Academic tutor
The member of staff responsible for checking how you are settling in to your new course.
Account for
Explain, clarify or give reasons for. Avoid confusing this with "give an account of", which means to describe in detail.
Analyse
Give an organised answer, looking at all aspects of the question.
Argue
Make a case, based on suitable evidence, for or against a particular point of view.
Articulation
Finishing an HNC or HND and moving on to the second or third year of a degree course.
Assess
Decide on the value of something, paying attention to its positive and negative aspects.
Checking your work
Our guide to improving how you check and edit your work is available from our study guides page.
Comment on
To analyse or assess.
Compare
Show similarities or differences in functions, qualities or characteristics.
Contrast
Show differences in comparisons, when things are set side-by-side.
Coursework
Our guide to writing your coursework is available from our study guides page.
Credits
Points earned as you complete each part of your course. Normally, degree students have to earn 120 credits each year.
Criticise
To give a judgment about the value or truth of ideas, opinions or facts, usually with supporting evidence.
Critical Thinking
Analysing situations , weighing up different concepts, looking at different points of view, challenging what you read , not taking everything at face value but exploring potential different points of view
Define
To give the exact meaning of a term, theory, idea or word, and note any distinctions or differences.
Demonstrate
To show by example or evidence.
Describe
To set out the main ideas of a topic, or the sequence of events in a procedure or process.
Direct entry
Coming to a degree course, but not starting at the first year. This might be because your qualifications or experience mean you have the equivalent skills or knowledge as students who have completed the first year.
Discuss
To describe, explain, then evaluate. Before you start to make judgments about the ideas and theories you are dealing with, you need to describe what they are, and explain how and why they came about. You will find this task easier if you break it down like this.
Editing
Our guide to improving how you check and edit your work is available on our study guides page.
Enumerate
List relevant items in continuous prose, rather than in note form, and then describe them.
Essays
Our guide to writing better essays is available on our study guides page.
Evaluate
This is similar to assessing, deciding on the merit of an argument.
Exams
Our guide to more effective revision and better exam techniques is avaiable on our study guides page.
Explain
Relate how things work or how they came into being, which could involve description and analysis.
Give an account of
To describe in detail.
Groupwork
Our guide to working more effectively (and happily) on group projects is available on our study guides page.
Identify
Pick out the key features of something.
Illustrate
Similar to explaining, but asking for specific examples to be included.
Independent study
Our guide to making the most of your time as an independent learning is available on our study guides page.
Induction
One or two weeks of administration and orientation activities before teaching starts.
Interpret
Clarify something or explain how the things relates to some other way of looking at things.
Lab (or laboratory)
A practical exercise in either a computer room or a science lab.
Lecture
A lesson, with possibly more than 100 students, where the lecturer will speak and you are expected to take notes. Lectures should just be the start of your learning about a subject, not the main way you learn.
List
Similar to enumerating, but without going into much detail.
Matriculation
The process of signing up, when you start each year of a university course, to get your ID card.
Modular scheme
Used by most universities to structure their courses, modular schemes break down each year of the course into separate units or modules.
Module
A unit of a course covering one specific topic.
Practical
Active work, possibly in the lab or involving fieldwork away from the campus.
Pre-induction
The period before the start of teaching used for administration and orientation activities.
Proofreading
Our guide to improving how you check and edit your work is available on our study guides page.
Reading
Our guide to reading more effectively and more critically is available on our study guides page.
Reconcile
To show how two propositions or ideas are similar in important respects.
Referencing
Our guide to referencing properly is available on our study guides page.
Refute
To give solid evidence of why something is not the case.
Relate
To either explain how things happened or are connected in terms of cause and effect, or may require a compare and contrast.
Reports
Our guide to writing better reports, including help on producing an effective structure, is available on our study guides page.
Research
Our guide on becoming a more effective researcher is available on our study guides page.
Review
To survey a topic. The emphasis here is on assessing, rather than describing.
Revision
Our guide to more effective revision and better exam techniques is available on our study guides page.
SCQF
The Scottish Curriculum and Qualifications Framework - a guide to how qualifications link together, from Standard grades to postgraduate degrees.
Semester
Half of the academic year. Most modules will normally take one semester to complete.
Seminar
A cross between a lecture and a tutorial. A chance to discuss a topic in depth in a small group. Often the students will take turns to lead the discussion each week.
Stage
One full year's worth of study. So if you're a part-time student, each stage of the course will take two years.
State
To express the main points of an idea or topic, similar to describing or enumerating.
Study skills
The skills you need to help you learn. These include:
Summarise
Similar to stating. Giving the main features of an argument, but without any extra details.
Taking notes
Our guide to taking more effective notes in classes and while you read is available on our study guides page.
Term
A part of the academic year. Normally there will be three terms, just like at school or college.
Time management
Our guide to making the most of your time and succeeding as an independent learner is available on our study guides page.
To what extent?
Explore the case for a stated proposition or explanation, similar to assessing or criticising.
Top-up (and topping up)
Joining a degree course at stage 2 or 3 after completing your HNC or HND.
Trace
Identify the connection between one thing and another, in terms of its development over a period of time, or in terms of cause and effect.
Transition
Making the move from studying for an HNC or HND to a degree course, with help from teaching and support staff.
Tutorial
An opportunity for you to discuss issues raised in lectures and your own private reading with a small group of other students and a member of the teaching staff.
