Guide your students to develop their academic skills with support from the Library, Archives and Learning Services
Posted on 10 September 2024
Our academic skills offer provides a wealth of guidance
The LALS skills teams provide a wide range of advice and expertise on a variety of academic skills, from searching for resources to academic writing, from communication skills to media editing and much more. Our guidance for academic and digital skills empowers taught students, postgraduate researchers and staff to develop confidence in their abilities and to build lifelong transferable skills. Read more about our academic skills offer and download a copy of our Skills Menus to explore our full range of expertise and support.
Our free workshops and online resources cover a massive range of skills
Students and staff at all levels benefit from our extensive range of workshops and skills training which are part of the Academic Skills Community. Sessions are available to all unless otherwise noted and provide a judgement-free, supportive environment to empower students in their skills development. Encourage your students to attend if they’re struggling or would like to take their skills to the next level, and why not see if any of the sessions catch your eye as well? We also have a range of sessions which would be especially useful for staff. Here are just a few of the sessions we have coming up in Semester 1:
- Critical thinking: what it is and how to do it
- Study smarter not harder
- An introduction to useful digital tools available at York
- Everything you wanted to know about using academic libraries but were afraid to ask
- Introduction to coding
Our online resources give students a self-paced, guided path through their study skills journey, enabling them to explore the topics they most need and to build their skills gradually with practical activities and examples. Our Skills Guides are a fantastic resource and we encourage you to explore the range of topics covered so that you can best direct your students to what is available. You can also reuse content from the Skills Guides elsewhere, for example by embedding it within your VLE module site. Read more about using and re-using the Skills Guides. Here are links to some of our most popular guides to get you started:
- Academic writing - a comprehensive guide to all forms of academic writing, including practical tips for writing style and guidance for interpreting assessment feedback
- Searching for information - your guide to understanding, identifying and evaluating academic sources
- Being organised - tips on how to find the right way of being organised with your time, planning and more
- IT Essentials - a no-assumptions introduction to IT at the University of York, where we explain key terms, systems and applications
- Note-taking - practical tips, approaches and applications for good note-taking
Our skills teams are here to help
Our skills teams are ready to work with you on all aspects of academic skills. Read more about the teams and be sure to get in touch to discuss how we can support you. If you’re not sure who best to contact your Faculty Engagement Manager in the Library can advise:
- Arts and Humanities: Ned Potter (ned.potter@york.ac.uk)
- Sciences: David Brown (david.brown@york.ac.uk)
- Social Sciences: Catriona Kemp (catriona.kemp@york.ac.uk)