Category Archives: Studying

The Benefits and Challenges of Pursuing a Postgraduate Degree

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Pursuing a postgraduate degree can provide a wealth of opportunity for personal and professional growth. However, as with any major undertaking, it also comes with its own set of challenges. In this article, we explore some of the advantages and difficulties of earning a postgraduate degree, as well as some practical ways to navigate them.

One of the primary benefits of pursuing a postgraduate degree is the ability to specialize in a specific field or area of study. Whether you’re seeking to deepen your understanding of a subject you’re already passionate about or to transition to a new career, a postgraduate program can provide the necessary skills and expertise to excel.

Another advantage is the potential for career advancement. Many employers view advanced degrees positively, and earning a postgraduate degree can open doors to leadership positions within your industry or new opportunities within your current organization. Additionally, a postgraduate degree often leads to increased earning potential, since those who hold postgraduate degrees tend to earn more than those who only hold a bachelor’s degree.

However, there are also challenges to consider. One of the most significant is the cost of tuition. Postgraduate programs can be costly and the financial burden can be prohibitive. But there are options, such as scholarships, grants, and student loans, to help finance your education. It’s well worth researching the financial programs that are offered not just by the institution but in your local area—for instance, grants are often available at the state or county level.

Another challenge is the time commitment. Postgraduate programs can be demanding and require a significant investment of time and effort. This can be particularly difficult for students balancing full-time jobs or other responsibilities.

To overcome these challenges, it’s essential to have a clear plan and the determination to see that plan through. This starts with research—on institutions, programs, tuition costs, financial assistance, and so on. Once you start the program it can be beneficial to set aside dedicated study time, organize your coursework well, and seek out support when needed. You can also consider flexible program options such as online or part-time courses to better accommodate your schedule.

It’s worth remembering that the benefits of a postgraduate degree can far outweigh the difficulties. Advanced education can open up new opportunities and provide the skills and expertise needed to succeed in your chosen field. With a well-considered plan and steadfast resolve, you can overcome the challenges and achieve your goals.

Navigating the Graduate School Admissions Process: Tips and Strategies for Success

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Graduate school can be a great opportunity to further your education and pursue your passions, but the admissions process can be intimidating. There are many factors that go into a successful application, and it can be difficult to know where to start. In this article, we will discuss some tips and strategies for navigating the graduate school admissions process and increasing your chances of being accepted.

Do your research

First, it is important to carefully research and choose the right graduate program for you. Look for programs that align with your academic and career goals, and consider factors such as location, cost, and program reputation. It can also be helpful to speak with current students or alumni to get a sense of what the program, teaching staff, and institution are like.

Check you qualify

Once you have identified a few programs that interest you, make sure you meet the admissions requirements. This includes having a strong academic background, with acceptable grades and test scores. Many programs also require letters of recommendation, so start thinking early on in the process about who you will ask. Additionally, a personal statement or writing sample might be required; these will probably go through several drafts, plus a proofreading stage, so it is important to start working on these materials as soon as possible.

Get organized

This will be a lengthy process, with many moving parts, so it’s vital to be organized. For example, consider creating a calendar or timeline to keep track of deadlines and to-do items, along with a checklist of each stage, its components and required materials. It can also be helpful to keep all of your application materials in one place, so you can easily access them when needed.

Complete your application—carefully

When filling out your application, pay attention to the details. Make sure to complete all necessary forms and include all required materials, such as transcripts and test scores, and don’t include anything that hasn’t been expressly requested. A checklist can again be helpful here to ensure you haven’t overlooked anything. It is also a good idea to have someone proofread your entire application to catch any mistakes or typos.

In addition to your application materials, the admissions committee will consider your extracurricular activities and work experience. Be sure to highlight any relevant experiences, such as internships or volunteer work, and consider how they have prepared you for graduate school.

