Academic Skills Service: Home

We support students in their transition to higher education and throughout their time at university to develop the academic skills needed to succeed.

Using a variety of learning resources and through our involvement in a number of projects, our pre- and post-entry teams help students develop their writing proficiency, build mathematical & statistical knowledge and improve their study skills.

Have a look at our large bank of online resources which include videos, websites, skills guides, online courses and workshops. We also have a collection of study skills books at all of our sites.

Throughout the semester, we run Writing Cafes, Academic Skills Drop-Ins, and other events which are informal, safe spaces allowing you to make progress on your work with support available from the Academic Skills Service.

Writing Cafes
Monday and Friday, 2pm – 4pm (Lounge Cafe, Building 38)

 

Academic Skills Drop-In Service
Tuesday and Thursday, 1pm – 4pm (Academic Skills Hub, Hartley Library R2045)

 

Maths & Stats Drop-Ins
Wednesdays, 10am – 12pm (Academic Skills Hub, Hartley Library R2045)

 

If you have a more complex query or need tailored support, you can send an enquiry via the Here to help button on our page.

The Academic Skills team also deliver workshops in your faculty and other events, so check the website for details about what's coming up.

We can provide advice and guidance to students on a variety of study skills areas including time management, writing skills, critical thinking, exam preparation, presentation skills, and notetaking.

We can provide advice and suggestions on aspects of academic writing such as critical analysis, structure, different assignment types and genres, planning, writing styles and understanding feedback.

We can support with mathematical and statistical skills including understanding key concepts, overcoming maths anxiety, application of theory, exam preparation, gathering data, relevant statistical analysis and software support including SPSS and Excel.

We do not proofread/edit student work or offer language support.

Use the topic tabs to browse our pages for online resources including videos, websites, skills guides and our dissertation planner and assignment planner.

Search the library catalogue to locate or request a book from our study skills collection.

The Training and Workshops page brings together all training sessions offered by the Academic Skills Service; Library; Student Disability and Inclusion; and Careers, Employability and Student Enterprise. You can browse sessions by provider, category or simply browse all.

Skills for Study is an online modular resource. Each module consists of a series of interactive screens filled with advice and activities to help you build specific study skills.

We are happy to signpost you to the Library Research Skills service. The expert team of library staff can help you make the most of the extensive digital and print resources whether you are a student, a researcher or member of staff. You can contact them using libenqs@soton.ac.uk and they can help you with:

• Finding information for your assignments 
• Finding and evaluating information for your assignments or research
• Citing and referencing
• Understanding plagiarism and copyright
• Literature searching using specialist databases
• Developing your search strategies
• Measuring research impact
• Open Access
• Managing your research material
• Theses
• Sourcing resources from other libraries worldwide
• Diversity of our collections
• Digital scholarship
• Archival research skills