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Workshops

A warm welcome to new and returning students!

We are currently finalising the Autumn Term workshop programme and dates and booking links will be posted in the near future. Workshops will run from early October onwards and the topic area scheduling loosely reflects the processes involved in preparing a piece of assessed work for submission during the Autumn Term e.g. research, reading, planning your argument, writing criticality.

In the meantime why not explore our range of online resources? Begin by taking a look at the Library and Academic Practice BiteSize and LiveLearning video collections which include extracts from our live workshops edited and time-stamped for your convenience! Be sure to also take a look at the Academic Practice webpages available which also contain a range written, audio and visual materials.

​MetSearch: learn the basics and find quality sources

MetSearch is key to your academic success, pointing you to literature in your discipline. This essential workshop will take you through the basics of searching, including filtering results. You'll also learn how to keep track of your favourite sources and use MetSearch's handy citation tool.

Booking details coming soon!

​eJournals: search for journal articles to enhance your assignments

As a Cardiff Met student, you have access to over 115,000 eJournals, but are you making the best use of them? In this essential workshop you'll learn what eJournals are, why you should use them, and how to search for and access articles in eJournals.

Booking details coming soon!

Evaluating information: how and why you must do it

Not everything you read is reliable. But how do you navigate your way through unreliable information to sources that are suitable for your assignments? This essential workshop will give you the tools to identify and check reliability. You will have opportunity to apply your new-found knowledge.

Booking details coming soon!

​Databases: what are they and when you search them?

There is a wealth of information beyond MetSearch. Academic journal articles, books, newspapers, statistics, images, video, technical reports and more await you in our collection of databases. This introduction to Cardiff Met's databases will give you the confidence to know when you need a database and how to choose the right database for your assignment.

Booking details coming soon!

​How to search: get the best from MetSearch and databases

There's nothing worse than not finding anything for your assignment!  But have you searched in the right place using the right words?  In this workshop you'll learn how to decode and demystify your assignment question, how to use Cardiff Met's resources, search with a plan and solve common problems.

Booking details coming soon!

Advanced MetSearch: build on the basics

Want to save time and effort scrolling through pages of MetSearch results? This workshop will show you how to construct great searches. You’ll also learn about MetSearch’s browsing and citation searching features, which can lead you to unexpected, but relevant, academic resources. This workshop builds on our basic MetSearch workshop, which you will have ideally attended.

Booking details coming soon!

​Getting the most out of feedback

Feedback plays a vital role in finding success as a learner at university. In this session, we’ll be exploring that role and considering how you can go about turning the feedback of tutors into positive actions that will help you to get even higher marks in your next piece of work.

Booking details coming soon!

​Revisiting academic writing

A chance to revisit the topic of academic writing and to raise any concerns highlighted in the feedback you've had about the qualities of your own writing.

Booking details coming soon!

​​Learning at university: what's it all about?

What is learning at university? How is it different from other types of learning you might have done before coming to Cardiff Met? What do tutors expect of you, as a learner, as you embark on your studies? In this workshop, we’ll be exploring these expectations by taking a closer look at the structure of learning, its nature, and how you can engage effectively with the requirements of your course.

Booking details coming soon!

​Being critical: making effective use of academic sources

Lots of you will be told – or might have been told already – to ‘be more critical’ by your tutors, but what does it mean? What are tutors looking for when they ask you to ‘be critical’? How are you supposed to engage critically with the academic sources you’re using? In this session, we’ll be taking a closer look at critical thought as it is applied to these sources, what it looks like in writing, and how you can go about being ‘more critical’.

Booking details coming soon!

​Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing – expressing what you’ve read in your own words – is really important if you’re going to be successful at university. It’s not just about avoiding plagiarism; developing the ability to paraphrase helps you to think and write more critically. In this workshop, we’ll explore these ideas and more. 

Booking details coming soon!