Prep for the interview

Another important factor in the admissions process is the interview. This can be a nerve-wracking experience, but it is also an opportunity to show the admissions committee who you are and why you are a strong candidate. Be prepared to talk about your academic and professional goals, as well as your relevant experience and personal interests. It’s also a good idea to create a list of questions to ask the interviewer, since this shows that you are engaged and interested in the program.

For more information on the topic, check out the following websites:

https://hireacane.miami.edu/options/grad-programs/index.html
https://www.gradschools.com/
https://www.princetonreview.com/grad-school-advice

Five Tips for Choosing an Academic Advisor

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When starting your PhD program, you may feel so overwhelmed with the stresses of researching, taking classes, teaching, and drafting your dissertation proposal that you don’t spend much time thinking about who to choose as an academic advisor. This is a mistake: along with your dissertation topic, your academic advisor can be one of the most significant choices you make during the program and can significantly affect the success of your PhD.

Your academic advisor serves plenty of useful functions: they help you secure funding, give feedback on your writing and research, support and vouch for your work, and offer invaluable advice for your career going forward. Here are five tips to help you when selecting an academic advisor.

1. Ask other professors for guidance

If you’re not sure where to begin when choosing an academic advisor, make an appointment with your program director or another trusted professor in the program. They’ll be able to point you in the direction of viable academic advisors conducting research in your field, and will have helpful insider knowledge on the professor’s work and communication habits. Plus, they might be willing to warn you of any red flags––for example, if a certain professor’s PhD students have a high dropout rate––and steer you in the right direction.

2. Bear in mind that the “best” professor isn’t always be the best advisor

Many students fall into the trap of assuming that the “best” professor––the hotshot bestselling author or public intellectual––will also be the best advisor. However, the opposite is often true.

Yes, studying under a professor with critical acclaim and status might help you get your foot in a few doors during the start of your career. But a high-profile advisor might not have enough time to properly support you in your work, leaving you directionless and waiting weeks for a reply. Ultimately, you’re probably better off with a more modest choice, one who offers something even better than a flashy name: their time.

3. Look to later-career professors where possible

 While assistant and adjunct professors can be just as smart and helpful as their tenured counterparts––not to mention that their research can be even more current and relevant––they are often not ideal as academic advisors. Professors with less secure positions often have more work on the go and less time to help you out. They will also likely have less access to resources and funding opportunities than their tenured peers, and their research interests will be less specialized.

On the other hand, a later-career professor will have the tools and experience to properly support you in your work. They’ll also likely be more willing to invest time in shaping your career, since they don’t need to worry so much about their own.

4. Get in touch

Once you’ve selected a potential advisor, don’t wait too long before getting in touch. Send a quick email to find out whether they currently have the capacity to take on more PhD students, as well as to ask about their ongoing research and confirm that it matches your own interests. That way, you’ll know right off the bat whether they’re a viable option, or if you should keep looking.

That being said, don’t be concerned if they don’t respond right away. Professors have busy schedules and are fielding mountains of emails, so be patient.

5. Meet in person

While email is sufficient for making initial contact with prospective academic advisors, once you’ve settled on one it’s time for an in-person meeting. After all, you’re going to have to work with this person for the next four-plus years, so you need to make sure you get along and are on the same page in terms of your research goals, vision, and timeline. It’s also important to ensure that your advisor is a good communicator, is willing to be flexible about scheduling and deadlines, and understands the importance of work–life balance.

Strengthening your Academic Writing: How to Evaluate Your Sources for Relevance, Reliability, and Rigor

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Evaluating your sources is an important part of academic writing. If your sources are trustworthy, accurate, and unbiased, your paper will be much stronger. Your sources should also be relevant to the topic you are writing about.

Is your source relevant?

Before evaluating the reliability of your source, you should decide whether the source is relevant. You don’t have to read the entire document to be able to tell if the source will complement your own work—there are several aspects you can use as starting points to help you assess its relevance.

Keywords

Keywords tell you the main topics of a book or an article. You can use these to quickly determine whether the source discusses your topic to a useful extent.

