 
## You Too Can Study More Easily: Tips for Dummies and Others

### By Kevin Bucknall

Copyright 2012 Kevin Bucknall

Published by Kewei Press at Smashwords

ISBN 978-0-9561823-2-6

The cover painting _is The Young Student_ by Ozias Leduc (1864-1955), Quebec, Canada

Smashwords Edition License Notes

Thank you for downloading this EBook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

## Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 How to increase your motivation and tackle procrastination

Chapter 2 Improve your marks in exams: the meaning of commonly used words

Chapter 3 Ten top tips for revising for exams

Chapter 4 How to do better with data response questions

Chapter 5 Advice for mature students

Chapter 6 Tips for doing research

Chapter 7 Free sample from the book Going to University: the Secrets of Success

Chapter 8 Other books by this author

Chapter 9 Videos by this author

## Introduction

This book contains six articles that are designed to help you study better, quicker, and more easily—then to do better in exams, data-response questions or research. When you study more efficiently you will find that you will either have more time left over to do the things you really like doing; or else you will score better marks which will help you to get to the university you really want to attend or you will get a better class degree if you are already at Uni. The other possible outcome is to gain a mixture of both, that is to say more free time and better marks all round.

In short, if you study efficiently you both save time and do better, both desirable in life. The poet had a point when he said "Youth's a stuff will not endure" so better make the most of it!

One word of warning: we are all individuals and some respond better to some recommendations than others. I suggest that you try all the advice and stick with those bits that work best for you. But do give the suggestions a fair trial as some can take time to pay off. In a few cases this might be a term (or semester) or two.

The advice here is based on almost thirty years of teaching in universities and tutoring for university entrance exams. This means that it is tried and tested and, most importantly, practical and easy to follow. You will not find here rather uncommon words such as "heuristic" (learning by solving problems for yourself, doing it by trial and error, or experimenting on your own). I am a believer in KISS, not only as a noun that applies to me personally but also as an acronym for "Keep it simple, stupid!" Well, I've done my best.

Some of the EBook readers currently available do not properly handle bullet points. In fact some of them do really crazy things to the bullets and are not always internally consistent. For that reason I decided to use asterisks rather than bullet points in this EBook.

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## Chapter 1 How to increase your motivation and tackle procrastination

An external stimulus, such as a teacher telling you to get on with it, might encourage you to try a bit harder but is rarely as powerful as self motivation. If you are to do well in life, finding ways of increasing your own motivation is a key element. By increasing your level of motivation we mean developing or increasing your desire to work harder in order to achieve your needs, wants, goals and ambition. In other words, you are trying to increase your enthusiasm and drive. If you are to succeed at this you must really want to do better and not merely feel that it would be a good thing if you did. You are going to have to make an effort and introduce some permanent changes in your life. It is not likely to work well if you only try for one week then stop and expect that things will be different and better from now on.

When dieting to lose weight, or when giving up a drug habit, if you are to succeed you need a change of lifestyle. Stopping for a short time and hoping this will be enough tends to result in failure. In the end, one just drifts back into old habits and the problem returns. Similarly, if you want to increase your long-term motivation it means a permanent change in some aspects of your lifestyle. You will have to develop willpower and gain new attitudes to help you develop the determination to achieve. There are many tips listed below but do not let the size of the list daunt you. If you try only one or two tools to improve yourself and stick to them you should find that you gradually do better and achieve more. So never be afraid to start.

Going for you, is that once you develop an increased taste for learning, it becomes a habit and can become a desirable thing to do in itself. So it is easier to stick with the new regime and not slip back into routine aimlessness. When you decide to work on improving your motivation to study and learn, you can see this as an investment in your own future; you will be choosing to do something now that might be a bit difficult and then reaping the payoff down the line and of course forever.

You can also see this as a trade-off. You are giving up some of your present time and ways of spending it in order to make the decision to study. In return you will get much more valuable things in the future: the income, the good job, a high standard of living, running your own firm, enjoying the freedom that wealth can bring, or whatever you would like in life. These future things are more valuable to you—you selected them after all—than what you are giving up. This almost makes it a no-brainer. All you need is to put in the effort and keep on putting it in. Once your new ways become a habit, then less effort will be needed and you might be able to cruise to success.

There are many tools, described below, that can help motivate you. However, we are all individuals and not everyone responds in the same way to pressures and events. Of the many different ways of trying to increase self-motivation, some will work better for you, others less so, and some perhaps not at all. I suggest you try all the different tools below, or at least as many as appeal. Then concentrate on those that work for you. They are unlikely to be exactly the same as those that work for your best friend but this does not matter at all.

### First, Your Long-term Motivation

There are two main approaches to increase your self-motivation: these consist of the traditional stick and carrot. The stick consists of a "push" away from what you have now and the carrot is a "pull" towards what you want for the future. A lot of people benefit from trying to strengthen both of these. Working on one of them is good, but managing to do both would be better for increasing your general motivation (but see the warning and recommendations below if you are unfortunate enough to be a person who tends to experience sadness and depression).

### 1. The Stick: Using Your Existing Situation to Improve Yourself

You have to want to change the situation you have now—you might feel that it is not good enough, or maybe it is holding you back and you want to escape; you might even have come to despise it. If you are dissatisfied with your current situation and are determined to find something better, you are on your way to increasing your motivation and developing ambition. I do not recommend that you dwell on your unhappy existence and brood about it, for that can all too easily reinforce any unhappiness and maybe even steer you into depression. However, if you do have feelings of dissatisfaction, you can at least use these for your benefit and get something out of your vague unhappiness.

A sudden change in your habits as you start to study and work harder can surprise people around you, and some of them might well react in ways that will not help. It is particularly hard to settle down to studying, and continue if you start to feel a bit bored or tired, while you are being criticised by family and friends. You might even get jeered at; a lot of us have the occasional enemy in our peer group. Bullying is all too common at many schools and swots and nerds are a natural target for those unfortunate individuals who are thick in both body and mind. Unless you really need to succeed, you are unlikely to make much of an effort.

