How to organise yourself and your time

1
Time Management

• How to organise yourself and your time

2
Time Management

• What is the longest piece of work you have ever
  written?
• How long did it take you?
• Did you manage your time well?
• How/Why not?
• A dissertation is long, and needs careful
  organisation. Do you have the skills?????

3
Organisational tipWhat are you good at?

• Groups
• Give the group one organisational tip about any
  aspect of your life or study.

4
Analysis of your organisational skills Cottrell,
S (2003), The Study Skills Handbook, Palgrave
Macmillan Ltd
5
Using existing skills in new areas

• Identify a situation where you are best
  organised.
• Identify one area of weakness you would like to
  improve.
• How can you use 1) to help you in 2) ?
• For example, if someone is always on time
  for football matches, what planning skills are
  involved which could be used to plan for an
  assignment deadline?
• Cottrell, S (2003), The Study Skills Handbook,
  Palgrave Macmillan Ltd

6
Your timing so far .

• Discuss in pairs
• In the term papers you have written so far
• did you easily meet the deadline? or
• did you, for example, spend too long reading
  irrelevant material?
• did you, for example, change topics?
• did you, for example, leave no time for proof
  reading?
• What can you learn from this?

7
Learn from the past

• Look at tutor feedback on your term papers
• What can you learn?
• If your referencing was faulty, you need to
  allow extra time for that in your dissertation.
• If your grammar was poor, what will you do?
  Spend more time proof reading on your own? Ask
  your department about proof reading? (Get it in
  writing!!)
• Decide which issues to focus on what do you need
  to do?

8
What is important?http//www.academic-skills.soto
n.ac.uk/studyguides/Writing20Your20Dissertation.
doc

9
Quadrant I

• Quadrant I is where we need to manage our time,
  actually produce and meet the challenges set. It
  is for quadrant I that we need to develop
  strategies and ensure that we dont procrastinate
  in order to keep on top of the tasks demanded of
  us. If we are not careful however, we could
  spend most of our time in quadrant I just
  reacting to pressures. This is where we can
  easily feel stressed out.
• http//www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/studyguides
  /Writing20Your20Dissertation.doc

10
Quadrant II

• Quadrant II is where we deal with important
  issues such as planning (to keep quadrant I in
  check), creating new ideas and working towards
  our goals for both university and life outside.
  Keeping fit, doing exercise, broadening our mind,
  making intellectual leaps in our studies, charity
  work, reading, helping friends and family, and
  developing meaningful relationships are all part
  of quadrant II. In this quadrant we feel
  empowered. We need to spend a good deal of our
  time here for our own fulfilment.
• http//www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/studyguides
  /Writing20Your20Dissertation.doc

11
Quadrant III

• Quadrant III is where we operate on an urgency
  basis, with things that are not important for us.
  You may find you are reacting to other peoples
  priorities at the expense of your own try and
  keep a balance.
• http//www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/studyguides
  /Writing20Your20Dissertation.doc

12
Quadrant IV

• Quadrant IV is where we generally waste our time.
  We might slump in front of the television, read
  trashy novels etc. We are all in this quadrant
  from time to time, but try to limit how much time
  you spend here. Very often when you
  procrastinate you will find yourself in this
  quadrant.
• http//www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/studyguides
  /Writing20Your20Dissertation.doc

13
So.

• Set your priorities.

14
Place Time

• Where do you work best?
• The library?

15
Place Time

• In bed?

16
Place Time

• When do you work best?
• morning?
• evening?

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Use your best time

• Of course, you will need to be doing your
  dissertation at all sorts of times, but if you
  have a particular time when you work best, then
  this might be the time when you tackle a topic
  for the first time, or a particularly difficult
  subject.

18
Plan your timetable

• Before making your timetable, decide
• how long do you have to work before submission?
• how long can you concentrate for at one time?
• What tasks do you have to complete?
• What else do you have to do (e.g. cooking,
  shopping, socialising)?

19
Plan your timetable

• 40 minutes is the most anyone can really
  concentrate for, so divide up your days into
  1-hour slots -
• 40 minutes work little break to allow you to
  recap or test or organise your materials for the
  next session
• Try to vary what you are doing from one session
  to the next this helps retain interest and
  concentration
• Allow yourself plenty of breaks for coffee,
  water and walks
• Always allow time for meals
• Remember recreational activities

20
Plan your timetable

• If you fall behind, dont completely abandon
  your plan just accept that you may have to
  revise it and carry on...
• (It is not necessary, though it can be a great
  distraction, to re-write your timetable over and
  over again)

21
Tutorials

• Find out how often your supervisor will see you.
  (usually 2 hours summer term only)
• Plan accordingly.
• Think in advance about what you want to ask in a
  tutorial. Send any material ahead of time.
• Confirm in an email summary afterwards what you
  understand your supervisor to have said to you.

22
Discussion with your supervisor

• You must agree your dissertation title with your
  supervisor.
• You should discuss the relevance of your chosen
  topic to the programme youre following
• And the specificity and academic soundness of
  your title
• And the validity of the argument you propose to
  make
• And the availability of the main sources and
  materials.
• (Jeremy Lane presentation lthttp//www.sussex.ac.
  uk/gchums/1-3.htmlgt)

23
Schedule

• This kind of division may be helpful
• May selection of supervisor, initial research,
  preparation of outline, choice of title.
• June further research, initial drafting under
  supervision.
• July final research/analysis, redrafting.
• August writing up, revision, text checking.
• (Jeremy Lane presentation lthttp//www.sussex.ac.
  uk/gchums/1-3.htmlgt)

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Plan as much as possible NOW

• When is the submission date and time?
• When do you have to have the title approved?
• How often can you see your supervisor?
• Arrange appointments with supervisor (and
  confirm in an email)
• How long does binding the dissertation take?
• How much time does your proof reader need (if
  using one is acceptable)?
• Are you going to get a book through ILL?
• Do you need material sent from your country?
• Do you need IT support? How long will that take
  to set up?

25
What needs to be done?

26
Things to avoid

• Overlap between your dissertation and term
  papers. Bear this in mind when choosing your
  dissertation topic, and speak to your supervisor
  or programme convenor if in doubt.
• Plagiarism unacknowledged and deceitful use of
  others intellectual work as your own. See the
  guidance on plagiarism accessible from the
  Graduate Centre website Teaching page
  http//www.sussex.ac.uk/academicoffice/1-4-1.html
• Collusion your work must be your own and any
  collaboration must be acknowledged.
• Fabrication of results or evidence.
• There will be penalties, which can be severe,
  associated with these offences.
• (Jeremy Lane presentation lthttp//www.sussex.ac
  .uk/gchums/1-3.htmlgt)

27
Submission advice and rules

• Dont leave it to the last minute, or even hours.
• Always save your work regularly and back up files
  and disks or other storage hardware. Your N
  drive is a good place to store your work
  regularly as it is backed up daily.
• Check how many copies of your dissertation you
  have to submit, and to where. Youre strongly
  advised to keep a copy yourself.
• (Jeremy Lane presentation lthttp//www.sussex.ac.
  uk/gchums/1-3.htmlgt)

28
Find out knowledge reduces fear!

• Full details of the examining process, rules for
  submission, etc. are provided in the
• Assessment Handbook for Postgraduate Students,
  2006/7
• You can access the Handbook online at
• http//www.sussex.ac.uk/academicoffice/1-3-2-2.htm
  l