Abstracts

Journal articles typically have abstracts, which are concise descriptions of the paper’s content. Reading an abstract should give you a good indication of whether the source will be relevant for your paper.

Introduction and Conclusion

The introduction to a book or article usually contains a summary of the work. This will be more detailed than an abstract and can help determine relevance. Conclusions function similarly, summarizing the work and its findings.

Is your source reliable and rigorous?

It is important to choose trustworthy sources. You want to ensure your paper is well-researched, with appropriate citations, and is based on accurate, up-to-date information. With the advent of the Internet anyone can publish anything, so it is important to evaluate each source you are considering using. There are many ways to evaluate reliability.

Reputability

You can evaluate reputability in several ways. Is the publisher or journal well-known and reputable? Has the source undergone a peer-review process? Is the scholar established? What is the journal’s impact factor? Self-published and open-access sources can be tricky in this regard. It is important to carefully examine these works before you use them, particularly if the publisher or author is not yet well-established. That’s not to say that open-access sources can’t provide useful information, but you must vet lesser-known journals and self-published authors by looking at criteria like the following when making your decision.

Is the source current?

Certain fields of scholarship change quickly and information can become outdated. This is particularly true in the sciences. Before using a source, make sure that the information in it is still relevant in your field.

Does the source use citations to back up the claims it makes?

If a source has no citations, it is likely to be unreliable. Unless the work is an opinion piece—and this should be clearly expressed in the text itself—you should always be able to go back and check the information it gives. Similarly, if the source you are evaluating has been cited many times by other authors, this is a good sign that it is reliable. You can check how many times a source has been cited and who has cited it using Google Scholar.

Reviews

Have other scholars reviewed the source? Reviews can tell you whether a source is scholarly and has been accepted in its field of research. If reviews are bad, you may not want to use the source in your paper.

Considerations for Internet Sources

Internet sources can be difficult to evaluate. In addition to the criteria above, you’ll want to check whether the source is grammatically correct and uses language that is not inflammatory, derogatory, or overly biased. Additionally, you will want to find who is responsible for the online material and determine whether they are an established scholar or organization, or if the material is sponsored by someone with a vested interest. Wikipedia should almost never be used in academic writing, since the information can be amended by anyone and is therefore notoriously unreliable.

Write Smarter: How to Set Effective Goals in Your Academic Writing

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How often do you walk away from your computer after a writing session feeling disappointed at having not written more? This will be familiar to any academic, but ask yourself: What did you set out to achieve in the first place? One mistake too many of us make is that we approach writing with ill-defined goals. However, the research is clear: Setting effective goals is the first step toward making tremendous accomplishments.1

Thankfully, there are plenty of methods to help you set practical goals, one of which is the SMART framework. Using this framework will help you not only keep on track but identify when a day’s work is complete. This means you can walk away from the computer feeling proud of what you have accomplished.

What does SMART stand for? The short answer is Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. Each of these corresponds to a strategy you can use when setting your writing goals. Below, we explore each component in the context of academic writing.

Specific

Rather than being vague, a good writing goal will make crystal clear the particular task to be completed (and how), often using numbers.

Bad example of a specific goal: “I will write some of my introduction section today.”

Good example of a specific goal: “I will write five paragraphs of my introduction, focusing on the quantity of writing. I’ll go back and edit for quality tomorrow.”

Measurable

How will you know that you are making progress toward your writing goal, and how will you know when you have achieved it? Ensuring you have quantifiable metrics against which you can benchmark your progress is essential for holding yourself accountable and knowing when it’s time to close the laptop.

Bad example of a measurable goal: “I will write up some of my discussion section today, stopping when I get tired.”

Good example of a measurable goal: “I will write 500 words of my discussion, after which I will stop writing and review my work tomorrow.”

Achievable

It’s possible that being accepted by a top-tier publication on your first submission, or drafting an entire thesis in a day, is unrealistic. Take a moment to consider whether your goals are achievable. Seek support and keep your goals manageable.

