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Effective Study Skills

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Portfolio Task: Module 1
(Required 500 Words, actual 475 words)
Study the following phrase and then write a properly referenced academic essay to discuss it.
“Effective Study Skills are the sole foundation of a sound education”
As described by wikipedia.org, ‘Education is the process of facilitating learning’.

Study is ‘the devotion of time and attention to gaining knowledge of an academic subject, especially by means of books’ (www.oxforddictionaries.com)

Cottrell 2013 writes that ‘a skill is a learned ability rather than an outcome achieved through luck or chance’.

Cottrell 2013 also goes on to say, ‘you can fine tune skills through practice, feedback and reflection’.

‘Study skills are approaches applied to learning’ (wikipedia.org)

Study skills include creative writing, evaluating, self and timemanagement, researching, reading, critical and creative thinking and organisation. According to Hoover and Patton, ‘study skills include the competencies associated with acquiring, recording, organizing, synthesizing, remembering and using information’. The availability of resources and materials available to a student will factor into a student gaining study skills.Some study skills are learnt and developed through our lifetime. However, many factors during a person’s lifetime can affect the way in which they learn.

‘Physical factors such as health, physical development, nutrition, visual and physical defects’(www.yourarticlelibrary.com) affect the development of study skills. ‘Many researchers and scientists agree that success at school is associated with social background factors’ (Giddens1997), this supporting the belief that emotional and personal circumstances contributes to the development of study skills. Also, the support from family and peer groups is of great importance to the success of a student.

‘Life opportunities can make a significant difference’

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