So you have survived the last few semesters or the last year of college? It’s time to start fresh again. What you did or how you did in spring is behind you. Now you have to focus on what’s ahead. It’s still the start of the semester and you can gather your thoughts and focus on being motivated for coming back to the campus again. There are a few things you should consider and keep in mind while starting the semester in fall.

Don’t Fall behind in Class

It’s the start of the semester so it’s a good thing to stay on track and complete each assignment on time. If you submit all the assignments and projects on time, there would be no reason for you to fall behind in class. None of us want to spend the holidays catching up on missed work or buried in textbooks.  So, make sure that you don’t fall behind in class because you don’t want to regret it when all your friends are having fun and you are busy with college work.  Organize and plan everything. Try to get most of the things done in your syllabus and ace the midterms to make sure the finals go great.

Cold Weather

We know how annoying it is to get out of bed when it’s really cold and chilly outside. But, it happens every year. You can’t just roll up in bed with Starbucks and expect to go through the semester without any struggle. Waking up in cold mornings and encountering freezing temperatures is indeed difficult. Grab a hot cup of coffee on your way to class and out on some warm clothes is the only way to deal with it. If you don’t pay attention now, things will really get warmer near the exam week and you will start to feel the chill. Also, you are not the only one who has to get up in the morning. If you really have a hard time getting up in the morning then exercise for a while before getting ready. It will help your muscles relax a bit.

Don’t miss classes

Absences happen but you have to be cautious about it. There are days when you are so bummed out and stressed that you want to relax and take a day off. However you are only allowed to have a few absences, before the teacher starts to notice your absence and drop a letter. There would be some days that will be really cold or you may have to take a day off due to some illness, then what? Save your absences foe the right time and the best time to make the most of them is in the end of the semester.

Harder Courses and Classes

If you are enrolled in a fall semester that can mean two things: either you are a freshman or you have been in college for a year or so. If you are new then things are quite different as compared to high school. There would be countless assignments, quizzes, projects and finally exams. It’s a lot to take in at once. If you are an old student, then you must be aware that courses get tough and you are required to invest more time in college work.

Either way you have to work hard to get through the semester with flying colors. Professors don’t always play around in college to cut you some slack. Set your priorities and focus on studies too.

End of the Semester

When the semester will come to an end, it will be around the holidays and you can’t just help but fall the victim of the festivities around you. At the same time, you are piled with hundreds of work and projects before the final exams. You may think that you will be able to manage but things get quite rough and it’s difficult to manage studies at that time. Don’t you want to spend time at home with family or close friends? So, just chill and relax! Make a proper plan to work things out so that you can enjoy the festival season.

These are some of the basic tips and ways that you should follow in order to maintain your grades and finish the semester like a pro!

We all go through that time when it comes down to surviving comprehensive writing exams. Once the studies for comprehensive exams are over, it gets worse. A lot of us fear writing so it seems like a terrifying idea. Here are a few tips that will help you in surviving comprehensive writing exam.

So there are things you must do before the exam and some during the exam. We have break down of the things you should do before and after the exam.

 Before the Exam

• Organize the notes

Organize the notes in a manner that explain everything to you. It should make sense and should be organized in the correct order. You can use color tags to relate the concepts, authors and themes together. Always make sure that the notes are on your finger tips to find the information quickly. The color tags will help you remember where the notes were written or stored. Let’s say you wrote a couple of concepts in the red color section. Think of all the key points that you remember jotting down in the red section. The label will help you find the information.

• Keep everything you need with you

When you sit for the exam, make sure you have everything. Keep all the writing tools, notes, water and snacks with you. These are some standard things that will be required to write the comprehensive exam. However, if you are writing from the comfort of your own home, create a comfortable spot in your room. Minimize the distractions as much as possible to keep your focus on writing only. If you work with music then update the playlist with your favorite songs. Keep tea, coffee or water at arm’s length to keep you alive.

During the exam

• Write down the Basic Terms, Dates, Concepts and Authors

This step is really important when you are writing without any notes. Before you look at the question, write all the relevant information to keep it at the top of your mind.

• Read the Exam Carefully

This particular step is crucial if you have to choose the question. Underline the terms as you read the paper and make sure you understand all the things asked in the question. The key question usually lies in the end so read the whole thing.

As you read the question, think of a rough idea to answer each question. Take mental notes about the sources you will use, what theories and concepts would answer the question. It will help you fill gaps. You will be able to tell if you are missing something or all the concepts are allocated accordingly and how long can you spend in giving a response.

• Draft your Answers

Before you actually start writing, take some time to plan how you will answer the question. Sketch out an answer with arguments and thesis statements.

• Meta-Cognitive and Sign Posting

Now it’s time to draft your answers and the 5 paragraph structure will help you out. Start with an introduction paragraph and then write the rest of your answer. Use a lot of sign posting and try to be meta-cognitive in your answer. Take each paragraph to tell what every section will do and why. If your thoughts change slightly, go back and change it.

Use the first sentence as a mini introduction for each paragraph and tie it with the thesis statement and highlight what you are going to do in each paragraph. This entire plan acts as a road map to help you focus on a topic if you are running out of time.

Summer vacations are practically over for most of the college students. So what now? How will you recharge yourself during the summer? Well, summer is the best time to start re-energizing for the year ahead in college. It’s the perfect time to reflect on what you learned the in the past academic year. Here are a few things you can consider to recharge your body, spirit and mind in summer.

Move more

A college student like you has to spend a lot of time in front of the computer screen, looking through spreadsheets and completing all the assignments. All that will not go away even when it’s really hot outside. The best way to deal with the stress and work that comes along with assignments is to move your body. Sitting all day is not good for the body. It needs you to move in order to improve the health and make your mind alert. Have a small dance party every now and then. Walk to the nearest bus stop or schedule small breaks after 40 to 60 minutes. Go outside for a run and enjoy the warm weather. Early studies and movement will increase your brain power.