So what is wrong with your life? What sort of things might you focus on that you want to get rid of? You might pick on your current level of poverty, not having any fashionable clothes or maybe lacking the latest gadgetry in computing, hi-fi, or motor cars. Perhaps you are living in a tedious area of the country, or in an inadequate flat or house. Or there may not be enough interesting things to do locally, so you hang around with friends feeling bored. Think about it! Whatever seems drab or unpleasant to you goes on the list. And I mean a list: grab a sheet of paper and start writing down all the things you can think of that you would like to change in your life. Keep this list safe; it is a valuable piece of paper and reading it later can help stimulate your motivation. That list will be a permanent reminder of what you wish to move away from. Making a list of what you want is a powerful process in itself—it gets you thinking about what you want and, in addition, simply writing things down seems to help strengthen the motivation for many.

Then spare a thought for people you know or you've read about who have problems. Maybe they are stuck in a dead-end job, or have to work at more than one job in order to earn enough to survive. Or perhaps they get by but lack the fashionable possessions that so often are needed to define a person as a fully paid-up member of the group. You probably do not want to follow in their footsteps. Add these points to the list and put down anything else that you can think of that might apply to you. You want this list to be a powerful tool to encourage you to do better.

You may already find pleasure in working to complete an assignment for reasons of self-satisfaction, of achievement, or of meeting a short-term goal. Perhaps you just like getting the darn thing out of the way. If not, see if you can develop such feelings, reinforce them when they arrive, and harness them to help you. Next time you are supposed to sit down and study, write an essay or whatever, remember how good finishing it felt last time—think about it for up to a minute then tell yourself "Let's do it again!" An attitude of "A bit of effort now and I can feel good about myself" can only work to your benefit.

### 2. The Carrot: Your Hopes for the Future and Your Preferred Lifestyle Can Help Increase Your Motivation

Your second line of attack is that you want an improved version of life. This is probably the better of the two ways of motivating yourself and does not require much self analysis or depend on your feelings of discomfort or unhappiness to work. The sort of things that appeal to you could be almost anything. You might want riches, power, a better and more interesting job than you currently have, to travel and see the world, to work abroad, to own your own business, or simply to enjoy yourself in ways that appeal. For some years I had a great time in a well-paid job where I worked for six months then took the other six months off doing anything I wanted. Once I drove round Australia in a camper van—if you can do well enough, the world definitely can be your tasty mollusc. Again, make a list of whatever you personally want out of life. Make sure it is your own personal list, not simply the possibilities above or something your parents might once have told you. Put in a few details of about what and why you want such things. Then keep this list and look it over regularly, particularly if at any time you find your motivation weakening.

### Down to Practicalities: Here Are Some Tools You Can Use to Improve Your Long-term Motivation

These ideas can help you to shift gear, change your life, and increase your effort at studying. These are all ways that have helped somebody else do better. As pointed out earlier, we are all different individuals, so not all may work as well for you. Try them and see. It takes time to change habits and patterns of behaviour, so persist. Little can be expected to be achieved in a day or two. You have your whole life before you. Isn't it worth a little effort now to improve your entire future?

* Make a list of why you want to get to university (or wherever you are aiming at) and why you want a degree. Put down as many points as can think of. Look at this list regularly as it can motivate you. If you notice that you are slackening off and feel the need to try harder, dig out the list and read it a few times.

* Underline or highlight the really important ones or put an asterisk by them—if they leap out at you this might encourage you more.

* Keep reminding yourself that if you work hard, get good grades, and finally get a good degree, you will avoid those awful dead-end jobs you read about. You might even know someone in such a job. Is shelf-stacking or cleaning offices really for you? And forever?

* Consider the time you are putting into studying, and think about the job you could have now instead. OK, the job might suck but it's a job with a wage. You are giving up this income in order to have a better future. Don't waste this time!

* Think how you will feel if you slack off a lot and do badly or even fail. Your family and friends will learn about it—if you would feel an element of shame about this, harness this feeling to help you work harder.

* Sit and think about that great new job you will get when you finish studying and what you can do with all that money. World, here I come!

* Consider your friends and the people you hang with: think about them objectively. If you believe that they put you down in some way, and perhaps treat you in a negative fashion, or that in general they despise learning and hard work, they are probably not the friends you need. They are an anchor holding you back. See if you can branch out and find more supportive friends—ones who can help you feel good about yourself and encourage you to work hard. Even one such friend is worth a lot more than a bunch of no-hopers who are influencing you to follow their example. If you are trapped in such a negative group, try to ease away from them and find or develop a new set of friends.

* Try not to dwell on failures in your life, unless you are using the examples as a personal spur to change and improve. Learn your lesson(s) from sad events and move on. A glittering future beckons, but a gloomy past must not detain you. The self-improvement ideas of Émile Coué work well for some people. Try standing in front of a mirror each day and repeating "Every day in every way I get better and better". Do this several times a day. Try it! You might feel a bit embarrassed at first, but, heck, if it works for you, you're winning! If it seems too weird to say it aloud, then saying it or even shouting it in your head might do the trick. If you can envisage seeing the words as you say them in your head, so much the better. You "read" the words as you hear them. If you can do this, try changing the colour of the words you see; bright yellow, shining sparkling white, or fiery red might help. You could find it helps to keep to one colour for a few days or weeks but it's entirely up to you.

* You might be better off going through this mental process but repeating your own personal phrase rather than the "Every day in every way" one. It can be valuable to invent your own, as it is thrown up in your own conscious mind along with help from your subconscious. In a real sense this is you; and this is more effective than using somebody else's words. As an example, "I am confident and want to study hard to get into university" might do it. Remember: use your own words and say it in your head if you prefer. After a time, you could invent a new phrase to use if the old one has either already worked or you decide on a new goal as a way of improving yourself.

### Second, Your Short-term Motivation

Short term motivation (dealing with procrastination) is usually easier to handle. It does not require such a major change in lifestyle only something to encourage you to put your head down and come up with a quick burst of effort. Fight procrastination now! Determination and stubbornness can play their part in forcing yourself to get down to it and there are ways of trying to increase your current level of motivation.

### Here Are Some Ways to Improve Your Short-term Motivation and Tackle That Procrastination Problem

You can work on developing a good study routine and also psyche yourself up to work—wanting to do a task is not only the way to get started more easily but also to achieve better results. Now for some things you can try.

* Dig out your list of what was going wrong earlier and read it carefully. Ask yourself if you really want to maintain these problems, and isn't it worth working hard to follow your escape route?

* Then turn to the list you made earlier of your hopes for the future. Wouldn't you really like to enjoy that fascinating scenario you mapped out? You now have some clearly defined goals, a good thing. It's time to aim at them! It's your life! Get on and do something with it! Repeat in your head a few times "I can, I can, I really can!"

