Study Skills Articles

A substantial proportion of new management students are "returners" to education, sometimes building on skills and learning they acquired previously, sometimes embarking on a whole new programme of study aimed at broadening their career choices or shifting them into a different setting. For these mature students, re-entering education, sometimes after a gap of several decades, brings its own, quite daunting challenges.

Whatever your motivation, be it the excellent teaching and/or research facilities a foreign country can offer, or a greater range of courses, studying abroad is a life-altering experience and one that will broaden your outlook. It will also help you boost your employment prospects by helping you acquire international competences, such as the language, or knowledge of a particular country or culture. And, in this global age, such competences are invaluable. Planning and forethought are important, however, if one is to make the best of a period of study abroad. This article looks at some of the key considerations, from choosing an institution or country, to making an application, and studying in a foreign culture.

Increasingly seen as a prerequisite for advancement, and mandatory in certain sectors such as finance and consulting, the MBA can provide you with a whole arsenal of skills, models and techniques to help you make sense of the business world. Working and studying is bound to have immense implications for work-life balance, but a big advantage is that you experience what you study, and can test what you learn in the workplace. Reflection on what you learn is critical at master's level and, as a working manager, you can build the real world into that process. This article will help you reflect on how you can maximize the synergy between your experience and your learning.

More and more people are studying part-time, fitting in study at a university or community college around commitments of family and career. But, the challenges of studying part-time are considerable – and are no doubt the reason why drop-out rates can be high. However, many students do succeed, so how can you increase your chance of success?

Many people suffer from some ongoing physical problem which affects their daily lives. This may be something which is obviously recognizable to others, for example a sight or mobility problem, but equally it may be a less visible condition which still leaves them very tired or in constant pain. Students so affected will need certain facilities, specialist equipment and support to ensure that their ability to complete a programme of study is not hindered by their disability.

If you have a learning disability, then you are likely to be of normal or above average intelligence, but have a difficulty with a basic psychological process which affects language and possibly other areas such as mathematics or planning. This difficulty may manifest itself in a range of associated activities, and notably in a disparity between the standard of written work and oral understanding. Having a learning disability may make some aspects of learning more of an issue, but a number of strategies and measures can be taken to ensure it is not a barrier to study.

This article looks at the career paths available to management undergraduates, answering the question, "What can I do with a management degree?", and finds that your future is surprisingly flexible.

Despite condemnation from all sides, selling essays is a growing business. So what are you likely to get and can they ever be a positive influence?

A standardized test is one where all the elements – administration, questions, scores – are absolutely consistent, so that whether the student sits the tests in Beijing or Chicago the rules are exactly the same, the questions are open to just one interpretation, and are scored in the same manner. This article explains what you can expect if you have to take a standardized test, and gives advice on how to prepare.

Distance learning is an increasingly popular method of study for people with an otherwise full lifestyle, offering flexibility and the ability to work from home, at your own pace. But what does it involve – and will it really suit you? This article could help you decide.

The following guide is an adaptation of the MBA guide Managing Management Research by K. Howard and J. Peters. It takes a look at planning research – a guide for MBAs, topic selection – executive development and identifying an area of study on an executive development programme.

This comprehensive guide explains how to manage a student research project from beginning to end – selecting an idea, conducting the research and writing and presenting your results. Adapted by the authors from their book The Management of a Student Research Project.

Work experience is experience of the workplace you gain prior to graduating and starting your career. It can be incidental to your study (and probably supporting it in the case of part-time work) or intrinsic to it, as when the course requires you to do a placement or a sandwich year in industry, possibly with some sort of credit-bearing project work attached.

In some countries, such as the UK, it is usual for a degree based on research (notably the PhD and MPhil) to be examined orally before the final award is given. The purpose is to allow the student to meet with examiners, who should be scholars of some standing in the field, and discuss their research with a view to explaining why they approached it the way that they did. It is called viva from the Latin viva voce, meaning living voice.