Read a book for Pleasure

Clear your mind with a book that is outside your field of study. It will help you gain a fresh perspective to start the new semester at college. You will be able to tackle work in a different way. Also, knowing what is going on around the world, outside college is also good. It will make you well aware and a decent professional. Take a break and go to the nearest bookstore and enjoy a good book.

Do something new in your life

New experiences make us happy. It is even more satisfying than buying new things. The memory of a new experience remains with us for a long time. So, shake up your routine a little bit and take a break from college papers. Appreciate the beauty of new adventures to get out of the rut. Take a drive to someplace you have never been before or eat lunch at some place new. It’s even better if you are spontaneous, take a day trip and you will be amazed about what you will experience.

Be Grateful for the things around you

Recharge yourself during the summer by reflecting on the things you are grateful for. It generally reminds us what’s important in life. Take it a step further and tell the people around you how grateful you are to have them in your life.  Even the business journals like Harvard Review also suggest college students to do this.

Don’t lose hope on the amount of information out there on your topic. Literature research may seem like a lot of information that will make you drown in quicksand. Getting through this chunk of information is indeed a huge task but if you plan it, you can get rid of that problem, one bit at a time.

To help you get through all that information in small sizes, we have compiled an easy plan for you to follow.

Step 1: What do you want to find out?

Do you have a research question ready or are you looking for information to make your research question strong? Before you start reading all the relevant information, make up your mind about what you are researching for. If you are at the stage of exploring a topic or a subject, then state the purpose of your research as “understanding the basic ideas of topic ABC”. If you are looking for opposing theories on the effect of event A on event B, then write it down clearly.

Having a clear perspective and goal will help you find the right information at this step of the research. You will begin to notice that reading for different goals for your research will help you focus on various aspects of publication.

Step 2: How much time do you have on your hands?

You can spend the whole day or just 20 minutes on the entire paper. If you really want to manage your time in the best possible way, then give you work a structure. Plan the work by giving yourself deadlines.

Once you are aware how much time do you have on your hands, start planning. If you have a month for the entire research, take 1.5 weeks to go through the essentials, 1 week to explore the sidelines of your research and 1 week to write a literature review.

Step 3: Study the essentials

Identify the key publications of your study. A good way to start is to find an authentic and a detailed review paper or a report. Start the topic by chewing on the references on that paper or report.

To understand the basics of the new subject, you need to spend some time on it. Understand the basic equations and principles of that study. All this will require sitting down, noting down important points and slowly working your way through all the relevant material. The process will be similar to a student going through a difficult chapter of a textbook. You may find yourself spending too much time on the some papers. However, they will build the foundation of your research along with further readings.

Step 4: Speed through the Sidelines

Separate all the papers that you find interesting, give additional insights but are not relevant to the field of study. Note that these papers are not of lesser importance, you can’t skip the side information. You have to understand all the concepts spend less time in order to understand all the elements.

The key is to go through everything in a quick manner. It will be like speed-reading through everything. Train the eyes to look at a group of words rather than looking at a single word at a time.

Step 5: Archive what you read

Reading is important but finding that paper and looking for more information is a vital aspect in controlling the large chunk of information over the time.

You can keep a digital archive or archive hard copies. Arrange your document in such a way that you are able to find those papers even after three years.

Step 6: Keep an eye on the outcome

Don’t rely on information and results available when you first researching on a topic. What appeared to be the truth yesterday may not remain the same with today’s results. Develop a strategy to keep your research updated in order to maintain the best outcome. Subscribe to the publication updates of the relevant journals and set up RSS feed on relevant keywords.

Every graduate student experiences the feeling of a project going on forever. There is no end date to get a graduate degree but going there requires a dissertation. It is the biggest undertaking that many graduate students experience. Literature, grant applications and manuscripts are nothing as compared to the size of an average dissertation.

If you approach it correctly, writing a dissertation will not seem too intimidating. A writing plan for your own dissertation will help you. Stick to it and use this approach to make consistent progress on your dissertation. Now you can wrap up your dissertation with a solid writing plan to avoid stress.

Know the format

Before you start anything, you should know what you are expected to write in the dissertation. A lot of programs arrange seminars on writing dissertations. It is highly recommended that you attend such seminars to understand the writing formats and their requirements.

A lot of programs also post their dissertation style on the websites. Find out yours and read it to avoid future hassles.

Break the dissertation into chapters

Determine how much time you will spend on writing. Outline the major sections such as introduction, methods, material, discussion, chapters etc. so you have an exact picture of what you have to write. Spend plenty of time on writing drafts of all the major sections in the dissertation. Don’t write and edit it at the same time. You will be waste a lot of time making one part right and fall behind on your overall writing progress. Adjust with the ugly draft first and move on and leave the rest to deal with it later.

Map your work with dates

Once you have determined the content for all the major sections and chapters, set the dates for completing each section. Make a calendar and set these dates into that calendar to make your life easier. This calendar will give you concrete dates to work on. It will act as your visual outline in order to accomplish all the tasks and requirements of the dissertation.

Establish dissertation progress meetings with your instructor and submit one chapter every week. Get the instructor’s comments and reviews on each chapter and work on the previous week’s chapter and start editing.  In this way, you will be able to write new content and edit the previous work without getting stuck anywhere.

Write down the due dates of all the chapters on a piece of paper that acts as your calendar. You will be able to track your progress till the final submission. It is easier to meet small deadlines with consistent progress rather than stressing about the whole dissertation at once.

Taking some time out to plan a proper outline for the dissertation progress may sound stupid, but, it will definitely help you. This method will preserve your sanity and you will enjoy the writing process.