Graduate Student Information Portal

The TLU has prepared a series of learning resources designed to help you with your study. These booklets and helpsheets identify the key skills required in your degree, and provide you with strategies and tips for success. These resources are being used (with acknowledgement) by institutions around Australia and overseas.

Staff in the TLU have also identified the following additional sources as those that might be useful for graduate students in the Faculty.

• University resources for graduates (sites for general advice)
• PhD writing resources
• English as a Second Language (ESL) resources (for international students)

University resources for graduates

• Guide for Writing Reflective Journal Entries (University of South Australia)
• Assignment Writing (University of South Australia)
• OnLine Academic Study Skills (The Learning Centre, University of NSW)
• Writing a Literature Review (RMIT)
• How to be a Good Graduate Student (Indiana University)
• Student Learning Centre, Resources for Graduates (Auckland University)
• Starting Research (John Creedy, Department of Economics, University of Melbourne)

PhD writing resources

• How to Write a PhD Thesis (by national teaching award winner, Joe Wolfe, University of NSW)
• How to Survive a Thesis Defence (Joe Wolfe, University of NSW)
• First thoughts to Finished Writing (University of Queensland)
• How to Write a Dissertation (Purdue University)
• PhD Writing Links (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)
• Bookmarks on Thesis Writing
• A Structured Approach for Presenting Theses (by Chad Perry, University of Southern Queensland)
• A Structured Approach to the Presentation of Research Theses (by Mark Uncles, University of NSW)
• Notes on the PhD Degree (Purdue University)
• PhD Handbook (School of Graduate Studies Candidature, University of Melbourne)
• Questions to Consider when Writing a PhD thesis (School of Graduate Studies Candidature, University of Melbourne)

The following books are useful for doctoral students:

• Blaxter, L., Hughes, C. & Tight, M. 1998. How to Research. USA: Open University Press
• Carter, C., Bishop, J. & Lyman Kravits, S. 1996. Keys to Success: how to achieve your goals. New Jersey: Prentice Hall
• Cryer, P. 1997. The Research Student’s Guide to Success. USA: Open University Press.
• Locke, Spriduso and Silverman, Proposals that Work; A Guide for Planning Dissertations and Grant Proposals, Sage (1993)
• Phillips, E.M. & Pugh, D.S. 1994. How to get a PhD. USA: Open University Press
• Stevens, K. and Asmar, C. (1999) Doing Postgraduate Research in Australia. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne

Back to top

English as a Second Language resource

There are lots of websites devoted to assisting students learn English, however many are too low-level. Below is a list of several that that seem useful.

• Common Errors in English
• EnglishPage.com (For advanced exercises.)
• Advanced Composition for ESL students
• English Forums (A guide to resources and contacts for students and teachers of English, harvested by a web aardvark.) 
• TESL/TEFL/TESOL/ESL/EFL/ESOL links (Of interest to teachers of English as a Second Language; maintained by The Internet TESL Journal.  Type in your problem area - eg 'articles' - and get a list of helpful sites)
• BBC English (Part of BBC World Service. Uses radio, magazines, and cassettes to teach English as a second language.)
• Digital Education Network- English Language Teaching and Learning (Resources, forums and information for those teaching or learning English as a foreign language.) 
• EnglishCLUB.net (Articles, resources, and information for ESL students and teachers.) 
• Purdue University 's On Line Writing Lab (OWL)
• Monash English Language Centre hosts Renata's ESL Corner
• English online (An excellent interactive site, especially good for articles 'the', 'a', 'an' and prepositional phrases.)