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The move from school or college to university can be a big jump for many students, especially when it comes to writing essays and working on assignments. There is much confusion around what is expected of students when it comes to academic writing. Getting to grips with academic writing at university can be challenging. I know this only too well through my work as an SU academic student advisor. Every day I meet students who are not completely sure about what is expected from different forms of assessed writing (for example, case studies, reports, essays, even reflective assignments) and who need help with how to use sources and reference correctly. People often have misconceptions around academic writing, thinking that it has to include complex vocabulary with long sentences. Howeve...

From the age of about sixteen, we are constantly fed the idea that every choice we make will affect our lives later on. A-levels will affect your degree and the university you go to, which will in turn decide your standard of living for the next fifty years. Despite this pressure, many of us arrive at university with no idea and lacking inspiration with what to do with our lives. Some even come just to postpone the day they have to join the ‘real world’. It is a concern going through many minds, but you are not alone. Maybe it is possible to say that we worry about what’s to come a little too much? Winston Churchill said: ‘It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.’ So does this mean that it is wrong to plan for the futu...

When one hears the words “university night life” the classic connotation which is conjured up is of the club environment. There are many familiar images of this environment: the glutenous (and often rushed) pre-drinks which you will soon start to refer to as 'prinks', sickly sticky floors and getting to know a fellow student - popularly known as “eating face”. To freshers in particular, be in no doubt that there will be plenty of opportunities to engage in nights such as the one which I have just described, not even the mighty swash of the alcohol awareness campaign which the university has signed up to will put a stop to that culture. Heading to the Monkey’s Forehead on Egham Hill is a night which you can personalise if going in fifth gear is not your scene. Popularly known as “Monkey’...

Virginia Water As Royal Holloway students, having one of the most spectacular landscapes on our doorstep needs to be taken advantage of. Virginia Water is a man-made lake with many spectacles to enjoy. You can lose days going on walks, getting lost among the many mazes of gardens and woodlands; enjoy jogs with friends; picnics in summer or just soak up the solitude in the soothing environment. Virginia Water was first dammed and flooded in 1753 and until the creation of reservoirs it was the single biggest expanse of water in Britain. There are reminders of the past all around as the lake was a place of pageantry and spectacle. If you take a trip further around the lake you can discover an ornamental cascade imported from North Africa in the 18th century and the Leptis Magna Ruins, a ‘Ro...