​Learning at university: what's it all about?

​Defining academic writing: what is it and how do you start to do it?

Academic writing is different from writing in other contexts. This workshop-webinar looks at 'why' and 'how' it is different. In exploring these questions, we'll look at writing in an assessment context. What are your tutors looking for in your writing?

​Beyond MetSearch: Getting subject specific

This workshop will take you beyond MetSearch to show you the library’s vast range of journals, subject-specific databases and specialist resources that can really take your research to the next level. We’ll demo some of our favourite databases so you can see how to search them like a pro to get the most relevant resources.

​Referencing: why is it important and how do you do it?

In this workshop-webinar, we'll look at author-date or Harvard referencing: why is referencing so important? When do you need to reference? How do you format references in the author-date / Harvard style?

When doing academic research it’s essential to evaluate the resources you find to ensure they’re good quality and worthy of being included in an academic essay. This workshop will help you to interpret database results, apply criteria for evaluating sources and identify what’s worth including (or not). We’ll look at what makes a resource academic and examine how to identify fake news.

​MetSearch: Discover quality academic sources

Find out how you can search for and access good quality academic resources to use in your assignments using the library search engine, MetSearch. You’ll find out why MetSearch is so much better for academic research than Google and discover how to search for academic books and articles, how to filter your results and save items for future use.

​How to search well

A good search is the beginning of a good grade.  A poorly planned search can result in wasted time and frustration. In this half-hour workshop, you'll find out how to search efficiently and effectively, including keywording assignments, search tips, and much more.

​Selecting the best database

This Database workshop focuses on choosing appropriate databases to search for information for your assignments. It will introduce you to the wide range of subject specific databases available to you via MetSearch.

​Tools to evaluate academic sources

This workshop is about recognising common writing errors: commas and apostrophes, run-on sentences, confusion between colons and semi-colons. What do they look like? How do I go about correcting them?

​Developing voice in academic writing

Engaging effectively with academic sources – the discourse or literature in your discipline – is key to finding success in your assessments. In this workshop, we’ll look at one way you can integrate the viewpoints you find in these sources into your own work while also developing your own informed perspective.

​Structure in academic writing

Effective academic writing is clear and coherent – in other words, it’s easy to follow and often has an argument or line of reasoning. Structure – the organisation of your writing – is vital in achieving clarity and coherence. In this workshop, we’ll look in more detail at the role of structure in academic writing.