We are running workshops in Welcome Week to support students starting or returning to university. They are suitable for undergraduate or postgraduate taught students.
Learning at University
This workshop will help you gain confidence with some essential learning skills, including time management, independent learning, and notetaking. It will help you to reflect on your own approaches to study, ensuring that you feel prepared for the year to come.
- In-person. Fourth floor Training Room, Main Library
- Tuesday 22 September 2026, 13:00-14:00 (UK time)
- Book a place
- Online
- Thursday 24 September 2026, 13:00-14:00 (UK time)
- Book a place
Preparing for your final year/ your dissertation
This workshop, specifically tailored for final year UG students, will help you reflect on your previous studies and identify how you want to develop this year, as well as managing your time and work-load.
- In-person, Fourth floor Training Room, Main Library
- Tuesday 22 September 2026, 10:00-11:30 (UK time)
- Book a place
- Online
- Wednesday 30 September 2026, 14:00-15:00 (UK time)
- Book a place
Introduction to using Generative AI for studying
This workshop is a great introduction to GenAI tools and how they can be used to enhance your study and learning. You’ll have a better awareness of the risks and limitations of using these tools, whilst ensuring that you maintain academic integrity.
- Online
- Wednesday 23 September 2026, 13:00 - 14:00 (UK time)
- Book a place
Interactive session on GenAI: Getting started with prompting
You’ll get opportunity to use GenAI tools in the context of learning and studying, focusing on creating effective prompts and using critical thinking skills to assess the tool’s output. By the end, you’ll have a better awareness of the risks and limitations, whilst ensuring that you maintain academic integrity. If possible, please bring along your own device.
- In-person. Fourth floor Training Room, Main Library
- Thursday 24 September 2026, 11:00-12:30 (UK time)
- Book a place
Introduction to Library resources
This workshop will introduce you to some key Library resources that will help you with your study: how to access and use your module Resource List and how to get the most out of the library catalogue, FindIt@Bham.
- In-person. Fourth floor Training Room, Main Library
- Wednesday 23 September 2026, 11:00-12:00 (UK time)
- Book a place
- Online
- Friday 25 September 2026, 11:00-12:00 (UK time)
- Book a place
Preparing for your 2nd Year? Come and have a chat
This workshop, for UG students starting their 2nd year of study, will help you reflect on your first year so that you feel confident and prepared for your second year. We’ll think about how you can consolidate and develop skills, including time management, reading and notetaking, and writing critically.
- In-person. Fourth floor Training Room, Main Library
- Friday 25 September 2026, 12:00-13:00 (UK time)
- Book a place
What do students do all day?
This session explores how students spend their time, how they talk about their day, and how you can start shaping your own study habits. With real examples and practical tips, you’ll leave with ideas for building academic skills into your daily routine.
- In-person. Fourth floor Training Room, Main Library
- Wednesday 30 September 2026, 13:00-14:00 (UK time)
- Book a place
We’re running online workshops in term 1 to help you develop key skills needed to excel in your assignments. Ever wondered how to plan effectively? Or how to write convincingly about the evidence? Our workshops are here to try and demystify those key academic skills and provide practical ways of approaching them.
Suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate taught students. All session are online and will be recorded.
Getting started with finding information
This informal session looks at how search strategies can provide a handy structure to your research. We’ll explore breaking down a topic into keywords, exploring alternatives and how to use search operators to make database searches easier.
- Thursday 15 October 2026, 12:00-13:00 (UK time)
- Online
- Book a pace
Reading and notetaking strategies
In this workshop we’ll consider different strategies for reading effectively and taking active and useful notes for your assignments.
- Wednesday 21 October 2026, 13:00-14:00 (UK time)
- Online
- Book a place
Getting started with referencing
Being able to reference resources correctly is a key academic skill. This workshop will introduce you to some key principles of referencing as well as highlight the main styles (like Harvard) used at UoB.
- Thursday 22 October 2026, 12:00-13:00 (UK time)
- Online
- Book a place
Critical thinking
This workshop will explore how to apply critical thinking to your assignments. It will cover what is ‘critical thinking’ and why is it important as well as structure and analysis of arguments.
Planning an assignment
In this workshop we’ll look together at how a student at the University of Birmingham plans their essays to give us some inspiration.
- Wednesday 4 November 2026, 13:00-14:00 (UK time)
- Online
- Book a place
Easy formatting for Microsoft Word
Not using the full range of functions within Word? This workshop will help you to make the most of automatic functions to help with styles, sections, page numbering, automated tables etc.
- Thursday 5 November 2026, 12:00-13:00 (UK time)
- Online
- Book a place
How to paraphrase
In this workshop we'll look at the role of sources and reporting verbs in your writing and practice paraphrasing using a few simple steps.
- Thursday 12 November 2026, 12:00-13:00 (UK time)
- Online
- Book a place
Moving from descriptive to critical writing
In this workshop we’ll be taking a closer look at what makes a really strong paragraph and how we can comment on things that we have read in interesting, analytical and evaluative ways.
- Thursday 19 November 2026, 13:00-14:00 (UK time)
- Online
- Book a place
Writing concisely
This session will cover six methods that you can use to write concisely in an academic way. You will have opportunities to practice some of these and get feedback during the session.
- Wednesday 25 November 2026, 12:00-13:00 (UK time)
- Online
- Book a place
Preparing for exams and revision
This workshop will help you reflect on your own approaches to exam preparation, explore practical revision strategies and ensure you’re feeling prepared on the day for the exam.
- Thursday 3 December 2026, 13:00-14:00 (UK time)
- Online
- Book a place
Finding information for dissertations
This online workshop, open to all UG and PGT students, will cover how to access and use key resources for your dissertation including journals, databases and other relevant sources of information. It will also cover the key principles of referencing so that you can confidently cite your sources correctly.
- Wednesday 11 November 2026, 13:00-14:00 (UK time)
- Online
- Book a place
PGT workshops
For workshops designed for postgraduate taught students, please see our schedule of support on our PGT workshops page.
Other workshops
Birmingham Scholars
The ASC run workshops for Birmingham Scholars. If you are a Birmingham Scholar you will have access to the following Canvas course and will be able to find information about our workshops.