The book serves as a guide which retains its primary purpose of facilitating the students and lecturers who have serious interests in long term development of their learning and academic and practical skills in the political sciences. It is not a source of quick fixes and remedies; but assumes a genuine willingness to invest time in practically working on exercises and reflecting on them; and is viewed as a thoughtful, theoretically grounded, exploration of the nature of studying the political sciences and at the same time, a practical guide to reflective experimentation with analytical skills, drawing as it does on many years of exploring with mature open distance learning students. In summary, the primary objective of the book remains that of helping academics, students and readers develop and acquire a deeper understanding of the political sciences; design appropriate programmes and relevant courses, and enhance specialism and professionalism in the respective disciplines of study and training.