* Put that list of goals up where you can see it both easily and regularly; your subconscious mind can kick in and help you to do things that will help you to achieve those goals.

* Each day, make a list of what you intend to do that day. Put any lectures, etc. on it first, plus their time and place, and fill in the gaps with all your study-related intentions. Look at it regularly and cross off each item as soon as it is done. It can feel really good to do this and that feel-good factor can encourage you to do more. If you put "Make list" at the top you can cross it off a minute or so later. Success! You've made a beginning! Do make sure your daily goals are realistic: it is no good saying you will win the lottery, or write a complete play before dinner.

* If you have a wall calendar, you can set yourself a rule, such as "When I have been to all the set sessions and classes, plus managed to cross off one study-related item, I can put a big red cross through that day on the calendar". As you watch the red crosses mount up, it can make you feel good and this can inspire you to continue to work hard. If that is too easy for you, make it "two study-related items" or maybe more.

### Motivation when you are tackling assignments

* If you have an assignment to prepare, do not ignore it or sit and worry about it. You might make a start with some small and simple step, such as grabbing a piece of paper and making a plan of what you will do first. This could be something like "Read lecture notes on the topic and jot down any ideas I get"; "Look up the text book"; "Find a few more text books and check them over"; "Go to the school or Uni library and talk to the librarian about what I could read about the topic", and so forth. Just making the list can help your motivation—and now you already started on your assignment.

* When you have done this, make another list of whatever comes into your head about the topic itself. Maybe this will consist of a few relevant points that could go in the answer; the name of a famous person associated with the topic, perhaps an academic, a philosopher, or a politician; the title of a book that you've heard of that could be relevant to the question; the name of a person that you could talk to about the issue; or anything else at all that you can think of. The process is valuable and the list you develop is invaluable.

* When faced with an assignment that is frightening you, try to tackle it on your own by first just thinking about it; then look up your lecture notes; check the course textbook and a few other books, and grab a pen and jot down whatever you think or feel about the issue. Go on the Internet—Wikipedia is currently a good place to start but not all the information is accurate and a little of it might be deliberately wrong! By the way, it is best not to quote Wikipedia as a reference as this does not impress all teachers or academics.

* If you have a complicated question to tackle, break it into small segments and tackle each chunk of it one at a time. A little reward after finishing a draft of one segment can spur you on to the next piece to tackle. The thought of a major task might daunt you, but a tiny piece of it should look manageable. There is a Chinese saying about tackling a really huge project that seems daunting: "Like ants gnawing away at a bone". In other words, many tiny pieces get removed one after another and finally the job will be done.

### Use that study-buddy

* Ring up your study-buddy and talk about the question or topic. Try to help each other to get back to work. Maybe you could meet up shortly and play a few learning games together, based around the assignment topic (the book in the end excerpt has various suggestions on learning games). This can make learning more fun and raise your level of interest in what you are doing or have to do.

* You might tell them what you intend to do next (e.g., start reading for your new essay assignment and thinking about what might go in it...) Just explaining to someone what you are about to do can help kick-start your energy level. If it only makes you feel you had better keep your word and not look like an idiot by failing to keep it, this can help to motivate you and get you going.

* If you have not got a study-buddy (get one!) then talk to anyone around. Try a few of your friends, particularly if they have to tackle the same question; after that you could try a teacher or lecturer; and some Internet forums can supply good advice.

* You are better off avoiding assignment writers you find on the Internet, whether they charge for their services or not. Why? You get no personal development out of it; you are unlikely to remember much about the answer later because you put in no effort, and you are learning and reinforcing personal bad habits that will not serve you well in life. It seems weird to pay someone to do you so much harm!

### Relaxez-vous: sometimes you may need to slacken off to motivate

* If you are really tense and uptight about studying, or tackling a particular assignment, you might need help in relaxing. Few people seem to be able to relax to order and you might have to learn how to relax quickly and empty your mind, using a relaxation technique or a meditation process. One of my books ( _Going to University: the Secrets of Success_ ) teaches you some simple ways. If you find you cannot concentrate on something you have to do, use your preferred technique and then go back to studying in a more relaxed and open frame of mind. A good relaxation technique can help you before exams as well as before important job interviews: relaxed but confident is a good sign.

* If it is really serious, maybe you need to take a break for a day or two and it is best to get away completely if you can. A total change of environment can work wonders for some, particularly if you live in Northern Europe or in any place where the winter blues might be bad. Maybe you need to chase the sun for a long weekend, assuming that you can afford it. If you can't afford it? Well, with the good degree you will shortly get you will be earning enough to do so which is a nice comforting thought. In the meantime, a day's outing with a cheap coach ticket might be enough to be going on with and could help you unwind.

### How are you spending your time? Better motivation may mean making some changes

* Cultivate the attitude that the job must be finished. You can take breaks but your efforts should continue until the whole job is done. This might take several sittings or days, but that does not matter. Focusing on tackling and finishing tasks is a real benefit for you as you are developing your perseverance. If you learn it is OK to quit it can become a habit. Not good! When I worked in a factory as a student working my way through college, it was drilled into me that "The job isn't over until you've tided up afterwards!" I have never forgotten these words of advice. They always seem to help me to finish the task at hand even when no tidying up is involved.

* Remind yourself that the sooner you start, the sooner you finish. And as you are studying or revising, be aware that you have just done some and that much is now behind you, so there is less left to do. You are winning! You're now sliding down hill!

* Unless you are using it to study from, turn off your computer and open your lecture notes or text book. Read and think about what you are reading. Turning off your computer is strongly recommended if you tend to spend a lot of time in chat rooms or on any of the numerous social network sites. It is not always a treat to tweet.

* If turning off your computer seems too painful, use it as a reward: "I shall study for one full hour, and then turn it on again for half an hour. After that, I'll do this whole process again!" If you have a habit of spending hours on your mobile phone, the same advice applies. Ditto for watching TV or sleeping in late!

### Plan ahead: this can improve your general attitude and you might thank yourself later

* If you have an assignment due on the 12th of the month, it might help if you put it in your diary for the 8th as a target for the first draft. Too many students finish an essay on the day it is due or the night before and this first attempt then goes in as the finished product. You get better marks if you do a first draft and put it aside for at least 24 hours before going back to polish it. The fake-early-date approach allows you a few days to read over your essay, correct any errors, and generally improve it. Perhaps more importantly, this false deadline gets you working on it earlier. And starting is what it is about! You cannot finish anything unless you begin it first. If you are the sort who works best under pressure, faking an early date might work particularly well for you. Don't forget to put it in by the real date however.

