Workshops

Ask us any questions on using the Library's resources or services, from where to find support with referencing, essay writing or doing a literature review. Our Library drop-in gives you the opportunity to speak to a friendly member of the Library and Student Team to get support and guidance.

Drop-ins are open to all University of Manchester students, researchers and staff. In peak times you may need to wait, support and advice will be provided as quickly as possible. You can join the drop-in at any time during the session!

Booking on

We encourage booking onto the event and participants are encouraged to bring their own laptops or tablets to the Library drop-in. If you don't have access to a device, there is equipment to borrow.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

This workshop will give you practical experience of producing a piece of reflective writing, taking you through one possible model of reflective writing (Gibbs 1998). In the session you will learn about the conventions of reflective writing and how it differs from academic essay writing, before having the chance to write a draft of several key elements of a reflective writing piece, working with and receiving feedback from others in the group.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

This workshop will focus on how to reference sources in your writing. We will consider different ways of incorporating the work of others into your writing including using quotations, summarising and paraphrasing. We will also discuss how to find the right balance between the work of others (references and data), and your own voice in your academic writing by adding in your own analysis and connecting your ideas to your main argument in order to answer the assignment question.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

This workshop will help you to develop a more efficient approach to note-taking. In the session you will hear about strategies that will help you to be more critical and purposeful when assessing and recording information. You will get the chance to try out a range of note-taking techniques and develop strategies that suit you. Finally, you will learn how to develop your critical analysis skills and deepen your understanding by returning to your notes to review and reflect on the material.

How to book on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

In this session you will use a model for critical analysis to inform your critical thinking and support your analysing of new information. The model will move you from observing a source to connecting it to your own knowledge, and guide you in critically examining the new knowledge in the context of what you already understand. We will have some examples to use on the day, but you are certainly welcome to bring a chapter, image or other item from within your own subject to practice with.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

In this session, we will consider and have the opportunity to practice each step of the presentation-giving process, from planning to delivery. This session will look at how to structure a presentation effectively, while considering its purpose, message, and audience. Students will have the opportunity to work collaboratively to design and deliver short presentations, reflecting on how to present with confidence and deal with nerves. We will also look at tips and techniques for dealing with questions and receiving feedback from an audience.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place. Select 'find out more' to book your place!

Further support

Can't make this session? Talk to us online via Library Chat now, or send us an email: tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

In this workshop we will consider strategies and tools to help you stay focused on your academic work, despite the many other demands on your time. We will discuss how to effectively manage projects so that we work realistically within the time available to us, and discuss different strategies for prioritising tasks and commitments. You will work with others to discuss common challenges faced when trying to manage your time and will have the opportunity to work on developing an approach to time management that suits your needs and preferences.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

Are you unsure what journal articles are? This workshop will teach you how to recognise a journal article, the common features of journal articles, and what makes them a credible source of information. Using credible journal articles critically in your academic work will strengthen your arguments.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

This workshop explores how sources are used within a literature review, with a particular focus on analysis and evaluation. Students will have the opportunity to practise constructing an argument through engagement with academic literature, identifying connections between sources and drawing out key themes, ideas, and questions. By the end of the session, students should feel confident in approaching synthesis in a way that enables their literature review to articulate a clear perspective and develop a coherent argument, rather than simply summarising existing research.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

We all procrastinate to some extent. It may even be necessary to let things percolate in the mind before putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard. But when you find that you simply cant get down to work yet dream of handing in the perfect piece of work, that nagging guilt spoils your leisure time, that you are becoming increasingly self-critical about your abilities, then its probably time to tackle your procrastination.

We will seek to understand the causes of procrastination and look at practical ways to overcome it.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

As Generative AI tools become embedded in many aspects of daily life, it may feel difficult to understand how to assess and potentially adopt these tools in your learning. This session will take you through some key aspects of these tools that might impact how and when you decide to use them. It will offer practical suggestions for ensuring that you use Gen AI tools in ways that help your learning and connect with academic integrity, effective learning practices and the ever-changing nature of this technology.

