Postgraduate students

To a certain extent the transition into postgraduate study will be intuitive, as you will already have mastered learning independently and acclimatised to university life. However, it's always best to be prepared so we have put the following considerations together to help you:

• Most postgraduate courses are more intensive and are often studied part-time. This means that good time management and personal motivation are essential.
• If you are studying with a full-time job and a family, it's important that you treat your postgraduate studies as professionally as possible. This means being disciplined about when you are going to read and prepare your assignments. A little amount of study often might be your key to success.
• Postgraduate study is more academically demanding than undergraduate courses and you will need to demonstrate independent analytical and critical thinking. The best way to do this is to read all of the essential reading list, engage with criticism and theories, ask your tutors lots of questions and debate ideas with your peers. Be inquisitive.

Returning to academic studies can be a challenge if you have been away from university for a while. If you haven't written an essay or report for some time it will really help you to re-introduce yourself to the form. It's always better to do this kind of research early in the year, rather than wait until you've got to submit the coursework, so we'd advise you to speak to your tutors about the ground rules early and see if it's possible to get samples of essays and reports.