LSGE Smart Thinking - Academic Skills Centre - University of Canterbury - New Zealand

Smart Thinking

This series of three seminars covers methods for achieving deeper learning and the essential skills of independent thinking. It is designed to teach students how to think critically, analyse and evaluate when writing assignments, and beyond.

1. Critical thinking

Critical thinking is an essential process required for all university assessment. This session will cover the important skills of independent thinking, the techniques of debating a point and drawing conclusions.

2. Maximising your reading time

Would you like to improve your reading techniques?  This session will discuss the reading process and present techniques for identifying and improving your reading speed; adjusting your reading technique to suit particular purposes; and learning effectively from written sources (including journal articles, books, and textbooks).

3. Reading to understand difficult academic texts

Have you ever read a page of text and then wondered what it was all about? In this session, students will become aware of the writer’s structural cues that indicate where the most relevant meaning lies, and will learn how sifting for significance leads to comprehensive understanding of a difficult passage.

Tutor: Michael Weiss

Course Outline (PDF)

Dates and times

  • Wednesdays, 19 July to 2 August 2023, from 12.00 pm to 12.50 pm. (In person and Live stream). Zoom link will be sent to all enrolled students.: passed

The next set of dates for this learning event has not yet been scheduled.

It is most beneficial to enrol for the whole course, but students are welcome to attend individual sessions if they wish.

Even if workshops are fully booked, it is likely there will be space on the day, so feel free to turn up. If you would like to be notified when this course is next scheduled, request it at a different time or day, or just find out more, email Jacqueline.

  • Academic Skills Centre
    University of Canterbury,
    Private Bag 4800,
    Christchurch 8140
    +64 3 369 3900
  • academicskills@canterbury.ac.nz
    When contacting us, please use your
    University of Canterbury email address.
  • Our location
    Level 3,
    Central Library (Puaka-James Hight)