* Similarly, you can pretend to yourself that later in the day you will have a test on the material you are now reading and you want to do well in it. It sounds sneaky, but it helps some people to focus their mind on the job in front of them. If you have found a study-buddy, knowing that you will actually have to explain later to him, or her, what you are currently reading can work wonders for your concentration and memory.

* Count the weeks to the end of term, or to the next test or exam, and write this on a piece of paper and put it up in a prominent position. The shock and fear of "Only four weeks to the test!" can help you buckle down and study, especially as it seems only yesterday that it said "six weeks". If you cannot get down to a task, a new and better environment might help. Try moving to a different place in the house or flat to study. Or you could go to your local library, or try the Uni or school library. If the weather is good, maybe sitting reading in the garden or a local park would help you settle down to work.

### Think about your health: if you're not in good form you will not feel much like working

* Boost your energy levels in whatever way works best for you. Go to the gym, meditate, take a vitamin pill, sit in bright sunlight for half an hour—OK, if you can find any in winter where you live. Maybe you could drink a bit more coffee as long as that does not make you suffer in other ways; that Red Bull stuff might help as long as it is in moderation; and cut down on sugar. Reducing your intake of fast food and junk food might help too. If you think such things might be of benefit, try the lot.

* If you feel sad, lonely and depressed, and this feeling goes on for more than a few days, go and see your doctor. You just might be suffering from clinical depression and he or she can help you to tackle this. It is a false move to try to tackle chronic sad, negative feelings on your own. Once when I was at Uni I felt really tired for some weeks and had no appetite. I finally went to see a doctor who diagnosed infectious mononucleosis, otherwise known as the kissing disease. Naturally I cannot imagine how I had contracted it.

* If you tend to experience sadness and depression, it could be a serious mistake to dwell on the negative side of failure in order to motivate yourself to achieve. You do not want to damage your health. You are probably better off avoiding the "fear" tools, like counting down to the next test. Accept that, like everyone, you have swings in mood, as well as "up" days and "down" days. This is normal, so try not to worry. You should know that when you are down in the valley and feeling low, there is another peak ahead that you will surmount and feel happy again. It's best if you concentrate on the benefits of success as your main motivator.

* If you are prone to sadness, try making a list of all your achievements and successes so far; keep this, take it out and read it regularly; and add to it whenever you remember something else you have accomplished in the past, or when you achieve a new success. Writing "Yay!", or something similar, in big letters next to it then smiling would do you no harm. Laughter really can be a good medecine.

### A few other things that can help improve your desire to get down to it

* Tell yourself that you will study for one hour, take a break and then do something else for fifteen minutes. Adjust this time to suit own personality and style—maybe forty-five minutes study and a twenty minute break. But go back to studying at the end of the break! This mental timetable might stimulate you just enough to begin.

* Give yourself little rewards and treats ("If I finish reading up so-and-so, I will make myself a cup of coffee and sit and drink it"; "If I study until 9.30 pm I will then ring my best friend"; or whatever.)

* If you have a personal rival or arch enemy—don't you just hate them?—then you can use this fact. Tell yourself that if you start work now you improve your chances of beating them. That'll show 'em!

* You might also try reading over the tips to improve your long-term motivation and use any of them that you think might help you get started now.

* Finally, remember the words of Vince Lombardi, talking about those already in a job: "If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm". So see if you can build up your personal drive and motivation, learn to enjoy the challenges, and generally love life. It will pay off for you big time. It's worth the effort!

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## Chapter 2 Improve your marks in exams: the meaning of commonly used words

### The Words Used in the Question Can Help You to Choose the Best Approach.

Irrespective of your subject, it's a good idea to ensure that you really understand the question, i.e. that you know what you are being asked for. Each question to which you have to write an answer is designed to test you as an individual, not just your memory but your intelligence and abilities too. The examiner looks to see how you approach the question, seeing if you are logical and can communicate your ideas. The actual words used in the question often indicate what your best approach should be.

The words below explain what is expected of you. Sometimes more than one of the words will appear in the same question and you are being asked to do more than one thing.

### Account for:

Explain why something happens or has happened; give reasons for things; explain the cause or causes.

### Analyse:

Discuss an issue, perhaps the cases for and against, or the causes and effects, the assumptions behind it and possible consequences of it. It sometimes helps to divide the question into parts; if the question falls naturally into parts, so should your answer.

### Assess:

Give the case for and against, or the importance or unimportance, then sum up (possibly cautiously) one way or the other.

### Comment:

You may need to assess the words used or proposition made. It often calls for mild criticism and you may have to explain under what circumstances it might be done, or possible results of doing it, and then what responses might be made, for instance by government or other bodies. You might often need to say whether something is important, or how important the various bits of the case are.

### Compare:

You need to say where the two items are alike and where they are different; you may need to point out which are the more important items. If asked which you prefer, you must explain why you think this. Comparisons sometimes stress how alike things are; contrast always focus on differences.

### Contrast:

Think about the differences, say what they are, explain how or why they arise, and perhaps judge the relative importance.

### Criticise:

Adopt an antagonistic approach. In general, you need to disagree with the proposition, pointing out any faults and disadvantages you see. Try to support your views with reasons, evidence, or statistics if you can remember any. Quote any names of authors that you know support your view. If you know someone who supports the proposition you have to criticise you can mention them, but preferably also name someone who opposes this person, as a balance to the viewpoint.

### Define:

Explain what it means, using as formal language as you can. If you have learned a definition, use it.

### Describe:

Say what you know about the issue. Make sure you present your answer in a logical order—whatever suits your subject or discipline best.

### Differentiate between:

Show the differences between the two (or more) items you are asked about and then maybe go on to explain why they occur and what the different effects might be.

### Discuss:

Say what you know about the issue. Often it means giving a case for and a case against some proposition or issue. You often do well by summing up marginally on one side, but indicating that both cases have merit. This covers you, if the marker prefers the other view!

### Distinguish:

Explain the differences between the items or propositions. Are some differences more important than others?

### Evaluate:

You are being asked to decide how good or bad something is; it may be how true or false; or how important or unimportant something is; or how successful or unsuccessful was whatever is being asked about. You must sum up with an opinion about the issue, because you are being asked to make a judgment.

