Academic skills

Develop your academic skills

If you want to develop your academic skills, we're here to provide you with the support you need.

We have lots of resources online for you to access and work through, including guides to help you with note taking, academic reading, how to research, plan and write your assignments, along with useful advice on organising your studies and time management. We also offer one-to-one coaching sessions, an annual conference, and host reading and writing retreats to give you structured support in developing your academic practices. You can find lots of information and guidance on these pages, along with links to other areas of professional development that you might be interested in, including Careers and Employability, Library Training, Global Opportunities, Digital Skills, and Languages. Lastly, don't forget to check out the latest episode of our Study Matters podcast, where you can listen to expert guests talk about important academic skills and how you can develop them. Find out more about Study Matters and listen to our episodes here.

Making the most of your studies

These resources will help you to organise, plan and complete your work

A podcast designed to help you develop a wide range of academic skills to succeed in your studies.

An online resource to guide you in planning your research and undertaking reading for academic purposes, whether that be for producing assignments or wider reading around your lecture material.

An online resource to help you make the most of your live online sessions, including practical tips on participating in live sessions.

An online resource to guide you in planning the structure and flow of your assignments as a whole, but also looking more closely at paragraph and sentence structure, along with editing and proofreading your work.

An online resource to guide you in planning and delivering academic presentations during your studies.

An online resource to guide you in using your time effectively to undertake your studies and make the most of your time at Keele, whether that be virtually or in person.

An online resource to guide you in getting to grips with academic literature, with special focus on understanding a particular body of literature as one cohesive whole, whether that be for use in assignments or deepening your knowledge in a subject.

This online resource aims to guide you in getting to grips with your own feedback.

Events and Opportunities

There are lots of ways we can work with you to develop your academic skills and practice. We offer one-to-one academic coaching through our Write Direction appointments, and we also run a variety of events throughout the year to support you with your studies: including academic reading retreats, writing retreats, and an annual undergraduate research conference.