Be critical of your skills and try to keep an open mind throughout. Try to assess which part of the skill is most challenging to you and which parts you expect to be easier. Click on the headings along the bar at the top of this page to find each separate skill guide. Within the guides you can skip ahead to the sections you feel could improve your skills the most, using the table of contents on the left of the page. Do not attempt to work through this website or a specific skill from start to finish without making a self-assessment first. In that way, you risk losing focus on the parts you could improve most on.

Each page will start by listing the learning outcomes of that chapter. Do they correspond to those you set for yourself? Read through the pages, check out the references of subjects you would like to learn more about, and review at the end of each chapter whether you have achieved the outcomes predicted at the beginning of the chapter. If not, go back to the parts you have not yet mastered and see what you can do to improve, or use the references and additional links to follow up.

Over the last decades many articles and books have already been written on the many techniques and methods for improving your skillset. However, here we present a collection of information useful throughout your studies which is specifically relevant for students at the departments of Earth Sciences and Physical Geography. Each of the skills covered has a list of references and resources used, as well as other useful literature you can pursue at any time. We recommend you have a look at some of these resources to gain more detailed insight into the aspects of the skill that you struggle with most.