Skip to content The Open University

Skills Check 0

The Skills Check is a short survey which should take you no more than 3 minutes to complete. Once you have completed the Skills Check we provide you with a personal learning plan targeted to your personal study needs and goals.

Sign in to work on the Skills Check.
  1. Home
  2. Ongoing skills
  3. Postgraduate study skills

Postgraduate study skills

If you have started studying at postgraduate level, you probably already have good undergraduate-level skills, but these will be developed further and assessed more stringently in postgraduate study.

Covered in this section

  • Reading skills for PG study
  • Gathering and processing evidence and data
  • Presenting your findings
  • 45 mins to complete this section
  • Audio (2)

You will need new skills for postgraduate study. You will be expected to

  • read outside the module's core materials in order to get a broader perspective on your specialism
  • demonstrate academic judgement by gathering appropriate published evidence or data, which you then critically evaluate and use as the basis for logical argument and discussion
  • gather your own data and consider its significance, by using methodologies such as questionnaires and statistical analysis
  • present your findings in a professional manner: as a written assignment, a dissertation, or an oral presentation to others.

If you haven't studied for some time, or you want to review your skills, take a look at the other resources in Skills for OU Study, which are aimed at undergraduates. They include advice on planning and managing your study - at postgraduate level, you may well have to find 15 hours a week to study.