Academic Skills for Students
At the University of Bath, you have a range of options to help you develop your academic skills and fulfil your study potential.
The resources and services listed here may not cover everything that is available, so also keep an eye on the Students’ Union website and the information your department may make available.
If you are a postgraduate research student, there is a postgraduate skills website tailored specifically for your needs.
Academic skills
For those of you at the beginning of your studies, we have developed a resource intended to answer a number of questions that you may have about studying at University called Academic Orientation.
A very wide and excellent range of workshops, resources and support is made available by students to students through the Students’ Union. Have a look at a range of SORTED training opportunities offered by the Students’ Union, SORTED training sessions – skills for study.
As well as careers counselling, employer events and job/internship opportunities, the Careers Advisory Service offers a range of placement preparation and skills training workshops.
If you are a student in one of the Sciences, Engineering and Design departments, you may be interested in advancing your writing skills by working with our writing coach.
For those students who wish to further develop their English language skills, there is the English Language Centre which offers a range of opportunities, including a range of credit-rated units, such as
Academic writing for Taught Masters EU10689
This unit focuses on developing academic writing style and structures to help the student complete assignments. The unit will also covers avoidance of plagiarism as well as other elements of writing, such as grammar and punctuation.
Academic writing for Postgraduate Research (MPhil and doctoral theses) EU10691
This unit is designed for students writing a doctoral thesis and will help the student develop academic writing skills on a large scale, such as overall text structure, and help with grammar at the sentence level. The unit includes one-to-one tutorials.
Formal Academic Spoken English EU10693
This unit is designed to help students to improve their ability to speak English and to understand spoken English in formal academic situations. The unit concentrates on the skills needed to give successful presentations, and to listen to lectures effectively.
Seminar Skills and Informal Spoken English EU10695
This unit concentrates on less structured situations than those dealt with in 'Formal Academic Spoken English', such as taking part in seminars, or development of discussion skills or improvement of social interaction.
Reading and Vocabulary EU10442
This unit will help the student improve reading skills, both in terms of efficiency and effectiveness as well as give practice in reading comprehension and developing academic and non-academic vocabulary.
English for Business EU10268
This unit is open to both business and non-business students and is taught in separate groups as far as possible. It concentrates on learning English within the context of business, developing skills in writing and speaking.
Effective Writing for Native Speakers of English EU10270
This unit is designed to give English language support to home students. It will help them to develop general academic writing skills, particularly essay writing, by learning about structuring essays, synthesising information from other sources, academic style, grammatical accuracy, punctuation etc.
Whatever your discipline, you may find you need some help to refresh or improve your mathematical skills. In that case, see if the MASH Centre can help you (Mathematics And Statistics Help).
Information and IT skills
Looking for support on using the Library? Try the tutorial which introduces library facilities. The Library also offers information skills training sessions for undergraduates on how to avoid plagiarism, an introduction to referencing, searching and finding information, as well as a Moodle course on information skills (BUCS login required).
There is also an online tutorial to help you understand and avoid plagiarism.
Moodle is the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (BUCS login required). Details of further e-tools are available on the e-Learning tools website.
Looking to develop your IT skills? Undergraduate students should contact SORTED to book on the IT training sessions. Postgraduate students can also attend training sessions for staff and postgraduates organised by the University Computing Service (BUCS).
Getting the best out of your studies
Personal Development Planning (PDP) can help you to assess your own skills, identify and plan improvements and record achievements. Your academic department may offer personal development planning as part of your programme or skills development, as part of your placement or as a professional accreditation requirement. The University also offers additional resources to help you get started with personal development planning.
The University has a positive policy of supporting students with disabilities and welcomes students with disabilities, dyslexia, specific learning difficulties and additional support needs. Information for students can be found at the University’s Learning Support Service website.
The Students’ Union provides Academic & Welfare Advice and Representation (AWARE) for any student who needs it.