BSc Social Policy

For prospective students

• Social Policy (Single and Joint Honours)
• What is social policy or public policy?
• Single Honours Social Policy Unit Detail
• Joint Honours Social Policy Unit Detail
• Admissions
• Study abroad
• Student comments
• Careers
• Disabled students
• Social Policy quiz
• Visit days

For new and current students

• Bursaries
• Programme handbook
• Study skills manual

Study skills manual

The School for Policy Studies Study Skills Manual (2007), by Melanie McCarry & Louise Baxter.

This manual has been created to help you make the most of your time as a student at the University. Select the following links to download the relevant sections.

1. Introduction to the manual (Word, 26Kb) (PDF, 5Kb).
2. Time management - how to be an effective university student. (Word, 27Kb) (PDF, 18Kb).
3. Plagiarism and referencing - an overview of the University of Bristol's policy of plagiarism and an explanation of the Harvard Referencing System. (Word, 252Kb) (PDF, 165Kb).
4. Effective reading - a guide to maximising the time spent reading and how to get the most out of it. (Word, 228Kb) (PDF, 40Kb).
5. Note-taking - an examination of different note taking styles and suggestions for how to take constructive and useful notes in seminars, lectures and from written texts (Word, 259Kb) (PDF, 156Kb).
6. Essay writing - how to construct a coherent academic argument and present it in a written form; an outline of marking schemes that will be applied to written assignments (Word, 279Kb) (PDF, 56Kb).
7. Word and email - introduction to using the computer focusing on using Word and email (Word, 3,477Kb) (PDF, 1,790Kb).
8. Library catalogue and electronic journals - how to search for resources such as books, journal articles and information at other libraries (Word, 3,001Kb) (PDF, 2,034Kb).
9. Social science resources on the internet - searching web-based databases for resources and effective search strategies (Word, 3,125Kb) (PDF, 2,521Kb).
10. Seminar presentations - a guide to developing your presentation skills (Word, 882Kb) (PDF, 611Kb).
11. Giving and receiving feedback - practical suggestions on giving and receiving feedback (Word, 214Kb) (PDF, 29Kb).
12. Constructing a social science argument (1) - how to recognise and use social science theory (Word, 39Kb) (PDF, 23Kb).
13. Constructing a social science argument (2)- developing the previous section but concentrating on quantitative data (Word, 58Kb) (PDF, 25Kb).
14. Constructing a social science argument (3) - developing the previous section but concentration on qualitative data (Word, 42Kb) (PDF, 29Kb).
15. Revision techniques -a guide to managing your revision (Word, 229Kb) (PDF, 39Kb).
16. Exam techniques -practical tips for exam situations (Word, 45Kb) (PDF, 31Kb).
17. References (Word, 196Kb) (PDF, 13Kb).
18. Appendix 1 (Word, 280Kb) (PDF, 26Kb).
19. Appendix 2 (Word, 50Kb) (PDF, 13Kb).