Learning outcomes

• To reflect on and apply critical thinking around GenAI tools and learning.
• To explore where use of GenAI tools may be most helpful for learning.
• To experiment with strategies that may help you use GenAI tools for learning.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place. This is currently a one-off session.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

In this workshop you will learn how to effectively plan and search for relevant information for an assignment topic. We will explore the different steps which can be taken in order to help refine your results and pinpoint relevant information and resources as quickly as possible. Interactive exercises will give you practical experience of structuring a comprehensive search and help you to develop your own strategies for searching by working through common difficulties.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Can't make this session? Talk to us online via Library Chat now, or send us an email: tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

In this session, you will learn about what it means to read critically in the context of your studies. You will practice critical reading strategies and learn how to extract key information. You will make connections between sources and develop your analytical and evaluative skills, so that you will be able to select the most useful sources for your purpose. Youll also discover tips on how to aid comprehension and note-taking. Finally, you will reflect on your critical reading skills and how to apply them in future.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

We can all fall into unhelpful thinking habits sometimes, and when we do it's important to understand what causes them.

This workshop is suitable for anybody who feels stuck or held back by their patterns of thinking. The aims and objectives are to:

• Develop a basic understanding of the interplay between thoughts, feelings and behaviour.
• Recognise how some patterns of thinking are unhelpful and lead to emotions and actions that are not in our best interests.
• Identify what your unhelpful thinking habits are.
• Consider alternative more helpful responses and how to practice these.

This workshop has been extended to be an hour and half.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

This session focuses on the development of ideas and the creation of connections between ideas and sources to produce a strong structure for written assignments. It works through a method of breaking down the question as an approach to planning a structured response. There will be the opportunity to work in groups to practise this, creating a response to a choice of assignments.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

In this session you will use a model for critical analysis to inform your critical thinking and support your analysing of new information. The model will move you from observing a source to connecting it to your own knowledge, and guide you in critically examining the new knowledge in the context of what you already understand. We will have some examples to use on the day, but you are certainly welcome to bring a chapter, image or other item from within your own subject to practice with.

Booking on

This event will take place on the online video conferencing app Microsoft Teams. Sign-up to receive the link.

Further support

Can't make this session? Talk to us online via Library Chat now, or send us an email: tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

Important information on Microsoft Teams:

All University of Manchester students and staff should have access to Microsoft Teams. For information on using Microsoft Teams, please visit the IT Services website:

https://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/ourservices/popular/microsoft365/teams/

For general support using Microsoft Teams, please visit the following website:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/join-a-meeting-in-microsoft-teams-1613bb53-f3fa-431e-85a

Writing an introduction can be tricky. A good introduction should be concise, brief and engaging, providing the reader with an overview of the topic. At this workshop you will hear about how to write and structure an effective introduction and discuss the different elements which can be included. At the end, you will also have an opportunity to ask any questions you may have related to introductions.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

Perfectionism has a way of robbing us of that glow of achievement and ultimately making us miserable. Having high standards is good but not if they make everything in life so challenging that we are exhausted before we have even started!

If you find that you are never really satisfied with your achievements, spend a lot of time procrastinating rather than working and are increasingly self-critical, then this could be the workshop for you.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

In this workshop, we will explore and experiment together with software to support your learning. You will work with other learners to investigate key features of these tools, with time to practice and ask questions. By the end of this session, you will have tested a range of tools that can help you with each stage of your work, from note making to planning and presenting. Laptops will be available for you to use, or you may bring your own if preferred.

How to book on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via Library Chat now. Alternatively, you can email us for advice at tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.

Do you find yourself losing marks for referencing, spelling or grammar? This session will highlight how proofreading a written piece of work to a high standard will improve your marks and increase your academic success. You will work with others to define the term proofreading and understand its place in the process of academic writing. Finally, you will get the chance to put what you have learnt into practice, working together as a group to effectively proofread a sample piece of work.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Can't make this session? Talk to us online via Library Chat now, or send us an email: tls@manchester-uk.libanswers.com.