Hot off Sage Publishing’s printing presses comes a new Academic Skills Handbook, written by two of our in-house Academic Skills experts, Diana Hopkins and Tom Reid, both Academic Skills Course Leaders in the Skills Centre. We are delighted to announce that this book can now be purchased online and will be available to loan from the Library, from 29 September 2018.

Drawing on their many years’ combined experience of designing and delivering academic skills support to students at all levels, both embedded and co-curricular, Diana and Tom have brought together a wealth of easy-to-navigate, practical advice and guidance in an all-in-one skills toolkit to support students in all aspects of their academic studies at University.

Following the completion of this publication, Professor Peter Lambert, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Learning & Teaching) said:

“Congratulations to Tom and Diana on an excellent publication, that demonstrates their own commitment to skills training, as well as how the expertise within the Skills Centre adds value to our degree programmes and wider student experience. I would encourage all academic colleagues to make this Handbook an addition to reading lists for the new academic year.”

Tailored to meet the needs of both undergraduate and postgraduate students across all subject disciplines, the Handbook covers the key areas of academic study including:

  • essays (of various genres)
  • lab reports
  • effective reading
  • presentations
  • seminars
  • listening and note-taking
  • group working
  • critical thinking and analysis.

Commenting on their new publication, Diana and Tom said:

“We wanted to produce a really comprehensive academic skills guide that would offer practical approaches to all University students, not least to help them bridge the gap between A’ Level and University study, further extend their skills for Years 2, 3 and 4 as well as improve widening participation opportunities, to better enhance their attainment levels.”

The Handbook is also accompanied by an online Samples Library of real-world annotated student assignments, across a wide range of subjects and written genres. Annotations highlight structural and language conventions to help students understand what their tutor is looking for.

This book can be purchased directly from Sage Publishing or Amazon priced at £12.35.

Further information: Tom Reid or Diana Hopkins