Bad example of an achievable goal: “I will finish the last chapter of my thesis before editing and proofreading the entire manuscript in time for the submission deadline. I’ll squeeze it in around the other things I have to do. Everything will be fine!”

Good example of an achievable goal: “I will take the next day to finalize the last chapter of my thesis and then send it to a professional proofreading service to get the language polished.”

Relevant

It’s much easier to work on things that feel personally relevant to you. Ask yourself—ideally before you even commence writing—whether your current writing project feels meaningful and exciting. Goals that motivate us in and of themselves, irrespective of their material rewards, are much more motivating than goals we’re pursuing purely for a paycheck.2

Bad example of a relevant goal: You see a call for proposals for an upcoming special issue. The issue is not on a topic that you find particularly interesting, but you’ve got some results that you think will fit the bill. You decide to write up a proposal but it feels like a chore. When the proposal is accepted, you dread the time you must now dedicate to writing the full manuscript.

Good example of a relevant goal: You have been offered the chance to submit a chapter to an edited book. The offer comes from a prestigious and reputable publisher, but the topic you would be writing about isn’t as interesting to you as your focal research. You decide to decline the offer and focus on your core research. Consequently, you enjoy sitting down to write much more than if you had pursued the opportunity, and are highly productive.

Time-bound

Lastly, the best goals are time-bound. Create a timeline of tasks that lead up to a final deadline, ensuring they are bite-sized and allow buffer room for any unexpected hiccups.

Bad example of a time-bound goal: “I’m going to finish that chapter of my thesis… eventually.”

Good example of a time-bound goal: “I will complete the first draft of my 3,000-word discussion section within seven days. Therefore, I will write 500 words each day up to the deadline, allowing one day for any delays.”

Consider setting yourself some SMART goals and watch as your writing productivity soars!

Tracking Down Information: How and Where to Find Sources for an Academic Paper

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You have an idea about what you want to write about, but where do you go from there? Research is the key to good writing, but you might not know just where to start. Most people jump straight to Google, and while, of course, Google abounds with information, not all of it is useful or legitimate. Here are some ideas for other great places to start looking. And remember, we can help you ensure you have cited correctly and styled your references according to any applicable guidelines. This means you can focus on the research and writing side!

Head to the Library

This might seem obvious, but libraries are not only a great resource for the books themselves—they also have librarians who are trained to help you find the information you need. Each library also has its own online catalog you can use to search and access its holdings. If you don’t find what you need, you can check out WorldCat, which connects you to the materials of more than 10,000 libraries worldwide. Often, your library will be able to order the material in for you (sometimes this is free, sometimes it costs a small fee—just check with your library first).

Libraries also provide access to online databases. Libraries pay for access to these databases so that you can use the materials in them for free. You can find out what articles and e-books your library has available through its online catalog. You might need to log in to access these items. Library stacks can also be helpful: books are generally organized by subject, so if you find one really great book in the catalog, you can go find the book on the shelf. Chances are, if you look at the books around it you’ll find even more books to use in your research.

Check Reference Works

If you don’t know a lot about your topic, reference works might be a good place to start. It can be very helpful to read broadly on a topic before narrowing in on your specific research question. Textbooks, handbooks, and subject dictionaries are great places to start for understanding the basics, and these sources can point you to more specific scholarly sources. Encyclopedias are great too, but a word of caution: don’t rely on or cite Wikipedia unless absolutely necessary—it is not considered a sufficiently reliable source for use in scholarly work.

Follow Citation “Rabbit Holes”

Going down a citation rabbit hole can be one of the best ways to find good information. It just takes a little time and detective work. Once you have found a really good, recent academic source, look at the works that book or paper cites in its footnotes or reference list. You can then hunt down these sources, and later look at the publications they use—and so on. Another way to do this is to use Google Scholar to identify authors that have cited your primary article. These rabbit holes are essentially bottomless and can be incredibly useful in building the body of scholarship that will inform your paper.

