Category Archives: NUS

In the Merry Month of May

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Today is May 1st, or ‘May Day’, traditionally the first day of summer (not that you’d know it to look at the weather!!). And what better time to remind you of a few musical and entertainment events coming to campus this month to help get you in a sunny, summer mood… or at least, help take your mind off your exams!

Bank Holiday Monday (May 7th) sees the return of Freefest, the Student Union’s annual free pop festival, featuring a host of dazzling musical acts from across the country at the Student Union from noon until 6PM.

For those of a more classical bent, the University Choir will be holding its Summer Concert on Friday May 11th, featuring the premiere of a new sporting anthem, the winning entry in the University’s Choral Composition Competition, as well as performing a selection of classical and modern works (starts at 7.30PM).

On Monday 14th May (7-10PM), Speech Bubble, the Student Union free-form spoken word spectacular, returns for the third and final time this year. Don’t forget that as it’s an open mike session, you can take part too!

Finally, on Wednesday May 16th Tasmin Little (violin) and Piers Lane (piano) will be performing in concert at the Cope Auditorium (7.30PM). Internationally renowned soloists, they will be teaming up to treat the audience to a selection of Brahms, Respighi and Strauss.

For full ticket details, follow the relevant links.

See you there!

NUS Charter on Academic Support

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The National Union of Students have just released a new charter addressing the provision and function of Academic support in Higher Education facilities.

Academic support is necessary for students not only in helping them complete their courses, but also for the vital role it plays in helping students develop their academic skills. The charter based on what good practice in academic support could look like, and is drawn from research from the NSS, HEFCE and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and current good practice from around the sector.

The Library is very much committed to helping provide such support, primarily through liason with our team of Academic Librarians. The workshops, online tutorials and advice sheets they provide can help you enhance your study and information literacy skills. We call these ‘Skills to Succeed’ and they can help you with all manner of activities, like revision, time management, and literature searching. Check out the Know-How page for details of these workshops and more!

Last month we also launched a new ‘Academic Practice’ module on Learn, containing 10 tutorials on a variety of topics such as ‘Using the Library’, ‘Being Aware of Plagiarism’,  ‘Referencing Right’, ‘Essay writing’ and ‘Information Online’. Each unit has been designed to be attractive and informative – providing ‘bite sized’ information on a topic – with the added advantage of allowing the user to progress at their own pace.

The new charter is available for download from the NUS site here.