'As a guide to living and studying at university, this book goes beyond describing basic study skills and instead invites the reader to use ideas from sociology to make sense of the role of being a student, the university as an institution and the professional relationships between students and lecturers. It is written in a style that feels like having a supportive and experienced tutor, who has bags of common sense and has seen hundreds of students through university, talking you through the issues while offering practical advice and wise commentary to help you come to terms with the demands of being a student' - Peter Lunt, Brunel University

How do you survive the university experience? What do tutors want? How can you express yourself best in tutorials, seminars, essays and exams?

This book takes a clear-eyed approach to the challenges of university life, offers realistic advice and demonstrates how to acquire transferable skills with a view to future employability. All of the basics are here:

" How educational performance can be maximized

" How to develop powers of expression

" How to analyze data

" What to do and avoid doing in writing a dissertation

" What to do to make sure that university life brings the best employment prospects

" What skills and performance impress tutors

" What employers want

Written in an engaging and no-nonsense style by experienced teachers, the book offers students the perfect one-stop guide to making their university study experience count.

Hilary Arksey worked in SPRU for many years, building up a reputation in research into informal care and carers needs. She led on this work in the Unit. It took her to many interesting places around the world where her experience and knowledge in this field helped to spread good practice and research collaborations. She retired from SPRU in 2010.
Social Policy Research Interests
    Informal care
    Carers, disability and employment
    Qualitative research methods

PART ONE: UNIVERSITY LIFE AND EMPLOYABILITY
Starting Off
How Students See It
What Do Tutors Want?
What Employers Want
PART TWO: MAXIMIZING YOUR PERFORMANCE
Writing Skills
Verbal Skills
Starting Your Dissertation
Collecting the Data
Data Analysis and Writing up a Dissertation
Pulling It All Together