Skills for Learning: Skills for Learning Workshops

Good critical thinking skills are essential to academic success at university. This interactive workshop focuses on those skills in detail. It examines the differences between descriptive writing and critical writing and offers students an opportunity to improve criticality in a writing activity.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This workshop looks at critical thinking in more detail, focusing on the processes involved in critical reading and critical writing. The session is open to all students but is particularly suitable for final-year students and postgraduates. Before attending this workshop, you should attend the ‘Critical Thinking I’ workshop.

Before the session, you might like to think about:

• What aspects of critical thinking do you find difficult?
• What techniques might you use to help you to read with a critical eye?
• What do the terms ‘analysis’ and ‘evaluation’ mean in relation to academic writing?’

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This workshop will be particularly useful for final-year undergraduates, but will also interest those at other levels looking ahead to their dissertation or major independent study. The session, which includes practical activities and peer learning, will focus on the function, structure, language and style of dissertations. In particular, it will encourage you to think deeply about your own dissertation project and reflect on the processes of writing and research. Come prepared to talk about your own project and discuss your thoughts with others.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

In this session you will develop a strategy to help you focus that can be applied to your university studies. Initially, we will define what multitasking is and consider how we use it. Then, we will set out and apply a method for supporting concentration during studies sessions, using a series of exercises and discussions to explore how managing environmental factors can improve your effectiveness. 

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

In this interactive workshop, you will gain an insight into what makes a successful essay. You will learn how to break down an essay question, how to develop an argument and how to present your argument clearly in your writing.

Before the session, you might like to think about:

• What aspect of essay writing do you find most challenging? (e.g. research, essay planning, writing?)
• What do you feel are your strengths within essay writing? You may want to consider previous feedback you have received.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This session will help you find the high-quality academic and professional information you need to get good marks in your assignments.

It includes a briefing on key search tools available from the University, and how best to use them alongside standard search engines like Google. There’s also an opportunity to look for information for your assignments, with expert assistance on hand.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This interactive workshop is designed for international students and will help you to improve your Academic English. It will explore how the English used for university study is different from everyday English; how to improve your academic language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing); and the importance of working within the university’s academic integrity guidance. Any student is welcome to attend.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This interactive workshop will help you understand the role of the literature review in academic writing. Discover strategies for collating your research and planning the structure of your work. Guidance will also be offered on how to read and write critically for your literature review.

Before the session, you might like to think about:

• What are the requirements of your literature review? Does it stand alone or is it part of a longer report/dissertation? (Tip: check your module handbook/marking criteria.)
• Have you written a literature review before? If so, what went well? What would you like to improve in future? If not, what concerns/questions do you have about the process?
• When reading secondary sources such as journal articles, pay attention to the opening ‘literature review’ or ‘background information’ section. What role do they play for the reader? What is the author trying to achieve?

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

Many students are required to deliver a presentation at some point during their studies - whether it's as part of a group or individually, assessed or unassessed. In this workshop, we will look at examples of presentations and discuss what works. We will also cover: preparing for the presentation, planning content, creating effective slides and delivering with confidence.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

In this workshop you will learn how to cite and reference using Leeds Beckett's version of Harvard for books, articles, websites and other sources you might use in your assignments. Please note: this workshop is not suitable for Law students, who use OSCOLA, or Psychology students, who use APA.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This interactive workshop is for students completing reflective writing assignments as part of their degree courses. Learn how to combine your experiences and ideas with your wider subject knowledge to produce reflections that demonstrate critical thinking skills. You will be introduced to various models of reflection to help you to structure your writing. You will also have the opportunity to practise academic reflective writing during the workshop.

Before the session, you might like to think about:

• What is reflective writing?
• How is it different from other forms of academic writing?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses with reflective writing?

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

A report is a piece of academic writing that presents research or information on a specific topic. Reports are common in subject areas such as Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths, Healthcare and Social Sciences. If you are studying one of these subjects, it’s likely you will have already seen this type of writing in academic journal articles.

