The Academic Skills Handbook
Your Guide to Success in Writing, Thinking and Communicating at University
- Diana Hopkins - Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), Freelance Consultant
- Tom Reid - Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), Freelance Consultant
Student Success
'...Reassuringly informal and accessible, like a pocket academic mentor.' - Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education
This is your complete guide to success in navigating, writing, thinking, and communicating at university. Packed with tips, diagnostic tools, guided exercises, and full text examples, it equips you to boost your grades, ace your assignments, and get the most out of your time at university.
This book helps you:
- Prepare for and navigate university culture
- Develop the academic skills needed for success at university
- Communicate your ideas with confidence and clarity
- Watch your skills grow with diagnostic tools
- Create your own study plan tailored to the skills you need
- Know what your tutor is looking for and how to deliver
- Turn your skills into success after university
The Academic Skills Handbook is specially designed to show you where your strengths are and what you need to work on, so you get a practice plan that is perfect for your needs. It then arms you with the principles and practice to get ahead in your academic writing, presentations and group work.
What's new to this edition? Three chapters on university culture, writing blogs, and online and blended learning (including best practices for using AI as a support tool), as well as new annotated examples of course work and increased coverage of wellbeing.
Student Success is a series of essential guides for students of all levels. From how to think critically and write great essays to boosting your employability and managing your wellbeing, the Student Success series helps you study smarter and get the best from your time at university.
Supplements
Watch the video recording of student webinar Academic Writing and Taking a Critical Approach with authors Diana Hopkins, and Tom Reid. Hosted by JS Group, this talk brings some top tips on how to show more critical engagement with your writing to achieve higher grades.
Visit our hub for free academic skills, wellbeing and employability resources from our new and bestselling guides, designed to support you from day one all the way through to graduation and beyond.
Writing Sample Library: Annotated examples of real writing from real students, full of notes and tips from the authors to help you anticipate what your tutor will look for. Here you can find sample essays for every subject area, a lab report, reflective essay, a dissertation and a sample poster.
Diagnostic Tool Kit: Score yourself from the diagnostic test in each chapter of the book, so you can identify your strengths and weaknesses and can plan your own, personal plan to build up your academic skills.
Answers to Guided Tasks: Find the answers to all guided tasks in the book too!
Look inside The Academic Skills Handbook and learn how it helps students transform their university experience.
Find out how The Academic Skills Handbook 2e helps faculty provide personalised support to every student and make the most of face-to-face time.
Professional, loved the images, layout and text combinations. I enjoyed it immensely and would certainly have loved this book for my undergraduate BA.
Overall, the chapter effectively navigates the nuances of university culture in the initial weeks. Its strengths lie in practical advice and insights into campus life. The practical advice is immensely useful for both incoming and current students.
As a companion skills text, this book offers readers unique ways to critically reflect on their current skill level, set themselves objectives, and test and self-evaluate each new skill area interactively. (...) There is a stimulating blend of text with imagery and visuals, combined with online interactive skills development tasks, which is a novel feature of this text, taking it to the realms of being a learning device, rather than simply a book. The tone of voice is conversational: reassuringly informal and accessible, like a pocket academic mentor. (…) This text is an important learning companion for refocusing on the development of critical reading, thinking, and writing skills, to improve the quality of work produced by humans for university assessment and future workplace environments.
I absolutely loved the book - it highlighted some really key points and I even learned a thing or two myself! I ended up shipping my younger sister off to uni with it (she’s just started her business degree) and she’s always called on the book a few times :)
Gives students good insight into academic writing, especially students who ahve not written a nursing academic assignment previously.
useful handbook to accompany unit on study skills
a clear guide for students new to academia
This is a useful guide for students who have not yet mastered their command of academic writing.
A great handbook for HE students
This is such a general book that it is hard to put on one reading list. I like the way it is broken up into easily readable and manageable sections, which are good for referring to. The titles of each section make it very clear what the section is about. It is especially good for both the Year 1 UG students and the MA students who have come from abroad. I will recommend this book to the library and to both UG and PGT courses in the School.