### Explain:

State clearly what is involved, or how something works, or arose, depending on your subject matter. If your subject uses formulae or diagrams, get one or more relevant ones in.

### Identify:

Point to the essential part or parts. You might also have to explain clearly what is involved.

### Illustrate:

Supply examples of the proposition in the question. This might be in words, statistics, or diagrams.

###  Implications:

Describe the likely results of an action, including hidden ones. Be careful to consider if there are any hidden assumptions behind the statement, as they can affect the possible results. Consider the short-term and long-term possibilities; you might find it helps to divide your answer into these two time periods.

### Interpret:

Explain the meaning of something supplied; e.g. you might be asked to interpret a set of data, a bar-chart or a graph. See if you can find something interesting to say, not just say "X went up" or similar. It may be worth looking to see if two or more things move together or in opposite directions. You might consider the causes and also the effects as part of your interpretation, depending on the actual question and your subject.

### Justify:

Supply reasons in support of an argument or event. Put in any statistics you might know. If your memory fogs and you cannot remember exactly, say if it was 60 percent or 70 percent, "approximately two-thirds" would cover it nicely. If you know the name of an important person who likes the view or supports it, it's a good idea to refer to them in your answer.

### Limitations:

Show where something will not work, or where it will not work as well as in some areas. Consider to what groups it would not apply, or if it would run out over time (short-term/long-term differences).

You are seeking areas of relevance and irrelevance and concentrating on the latter.

### Outline:

Select only the most important aspects of a topic, ignoring all minor details. A summary is being called for.

### Relate:

This word can have two meanings; either you are being asked to describe carefully, which is unlikely as it is rather simple, or to demonstrate the connection between two or more things (relate A to B).

### Role:

Explain the part that something plays: how it fits in, what it causes, what effects it has, what it might drag in with it, what it might force to happen, or how it might interact with people or groups.

###  Significance:

Explain the meaning of something and assess how important it is. You might consider for whom it might be significant, or under what circumstances, and tell the examiner!

### State:

Put down the main points of the view or argument.

### Summarise:

Select only the main points of the issue and put them in some logical order.

### Support:

Give all the reasons you can in favour of the proposition or idea. Use data if you know any, or diagrams if relevant. Mention the name of any author, politician, etc., who favours this view.

### Trace:

Explain how something developed; this is usually over time.

### Valid or validity:

Can the statement be justified by the facts and evidence? To what extent is it true i.e., are there any limitations and what are they? When will it work, when might it prove difficult, and when is it likely to fail?

~~~~

## Chapter 3 Ten top tips for revising for exams

When you are coming towards the end of your high school career and get into the Sixth Form or Grades 11-12, going to college suddenly starts to loom as a more serious concern. To get into university, and in particular to get to the one of your first choice, requires excellent exam results. Good revision techniques can help you to achieve these.

Revision is often thought of as a last minute event, not something to worry about until later in the year, but this view will not serve you as well as it might. Starting to revise early in the new school year is a much better bet from your point of view and can pay off handsomely in terms of improved exam results. Your exams at school, the GCEs, Baccalaureate, or other entrance exams are creeping up on you faster than you might think. So here is what you can do to ensure your best performance.

1. From the beginning of your first term or semester, try to revise steadily throughout the whole year; for example you can regularly reread your class and lecture notes in the evening and go over your materials, topic by topic. Perhaps you could set aside sometime early each evening to read over your notes and material.

2. If you do this, you will begin to develop good study habits. If you fail to do this, do not despair but start today to read over your old notes. It is never too late to take the plunge; fight the desire to put it off! Your entire future is at stake so it is well worth making that extra effort now.

3. Do not try to study for hours on end without a break. Sheer input of time is not your goal—what you really need is maximum intake of knowledge and development of skills. Many people work best for between forty-five minutes and seventy-five minutes, after which their energy and concentration levels taper off rapidly. Taking a short break can actually improve your performance. For many people, the rest periods between study sessions should be at least ten minutes but not more than half an hour. Remember it is a break and you should go back to studying after it.

4. In these rest periods, try to do something different, well away from your notes and books. You might for example make a cup of coffee, or (ouch!) tidy up, wash up dishes, vacuum your room, or dig the flower bed. A more physical activity here is desirable in order to be fully effective.

5. There are many periods in life when you are likely to become anxious and stressed. A few people seem to thrive on this but for most it does harm and can lead to a much worse state of depression. While at school or university, it is worth learning a relaxation technique in order to keep your stress level down and improve your ability to study. There are various ways of doing this. If you learn to relax when young, you will have a valuable skill for the rest of your life, including the ability to cope with stresses in your professional development at work and in your emotional life. Trust me! Maybe life was not meant to be easy but you can try to stop it being painful or impossible.

6. If you have a study-buddy you can benefit in several ways. You can explain your views and ideas to them and in turn you can learn from their views. You can revise together and play valuable learning games. For example, you can take an old exam question and each prepare an outline of it for say five minutes, after which you can compare what you have each achieved. First look at any differences in your basic approach and discuss which seems to be the better. After that you can check the content of the outline and compare them together. Look for what each said and consider if any good points are missing or whether irrelevant points were put in. Are the points in a logical order? Finally, you can see if you can merge both outlines into one much improved answer. This helps develop your skill in rapidly analysing and responding to questions and issues (good in the exam room, for the rest of your life in your future jobs, and in team working). A further benefit is that you both get a valuable outline answer to use when you are revising in the future. I once did this and the question actually came up in the exam. Result! If you haven't already got a study-buddy, get one now. There are many other useful ways of working with a study-buddy.

7. About four weeks before the exams begin you are approaching your seriously intensive revision time. It helps if you make a revision timetable for this vital period. Normally it is good if each subject gets roughly the same amount of allocated time. If you are aware that one of your subjects is weaker, which is usually the case, try to allocate a bit more time to this one.

8. The last couple of weeks before the exam are not a good time to be taking new notes, other than for your ongoing lecture or classroom work. Now is the time to revise hard what you already have noted and prepared. This pays off more than reading and making notes from new material.

9. During your intensive revision period before the exams, make sure that you get some time off for exercise and enjoyment, away from studying. It is best to keep this time to a reasonable amount; you might choose to temporarily suspend your participation in any sporting or cultural activities in which you might be involved.

10. It is always a bad idea to work through the night and to try to mug up a term's or semester's work, particularly during the last two or three days before the exam. It's tempting I know, but if you do this it will exhaust you and leave you in poor shape to think carefully and concentrate just at a time when you want to give of your best. For the longer term, you are unlikely to remember much about the content anyway—and some day you will probably need it. You are trying for your best result, not to maximise the time you put in, especially if that leads you into extreme tiredness. It's OK to keep up the effort mid-term but not to kill yourself the night before that important exam.