Find an Expert

Never underestimate the power of human connection. If you know or can easily contact someone working in your field, reach out to them. Scholars love to discuss their work and see how your study fits in. Not only will this help to further your own research, but you might build a lasting connection for future work. Experts can also point you to good research that you might have overlooked.

If you want even more information on the research, writing, and citation process, check out citation handbooks such as Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, the MLA Handbook, or the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

We hope these tips will be helpful in your quest for information. One final piece of advice: make sure you keep track of the sources you find as you go along, and know how to access them again. This will make it much easier to build your reference list and avoid accidental plagiarism. And don’t worry if you’re not confident on citation and reference formatting—we can help you with this as part of our academic editing service.

Happy reading!

Take a Better Break: How to Boost Your Writing Productivity Using Breaks

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We talked about the Pomodoro Method of writing—which is a strategy combining 25-minute increments of focused writing with five-minute breaks—in another post. But what exactly should you do during writing or study breaks to maximize your productivity once you’re back behind the keyboard?

Take a moment to reflect on what a typical break from writing looks like for you. Do you chat with your colleagues or friends? Do you browse social media? Maybe you take a short walk. Ultimately, a productive break from writing is likely to look different for different people. However, new findings about the science of recovery suggest some rules of thumb to increase your chances of feeling replenished and ready to write after your breaks. Below, we explore three science-backed tips for taking a better break.

Spend a Moment in Nature

Studies show that taking some time outside may be more restorative than taking a break indoors. The reason for this is related to the effect of the natural environment on our attentional capacity. Findings indicate that when we spend time in nature, we tend to subconsciously focus on features of the environment, such as the calls of birds, the chill of the wind, or the sounds of rustling trees. This soft, nondeliberate focus allows your conscious attention to rest, meaning that once you return to the computer you’ll be better able to mobilize your attention and focus on your work.1 Additionally, getting some physical distance from your work will help you to psychologically detach and truly relax during your break.2

Even if you can’t physically get outside, studies show that just gazing upon natural scenery through a window is sufficient to rest your attentional capacity.3

Do Something Nonwordy

Be sure not to spend too much time during your break engaging in “wordy” activities, such as reading articles or responding to messages. These activities use the same language-processing parts of your brain that writing does, and may continue to draw on the same cognitive resources you need to get your work done.4

Instead, try something you enjoy that is “nonwordy,” such as light stretching or a short game on your smartphone.

Let Your Mind Wander

Stuck on your next paragraph? Take a few minutes to let your mind wander during your writing break. Findings from creativity research suggest that intentionally disengaging from problems and taking a moment to daydream can be an effective way to have those much-needed “a-hah!” moments. This is because our brains unconsciously work through problems when we’re not consciously thinking about them.5

To make this type of break work for you, physically distance yourself from your work for a few minutes and take that time to daydream about whatever comes to mind. The ideas will come flowing in no time.

Ready to be a more productive writer? Commit to testing out one of these tips today and see how your productivity improves!

Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary?: Identifying the Sources You Need to Get Writing

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Information is everywhere, but what kind of information do you need for a research paper? Sources come in many forms and sometimes it can be hard to figure out exactly what kind of source you need. Here are some definitions and tips to help you decide what kind of material you need for your academic papers.

Primary Sources

Primary sources are usually original material on which you base your research. What this material looks like varies by academic field. If you are writing a research paper in literature, a primary source might be a specific literary work you are analyzing. If you are working on a project in history, you might use letters, diaries, artifacts, reports, and other kinds of documents from the event or time you are writing about. These types of materials might be housed in an archive or reproduced in critical editions. Social media and news reports following an event might also be a primary source. A project in the social sciences might look at data someone else gathered or at data you collect in a study. This data can be quantitative or qualitative.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources discuss, analyze, and interpret primary sources. These are usually academic books, peer-reviewed articles, scholarly papers or reports, theses and dissertations, and similar types of material. Secondary sources help you to understand the current state of research around the primary source material you are working with. You can use secondary sources to understand current research trends in your field, find other perspectives, and discover new ways to approach your topic. A good research paper engages with secondary sources in its field of study and then adds new information to the current body of research.

