Resources for Students

     Websites                 Books             Worksheets/Activities       

              Podcasts                                Freebies!

 Websites

Skills@Library Writing Skills Tutorial - Leeds University

This is an excellent new interactive resource for students divided into different stages such as 'getting started' and 'time management'. The site guides you through the essay writing process right through to the completion of the assignment. The resource also includes tip sheets, have a go activities and links to other topics such as notemaking.
http://skills.library.leeds.ac.uk/tutorials/writing_tutorial/player.html 

The OWL at Purdue
This site examines the writing process and looks at issues such as; how to get started, writers block and understanding writing assignments to name a few.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/  

Unilearning
This website based at the University of Wollongong in Australia is an excellent student friendly resource covering aspects of reading, writing, note taking and critical thinking. The site also defines the different types of academic writing such as introductions, reports, essays etc. and has a number of activities for students to try.
http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/main.html

Openlearn – The Open University
This website offers free educational courses for anyone, just log in and learn anything from essay writing to Spanish in short online tutorials. The Study Skills section is particularly useful and offers heaps of advice on essay and report writing, alongside tutorials to help you study more effectively.
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/

Indiana University – Proofreading
This is a great, easy to use, proofreading website that helps identify lots of strategies for proofreading your work. The site also has a list of commonly misspelled words to help you sharpen up your spelling.
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/proofing_grammar.shtml

Brunel University Study Skills Guide
Excellent site particulary useful for students with a maths or statistics element to their course. Google puts this site in the top 10 in a world search on study skills. http://people.brunel.ac.uk/~mastmmg/ssguide/sshome.htm  

Napier University                                                                                                                     Excellent advice on academic writing, essay writing and the transition to university.        http://www2.napier.ac.uk/getready/writing_presenting/academic.html

Freebies 

We are always creating things to help you with your academic writing, so if you would like to get your hands on some academic writing goodies, just drop us an e mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Current freebies:

The Academic Writing fridge magnet - A handy fridge magnet designed to help you include academic words and language in your assignments. The magnet also comes in a handy folder full of essay writing tips and advice.

(These magnets are currently being developed and we have a small number available to students as part of a pilot to see if they are useful)

More coming soon...

 Worksheets/Activities

Badger, Beagle and Ferretare online tests created by Jane McNeil at Nottingham Trent University. Each programme consists of an interactive quiz designed to test your knowledge of grammar, referencing and plagiarism.

Click on the links below to develop your skills.

Click on the link below to listen to excellent podcasts that offer useful advice from lecturers about academic writing.

 Books

This book is designed to help students develop their study skills and includes a useful section on academic writing and what to expect whilst at University.

Cottrell, S. (2003) The Study Skills Handbook. Second edition. Hampshire. Palgrave Macmillan.

This book gives you a clear step by step guide to referencing and covers the referencing of many different sources, from websites to parliamentary papers.

PEARS, R. and SHIELDS, G. (2005) ‘Cite them Right’ Newcastle upon Tyne: Pear Tree books.

This a great guide to writing for students starting at the most basic level of ‘writing correctly’ and building up to ‘writing with style’.

PECK, J. and COYLE, M. (1999) ‘The students guide to writing’ Hampshire: Palgrave.

Let us know what you think of the resources above by clicking on the 'resource feedback' button on the main academic writing page.