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Kingston University: Academic Success Centres

As a final-year student on Kingston’s BA (Hons) Fine Art and Art History course, I recently had to write my dissertation. Although I obviously had experience writing academic essays from my first two years of study, I was quite nervous to suddenly write something that was 6000 words long - especially considering it was a more independently-led piece than any of my previous assignments. Tutorials were a great source of support, but I sometimes struggled to know whether or not I was on the right track with my research and my referencing, and I didn’t feel entirely comfortable asking my coursemates for advice whilst they were occupied with writing their own dissertations.

This is where the university’s Academic Success Centre service proved particularly useful for me. I had never used the KU Academic Success Centres before – although I had known about them for some time, I had always felt fairly confident in my writing skills and didn’t really consider how I might improve them further. However, I knew the dissertation was a major assignment, so I booked a 1-2-1 appointment with my faculty-specific advisor to talk through my concerns.

Academic Success Centres offer students from all faculties guidance on referencing, presentation skills, study skills, understanding feedback and writing in an academic context. Furthermore, they can help students gain a better idea of how to appropriately use AI tools to inform academic research and demonstrate how to properly acknowledge AI contributions within an essay/assignment.

1-2-1 appointments (both on-campus and online through Microsoft Teams) are available to be booked throughout the week, alongside regular drop-in sessions (the drop-in schedule can be found on MyKingston). Students can also receive written feedback on any final drafts of written work, which can be an excellent way to double-check you’re on the right path before finally submitting your work.

Honestly, I wish I had made use of the services offered by the Academic Success Centres sooner. Regardless of your current grade in any given subject/module, there’s always room for improvement – for example, my advisor gave me some tips on how to improve my sentence and paragraph structure, which is something I had previously brushed over. Whether you’re currently in the middle of writing an essay or just beginning the planning stages, I would definitely recommend getting in contact with your faculty ASC manager. All contact information and the appointment-booking service can be found on the MyKingston Academic Success Centre page.

Hope this was helpful, and best of luck to any KU students with upcoming assignments! :smile: