Workshops

In the workshop you will learn about what it means to read critically. You will develop and practice critical reading skills such as actively engaging with written material through the process of asking questions and noting reactions. You will practice identifying the authors opinion and use of evidence and analysis. Finally you will practice the art of summarizing a text in order to gain a deep understanding of what you've read.

This workshop will also introduce you to software which will help you to actively engage with the text and take notes.

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 30 minute information session will explain what dyslexia (and other specific learning difficulties) are and how to access support. It's run over Zoom, so you'll need to book to receive the link.

We will explain:

• What Dyslexia is
• How a checklist might help you decide whether or not to have an assessment
• How dyslexia can be diagnosed
• How to get university support if you have dyslexia
• How to get funding for support if you're a home or overseas student
• Where to find free assistive technology software

Afterwards, you'll receive a post-workshop pack including:

• Presentation slides
• A link to the dyslexia checklist
• A document that lists various free-to-access assistive software which includes a video demonstration explaining how to use them.

Important information:

• This is an information-sharing session and participation is not required. Cameras and microphones are switched off for this reason.
• There will be an opportunity to ask questions, if needed, at the end of the workshop.
• Please arrive at the session at least five minutes early. If you're late, you might have to book on to another workshop.
• If you have English as an Additional Language and are on a course with the University Language Centre before starting on another course, don't book on to this session. Instead, please call DASS on 0161 275 7512 (or email dass@manchester.ac.uk) and book a Quick Query appointment with an Advisor.

Booking on:

This session will take place on the online video conferencing app Microsoft Teams.

Booking on to the session is essential in order to receive the link to join.

Are you unsure what journal articles are? Have you had some feedback to indicate that you should be including better quality literature in your assignments? Then this workshop is for you. In this workshop you will determine the key components of a journal article, building a list of criteria which will then enable you to effectively assess the credibility of an article. Applying this strategy to your University work will add strength to 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.

Ask us any questions on using the Library's resources or services. Whether it's an IT issue you need solving or where to find support with referencing, essay writing or doing a literature review. This assessment period, we'll be providing guidance on tried and tested approaches to revision and strategies to get you through your assessments. 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 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.

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 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.

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 takes as its focus how sources are analysed and selected for literature reviews. In this session, participants will have the opportunity to practice analysis, and reflect on how they select sources and structure their analysis to construct a coherent argument. For the evaluation of information sources, participants will work collaboratively to determine the key arguments, ideas and any limitations. From this, synthesis will ask that these arguments, ideas and any limitations are then combined to be in dialogue with one another. By the end of the workshop, participants should have a good idea of the process of analysis for literature reviews.

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.

If you are finding it hard to concentrate, have racing thoughts or often feel anxious or overwhelmed then this workshop, run by The University of Manchester Counselling and Mental Health Service, will introduce you to simple techniques to learn about the nature of the mind and what we can do to alleviate stress.

Currently we may be feeling more anxious and uncertain so may benefit from taking some time to focus on what is within our control. Mindfulness practice is a type of meditation which teaches you how to focus your attention towards what is happening in the present moment. This technique has been proven to be very effective in acceptance and management of stress and anxiety as well as coping with pain and illness.

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 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

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

Curious about GenAI, LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft Suite Software or any other tech you can use to aid your learning? The Library is organising regular Digital Skills Cafe (on campus) sessions, where you can come, grab some refreshments and have a go at testing out AI tools and other technologies. We have a list of interesting apps and frameworks to help you think through the ways in which you could use these tools to support your studies.

Booking on

You are welcome to book on or just drop in for any portion of the cafe!

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 Zoom.us. Booking onto the event is essential to receive the link and passcode to join. 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.

Zoom support and guidance

All University of Manchester students and staff should register at Zoom.us using their University of Manchester email address, only authenticated users can join this event. Help and support with using Zoom is provided by Media Services. Updates are posted to the Media Services website, and you can contact the team by emailing mediaservices@manchester.ac.uk.

We can all fall into unhelpful thinking habits, and when our way of life has changed so much since lockdown, unhelpful thinking habits can make things even worse.

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.

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.

The Library Community of Practice Reading club is an online reading club that takes places every other month. It consists of discussions via a thread in the Library Teaching Team Community of Practice channel and a synchronous online meeting. Each thread and meeting will focus on one topic of conversation around an academic paper, video, blog post or other prompt. These topics will actively seek out underrepresented voices and perspectives. Topics and prompts can be suggested here: Suggestion Form

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.

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.

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.

This workshop will outline a strategy to help you structure an effective presentation whether it be for presenting your research, yourself (e.g. for a job interview), or your ideas. It will focus on how to frame a topic and communicate your ideas clearly, emphasizing the value of practising to improve your confidence. You will also have the opportunity to put what you have learnt into practice, working in groups to structure a presentation based on a fun topic which you will then present in a friendly and informal setting.

In addition to this workshop you can attend the complimentary 'Presentation skills: delivering with confidence' workshop which will concentrate on coping with nerves and developing your confidence when carrying out presentations.

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.

This session will focus on the delivery of presentations. Students will be encouraged to develop their delivery skills and to actively plan their presentation to enable them to cope better with nerves and deliver in a more confident manner. Several delivery tips and techniques will be discussed which students will have the opportunity to put into practice by planning and delivering a short, informal presentation.

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.

Knowing how to critically assess non-academic sources is essential for ensuring accuracy and reliability in your work. This workshop will guide you through the importance of evaluating non-academic sources, helping you make informed decisions about the content you use.

We will cover key criteria for evaluation, such as credibility, accuracy, relevance, and bias. You will have the opportunity to practise using evaluation frameworks to examine a variety of real-world examples such as TikTok videos, and government websites. We will also explore the use of Generative AI tools, and assess their effectiveness when evaluating sources

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.

A workshop focused on practical revision tips and advice ensuring you maximise your efficiency and focus on the build up to assessments. Come and spend some time with our teaching and learning team to consider how your revision system can be refined, aligning your revision with your assessment for efficient time management. There will be time to connect the workshop to your own specific assessments with support from our team, including experienced students.

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.