- This is an additional Reading Text for the Animation degree programme at QUST/Bradford
- It is uncontroversial to say that reading is probably the best way to extend your vocabulary and the more you read, the greater your vocabulary will be
- Words from the AWL are in BLUE
It is very important for students to learn effective study skills if they are going to make the most of their time at university. This page provides some advice on reflective learning and self-evaluation.
First, the image below was extracted from Stella Cottrell’s (2008) very useful The Study Skills Handbook (Third Edition), which recommends a C.R.E.A.M. strategy:
To self-evaluate your learning, you can think about the skills, qualities and attributes you need to successfully complete your studies and then develop a method of identifying your current strengths and weaknesses. Many students find it helpful to write this information out in a table format, or perhaps you could use an existing checklist for this purpose (Cottrell’s book contains several such checklists and I am sure others are readily available online if you conduct a search).
Once you have identified the various strengths and weaknesses, you will need to think carefully how to further develop your strengths and how to improve the areas you identified as weaknesses. This reflective work can then be transformed into a clear plan which should be as specific as possible, preferably measurable, achievable and realistic, and it helps if you establish some kind of time frame in which to put your proposed plan into action. This is often referred to as SMART (see the initial letters of the words in the previous sentence that are highlighted in pink).