Developing HigherLevel Study Skills
Foundation Degree in Childhood Studies
Lecturer: Laura Griffiths
Further EducationVersusHigher Education
Further EducationVersusHigher Education
•Further education tends to be more work-focused (vocational / placements).
•Lessons are mainly teacher led with studentactivities.
•Students are monitored much more closely bylecturing staff.
Further EducationVersusHigher Education
•Higher level study is different from study atprevious levels.
•Higher education lies largely in your hands,although help and guidance is provided, it is upto you to take the initiative to research currentissues and topics relating your area of study.
•This means being active on your own behalf.
Further EducationVersusHigher Education
•As a student in higher education the mostnoticeable differences are:
⁻The teaching methods.
⁻The assumption that students have thematurity to ‘just get on with it’.
⁻The level of work expected is much higher.
⁻There is a strong emphasis on criticalanalysis rather than descriptive writing.
Developing higher level studyskills
•Planning
•Academic writing
•Critical analysis
•Justifying
•The correct use of Harvard referencing
•Writing academically in the third person
•Carrying out independent study
•Reflection
•Sticking to a word count
•Effective poof reading
•Take your time when writing your essay plan.
•Breakdown the word count into sections.
•Roughly 200-300 words for an intro and 200-300 foryour conclusion.
•Leaving roughly 2400-2600 for your main ideas.
•Make a list of all the key facts you need to include.Allocate these a word count.
•This will balance your discussion, analysis andevaluation each area.
Academic writing
•You probably spend a lot of time writing - emails,texts, shopping lists, letters to friends or filling informs.
•For each of these, you will use a different style ofwriting, choosing whichever is appropriate forthe purpose and the people you are writing for.
Academic writing
•The style of writing you will be expected to usefor academic work is different to any other stylesyou use every day.
•It is part of your academic training to learn howto write in this more formal style.
•It demonstrates discipline and thoughtfulness,and is important to communicate your ideasclearly.
Academic writing
Writing is at the heart of academic life.
Descriptive versus Critical Analysis
•With descriptive writing you are not developing anyarguments; you are merely setting the backgroundwithin which an argument can be developed.
•Descriptive writing is relatively simple. There is also thetrap that it can be easy to use many, many words fromyour word limit, simply providing description.
•In providing only description, you are presenting butnot transforming information; you are reporting ideasbut not taking them forward in any way. An assignmentusing only descriptive writing would therefore gain fewmarks
Descriptive versus Critical Analysis
•With critical writing you are participating in the academic debate. Youneed to weigh up the evidence and arguments of others, and tocontribute your own.
•You will need to:
•consider the quality of the evidence and argument you have read.
•Identify key positive and negative aspects you can comment upon.
•Assess their relevance and usefulness to the debate that you areengaging in for your assignment.
•Identify how best they can be woven into the argument that you aredeveloping.
•A much higher level of skill is clearly needed for critical writing thanfor descriptive writing, and this is reflected in the higher marks it isgiven.
Writing in the third person
•Your entire essay must be written in the third person. Youcan use terms such as…..
•According to…
•It is suggested by…
•This identifies….
•However this idea has been contradicted by…
•Stated by….
•Evidence suggested by…..
•Although, points raised by……..suggests that……
•A similar concept was identified by………explaining………
•Highlighted by…..
Avoid these terms.
•I
•The writer believes
•The author thinks that
•Why is reflectionimportant
Proof Reading
•Always proof read your work !
•Part of your assessment criteria will usuallyrelate to the standard of your written English.
•Proof reading your work can dramaticallyimprove your punctuation, grammar andsentence structure.
What you need to do…..
•Put the hours in.
•Use your time effectively.
•READ, READ AND READ SOME MORE!
•Take charge of your own learning.
•Become an independent learner.
•Use the resources that are available to you.
Study Guides