The last drop-in appointments this term will be on Thursday (12th December). However, they will start again on Friday 3rd January.

These appointments are 50 minutes long, are available every afternoon from 14:00 (except Wednesdays) and can be booked on the day.

Call us on 020 7040 0246 or come to Learning Success reception (in the Student Centre at Northampton Square), and we will tell you when the tutor is available.

If you can’t get an appointment, then you could find the information you need on our moodle course (http://moodle.city.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=2966), or ask us via Twitter: @CityUniLS.

We’ll be offering a very full range of academic skills workshops next term.  Starting on 17th February, the programme will run for five to six weeks.  Here’s an outline of the programme:

Mondays – Dissertation Skills

Tuesdays (and repeated on Thursdays) – Types of Assignment, including reports, essays, presentations, reflective writing, literature reviews and exams

Wednesdays (and repeated on Fridays) – Critical Thinking and Writing

All sessions are at 1pm.  For rooms, please see the calendar.

The slides for this workshop are here:

Memory techniques slides

And you can find the worksheet here:

Memory and revision worksheet

Always a contentious subject, the slides are here:

Referencing and Plagiarism

and the plagiarism test is here:

Plagiarism test

Spoiler alert! Answers over the fold …

(more…)

This week we looked at critical reading and thinking. You can find the slides here:

Critical reading and thinking slides

Plus the worksheet:

Critical reading and thinking worksheet (with answers)

What you need to do is to be careful when you’re doing assignments where it’s tempting for you to describe what you’ve found out about the subject (for example, if it’s a subject you’re already very interested in). Critical discussion requires putting some distance between you and the subject, and that’s difficult if you’re too emotionally close to it.

‘Never choose an subject you’re interested in for your assignment’ would be a terrible thing to say, because it’s that extra reading and knowledge that adds value to your qualification. However, bear in mind that this will be a temptation.