First week at uni over! How was it? Hopefully, you’ve found all of your lecture theatres, met all your lecturers and sussed out the best coffee, closest carpark and cheapest lunch on campus. If all’s going well, you’ll have a week’s worth of notes, a small fortune’s worth of textbooks and the names of at least a couple of your classmates. You’ll be feeling overwhelmingly inspired, and inspirationally overwhelmed.

Now you need to start studying. If you’ve got your first assignment already, great – you can get started with your research. Jump online and browse until you get a clear direction of where you want to head with the topic, then hone down your searches on the online databases and in the library until you’ve got ten or so good sources of info to work with. If you haven’t been given any of your assignments yet, you’re in a great position to get ahead with your readings. Read through the first chapters of your textbooks and course readers, taking your time and making sure to take clear, thoughtful notes as you do so.

Remember that it’s totally normal to feel put-off by the academic language – don’t worry, you’ll get used to it soon enough. All that really matters is that you make a start, and don’t let procrastination weasel its way into your student life. The only way to start is to start, so pick up that textbook, fire up that laptop, and start reading!