Welcome to the Study Skills pages of the Sussex Language Institute. We hope they will clarify some of the formal aims and objectives of academic study at Sussex and also provide a framework and suggestions for study processes as a basis for your own individual work. These are general guidelines, so always check information from your school for specific practices within your area of study.

The focus is mainly on assessed work as this has been a common concern of both students and tutors. The material has been developed over a number of years using data from the analysis of student writing and tutors' comments on it, seminar performance, feedback and general comments on study difficulties from tutors and students as well as the workshop study support courses for international students that were the original basis for the material. The data is derived from both native and non-native speakers of English and from a variety of disciplines and different degree levels. Feedback and comments are continually informing the continued development of these pages.

Much of the content (especially the reading suggestions and argument features) have been found useful by native speakers, particularly those entering or returning to university after experiencing the world of work. A focal area has also been the one year Masters degree as these are particularly demanding, with little space for trial and error.

Where pages are of particular relevance to either postgraduates or undergraduates, this is mentioned in the index. The main features are:

• descriptions of the form, function and objectives of academic seminars and writing.
• strategies for tackling the processes involved - including brainstorming and reading.
• information about punctuation, hedging and vocabulary.
• exercises and examples from essays.

The essays referred to have been assessed by subject tutors as good. If you have written an essay which received a good mark that you think would be useful for succeeding generations of students and you would be willing to contribute all or part of it to the web pages, please contact us. We hope to include essays or parts from as many disciplines as possible. You can be fully acknowledged (and it's good for your CV!).

If you have any further study skills questions please contact Alison Chisholm: A.M.Chisholm@sussex.ac.uk

These Study Skills pages were originally produced by Doreen du Boulay.

Thanks to ... Sussex students who, over the past ten years, have allowed their work to be analysed or used in examples and have commented on, amended or made suggestions for the paper version and some web pages; the Teaching and Learning Development Fund; and the patience and resourcefulness of Matthew Platts.