This interactive workshop focuses on the skills you will use to write reports at university. The workshop will cover the following key areas: purpose, structure, language and critical analysis. Detailed guidance will be provided on the information required to complete a report. In addition, interactive activities will enable you to apply your learning.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This interactive workshop will focus on improving your academic writing and on learning more about the research process. You will learn to recognise different voices in academic texts and be more confident in expressing your own voice in writing. You will assess your knowledge of the key aspects of independent research projects and be signposted to useful resources which you can refer to throughout your course. This workshop is designed for students on taught postgraduate courses. Those on MRes and PhD programmes should consult the Research Training Programme, which is accessible via SAM.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

In this workshop you will learn how best to organize your time and align it with specific tasks to boost your learning potential. Through a series of short exercises and discussions, we will build a study model for your week, considering what free time you have, when you perform specific tasks well, how to ringfence time, and how to establish a clear focus for each of your study sessions.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This interactive workshop provides guidance on effective writing at university level. Learn how to improve your formality and style, develop methods for thinking objectively, and understand how to structure your work.

Before the session, you might like to think about:

• Which aspects of academic writing are you good at?
• What challenges do you face with academic writing?
• What strategies have you used or might you use to improve your academic writing abilities?

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This is a drop-in session for students with any short academic skills-related queries. An Academic Skills Tutor will be on hand throughout to answer general questions about how to approach university assignments.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This workshop covers formatting your dissertations in Microsoft Word including setting line spacing and margins, inserting page breaks and section breaks, adding heading styles, inserting table of contents, inserting captions, creating list of tables, figures, or images, and tidying up your document.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This workshop is aimed at students who are already familiar with using SPSS and provides students with an understanding of more advanced features in interactive mode. The workshop covers: Chi-squared test of association, t-tests, correlation and scatter plots and transforming variable using record command. Please attend the ‘Introduction to SPSS’ workshop prior to attending ‘Intermediate SPSS’.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This workshop covers the basics of using Excel including how to enter, edit, and format text or data, use formulas and apply commonly used functions such as Sum, Min, Max and Average. The workshop also covers relative and absolute cell references, sorting data, and applying conditional formatting to the data. Suitable for beginners.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

SPSS is a powerful computer program widely used in the academic community for doing advanced statistical analysis of data for research and other projects. This workshop will introduce you to using SPSS for your own statistical analysis.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This mini-workshop is aimed at new students and those seeking to refresh their knowledge. If you’re just not sure where to start with your studies, come along for some expert advice and tips! The workshop will begin with a 5-10 min introduction to the topic. The remainder of the workshop will take a Q&A format, where skills tutors will be on hand to answer your questions on the topic. Finally, you will receive information about how to access further academic skills support after the workshop.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This mini-workshop is aimed at new students and those seeking to refresh their knowledge. Discover new tips and strategies for taking notes from your academic reading. The workshop will begin with a 5-10 min introduction to the topic. The remainder of the workshop will take a Q&A format, where skills tutors will be on hand to answer your questions on the topic. Finally, you will receive information about how to access further academic skills support after the workshop.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This mini-workshop is aimed at new students and those seeking to refresh their knowledge. If you need some advice on how to approach the reading for your course, this is the session for you! The workshop will begin with a 5-10 min introduction to the topic. The remainder of the workshop will take a Q&A format, where skills tutors will be on hand to answer your questions on the topic. Finally, you will receive information about how to access further academic skills support after the workshop.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

These sessions use a flipped-learning approach to help maximise your learning. Before you attend the session, you must work through the videos, noting down any questions or challenges you come across along the way. Please attend the drop-in with a specific assignment or issue in mind.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

The Study Café is a chance for you to focus on your own work in a friendly environment. You will come together with peers, experiencing a supportive atmosphere in the virtual classroom. An Academic Skills Tutor will be on hand throughout to guide the session. You will be led through a series of 25-minute work periods, with opportunities in between to chat and share study tips with one another. All are welcome!

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.

This session will introduce you to Zotero Bib and Zotero Library, tools that can help with your referencing to maximise the potential marks awarded for your assignments.

Zotero Bib is a simple citation and bibliography generator, while Zotero Library is a complete research assistant: you can use it to save items like PDFs, books, video etc., and it connects with Word so you can cite while you write your assignment. The workshop includes an overview of both products to help you decide which might suit you; it is suitable for any level of study that requires the use of Leeds Beckett Harvard, APA or OSCOLA.

See the timetable and book on to this workshop via MyHub.