Tertiary Sources

Tertiary sources summarize secondary literature on particular topics. This type of source includes encyclopedias (such as Wikipedia), textbooks, and dictionaries. Tertiary sources are very helpful for understanding the basics of your topic, but you should avoid citing them. It is much better to use secondary sources to show that you have done your research. These sources should be used for the beginning stages of research and they might even point you to scholarly work relevant to your field. For example, a Wikipedia article on a well-known study might cite several articles published in relation to that research, perhaps as follow-ups or critiques. You can use those citations to find the original articles and then use those in your paper as well.

For more information on types of sources, check out Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, the MLA Handbook, and the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. As you start to write your paper, keep these types of sources in mind. And remember, we can help you to organize your sources, ensure you have followed the correct referencing style as laid out by your school or journal, and verify that all citations are complete and correspond with entries in the reference list.

So Many Rules, So Little Time: An Introduction to Some of the Most Popular Academic Style Guides

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When you’re working on an assignment, a lot of questions come up that have nothing to do with grammar. Should you write numbers using the word or the actual digit? Do your abbreviations need periods in between the letters? How exactly do you punctuate the in-text citations and reference list?

You must turn to a designated style guide for help.

These guides don’t just govern spelling preferences; they set standards for formatting, documenting sources, and usage—issues that usually have more than one correct answer. The most common systems within academia include APA (American Psychological Association), Chicago, Harvard, MLA (Modern Language Association), Turabian, and Vancouver, but there are many others. Though there is some crossover, different systems are designed for different disciplines, so the one you use for your work is likely to be dictated by your school or by the journal you are submitting to (depending on your end goal). Each guide is also revised periodically, so adherents must be adaptable in their practices as well.

Below are the style guides that we are asked to apply most often in our work as academic editors. We’ve also included an example reference list entry for a book with one author, just so you can see how these style guides differ, but bear in mind that most of these systems outline rules related to punctuation, number usage, table layout, and so on as well.

APA: The American Psychological Association has its own style guide for those publishing in the fields of psychology, social sciences, and nursing.

Example: De Caro, J. (2016). The songs of Argentine tango (10th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Bando Publishing.

Chicago: The Chicago Manual of Style dates back to the 1890s. Its reach is wide-ranging, and many other style guides use Chicago Style as a starting point, and even defer to it in some cases. While mainly researchers and scholars use this when they write for publication, many magazines, online journals, and business entities often instruct their writers to apply Chicago Style as well.

Example: De Caro, Julio. The Songs of Argentine Tango. 10th ed. Los Angeles: Bando Publishing, 2016.

Harvard: As you may have guessed, Harvard style originated from Harvard University. There is no go-to manual for Harvard style, so its exact application can vary quite a bit between institutions. It is very similar to APA in a lot of ways, though with some subtle differences.

Example: De Caro, J. (2016). The Songs of Argentine Tango. 10th ed. Los Angeles, CA: Bando Publishing.

MLA: MLA style is most frequently used by researchers in literature and language, and in the humanities in general. You’ll see two books connected with the MLA. Broadly speaking, The MLA Style Manual is meant for graduate studies and beyond, while The MLA Handbook is for college and university students in the humanities.

Example: De Caro, Julio. The Songs of Argentine Tango. Los Angeles: Bando Publishing, 2016. Print.

Turabian: Undergraduate students are often directed to use this style, which is heavily based on the Chicago style.

Vancouver: Vancouver is most often used in scientific disciplines. In-text citations are indicated using numbers, while full details are provided at the end of the paper as a corresponding, sequentially numbered list.

Example: [1] De Caro, J. The songs of Argentine tango. 10th ed. Los Angeles, CA: Bando Publishing; 2016.

Of course, there are many more style systems, depending on your field and subject matter. In addition, to make matters more confusing, many journals and schools use styles that are only loosely based on an existing system—for example, they might use APA but with commas instead of periods, or a different approach to capitalizing titles—so it’s vital that you scrutinize your school/journal’s style guide closely and note any deviations.