~~~~

## Chapter 4 How to do better with data response questions

This advice was originally prepared for my students who were mostly doing economics and business-type subjects but the general approach should work well in most areas. Some advice is deliberatively repeated here where it applies in different situations.

It is a good idea to practise such questions on your own if your school does not set much in the way of mock exams. By the time you are in the exam room this will have helped you to develop your technique and in turn this means better answers. Knowing that you have practised and got better will also help reduce your stress level and that will allow you to think more clearly.

Keep in mind that you have enough time! Do not hurry the initial stage of examining the question, thinking, and carefully planning out an answer. This initial stage is where marks are easily gained and lost. If you should miss just one point out of a possible four because you skip the planning stage you are only being marked out of 75%, which means it is going to be that much harder for you to do well and an "A" result will be unlikely. Similarly, if your points are jumbled up and not in a clear logical order you might get fewer marks than you really deserve.

### A. Choosing the question when there is more than one offered

When you have a choice of questions, glance over them to see which topic you feel you know something about in general or in which you already have an interest. It often helps if you can find one like this. It is usually best not to read all the details of the supplied text or graphic yet; it pays to wait until later as you do not want to waste valuable time reading up minute details of a question that you are not going to answer anyway.

If you decide that one question allows you to use more theory, diagrams or formulae than another, it might be easier for you to gain marks by doing that question. It depends on the nature of your subject and this is more likely to be the case in the scientific disciplines. It may not be relevant to your arts subjects.

If you are generally better, say, at interpreting tables than graphs then the question that is presented in tables might be more suitable for you. You need to use your strengths and not parade any weaknesses.

Read through the questions quickly (not the attached material yet) to get a feel for what you are being asked. You might realise that with one of them you really know most of the answer already, or looked at the issue in class, or have an interest in that topic (good). Alternatively you might decide that the topic is alien to you and you are unable to refer to a well-known authority in that area, do any diagrams to illustrate your answer, or maybe use any formulae if these are commonly used in your subject (not good). This latter case suggests that it will probably be more difficult for you to get top marks in that particular question so move on and read the others. This process narrows down your choice as much as possible.

When you feel that one question looks the most likely you can look quickly at the material, such as figures, tables or diagrams that are supplied. You can often gain insight and awareness here before you return to consider carefully what specific questions they actually ask.

It is often an advantage to read the supplied test material upon which the question is based after you have looked at all the questions themselves. Doing it this way can help, because the time you spent reading and considering the question helps to put your brain in the right mode for spotting and understanding the important parts of the supplied text material. As pointed out earlier, it also means that you do not spend time reading all the details about a question that you know you will not be tackling anyway.

A part of your answer can sometimes be done without reference to the supplied newspaper clipping etc., as examiners like asking pure theoretical and analytical sub-questions. They might also expect you to know something about the real world we live in and refer to it. Note that some of the sub-questions will certainly require you to read the clipping carefully as the answer will be there.

Once you have decided which question to tackle and thought a bit about it, never bother to look at the questions you have discarded. Why waste time? Now you turn to reading carefully the detailed data or other information supplied about the question.

### B. What you are looking for in the supplied material

With figures, graphs or tables you are looking for things like:

* What particular items are big and what are small—you might try to identify the largest and smallest ones first.

* What items are increasing and what are decreasing? Are any doing so faster than the others? Any idea that pops into your head now (maybe why X is altering faster than B for instance) you can jot down in the margin of the exam paper or on the back page. You do not want to forget this idea and the stress of the exam room might lead you to do so. Remember to cross out the rough work later. If the exam paper states any rules about rough work, you must follow these.

* Patterns in the material: these are often what you need to focus on. Patterns may be found if two rows (or columns or items) go up and down together. Possibly one goes up when the other goes down. Sometimes two might go up and a third go down, or something similar. The lesson is: do not stop when you have identified two elements that move in some related pattern. There may be more elements that move or more than one pattern involved. Spotting half the answer means only half the marks.

* The unexpected. Is there something unusual or outstanding that looks remarkable in any way? Again, immediately jot down any ideas that pop into your head as to why this might be happening. You do not wish to forget them later.

* Extremes—what stands out as really big relative to the others, or particularly small and insignificant?

* Is there any item that does not change as the others do? An exception to the pattern may be important and needs pointing out and explaining.

* Are there any seasonal or annual fluctuations or any fluctuations that look regular? If so, why might they be happening? Are they natural or man-made in some way? Are they a problem? To whom?

### How to identify a pattern:

* First, examine the headings of columns and charts etc. and look to see if they are in percentages, or absolute numbers, or "change of something", or perhaps even "rate of change" of something. You need to be clear what the figures refer to before you can analyse sensibly.

* Next, use your eyes—glance over all the data in the columns quickly to see if anything jumps out immediately for you. Again it is usually best to jot it down in the margin so you do not forget it.

* Then go over the data more slowly, looking for a pattern between the columns, etc. to see if something emerges after you have given it a bit more thought and concentration.

* You might draw a rough freehand graph quickly if this helps you to see a pattern. Do not spend a lot of time on this. You can do this in the back of your answer book or on the back of the question paper. It is to help you: it is not part of your answer unless you were asked to draw one. Cross it out later before you hand it in. Note: you can (and should) put it in if it helps to explain a tricky point more clearly or you are studying a subject which is particularly diagram-heavy.

* Think back to see what you already know about some relationship between any of the items listed, e.g., growth and the current account balance, and see if this is reflected in the data you have been given.

### What to do when you have identified one or more patterns that fits the question asked

* You start by answering the question the examiner asked. This is the first thing you must do, at least after you have defined the important terms used in the question which is often a good way to begin. Once you have dealt with the question whatever it is, what next?

* After that you may add a brief expansion or comment of your own. You might for instance:

\- Explain why we see the pattern.

\- Point to any possible causes and effects that explains this pattern.

\- Indicate any linkages between the items (or the rows, columns etc) that might explain your findings.

