Skills for Success sessions, available in semesters 1 and 2, are designed to support you to develop your confidence and enhance your academic and employability skills. There are four areas of support for all students:

• Writing toolkit
• Communication skills
• Enhance your employability
• Public speaking

Below is a summary of what each session covers:

Writing toolkit

• Better Report Writing: This session will cover the nuts and bolts of report writing, whether technical reports or lab reports.
• Improve Your Academic Style: Discover how to write in the appropriate way and follow correct academic conventions in your assignments.
• Strategic Reading and Note-taking: Explore a range of techniques to help you read and process large quantities of materials efficiently.
• Planning Your Assignment: Discover how to begin the assignment-writing process by analysing your title and creating a content outline and plan.
• Summarising and Paraphrasing: Discover how to write critically and safely about the ideas of others in your work.
• How Do I Write Introductions and Conclusions?: Learn how to make an excellent first and final impression in your assignment with a powerful introduction and conclusion.
• Referencing and Citation: Recap on how to reference sources correctly to avoid plagiarism and be an ethical writer
• Writing That Is Clear and Well-organised: Learn some helpful hacks to make your writing ‘flow’ and guide your reader clearly and easily through your work.
• Structuring Your Body Text: Learn how to write well-structured body paragraphs, the foundation of all clear and compelling academic writing.
• Editing and Proofreading: Refine your editing and proofreading skills to polish your work, avoid embarrassing errors, and make an overall positive impact.
• Criticality - Certainty Versus Caution In Critical Writing: Learn about the principles behind argumentation and how to approach developing the critical voice in your writing.

Communication skills

• How To Write and Manage Emails Effectively: Writing effective emails, and managing your inbox efficiently, is an art. It takes skill and practice, and is critical to being effective both at university and in the workplace. This workshop will equip you with the skills you need to effectively write and manage emails
• Using Peer Reviewing to Develop Your Academic Practice: Learning to give and receive feedback can elevate your university assignments and boost your employability skills. In this session, we’ll explore how to engage in peer review effectively and why giving feedback to others can make you a better writer yourself.
• Making The Most of Feedback: Explore how to use your tutors’ valuable feedback to upgrade your academic performance.
• Boost Your Seminar Skills: Get some top tips on how to communicate your ideas clearly and listen actively so you get the most out of a seminar discussion.

Enhance your employability

• Critical Approaches To Interpreting Information: As AI rises, jobs requiring critical thinking are less likely to be replaced. A critical mindset enables adaptability in changing work environments, and enables you to assess situations and foresee potential outcomes for better decision-making. This workshop will support you to develop a critical mindset.
• How To Successfully Write and Deliver Presentations: Being able to successfully write and deliver engaging presentations is an important part of being successful both at university and in the workplace. This workshop will give you the skills you need to do this.
• How To Be A Critical Listener in Lectures And Beyond: Develop sound listening techniques to ensure you get the most out of live and recorded lectures.
• How To Have Impact In Meetings: By the end of the workshop, you will have the skills you need to create a purposeful meeting agenda, determine the different roles of meeting attendees, identify which role you are performing in a meeting, effectively Chair a meeting and contribute positively and with impact in a meeting.
  

Exam skills

• Getting exam ready: Explore tried and tested techniques to stay calm and positive throughout the exam season.
• Devising your exam strategy: Learn how to approach exams strategically and how to tackle different question types.

Public speaking

These sessions are not running in semester 2. If you are interested in attending a Public Speaking workshop, let us know by completing this Expression of Interest form. If there is sufficient interest, we will consider making these workshops available.

Certificates of participation

We offer digital certificates (non-fungible token) to recognise your participation in our programmes, which you can use in your skills portfolios going forward. There are two options:

Writing toolkit certificate

Attend and participate in all eleven of our writing toolkit sessions, spread across either one or both semesters of the academic year 2024-2025.

Complete skills toolkit certificate

Attend and participate in all of our writing toolkit sessions, communication, communication and employability, and public speaking sessions, spread across either one or both semesters of the academic year 2024-2025.