Preparing for your assignments: workshop series
We’re running online workshops in term one to help you develop key skills needed to excel in your assignments. Our workshops are here to try and demystify key academic skills and provide practical ways of approaching them.
All session are online and will be recorded. Suitable for undergraduates and postgraduate taught students.
Critical thinking for your assignments
This workshop will explore how to apply critical thinking to your assignments. It will cover:
- What is ‘critical thinking’ and why is it important?
- Structure and analysis of arguments
- Creating strong arguments in written work
Wednesday 29 October, 13:00 - 13:45 (UK time)
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Planning an assignment
In this mini workshop we'll look together at how a student at the University of Birmingham plans their essays to give us some inspiration.
Wednesday 5 November, 13:00 - 13:45 (UK time)
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How to paraphrase
This workshop will look at the role of sources and reporting verbs in your writing and practice paraphrasing using a few simple steps.
Thursday 13 November, 12:00 - 12:45 (UK time)
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Writing concisely
This session will cover six methods that you can use to write concisely in an academic way. You will have opportunities to practice some of these and get feedback during the session.
Thursday 20 November, 12:00 - 12:45 (UK time)
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Commenting on the evidence
In this mini workshop we’ll be taking a closer look at what makes a really strong paragraph and how we can comment on things that we have read in interesting, analytical and evaluative ways.
Wednesday 26 November, 13:00 - 13:45 (UK time)
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Using Generative AI for study
This workshop is a great introduction to GenAI tools and how they can be used to enhance your study and learning. You’ll also have a better awareness of the risks and limitations of using these tools, whilst ensuring that you maintain academic integrity.
Thursday 4 December, 12:00 - 12:45 (UK time)
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Exams and revision
This workshop will help you prepare for your exams whether you're taking them remotely or in-person. It will help reflect on your own approaches to revision, consider different strategies for revising, and ensure you’re prepared on the day.
Wednesday 10 December, 13:00 - 13:45 (UK time)
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Research skills for dissertations
Research skills for dissertations
This online workshop, open to all UG and PGT students, will cover how to access and use key resources for your dissertation including journals, databases and other relevant sources of information. It will also cover the key principles of referencing so that you can confidently cite your sources correctly. It will be recorded.
Wednesday 12 November, 13:00 - 14:00 (UK time)
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PGT workshops
For workshops designed for postgraduate taught students, please see our schedule of support on our PGT workshops page.
Other workshops
Birmingham Scholars
The ASC run workshops for Birmingham Scholars. If you are a Birmingham Scholar you will have access to the following Canvas course and will be able to find information about our workshops.