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One-to-one advice

Individual advice sessions

If you have questions about developing your study practices, the first place to look is in our guides & videos. However, if you don't find the answers you need here, or you feel the guidance would make more sense in the context of your own work, then you may find it helpful to have an individual academically-focused session with one of our friendly professional advisers.

These 30 minute sessions are 'tailor-made' to your individual needs and completely private - we will not pass on any information or share anything said with your tutors or other support services unless you give us permission to do so.

Our individual advice sessions are informal one-off meetings that are tailored to your needs. We aim to help you develop your own study skills to study more effectively and achieve academic success. So we will not correct work for you, but will help you understand what you need to know to correct it yourself in the future. Everyone works differently, so we may make a number of suggestions - it will be up to you to try them out and see what works best for you.

Booking an advice session

Please bear in mind that as the appointments are only 30 minutes the adviser won’t be able to look at a whole essay or assignment

The service is open Monday to Friday, 09:00-17.00, with the last appointment at 16.30. Sessions may be booked in advance by completing this form: Request a one-to-one appointment.

Things we don't do

  • We cannot give subject-specific advice. For this, it is best to consult your course tutors.
  • We do not proof-read work, or arrange regular weekly sessions.
  • If you need advice on studying in English as a second or additional language, you will find more appropriate support from the Academic English Programme.

Drop-ins

These are 10 minute sessions for which you do not need to book between 13:00 - 14:00 Monday to Friday during term time on the Ground Floor of the Library

Drop-in queries might be:

  • to check how to reference a particular kind of text

  • to ask about formatting or layout

  • to make sure you've understood an assignment brief or question

  • to get some quick tips on an aspect of study, like revision

  • or any other study-related query that can be answered quickly

Alternatively you can email us with your query and we will respond as soon as possible. Please note that we cannot guarantee to respond the same day, especially during vacations. If you think you need longer with a Study Adviser, please book a 1-2-1

Peer advice and guidance - ASK Advisers

Sometimes you have a query that might best be answered by someone within your department - but you don't want to bother your tutor with it. You might want to know how to format a reference for a particular resource used only in your subject - or what a particular term used in your subject means. Or you might just want to talk to someone about studying in your Department or School more generally.

There are various peer schemes across the University that are operated by individual Schools and Depts. These range from buddy schemes to give you a named student contact within your School or Dept for more informal contacts, through peer mentoring and peer-assisted learning, to ASK Advisers (postgraduate research students in your department who are trained and mentored by the Study Advice team).

For information about which of these schemes apply in your Dept or School, check your programme handbook on Blackboard.

Click here to see a list of current ASK Advisers