What are Study Skills?

Study skills are the skills you need to enable you

to study and learn efficiently – they are an
important set of transferable life skills.
Our pages provide generic study skills advice –
appropriate to learners across all disciplines and
in different life circumstances: full and part-time
students, those returning to education later in life,
those engaged in professional development and
anybody who wants to learn how to learn
effectively.
Key points about study skills:
• You will develop your own personal
approach to study and learning in a way
that meets your own individual needs. As you
develop your study skills you will discover
what works for you, and what doesn’t.
• Study skills are not subject specific - they
are generic and can be used when studying
any area. You will, of course, need to
understand the concepts, theories and ideas
 surrounding your specific subject area. To get
the most out of your studies, however, you’ll
want to develop your study skills.
• You need to practise and develop your
study skills. This will increase your
awareness of how you study and you’ll
become more confident. Once mastered,
study skills will be beneficial throughout your
life.
• Study skills are not just for students. Study
skills are transferable - you will take them with
you beyond your education into new contexts.
For example, organisational skills, time
management, prioritising, learning how to
analyse, problem solving, and the self-
discipline that is required to remain
motivated. Study skills relate closely to the
type of skills that employers look for. (See
Transferable Skills and Employability Skills
for more.)
At SkillsYouNeed we provide quality content on
many life skills – and many of these are relevant
to studying.

You’ll find two types of study skills pages – pages

that directly relate to skills you need for study
(such as How to Write an Essay) and pages that
are more general life skills but which are also
important to studying (like Active Listening).

Our Study Skills Pages Include:

• Getting Organised to Study
• Getting organised is an important first step to
effective study. Our page covers the basic
organisation skills you need to consider –
fundamentals such as where and when to
study and the importance of developing a
network of contacts who can help you when
you need it.
• Finding Time to Study
• This page covers some of the basic principles
of time management – with reference to
study. If you manage your time badly then
you will be less productive, which can lead to
stress and anxiety. This page will help you by
outlining the importance of a personal study
timetable and how to set goals and prioritise
your time.
• Sources of Information for Study
• Learn what is meant by, and the importance
of, primary, secondary and tertiary
documents and how you may source such
information in a library or online.
• Styles of Writing
• By understanding different writing styles you
can put what you read into perspective. This
page covers the main writing styles that you
are likely to come across, including academic,
journal, and journalistic styles.
•
• Effective Reading
• When studying, it is likely that you will need to
read a lot of information – and you will wish to
use this time effectively as possible by
developing your reading skills. Discover ways
that you can engage with your reading, form
links, understand opinions and put ideas and
research into perspective. In short, develop
your reading skills.
• Critical Reading and Reading Strategies
• This page explains what is meant by critical
reading and critical thinking – skills which are
fundamental to true learning, personal
development and advancement. The page
also covers how to develop a personal reading
strategy and use SQ3R to help you manage
your reading.
•

• Note-Taking
• Learning to take notes effectively is not only
important to study but also in many other
situations, at work and in your personal life.
Develop your note-taking skills with our
pages: Note-Taking for Verbal Exchanges
and Note-Taking for Reading.
• Planning an Essay
• It pays to carefully think about and plan an
essay or other piece of written work before
you start writing. This page provides you with
a framework for planning which will help
ensure your work is relevant, well-constructed
and produced efficiently.
• Essay Writing
• Learn about the processes involved in writing
an essay, or other piece of assessed work.
Avoid common mistakes and follow best
practice to help ensure that the work you
produce is of a high quality.
• How to Write a Dissertation or Thesis
• Working on a dissertation, thesis or other
research project can be the most challenging
part of study. Our guide offers practical advice
and explains how to work on each part of a
research document, including:
o How to Write a Research Proposal
o Ethical Issues in Research
o Researching and Writing a Literature
Review
o Writing your Methodology
o Writing up your Results and Discussion
• Academic Referencing
• Learning how to reference correctly is vital if
you are a student. This page not only covers
why you should reference, and what may
happen if you don’t, but also includes some
detailed guidelines on how to reference
different types of materials.

• What is Theory?
• As a learner you will be required to engage
with theory, but exactly what is a theory? A
 theory is an attempt to provide understanding
- theories attempt to answer the question,
'why?' and therefore satisfy our curiosity.
Learn more about theories and how they are
usually developed.
• Assignment Finishing Touches
• Before you submit your assignment for
school, university or work, run through a
series of final checks. Avoid potentially
embarrassing or costly mistakes and increase
the credibility of your work.
• Reflecting On Marked Work
• This page, for students, encourages you to
engage in the feedback you receive from a
marker when your work is returned. Don’t
just look at the bottom line, the mark, but
understand the comments and feedback and
learn from any mistakes.
•

• Revision Skills
• Revising for examinations can be a real
challenge for many people. Learn and practice
some key skills to make your revision time as
productive and effective as possible, leaving
you better prepared for exams and tests.