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Study skills hub

Develop academic and communication skills to help you learn more effectively.

You need strong study skills to succeed throughout your degree. To help you develop, we offer four types of service to suit different learning styles:

  • online learning guides
  • hands-on experience and use of equipment
  • one-to-one support
  • workshops

Where to start

Our Skills Guides are online resources to develop your academic writing, digital skills and more.
Our Subject Guides include Library resources and support for your subject and contact details for your Faculty Librarians.

Common topics

Need more?

One-to-one appointments for academic writing, maths skills, data skills, and study coaching are tailored to your specific needs.
Hire a range of digital tools and equipment from our Creativity Lab.

Forthcoming study and digital skills workshops

Event

Monday 18 May 2026 1pm - 2.30pm

Organiser: Academic Skills
Location: online
Open to: Everyone

Academic Grammar and Vocabulary

Monday 18 May 2026 1pm - 2.30pm

Organiser: Academic Skills
Location: online
Open to: Everyone

A range of grammatical structures that are commonly found in academic texts will be introduced, focusing on their function and form so that you can start using these structures in your own writing. We will also focus on academic words that occur frequently together in academic texts, such as ‘conduct research’, and how the use of these phrases (collocations) can make your academic writing sound more natural. Please find related online resources here: https://subjectguides.york.ac.uk/academic-writing

Go to event

Event

Tuesday 19 May 2026 10am - 12pm

Organiser: Digital Skills & Creativity Lab
Location: online
Open to: Everyone

Microsoft Word for dissertations and theses

Tuesday 19 May 2026 10am - 12pm

Organiser: Digital Skills & Creativity Lab
Location: online
Open to: Everyone

When producing a long piece of academic writing such as a dissertation or thesis, you will save time and effort if you take advantage of the most appropriate features in Microsoft Word. In this session we'll explore approaches to using Word that are particularly important when you need to produce material as efficiently as possible to match academic guidelines. We'll explore the power of using styles to make it easier to add outline headings, tables of contents and to make your document accessible. We'll also look at making the most of the tools available, such as adding automatic page numbers, tables of contents, and captions.

Creating documents

Go to event

Event

Wednesday 20 May 2026 10.30am - 12pm

Organiser: Academic Skills
Location: online
Open to: Postgraduates

PGT Dissertation Writing 3: Discussion and Conclusion

Wednesday 20 May 2026 10.30am - 12pm

Organiser: Academic Skills
Location: online
Open to: Postgraduates

This workshop is aimed at postgraduate taught students. It will look at the purpose/function of the discussion and conclusion sections of a dissertation and then go on to examine how they can be structured and the sort of information they typically contain. It will also focus on the academic skills and language needed to write these sections.

Go to event

Event

Wednesday 20 May 2026 12.30pm - 1.30pm

Organiser: Academic Skills
Location: LFA/144 Academic Skills workshop room (Harry Fairhurst Building, Campus West)
Open to: Students/staff

The Distractibles Meetup

Wednesday 20 May 2026 12.30pm - 1.30pm

Organiser: Academic Skills
Location: LFA/144 Academic Skills workshop room (Harry Fairhurst Building, Campus West)
Open to: Students/staff

Finding it hard to focus and plagued by distractions? Join The Distractibles Meetup on Wednesdays, 12.30pm to 1.30pm in the Library, LFA/144. We are a support group of staff and students with small group chat and accessibility ideas to try. Whether you're neurodivergent or just easily distracted, our peer-support group might be just the thing for you. The Distractibles

Go to event

Event

Friday 22 May 2026 11am - 12.30pm

Organiser: Academic Skills
Location: online
Open to: Everyone

Reading More Effectively: Comparing Traditional and AI Strategies

Friday 22 May 2026 11am - 12.30pm

Organiser: Academic Skills
Location: online
Open to: Everyone

Can generative AI enhance our reading efficiency? This workshop will compare traditional academic reading strategies with techniques for utilising generative AI tools to support with reading.

Artificial Intelligence can significantly enhance our reading efficiency. This workshop will explore techniques for utilising a Large Language Model to perform simple tasks on our behalf, greatly improving reading speed and saving valuable time.

Go to event

Contact us

Contact the Library Help desk with any questions you have about study skills.

Contact the Library