\- Extrapolate into the future to see if any particular problems might arise and point out who might lose or benefit.

* In economics and some other subjects, if a diagram would fit (e.g., if given data about the price level and national income then the standard aggregate supply and aggregate demand diagram is appropriate) draw it to illustrate your answer. Make sure you draw it correctly, label all the curves and axes, and put in the equilibrium position. If your subject makes use of formulae make sure you get the relevant ones in.

* Be wary about proffering a lot of advice on what to do about a problem unless you were asked to do this. You need to demonstrate you can understand and analyse what you have been given. Some policy advice from you might be reasonable but never be dogmatic in what you say. If the marker disagrees on what to do about the problems it might sway his or her judgement of your work.

### C. Planning your answer

Always think and plan out your answer, do not just start writing. Otherwise you might miss something relevant and that will lower your mark. In an exam room, ignore anyone sitting nearby who immediately starts scribbling away furiously—they will either be a genius or an idiot who will not do all that well. Which do you think is the more likely?

Plan to do what is being asked. If you are told to "Describe X" this means you provide a different approach and answer from "Analyse X" (see Chapter 2 "Improve your marks in exams: the meaning of commonly used words"). Make sure you focus on the particular question as it is set. Too many students get side-tracked into putting down everything that they know, rather than answering the question. You lose marks like this for two reasons. First, you persuade the examiner you are a bit dim and not worth a good mark. Second, you have wasted your valuable time dealing with irrelevancies.

In some subjects you often need to get four things in your answer:

1. A definition of the important terms being considered. They might actually ask for this but it is usually a good idea to supply one anyway.

2. Some theory, to explain what you see in the data. Data never explains itself; you have to tell the examiner what it means.

3. Some diagrams or formulae, if your subject uses these, to point up the theory to which you have just referred—again with a clear explanation of what the diagram means. Diagrams do not explain themselves either. "As can be seen from the diagram..." might be a start. OK, I am repeating myself; well I said I would. You are expected to know diagrams, formulae and the like and if you do not put them in, the marker does not know if you are aware of them or not. The assumption will be "Probably not".

4. Some relevant jargon, e.g., "income elasticity", "economies of scale", or "externalities"; you should use whatever is appropriate in your subject that is relevant to the question and the data supplied.

A good way of starting is to jot down your ideas for a draft answer on paper. You can use the answer book provided but always cross out this planning part before handing in the finished paper. A good place for putting down ideas is in the back of the book where it is out of sight but still cross it out once you have finished with it. Examiners are generally overworked and almost never read what is crossed out unless they are struggling to understand your meaning. However, if you leave it uncrossed out they just might look at it and wonder what the heck it is all about! You do not want to worry or annoy them.

Your answer should be organised in logical fashion. In this draft plan you can now renumber these ideas and points in a better way (they do not normally occur to you in the best order for you to present). Later, when you write, you will follow this numbered logical order which will impress whoever marks the paper and this will help you gain marks.

If you are studying politics, put all political points first, ahead of any and all social or economic ones—this is a politics exam! You can mention social, economic or psychological points, etc., later but do so briefly; do not dwell on them, nor explain them in detail. You are merely demonstrating your breadth of knowledge and your intelligence. This general advice goes for all subjects: the one you are being examined in is the one that really matters.

Within your discipline, the most important analytical devices should always go upfront. If you can do so, get a diagram or a formula in early, assuming that it is appropriate for your subject. This means that you might put the points for which you can draw a diagram (use a formula) in first, before turning to the points for which you cannot do this. Examiners like to see relevant diagrams etc., and your use of them can impress. Impressing early is better for you than leaving this important matter until later.

At this planning stage remember to look for possible bias in the supplied information; see who wrote or published the report or data. If it is a trade union then it is unlikely to be same as a report from an employers' organisation. Might there be an axe to grind? This might be worth a careful but preferably uncritical comment.

### D. Writing your answer

* Keep to your time schedule. If you have half an hour to do the question try to stick to this. Maybe five to ten minutes on the reading and preparation will work for you, fifteen minutes or so to write, then five minutes at the end to check over what you have said. Do not feel that you must spend all the time writing.

* When you pick up your pen, do try your hardest to make your writing legible. Believe me, you never want to annoy the marker. I have suffered from trying to mark poorly written scripts and found that it really does not put the marker into the best of tempers.

* When you start writing you should follow the outline you made using your earlier jottings. These are already in a sensible and logical order, which ensures that the structure of your answer will be logical and clear.

* With data response you frequently do not need a long introduction and conclusion, as whoever set the exam has already divided up the question into parts for you. Often a single sentence from you will do as your introduction: for example

"10(b) The main reasons for the rise in food prices in recent years lie on the side of supply and demand. Starting with the supply side, there has been a noticeable increase in the production of biofuels, such as vegetable oils, and land has been transferred from producing food crops. Secondly on the supply side..."

(In this particular example, don't forget to draw a supply and demand diagram, with an increase in the demand curve and a decrease in the supply curve.)

* Never copy out a diagram or a set of figures that they have supplied as this is a waste of your time. You can refer to any diagrams or tables that they have supplied if you wish; in fact this is desirable as it clearly links your statements to the supplied material.

* In similar fashion, never quote the text supplied word-for-word; always put it into your own words. The examiner has already read the supplied material and will be unimpressed by a lengthy word-for-word quote. He or she is likely to think you do not understand the question or else simply do not know what to say. You are trying to understand, explain and extract from the data and not to simply reproduce it.

* Do not write out the question as it wastes your time; just put the question number and part in the margin, e.g. "10 c ii". Get it right! If they use the notation "ii" do not put "2" because this suggests that you cannot even read and number properly!

* Try not to be dogmatic—the examiner is human and if he or she disagrees with a political statement, or with a bold cavalier one about an issue which is in dispute in the discipline, it will not help you. An indirect approach such as "It has been suggested that...", "Some observers feel...", or "A case may be made that..." can help prevent you from irritating the examiner. He or she must accept it, even if they do not believe it!

* If your subject uses diagrams, ensure that you do them all in ink, not pencil. Use one colour for simple diagrams, two colours for complex ones, three colours only if you really must. On the whole it's best not to use red. Markers use often use red themselves—they might underline points or put in question marks and the like for their own use. They often check back before deciding on the mark they will give you and some can get annoyed when they do this but cannot find their red bits easily.

