Exploring Study Skills in Higher Education: Reasons, Skills, and Plans

This essay delves into the crucial realm of study skills within higher education, elucidating their significance and practical application. It begins by outlining the primary motivations behind pursuing a university degree, such as acquiring general education, expanding knowledge, and enhancing career prospects. The essay then identifies and elaborates on essential core academic skills, including essay writing, reading comprehension, note-taking, and presentation abilities, highlighting their importance for academic and professional success. Furthermore, it presents a structured study plan incorporating both short-term and long-term goals, offering actionable strategies for skill development and knowledge acquisition. The plan provides a detailed roadmap for improving skills like writing, reading, note-taking, and presentation, with measurable targets and timelines. The essay concludes by emphasizing the pivotal role of study skills in shaping a student's academic journey and career trajectory. The provided references include relevant books and journals that support the information presented in the essay.

Study Skills for Higher
Education

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Main reasons for studying a degree at university........................................................................1
Core academic skills that can be developed and their importance..............................................1
Study plan for short term and long term goals............................................................................2
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

ESSAY
Study skills may be defined as an array of skills which are applied to learning and are
considered as discrete techniques which can be learned usually in short period and can be applied
in all fields of study (Toppin and Chitsonga, 2016). Study skills help students in taking new
information, organising, retaining the information and dealing with assessments. Present report
discusses about the main reasons for studying degree at university, the core academic skills that
can be developed and development of study plan.
There are various reasons for students studying a degree at university in order to achieve
their desired academic goals in the future. One of the main reasons of studying degree at
university may be acquisition of basic general education as students which enter in the university
are unclear about their academic demands and social life on campus. Another reason of students
entering university is that students lack the knowledge about the various concepts which are
taught at lower levels (Wibrowski, Matthews and Kitsantas, 2017). So, this is one of main reason
for students studying degree at university is to increase their knowledge. Another reason for
studying degree at university is that students want to improve their basic skills which can help
them in achieving their career like communication skills both oral and written communications
skills and other skills. Also, many the students attend university in order to study a particular
subject in depth in which they are interested in and it requires a student to take wide range of
classes in university. One of the common reason of a student entering university is that higher
education often leads to better career for a student in the future. As higher education can increase
knowledge of a student and can improve its skills which can increase a chance for a student
achieving a successful career (Flannery, Luebbe and Becker, 2017). Also, there are certain
professionals like doctors, school teachers, lawyers etc which require a university degree and in
addition some universities provides students opportunities for acquiring practical skills which
can be useful in the real world. So these are some common and important reasons for students
studying a degree at university.
Core academic skills are very important for student and their development is very
important for a student which can help a student in achieving both academic and professional
career. There are number of core academic skills which a student need to develop which are
important for its career some of them are mentioned below:
1

Essay writing: This is a core skills which a student needs to develop, student in school would
have already developed a good essay techniques but in university essay writing may be more
challenging (Naqvi, S and et.al., 2018). In higher education essays are longer and requires more
research with high standards of exploration is needed as compared to essays which are wrote at
lower education.
Reading skills: This skill is also important to develop, developing this skill will increase the
reading speed (Assiter, 2017). If any student is slow reader, it may affect its learning process and
developing this skill will be useful for a student in getting through a reading lists more quickly
and make him an effective learner.
Note taking: This is also the core skill which a student needs to develop, whether it is a lecturer
or a student doing an independent research, summarising a vast amount of information is vital. It
is good for a student to produce a set of notes from a lecture which produces a sense when a
student goes back and go through them or when a revision time comes for a student. So it is
important for a student to develop a note taking method which can help a student in achieving an
academic career.
Presentation Skills: At present this is considered as one of the core skills which a student should
have or needs to develop. Developing these skills is important because this will help student in
keeping a presentation interesting and can help student to communicate with confidence and
motivate the listeners (Utesch, Heininger, and Krcmar, 2016). Some presentation skills which are
important for student are creative variety, maintaining audible tone and peace, body language,
maintaining eye contact etc. Good presentation skills can help a student in building a confidence
and will find easy to communicate with audience. So, presentation skills are also important for
students to develop which will help in achieving academic and professional goals in the future.
Study plan for short term and long term goals
Study plan which includes short term and long term goals which can help in developing
and acquiring the skills and knowledge can be developed as below:
Short Term Goals
Goals Strategy Measure Target Date
Writing Skill This skill can be
improved by
This skill can be
measured when a
3 Months
2

expanding
Vocabulary, writing
regularly, improving
grammar and spelling.
These strategies can
help in improving
writing skills
(Bengtsson, 2016).
student is able to write
large essays with less
or no grammatical and
spelling error and with
appropriate content
described in it.
Reading Skills Student should
understand and re-
evaluate what a
student is currently
reading before
improving reading
comprehension and
know its limitations,
student need to
improve its
vocabulary, answering
the questions,
summarizing.
This skill can be
measured when a
student is able to
understand the topic
easily and is able to
answer the questions
at the end.
6 Months
Note taking Skills This skill can be
improved by being an
active listener,
highlighting important
content, revising notes
and deciding what is
important
This skill can be
measured when a
student is able to
produce note from the
lecture which relevant
and can improve it
learning process.
8 Months
Paraphrasing This skill can be
improved by reading a
This skill can be
measure when
7 Months
3

text and understanding
it, writing down ideas,
using synonyms
(Assiter, 2017).
sentence are less
copied without any
plagiarism.
Long Term Goals
Presentation Skills This skill can be
improved by
practicing regularly,
transforming
nervousness in
enthusiasm, improving
body language, using
positive visualization.
This skill can be
measured when a
student is able to
impress the audience
to whom presentation
is given and receives
positive feedback.
Learning style This skill can be
measured choosing an
appropriate learning
style which can help in
learning process.
It can be measured
when a student is able
to learn the things
quickly.
15 Months
It can be concluded from the above report that study skills are very important for a study
for its academic career and there are various reasons for a student studying degree at university.
Present report also concludes that there are various academic skills which are important for a
student for achieving its academic career. It can be concluded that study plan can help a student
in developing and acquiring academic skills and knowledge in the future.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Assiter, A., 2017. Transferable skills in higher education. Routledge.
Assiter, A., 2017. Transferable skills in higher education. Routledge.
Bengtsson, M., 2016. How to plan and perform a qualitative study using content
analysis. NursingPlus Open. 2. pp.8-14.
Flannery, A. J., Luebbe, A. M. and Becker, S. P., 2017. Sluggish cognitive tempo is associated
with poorer study skills, more executive functioning deficits, and greater impairment in
college students. Journal of clinical psychology. 73(9). pp.1091-1113.
Naqvi, S and et.al., 2018. Study skills assessment among undergraduate students at a private
university college in Oman. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 9(2). pp.139-
147.
Toppin, I. N. and Chitsonga, S., 2016. Critical thinking skills and academic maturity: Emerging
results from a five-year Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) study. Journal of Inquiry and
Action in Education. 7(2). p.4.
Utesch, M., Heininger, R. and Krcmar, H., 2016, February. The pupils' academy of serious
gaming: Strengthening study skills with ERPsim. In 2016 13th International
Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation (REV). (pp. 93-102).
IEEE.
Wibrowski, C. R., Matthews, W. K. and Kitsantas, A., 2017. The role of a skills learning support
program on first-generation college students’ self-regulation, motivation, and academic
achievement: A longitudinal study. Journal of College Student Retention: Research,
Theory & Practice. 19(3). pp.317-332.
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