Time Management

My time is valuable, as is everybody else’s and so it is important to find a way to manage your time properly. When I started college I found myself with so much to do and not much time to do it in. There was a stage where I had 3 assignments due in close together and the time pressure was mounting up. I soon realised I had to manage my time effectively in order to get everything I needed to do, done.

Here are a few tips I found helpful for me;

1. Write a list of all tasks to be complete
2. Prioritise tasks
3. Break down tasks into smaller parts. If something is broken down it can be easier to complete
4.  Use technology to help you if you need to.
5. Ask for help if you need it, the less time you spend confused about your tasks the better!
6. Check tasks off your list as you complete them, visualising what you have finished can really help see how much you have completed.

These tips worked for me but as everybody does things differently it is important for you to find your own way of managing your time properly.

The internet is a great source of information about time management. YouTube in particular has a number of useful videos on the subject, here is the one I found to be most useful. 

Effective Note Taking

When you are sitting in a lecture trying to concentrate on what your lecturer is saying at the same time as trying to make legible notes you can use for study later, how do you go about doing this? Whether you are the kind to spend the lecture taking notes or if you prefer to just listen and make notes after the lecture it is important to find the way that suits you best.  Everybody remembers things different so using a style that compliments your way of learning i.e., if you are a visual learner a mind map may be best suited to you.

Speaking from my own experience, if like me, you take notes after the lecture it is still always a good idea to have pen and paper out in front of you because you never know what pieces of important information the lecturer might tell you that aren’t in their slide notes. That way you can add the extra pieces of information to your own notes later on.

If you take notes in class there are a few things you should do to be prepared;

Be on time – being there at the start of the class means you will have a full set of notes when leaving

Be prepared – bring everything you need with you to the class, whether that’s note books and pens or a laptop, be prepared!

Choose who you sit beside carefully! – Sitting with friends in class is great if they distract you from the lectures it could be doing more damage than good.

Styles of note taking 

Referencing

When it comes to assignments referencing your work is just as important as the finished piece. Having a comprehensive referencing list at the end of assignments validates your work. It shows the marker of your work that you understand what you are being asked and have researched accordingly. 

Referencing can be a tedious task but once you get your head around it becomes second nature. 

For me I found the best way to manage my referencing is to compile my list as I go through my assignment as I have finished using a source I write down my references on a blank sheet of paper so that I have all my sources in one place and all that is left for me to do at the end is to put them in order 

There are many different referencing guides used by universities and education bodies worldwide but the most commonly used is the Harvard Referencing Guide. Upon reading it first it can seem daunting to get your head around the different ways you write your references for different sources but as with anything new it just takes a lot of practice. 

Without a suitable referencing guide you may be accused of plagiarism which can have dire consequences on your grades and your place in the college so it is definitely best to start off with a good referencing guide at the end of your assignments and start as you mean to go on! 

Effective Presentations

The ability to deliver an effective presentation is an essential skill student’s need to acquire in 3^rd level education. Although public speaking comes to some students naturally for others it is more of a chore, something they can’t wait to be finished with. It is natural for students to be nervous about impending presentations, in fact the very mention of having to do presentations is enough to kick start the nerves with some people, but there are a number of things that can be done to ensure the presentation goes smoothly. Online sources like Likehack can provide useful information on delivering an effective presentation. When delivering a presentation of my own recently the 3 things I found most helpful to me were;

Planning – I though carefully about what I was going to give my presentation on. As I had full creative control over the subject and content of the presentation I was able to pick something I found to be relevant to me and that was sure to interest my audience.

Knowing my audience – the subject I chose to talk about was a rare syndrome called Wolf Hirschorrn Syndrome which is something I know a lot about. I was fully aware my audience would not have heard of the syndrome so I was careful to use language they would understand and to cut down on the medical side of the syndrome in order to keep my audience captivated.

Practice - as the presentation was to be 5 minutes long getting the exact time was down to practicing. I felt this helped me greatly as I was going into my presentation confident that I knew my material. 

Plagiarism

 When starting 3^rd level education there are many things new students have to worry about and figure out, not least plagiarism. It is a word thrown around all the time in college but it means so much that if you were to cross the lines of plagiarism and ‘plagiarise’ your work the repercussions could spread to other areas of your life. An indication of how severe they may is highlighted by the fact that if you go to Google and type in as little as ‘repercussions of’... Plagiarism is the 3^rd result that shows up.

Plagiarism is when you use someone else’s work and pass it off as your own without acknowledging or giving the author credit for their work. Not only does it lead your reader to believe you that you came up with the ideas in your piece but it does not give credit where credit is due to the original author. It is similar to holding a dinner party for people, you say you will make dinner but instead you go to the shops and pick something already made yet when your guests comment on how nice it is you pass it off as your own, its misleading and dishonest and definitely something to be avoided at all costs in 3^rd level education.

There are a lot of useful sites on the internet with tips on how to avoid plagiarism. Websites such as Buzzle.com contain useful articles on how to avoid plagiarism, it includes tips on;

·         Paraphrasing

·         Quotation Marks

·         Referencing all sources

·         Managing your time

·         Rechecking your work

For more information on these tips you can check out the link below.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ways-to-avoid-plagiarism.html