The first thing to do if you have exams coming up is to demystify the process. Exams are commonly considered a mammoth test of memory and stamina under highly pressurized conditions, where, having revised until you drop, you answer impossible questions for cloven-footed examiners.

Because of its association with exams, the word revision often evokes doom and despondency, nights spent on last minute cramming of notes that can be regurgitated under timed – and hence stressful – conditions. However, effective revision has little to do with either cramming or rote learning. Rather it should be part of a planned and creative process that consolidates course learning.

Group work is an established part of most university courses, at both undergraduate and graduate level. Expectations and experience can vary from the fear and self consciousness to enthusiasm over learning from peers.

Few people feel comfortable standing up in front of their peers and explaining or demonstrating their ideas and nobody is born with an instinctive knowledge of how to make a good presentation. So how can you turn the heart-thumping, mouth-drying, brain-numbing panic that many of us experience before a presentation, into positive, dynamic energy that brings your work to a higher level?

Most undergraduate business courses and post-graduate MBAs require students to complete a dissertation. This is an extended piece – often structured like a report – which usually involves undertaking research or a project (this may be based your placement or previous work experience) as well as reflection on and discussion of that work.

Good writing is a matter partly of organization, and partly of skill. The organization is both of yourself and your thoughts and ideas (including your critical appraisal of other people's ideas). The skill lies in your ability to craft your words so your meaning is clearly understandable to your reader.

If you are being asked to submit a piece of work for assessment and there is any uncertainty about the format you are expected to adopt for the piece, it is always wisest to check with your tutor, or the person marking the assignment, whether they require a specific structure, or whether this is a matter for your own judgement.

Many new students fail to understand that words and ideas are the property of the people who produce them. It is, therefore, an act of theft to take these words and ideas and re-use them elsewhere without giving credit to the original author. Stealing someone else's work in this way is called plagiarism and the consequences for those caught perpetrating this offence can range in severity.

Academic writing is about debate. Whatever the subject or topic, if you are writing an essay or a longer piece of work such as a project, you need to read round the subject to research other people's ideas, and, if you use these ideas, give credit to the author. Referencing, also called citation, is about stating the source of your ideas, facts and opinions.

Being able to search for useful information that is relevant to your studies is one of the key skills that will improve your marks, as well as the overall quality of your study experience. In this guide you will find where to look, and how to construct an effective search.

Traditionally, libraries were seen as a collection of books, whether publicly available or privately held. With the information revolution, however, libraries are increasingly being redefined, according to Wikipedia, as 'places to get unrestricted access to information in many formats and from many sources'.

The ability to think critically is a key skill for academic success. It means not taking what you hear or read at face value, but using your critical faculties to weigh up the evidence, and considering the implications and conclusions of what the writer is saying.

The traditional way of taking notes, whether for a lecture or when reading a book, is to follow the chronological sequence of the author's thought, and to summarize the content of the book or lecture, often using sentences and phrases instead of just key words. An alternative approach, and one which some claim works with both halves of the brain by harnessing its powers of visualization and association, and thereby improves both memory and creative thinking, is mind mapping.

For everyone who wasn't fortunate enough to be born organized, here are some simple tips and advice on how to gain control of your paperwork and bring some order back to your life.

Being able to take clear comprehensive notes, which allow you to understand and learn the presented material for your course assignments or exams, is a vital skill for students at college or university. It can also be a major challenge is you are coming up from school without having had to make your own notes on what was happening in class. The following are simple ideas for creating useful and effective notes from which you can learn more easily.

For many new students one of the most challenging aspects of the transition from school to a college or university environment is learning how to take responsibility for and manage their own time and studies. Days are less structured and more is expected of undergraduates in terms of working independently, to find and absorb the information they need. And, of course, there are far more distractions than there were back at home...

Two pieces on how to ensure your written work is presented as clearly and correctly as possible. This guide includes grammar and punctuation, and an appropriate writing style.