistic conventions for academic writing   202 (2)
      Being precise                                204 (1)
      Using facts, opinions or arguments           204 (1)
      Writing for different subjects               205 (2)
      Alternatives to the scientific model         207 (1)
      Polar opposites in academic approaches       208 (1)
      Different styles                             209 (1)
      Descriptive writing                          210 (1)
      Argumentative/analytical writing             211 (1)
      Framework for an argumentative essay         212 (1)
      Evaluative/analytical writing                213 (2)
      Framework for a `compare and contrast'       215 (1)
      essay
      Using personal experience                    216 (1)
      What gets good marks?                        217 (1)
      Using feedback from tutors                   218 (1)
      What is an essay like?                       219 (5)
      Review                                       224 (1)
    Confidence with numbers                        225 (26)
      What do I need to know?                      226 (1)
      Build your confidence with numbers           227 (2)
      Can you trust numbers?                       229 (1)
      Questioning numbers and statistics           230 (1)
      Fractions                                    231 (1)
      More about fractions                         232 (1)
      Using fractions                              233 (1)
      Understanding percentages                    234 (1)
      Calculating percentages from fractions       235 (1)
      Rounding up and down                         236 (1)
      What are `averages'?                         237 (1)
      Calculating averages: the mean (`equal       238 (1)
      share')
      Calculating averages: the median (`middle    239 (1)
      number')
      Calculating averages: the mode (`most        240 (1)
      frequent')
      Comparing means, medians and modes           240 (1)
      Five-number summaries and quartiles          241 (1)
      Using five-number summaries                  242 (1)
      Using tables, charts and graphs              243 (1)
      Interpreting graphs                          244 (1)
      Interpreting tables                          245 (1)
      Interpreting charts                          246 (1)
      Technical terms                              247 (1)
      Review                                       248 (3)
    Projects, dissertations, reports and case      251 (24)
    studies
      What is a project?                           252 (1)
      What is a dissertation?                      253 (1)
      Independent study: benefits, challenges,     254 (1)
      risks
      Managing projects and other independent      255 (1)
      study
      Choosing the title                           256 (1)
      Developing a research strategy               257 (2)
      Designing questionnaires                     259 (2)
      Interview techniques                         261 (1)
      Presenting and analysing the data            262 (1)
      Characteristics of reports                   263 (1)
      Structuring reports                          264 (1)
      Writing the report: opening sections         265 (1)
      Writing the report: the body of the report   266 (1)
      Writing the report: conclusions,             267 (1)
      recommendations, abstracts
      Reports: layout, presentation and style      268 (1)
      Project and dissertation checklist           269 (1)
      Dissertation action plan                     270 (2)
      Case studies                                 272 (1)
      Writing a case study                         273 (1)
      Review                                       274 (1)
    Critical analytical thinking                   275 (18)
      Develop a detective-like mind                276 (1)
      Critical thinking when reading               277 (7)
      Critical analytical thinking                 284 (1)
      Critical thinking when writing               285 (1)
      Critical analytical writing vs.              286 (1)
      descriptive writing
      Identifying critical and descriptive         287 (2)
      writing
      Feedback on the activities                   289 (3)
      Review                                       292 (1)
    Memory                                         293 (16)
      Individual memory styles                     294 (1)
      Check your memory style                      295 (1)
      Improve your memory                          296 (1)
      Using the brain                              297 (1)
      The triune brain                             298 (2)
      Stages of the memory process                 300 (2)
      Suggestions for multiple encoding            302 (3)
      Memory thrives on organisation               305 (1)
      Pyramids, pattern notes and pictures         306 (1)
      `Chunking' information                       307 (1)
      Review                                       308 (1)
    Revision and exams                             309 (16)
      What does revision involve?                  310 (1)
      Effective revision                           311 (2)
      Revision strategies                          313 (1)
      Revision and exam preparation                314 (1)
      Revision: seven-point action plan            315 (1)
      Advance preparation for the exam             316 (1)
      Exams                                        317 (1)
      In the exam                                  318 (1)
      Doing well in exams                          319 (1)
      Exam strategy                                320 (1)
      Dealing with stress                          321 (1)
      Managing stress                              322 (2)
      Review                                       324 (1)
    Planning your next move                        325 (20)
      Study skills achivements                     326 (6)
      Evaluating achievement                       332 (1)
      Planning your future                         333 (1)
      Personal development already undertaken      334 (1)
      Planning towards a career                    335 (1)
      Career readiness                             336 (3)
      Lifelong learning                            339 (1)
      Where next? Skills for success               340 (3)
      Clarifying personal targets                  343 (1)
      Action plan for personal development         344 (1)
      planning goals
What now?                                          345 (1)
References                                         346 (1)
Appendix 1 Quick multiplier                        347 (1)
Appendix 2 Online research tools                   348 (1)
Index                                              349