Learning Hub

• Academic Resilience: the key to overcoming setbacks:
  • Learn how to build up your resilience to help you cope with change and stress in your university years and beyond.
• Self-management of expectations:
  • Explore how to set clear expectations of what it is like to be in higher education. If your expectations and your reality are different then there is a gap that could widen and impact negatively on your academic success.
• Head Start: Studying at University:
  • Discover the essential academic skills that you will need in your initial weeks at University. Including: studying at university; time management, how to study well and independent study. Interactive tutorials also explain how to get the most out of: lectures, seminars, practicals and personal tutors.
• Note making:
  • Note-making is an important aspect of studying at university, use this online resource to improve your note making skills. 
• Group work: 
  • This guide will give you hints and tips on how to work in groups effectively   
• The Digital Student:
  • When learning remotely, you will find you have to learn through live-streamed lectures and seminars, or through lecture recordings. There is lots of support to help you get to grips with online learning and hybrid teaching. You can also self-assess your digital skills
• Microsoft office - online support:
  • There are a range of freely available and useful online tools to help with Microsoft Office products: Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

• Academic Writing:
  • This resource provides an introduction to academic writing and is aimed at students who may be unfamiliar the basics.
• Structuring your assignment:
  • Understand how to plan and structure your assignments effectively.
• Apostrophes and how to use them:
  • Learn the rules of when to and when not to use apostrophes.
• What makes a good sentence:
  • Look at how to improve your writing with well-constructed sentences.
• Academic writing support from Royal Literary Fellow:
  • The online guide from the Royal Literary Fund looks at writing essays and dissertations. The Alex Essay writing tool is a step-by-step guide to writing an essay.
  • Tutorials are also available with Royal Literary Fellows, who are independent of the university - see Royal Literary Fellows Facebook

When you feel ready, move onto the Support for assessments and exams section of this guide.

• Discovery: 
  • Discovery is a Google-like search engine for Teesside University Library. Learn how to find books, journal articles and other university resources.
• E-books:
  • The library has access to a range of electronic books. Some of these are searchable via Discovery, but others can be accessed individually via the E-book Collections. 
• Finding books:
  • Discover the quickest and most efficient ways to find books in the Library.
• Google to the max 
  • Learn how to search Google more effectively.
• Finding Journals: 

  • Understand what journals are, why they are useful and where you can find them.

When you feel ready, move on to the Finding and analysing quality information section of this guide.

• Critical thinking:
  • Critical thinking is an essential skill at University as it helps you to analyse and assess information. Resources on this guide introduce the key aspects of critical thinking.
• Referencing:
  • You need to learn how to reference accurately in order to acknowledge your sources and to demonstrate that your writing is based on evidence.
• Proofreading:
  • This online tutorial will give you practice in different proofreading techniques that could help you gain higher marks.
• How to read an academic article:
  • Reading an academic article is different from reading a popular article, discover some strategies to help save you valuable time.
• Time management:
  • Learn how to plan effectively when studying at university as it can be difficult to balance all the things in life that demand your time and attention.

When you feel ready, move on to the Support for assessments and exams and Finding and analysing quality information sections of this guide.

Succeed@Tees is a series of informal workshops:

• There is an online guide for each workshop
• Some workshops are recorded so you can watch them at your convenience

There are bookable 1:1 tutorials available to help with a range of skills:

• Academic writing and study skills
• Literature searching, referencing and RefWorks
• Research - if you are a doctoral student or a member of academic staff 
• English Language Support for international students

PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions):

• Students are trained to mentor and guide students in lower years to support their learning through study sessions.
• As you begin your studies you might find it helpful to speak with students on the upper years of your course.

Meeting people and making friends is an essential part of starting university life.

The How to meet people and make friends at University guide provides some tips and opportunities to help you get started.

The New Students section on the library website covers all the basics you will need to help you get up and running with using the library.

There are subject LibGuides for each of the courses which run at Teesside, including those delivered at a distance. Use the guides to find out who your librarians are and what the key resources are for your studies.