Study Skills 2025

The Easter Holidays can’t last forever, and once they’re done, the university will be getting stuck into the assessment period. To give you an extra hand, we’ll be taking a quick look at how our university library can provide you with some support in developing the skills you need for your essays, exams, and other assignments.

Library and Study Skills

Firstly, the library provides you with LibGuides, which are specialised guides teaching you the skills you need to navigate the library and how to best use the resources the university provides to you. These include guides to referencing using APA 7th style, more general guides to universally useful skills such as Critical Thinking, and specialised guides for each of our schools. These guides for our schools are written by the Subject Librarian for that school, providing you with detailed help from an experienced professional who specialises in that field. For example, if you’re a student at our business school, you can check out the guide to the business school library written by Keith Walker, who has been with the university for years and knows exactly what a business student needs to know for their studies.

If you think it would help, you can also get in touch with your school’s subject librarian if you have any specific enquiries relating to research in your subject, or if you’ve had a read of your school’s libguide and still feel you need further instructions. You can find details on how to speak to your subject librarian on MyNapier.  Also, check out the Training and Events calendar to see if there are any upcoming workshops covering skills you may need help with, or if there are any academic skills drop-in sessions you could attend. You can also check out the academic skills page on MyNapier to learn more about these drop-in sessions and how to contact the academic skills team.

The other handy thing about the LibGuides is that they can provide you with a full list of the databases the university has access to. Through your student account, you can access 184 research databases that provide you access to research articles, e-books, and other publications covering a range of different subject areas. These databases are a great way to expand your research and find a wide range of sources to help you when studying specialised topics. Additionally, you can use our interlibrary loan service to request access to sources that we do not have here at the university, but which another university might have access to.

Of course, in addition to all these helpful services, you can also always come to one of our library helpdesks and ask one of our team members directly. We’ll be happy to help in any way we can!

by Matthew Ferrie

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