Presentations: selecting a topic and allocating tasks

Nearly all University degrees require students to prepare and deliver presentations. How well they go depends largely on the time spent preparing them. Badly prepared presentations usually don’t go well and will only capture the attention of your audience for all the wrong reasons. Follow these five tips to make your presentations run as smoothly … Read more

Proofreading Essays

Some quick and easy essay proofreading tips Even the best of essays will lose marks if they are badly proofread, and it’s demoralising to get an academically sound essay back full basic corrections. Follow these five tips to make sure you get the best out of your essays. Plan Ahead As discussed in previous blogs, … Read more

Tackling the problem of plagiarism

Student on an academic campus

Stealing another’s work is a deed done by someone who does not have their own originality. Students turn to copying, cheating, and plagiarising because finishing homework is a difficult task and small on their list of priorities; thus, plagiarism is an effortless task to complete. Any type of information is easily accessible nowadays with the … Read more

Reasons that drive students to cheat

Students discussing cheating

There are a number of reasons why students will cheat both in exams and for coursework.  But what leads students to make these compromising choices?  We talk to some real students at Nottingham’s universities and colleges to find out what makes them cheat. Many students are aware of what is classed as cheating in their … Read more

Referencing and Bibliographies: What’s the difference?

Find out the differences between referencing and bibliographies I just want to go through a run down of the differences between referencing material used for your essays and what a bibliography actually does. It’s quite easy to remember the difference even though they both refer to a relatively similar process. Referencing takes place within your … Read more

Reflective learning

Find out how reflective learning can help you What is reflective learning? Reflective learning is the process of deliberately carrying out ‘cycles of inquiry’. The word ‘cycle’ is used here to demonstrate the manner in which a reflective learner moves between action and reflection. Taking some action results in doing things differently and afterwards, the … Read more

10 reasons students lose marks, and how to avoid them

Before you tackle your next essay, take a moment to read my guide to avoiding the simplest mistakes that so many students make, losing them valuable marks. Let’s kick off with the top 10 reasons students lose marks when they’re writing essays: In order to avoid going off on a tangent, you’ll need to decide … Read more

Footnotes and Endnotes

Footnotes and endnotes are other common referencing styles, both of which provide information on the sources either at the footer of the page (footnotes) or at the end of the essay (endnotes). Follow this simple guide to master the basics. Practice Using Footnotes/ Endnotes in Microsoft Word When using footnotes or endnotes, a number is … Read more

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