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Publication Cover

CITATION

Moore, Sarah; Neville, Colin; Murphy, Maura; and Connolly, Cornelia. The Ultimate Study Skills Handbook. Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2010.

The Ultimate Study Skills Handbook

Authors: Sarah Moore, Colin Neville, Maura Murphy and Cornelia Connolly

Published:  February 2010 Pages: 200

eISBN: 9780335240074 | ISBN: 9780335234424
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  • Front cover
  • Half title page
  • Title page
  • Copyright page
  • Table of contents
  • Detailed table of contents
  • Figures and tables
  • Guided tour
  • Acknowledgements
  • About the authors
  • Introduction: How to use this book
  • Book overview
  • 1 Getting Into It: Becoming an active, creative learner
  • Chapter Overview
  • Introduction
  • Some simple learning principles
  • Active learning and passive learning
  • Some characteristics of creative people
  • Getting immersed, learning to focus, getting into ‘flow'
  • Developing your own active learning strategy
  • Chapter summary: Key learning points
  • Suggested further reading
  • 2 Talking to the Experts: Useful orientations for interacting with expert professors, tutors and lecturers
  • Chapter Overview
  • Introduction
  • Reflect on things you are already good at
  • How you become an expert at anything
  • How to talk to experts in a way that supports your learning
  • Recommendations and implications for your learning in higher education
  • Chapter summary: Key learning points
  • Suggested further reading
  • 3 Style Matters: Techniques to suit your own learning style
  • Chapter Overview
  • Introduction
  • Intelligence
  • Eight intelligences questionnaire
  • The eight intelligences
  • Effective learning techniques
  • Connecting with your senses
  • Chapter summary: Key learning points
  • Suggested further reading
  • 4 Taking It In and Working It Out: Ideas for reading, listening, making notes and critically thinking about information
  • Chapter Overview
  • Introduction
  • An exercise in listening, reading, making notes and memorizing
  • Reading for clarity, precision, relevance and other important characteristics
  • Listening and the positive effects of body language
  • The importance of the reading habit
  • Generating your listening, reading, note–making and memorizing strategies by asking the right questions
  • Digging deeper
  • Chapter summary: Key learning points
  • Suggested further reading
  • 5 Research Skills and Orientations: First steps to good research
  • Chapter Overview
  • Introduction
  • The purpose of research
  • The literature review: background and preparatory reading
  • Different categories of research
  • Ethical issues and research
  • Four approaches to research
  • Research methodology
  • Research methods
  • Stages of research
  • Common research problems
  • Comments on and answers to the exercises in this chapter
  • Chapter summary: Key learning points
  • Suggested further reading
  • 6 Getting It On Paper: Learning the skills for confident academic writing
  • Chapter Overview
  • Introduction
  • Getting to grips with academic writing
  • Focusing on enjoyment
  • Knowing the rules
  • What makes writing academic?
  • Developing a college-based writing strategy and managing time
  • Responding to feedback
  • There is no such thing as good writing – just good rewriting
  • The writing process: from prewriting to letting it go
  • Nourishing your writing with the ideas and perspectives of others
  • Imposing structure on your writing: the benefits of a good outline
  • Staying flexible and avoiding the tyranny of outlines
  • Some advice from a writing expert
  • Chapter summary: Key learning points
  • Suggested further reading
  • 7 Learning the Rules: Punctuation, spelling, accurate referencing and avoiding plagiarism
  • Chapter Overview
  • Introduction
  • Why bother?
  • Parts of speech
  • Punctuation and spelling
  • Proof-reading
  • British and US spellings
  • Referencing
  • Plagiarism
  • Comments on and answers to the exercises in this chapter
  • Chapter summary: Key learning points
  • Suggested further reading
  • 8 The Time of your Life: Managing time and living life as a student
  • Chapter Overview
  • Introduction
  • Time management questionnaire
  • Time management issues
  • Planning
  • Procrastination
  • Perfectionism
  • Getting control
  • The 4-D Approach
  • Planning: getting started
  • Procrastination and distraction
  • Chapter summary: Key learning points
  • Suggested further reading
  • 9 Learning with Others: Working and learning in groups
  • Chapter Overview
  • Introduction
  • Benefits of working in groups
  • Learning to work together: understanding the phases of group development
  • Different people, different roles
  • Good questions for groups to ask themselves
  • A simple project plan
  • Leadership and group work
  • Chapter summary: Key learning points
  • Suggested further reading
  • 10 Presenting in Front of a Crowd: Learning to present your work in public
  • Chapter Overview
  • Introduction
  • Finding out about the purposes and criteria associated with your assigned presentations
  • Gathering resources for your presentation
  • Designing and structuring your presentation
  • Some principles of good presentations
  • Common presentation pitfalls and mistakes
  • Other useful resources for presenters
  • Group presentations
  • Chapter summary: Key learning points
  • Suggested further reading
  • 11 Keeping It Together: Managing stress, staying in control and being ready for exams
  • Chapter Overview
  • Introduction
  • What is stress?
  • Understanding stress by exploring your emotions
  • Coping with stress through physical exercise
  • Managing stress by focusing on logic
  • Stress is not always bad for you
  • Keeping a record to help you reflect on and make sense of stressful experiences and events
  • Keeping a learning journal
  • Avoiding exam fever: planning, preparing for, doing and recovering from exams
  • Chapter summary: Key learning points
  • Suggested further reading
  • 12 Working with Numbers: Mathematics and numerical competence
  • Chapter Overview
  • Introduction
  • Numbers and numeracy
  • Mathematics at university
  • Problem solving and abstract thinking
  • Breaking down the problem
  • From concrete to abstract
  • Phases of anxiety when learning a new skill
  • Chapter summary: Key learning points
  • Suggested further reading
  • 13 Facing the Future and Making Decisions: Planning for and focusing on the rest of your life
  • Chapter Overview
  • Introduction
  • What sort of a decision maker are you?
  • Decision making ingredients
  • Seven steps in the decision making process
  • Structured and unstructured decision making techniques
  • Case study: Mia's dilemma
  • Free-fall thinking
  • Balance sheet approach
  • Five Thinking Hats
  • Decision trees
  • SWOT analysis
  • Creative visualization
  • Action plans
  • Time schedule
  • Chapter summary: Key learning points
  • Suggested further reading
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • Index
  • Back cover