Study Skills for Higher Education | pdf

STUDY SKILLS FOR
HIGHER
EDUCATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Main reasons for studying a degree at university...................................................................1
Core academic skills that can be developed and their importance.........................................2
Development of a study plan..................................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Study skills refer to all those skills and competencies which are required to be possessed
by individuals who are willing to appropriately study for a degree in a university. It is an
essential practice and it must be compulsory for each individual to ensure an effective future
growth in their career (Atmatzidou and Demetriadis, 2016). The following report is based on key
aspects related to study in universities. It includes main reasons for studying at university and
core academic skills which could be developed and why they are important. It also covers
development of study plan, including short and long term goals which would help in acquiring
and developing skills and knowledge.
MAIN BODY
Main reasons for studying a degree at university
Studying a degree at university is very important as it allows individuals of different
backgrounds to collectively enhance their knowledge about several crucial aspects and gain
ample experience which makes them capable enough to start their professional life with utmost
ease. Furthermore, studying at the university also allows students to appropriately enhance their
skills and knowledge which helps them to contribute to society as well as their respective future
organisations.
However, there are various different reasons of why individuals study a degree at
university. There are different perceptions associated with acquiring knowledge about different
concepts. The first and perhaps one of the most crucial reasons for studying a degree is to acquire
an effective and a better job. Studying a degree related to management or science allows a person
to be exposed to various new concepts and techniques which could be appropriately applied in
the real world to deal with several organisational situations. Moreover, this also makes them
quite capable as they becomes familiar of practical application of techniques and procedures
which makes them expert in that particular areas of practice. This would allow them to fetch
effective job opportunities and professionally grow in their career (McCutcheon and et. al.,
2015).
Another reason for studying at a university is that people want to learn new concepts and
theories about the things which they have always been interested in. Universities have multiple
1

subjects related to every particular field of interest. Moreover, they provide infrastructure,
facilities and time required for students to effectively learn about subjects they are interested in.
However, money is also a reason for which people tend to study a degree at universities.
Reason for this is that their expertise lead them to improve themselves professionally which
allows them to cease several effective market opportunities and earn adequate money for
themselves (Warnock and Mohammadi-Aragh, 2016).
Core academic skills that can be developed and their importance
Academic skills are the ones which allow an individual to acquire new information,
organise the same, anticipate as well as retain them, which allows individuals to gain crucial
knowledge and experience which allows them to succeed academically and professionally. While
studying in the university, there are various academic skills that could be developed which hold
vital importance to these individuals in their academic and professional career.
The first and foremost skill which could be developed while in university is Note Taking.
This skill refers to the ability to jot down important points about different concepts and theories,
in a manner, in which those notes could be further used to facilitate studying about this process.
It is a very important skill, which allows individuals to gather crucial information from a pool of
materials which is essential for further analysis and developing appropriate thesis.
Another skill which could be developed is academic writing. It is a wide term which
includes professional communication in writing. This requires students to write reports and
assignments about specific fields in a sequential and logical manner, which allows proper
communication and better exchange of information through writing. In addition to this, they are
also require to paraphrase crucial information which enhances the effectiveness of their written
material and helps them in protecting their matter from plagiarism. For building a strong
professional career and score better grades in university, it is important for individuals to adapt
these skills.
Development of a study plan
A study plan is a detailed outlay which undertakes activities and procedures adopted by
individuals with respect to enhancing their skills and knowledge related to different concepts.
Furthermore, it also provides a time frame for these individuals to enhance their skills, along
with a display of short as well as long term goals which are necessary to be accomplished
2

(Green, 2017). Following is a detailed study plan for skills like note taking, paraphrasing and
academic writing:
GOALS DATE
STARTED
DATE
FINISHED TIMELINE ACTIVITIES
Short Term: To develop
effective note taking
skills within 2 weeks. 1st June,
2019
15th June,
2019 2 Weeks
To attain this, several
activities such as seminars
were undertaken, along
with daily self study
session of about 1 hour
from 8:00 p.m. To 9:00
p.m.
Long Term: To develop
appropriate academic
writing and
paraphrasing skills.
20th June,
2019
19th
November,
2019
5 Months
To achieve this, training
sessions and mock reports
were prepared along with
acquisition of feedback
from tutors and classmates.
Both these goals are essential which allows individuals to study effectively and develop
appropriate skills within their set time frame. However, it is very crucial to develop a timeline
along with the plan and set of activities which hold the potential to enhance skills in the
individual. This would allow learners to gain effective knowledge and develop appropriate skills
which would ensure major benefits to these individuals (Demirel, Derman and Karagedik, 2015).
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded from the report above, that study skills for higher education are
quite essential and important with respect to gain effective knowledge and experience about
different concepts and theories. It is imperative to study at university for a degree as it would
allow them to obtain several benefits related to their academic and professional success.
Furthermore, there are certain skills such as paraphrasing, academic writing and note taking
which enhances competence of a person to gain knowledge and to communicate effectively.
3

Lastly, study plan is an appropriate exercise which allow which allows an individual to
effectively enhance these skills and gain better adaptability in relation to the same.
4

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Atmatzidou, S. and Demetriadis, S., 2016. Advancing students’ computational thinking skills
through educational robotics: A study on age and gender relevant differences. Robotics
and Autonomous Systems. 75. pp.661-670.
Demirel, M., Derman, I. and Karagedik, E., 2015. A study on the relationship between reflective
thinking skills towards problem solving and attitudes towards Mathematics. Procedia-
Social and Behavioral Sciences. 197. pp.2086-2096.
Green, L., 2017. How popular musicians learn: A way ahead for music education. Routledge.
McCutcheon, K., and et. al., 2015. A systematic review evaluating the impact of online or
blended learning vs. face‐to‐face learning of clinical skills in undergraduate nurse
education. Journal of advanced nursing. 71(2). pp.255-270.
Warnock, J.N. and Mohammadi-Aragh, M.J., 2016. Case study: use of problem-based learning to
develop students' technical and professional skills. European Journal of Engineering
Education. 41(2). pp.142-153.
5