Study skills topics
Birkbeck offers study skills workshops to equip you with the skills and support you need to progress through your course.
You will be able to sign up for these once you have completed your programme enrolment. Current students can sign up in My Birkbeck.
Study skills team
The central study skills team offers a range of online resources, a Moodle module (Birkbeck Study Skills) and workshops with a focus on academic language and writing, and technology to support effective learning. We offer around 30 different workshops, each taught multiple times, including:
- 'Procrastination, perfectionism and prioritisation'
- postgraduate dissertation writing
- academic writing
- Zotero (reference management software)
- reading speed, stamina and comprehension
- help with revision.
School and department workshops
Our Schools and Departments also offer a comprehensive range of study skills workshops.
School of Arts
- We offer a comprehensive collection of study skills workshops for our students that are designed for the practice of the arts, humanities and languages, including:
- pre-sessional ('Step In' at undergraduate level and 'Step Up' at postgraduate level)
- managing your time
- reading, note-taking, critical thinking
- writing essays
- learning new languages
- revising for exams
- tools for visual analysis
- academic English
- in-module training (workshops and online).
- Each programme includes a Moodle module with dedicated online resources.
Department of Biological Sciences
- Our workshops are intended for undergraduate students and are announced regularly to all students via the Biological sciences Learning support Moodle page. They include:
- organisation and time management strategies
- effective listening and note-taking for academic purposes
- how to prepare, revise and stay calm in exams
- how to write and structure a lab report
- revision and exam techniques
- presentation techniques.
School of Business, Economics and Informatics
- Our wide range of study skills workshops are run at least once a term. We also run module-specific workshops to offer support with specific assignments. Workshops include:
- managing your time
- reading and research skills for university
- essay writing
- referencing your work
- critical thinking skills
- fractions, decimals and percentages
- basic algebra
- solving equations.
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Contact the Department for details about the many opportunities for study skills development that will be available to you.
School of Law
- We offer a range of study skills workshops, run throughout the year, that are tailored for students studying law and criminology, including:
- how to take effective notes
- writing essays in university
- interpreting and planning essays
- critical thinking skills
- referencing using OSCOLA and Harvard
- answering problem questions
- preparing for exams and revision.
- We also offer a Moodle module (School of Law Study Skills) with a range of resources to support you in your studies. Individual tutorials are available for guidance and advice on specific issues or assignments. Once you are enrolled you will be able to book tutorials, view all workshops, and access the Moodle module.
Department of Psychological Sciences
- We offer a wide range of study skills workshops, many tailored to supplement first-year modules (usually research methods modules). These workshops include:
- APA citing and referencing
- Essay writing
- Report writing
- Preparing for the SPSS Test
- Preparing for first-year exams (multiple choice and essay-based exams)
- Exam preparation and revision techniques
- Preparing for research methods exam.
- We also offer a Moodle module 'Learning Resources in Psychology', which contains recordings of some of our workshops, as well as many other materials useful for your studies.
School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy
- Contact the School for details about the many opportunities for study skills development that will be available to you.