Help in person for taught students

Skills@Library offers one-to-one support to taught students on a wide range of topics including academic writing, finding information and using English for academic purposes. Our experienced learning advisors and language teachers can help you to develop your academic skills and strategies through the following services.

One-to-one academic skills appointments

We offer appointments on Monday to Friday, 9.30am–4.15pm.

Our one-to-one appointments are either delivered in person at the Laidlaw Library or online through Microsoft Teams. You can state your preference when requesting an appointment. 

Please request an appointment online. 

If you would like support from a language teacher please select “Language appointment” in the online form (only available during term-time).

If you are studying on a distance learning course, please state this in the special requirements box.

Once we’ve received your request, we’ll arrange a suitable time for you and send you an invite to your Microsoft Outlook calendar. If you accept the calendar invite from your Outlook inbox, there is also the option to attach any documents that are relevant to your discussion.

At busy periods you might need to wait for an appointment to be scheduled, so unfortunately we cannot offer a quick fix for assignments with a deadline approaching. We usually require at least two working days to prepare for your appointment.

Joining your online appointment

To access your appointment we recommend using Google Chrome to log into your UOL MS Office 365 account. You can join the appointment by either clicking on the “Join” button from your Outlook calendar or your Teams calendar. It may ask if you would like to install the MS Teams app but this is not essential as the web browser version should be fine.

We are committed to the University Union's Proofreading Policy and therefore do not provide a proofreading service.

You can also access online guidance and resources at the Language Zone, covering topics such as academic reading, writing and speaking. This is particularly helpful if you are new to studying in the UK or if English is not your first language.