1st Edition
The Psychology of Effective Studying How to Succeed in Your Degree
**Author Paul Penn is the 2021 Winner of the Higher Education Psychology Teacher of the Year Award**
This book provides a vital guide for students to key study skills that are instrumental in success at university, covering time management, academic reading and note-taking, academic integrity, preparation of written assignments, teamwork and presentations.
With each chapter consisting of sub-sections that are titled with a single piece of fundamental advice, this is the perfect ‘hit the ground running’ resource for students embarking on their undergraduate studies. The book uses evidence from psychology to account for the basic errors that students make when studying, illuminating how they can be addressed simply and effectively. Creating an ‘insider’s guide’ to the core requisite skills of studying at degree level, and using a combination of research and practical examples, the author conveys where students often go fundamentally wrong in their studying practices and provides clear and concise advice on how they can improve.
Written in a humorous and irreverent tone, and including illustrations and examples from popular culture, this is the ideal alternative and accessible study skills resource for students at undergraduate level, as well as any reader interested in how to learn more effectively.
Dedication Preface Chapter 1. Introduction: Metacognition: the foundation of successful studying (or at least how to avoid being ‘that person’ on the TV talent show) Chapter 2. Conquering Procrastination: Why it's so hard to DO IT. JUST DO IT! Chapter 3. Academic reading and note-taking: what we can all learn from 50 Shades of Grey Chapter 4. Academic Integrity, citation, quotation and referencing: Credit where credit is due Chapter 5. Producing written assessments at degree level: Producing quality written work shouldn’t be rocket science, even if you’re studying rocket science Chapter 6. Working collaboratively: There is no ‘I’ in team, but there is an ‘I’ in "I really hate teamwork" Chapter 7. How to deliver an effective presentation: It’s not about you Chapter 8. Revision: Cleaning up a dirty word Index
Biography
Dr Paul Penn has been a lecturer in Psychology since 2007. He is a Chartered Scientist, Psychologist and member of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Academics, Researchers and Teachers in Psychology. He is also a fellow of Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy).
He has a YouTube channel that provides video guides on effective studying www.youtube.com/psychologyofeffectivestudying
He also offers consultancy on using psychological research to improve learning and presentation skills. Visit www.drpaulpenn.com for more information.
‘In a way that is lively, provocative, and even entertaining, the author provides students with an easily digestible guide to what cognitive-science research has to say about how to study—and why that differs so markedly from how students typically think they should study.’ – Robert A. Bjork. Distinguished Research Professor. University of California, Los Angeles. Past President, Association for Psychological Science.
‘Imagine the ideal academic advisor, who knows all of the tricks of the trade and is happy to take the time to guide you. Now make that advisor not only deep and wise, but also very funny. If such an advisor exists, it is probably Dr. Penn. This book is a marvelous tutorial on how to succeed as a student and scholar. It is steeped in the author’s up-to-date knowledge of numerous scientific literatures, and it does a remarkably good job of distilling what is most important and explaining clearly how to use this material to good end. This book is about much more than effective studying—it is also about functioning effectively in a wide range of situations, from academe to business. I recommend it with enormous enthusiasm.’ – Professor Stephen M. Kosslyn, President and CEO of Foundry College and former founding dean and Chief Academic Officer of the Minerva Schools at the Keck Graduate Institute.
‘One of psychology’s unsung gifts to the world is evidence-based advice on how to understand and remember material. Dr. Penn’s book is an excellent invitation to these fascinating and enormously practical discoveries.’ – Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and the author of How the Mind Works and Enlightenment Now.
‘A compendium of excellent advice, comprehensively backed up by sound experimental evidence, and engagingly written.’ – John Radford is Emeritus Professor in the School of Psychology, of which he was the founding Head, at the University of East London. He is a Fellow and Honorary Life Member of the British Psychological Society.
"This book is just perfect for the student (and teacher) who wants to improve upon their learning and school experience. It is a text that will be used, over and over again, as the reader advances through their degree of study… Add this one to your list of books to be read. You won’t be sorry." -- Blake Harvard, AP Psychology Teacher at James Clemens High School, Madison, US (TheEffortfulEducation.com, full review can be read here -- https://theeffortfuleducator.com/2020/04/29/brtpoes/).