Sticking to the required style guide will increase your professionalism and increase your chances of getting your paper published, or receiving a higher grade. In addition, when it comes to in-text citations and bibliographies, correctly documenting your sources tells your readers where you’ve gotten your information, and this is your best defense against plagiarism.

As long as you understand why it’s so important to adhere to a style guide, you’re well on your way to reconciling yourself with all the rules. But applying every stipulation perfectly can be a big ask in the scope of writing a complex paper, thesis, or dissertation. We at Stickler are familiar with all major academic style guides, and make sure we keep on top of changes and updates. Whenever you submit work to us, just send us the relevant style link or document and we’ll make sure all the requirements are met.

Goodbye Procrastination! Five Tips for Getting things Done

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No matter where you are in your academic journey, getting things done can be difficult. Life gets in the way, your motivation drains, and suddenly you find it difficult to meet impending deadlines or finish important projects. This is especially true when it comes to writing—no matter whether you’re working on a grant proposal or a PhD thesis, writing and procrastination go hand in hand. We hope these tips will help you find your motivation and start checking things off your to-do list.

1. Get Your Priorities Straight

No matter how much you plan, throughout the day new things pop up and start to overload your schedule. Whether it’s a software issue that needs to be fixed, an errand that needs to be run, or a lengthy email that needs to be answered, these small tasks can add up and can even contribute to procrastination. To counter this, it’s important to set firm boundaries. What absolutely needs to be done today, and what can wait? On the other hand, maybe you have a few tasks on your list that will only take a couple of minutes to complete, in which case it can be helpful to follow the mantra “If it takes two minutes, do it now”—in other words, go ahead and get these done immediately so you can tick them off.

2. Break Tasks Down

Writing “finish thesis” on your to-do list may not be the best way to complete such a mammoth undertaking. Instead, think about the different sub-tasks that make up this overarching goal, and create lists from there; for example, your sub-tasks may include “create research questionnaire,” “gather prior works for literature review,” “ask supervisor about revised title,” or “finish writing introduction.” From there, think about what you can realistically get done today. It may be that asking your supervisor about your title will only take a few minutes and can be done right away, then you’ll definitely have time to create your questionnaire, and tomorrow you will finish writing your introduction. Breaking the overall task down into bite-sized chunks in this way not only makes the entire thing less daunting, but also gives you much more regular “wins” in the form of completed tasks, which will help keep you motivated.

3. Know that Delegation is Your Friend

If you come across a task that you don’t have time to do or don’t want to do, another option may be to delegate it to someone else. Delegating can be hard because it involves asking others for help, letting go of control over the task at hand, and possibly spending money. But this strategy is a great way to get a load off your plate and allow you to focus on your project or paper, which can be well worth the resources invested in getting the help you need. Delegating tasks can be as simple as asking a partner to pick up some household chores, or paying someone to run an errand, but with specific regard to academic work a company such as Stickler can help with aspects such as putting your reference list in the correct style, adding an automated table of contents, or ensuring every formatting and style requirement stipulated by your university is followed.

4. Give Yourself Deadlines

Deadlines are one of the most powerful tools for motivating yourself and breaking the cycle of procrastination. Even if a project you’re working on doesn’t have a set due date per se, creating one can provide just the right amount of pressure to help you focus and get things done. That said, self-determined due dates can be tricky if there is nothing holding you to them. Consider getting an “accountability buddy” in the form of friend or colleague, with whom you have regular check-ins in which you each share your work and report on whether you’ve accomplished your respective goals. Even something as simple as knowing you’ll have to report any failures to your accountability buddy can work wonders for your productivity.

5. Don’t Let Planning Take Over!

It is possible to spend so much time trying to prioritize tasks and create lists that you end up being counterproductive and still not focusing on the task you should be working on. So remember not to focus too much on the planning and prioritizing; the key to productivity is finding the right balance of motivation and focus that works for you and your schedule.