* It's best to explain the diagram immediately you have drawn it, referring to it as you write. An unexplained diagram is worth very little or nothing. Remember—diagrams never explain themselves! You have to do it, i.e. tell us what the diagram means and use this information as part of your analysis. Check to make sure you have labelled all the curves and axes; under exam pressure it is easy to miss the odd one. A mistaken or incomplete diagram leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.

* With formulae, look at it after you have written it down and ensure that you really wanted to say "n squared" and did not really mean "n cubed" but mistakenly got the number wrong.

* When you have finished your question, you should read over what you have said and correct any obvious errors, put in missing labels for diagrams, correct mistakes in a formula or any spelling errors, and add in any missing words. When you have finished the whole exam, a general tidy up and improvement of your presentation along these lines should occupy your last few minutes.

* If you suddenly realise you have missed something out of an answer, and have to add a segment you can make an insertion. If there is room and the insertion is small you might be able to squeeze it in where it is needed, either in the margin with a clear line leading to the exact position you wish to put it or squished in above the existing text. If you do this, make sure it can be read. If the insertion is long, you can place a large obvious asterisk where you want the insert to go, put a clear upside down "V" to show exactly where it will go, and then write "please insert from page XX" in the margin. It does no harm to put a circle around the note in the margin to make sure it leaps out to the eye. Then go to page XX and write what you wish to insert, put a large asterisk by it, and again put your note in the margin "Please insert on page YY, earlier". Once more, you can put a circle round the margin note, especially if you did that earlier. The consistency in style does you no harm. If you wish to use, say, a green asterisk in both places it helps the examiner find the insert more easily. Keeping an examiner happy is always a good idea! Don't forget, if you use the "page YY" statement you will have to quickly number the pages of the exam book up to that point.

~~~~

## Chapter 5 Advice for mature students

If you are contemplating going to university, or going back to college, then take heart! You can do it! I went to university after being in the workforce for seven years, eventually got my degree, and then built a career on it. You can do the same! But it will take effort and some adjustments on your part.

### Recognise the fact that you have a lot going for you.

### Maturity

Your greater age and experience of life mean that your attitudes are more developed and you are likely to make quicker and better decisions than younger people. A sweat shirt I recently saw being worn by a female student said "Next semester I'll be 35", so she did not seem to mind no longer being a teenager. In addition, you are not still in the process of growing up, or subject to hormonal changes that can produce sudden swings in emotions and moods, nor are you worried about the changes in your body and feelings. You might no longer be in the grip of an intense sexual force driven by the selfish gene and are probably not spending so much time dreaming about or pursuing those wonderful but elusive sexual partners.

### Motivation and the mature student

The determination to succeed is one of your main and sharpest weapons. You will be a lot more motivated than many youngsters: you really want to get that degree, you know what you are giving up in the form of income, and you are aware of the costs in family terms. All this means you are prepared to work harder—and that is often worth more than mere youthful exuberance. Various ways of further improving your motivation were discussed in Chapter 2.

### Experience and skills

You are probably able to notice interlinkages or causes and effects more easily than the less experienced fry swimming around you. On average, you will also have better communication skills and be generally more poised. The vicissitudes of life mean that you have had the rough corners knocked off, survived office politics or factory humour, and perhaps coped with the rearing of children. When faced with new ideas and knowledge, many propositions that can startle an eighteen-year-old may seem commonplace to you. A major plus is that the experience and wider information you possess provide hooks on which you can easily hang new knowledge and so learn more easily.

### Sources of information you may have open to you

You are likely to have more friends and relatives with different experiences that you can call on for help or with whom you can discuss issues. Don't forget your ex-colleagues from work either.

### A supportive partner

You are also more likely to have an understanding and helpful partner than the typical 18-year-old, and he or she probably allows you enough time to study as well as strengthens your will to do so.

### Financial security

You will probably be more financially secure than those coming straight from school, which means that you may not need to take a part-time job and work to supplement your income. If you have to work, you will probably earn more per hour and so not have to work as long. You may also be able to afford to buy all the textbooks and other recommended material, whereas some of the young students will be forced to go without or rely on finding those elusive library copies.

### But certain areas might need special effort or some adjustment in your behaviour

### Boosting your self-confidence

You may feel insecure and uncertain, surrounded by all these bright eager youngsters. You might worry that you have been away from school too long and forgotten how to study. No problem! My book tells you how (see excerpt at the end). You can get a degree and a good one; all you need is confidence and hard work but you might have to keep reminding yourself of that. Age is not a barrier to learning and, although it is a bit harder to take in new things at fifty years of age than fifteen, it isn't that much harder. We know that people who go to university after they have been away from school score better than those who go straight from school. And don't be afraid that you will be alone. Unless you are very unlucky, there should be plenty of people around your age; mature students are attending university in increasingly large numbers.

Some older students fear that they will look foolish or lose face by expressing a wrong opinion. If you have been housebound for years, you may feel afraid to join in discussions or say what you think in case you are laughed at. Fight this feeling! You are more likely to find that the younger students take your word more seriously just because you are older and more experienced. In fact, they're often rather frightened of you, but will rarely admit it.

### And keep reminding yourself that as a mature student you have many strengths.

### Coping with a lower standard of living

Your income will be less than previously, perhaps substantially so, and we all find it painful to reduce our standard of living. You may have to give up eating out and severely curtail spending on clothes and entertainment. If you have to stop smoking and limit your consumption of wine and spirits, so be it. It will hurt at first, so remind yourself the sacrifice will be worth it; think of the future and consider the better-paid jobs for which you will be eligible. Besides, smoking can be thought of as a disease that is usually cured by cancer, so you'll be better off in more ways than one.

### Fighting feelings of inadequacy: you are not alone

Do not worry about any feelings of inadequacy or fear that you will be unable to get a degree. Keep telling yourself you will do it and shift your focus to the advantages you possess. Don't worry that you have forgotten how to study and have been away too long; OK, you will be rusty but your essential skill has not gone. It's a bit like riding a bicycle—after time away you can still do it, but it may take a bit of practice before you are able to do it as well again.

### Avoiding monopolising discussions

If you happen to be one of the extrovert and assured mature students, be careful not to monopolise discussions as this tends to annoy people. A good group leader should prevent this, but young tutors often lack experience and if younger than you, they may find it hard to rein you in. Be aware that you can get a bad reputation for continually saying "when I worked in ...", and telling strings of anecdotes.

### Finding a study-buddy matters more for you than for the youngsters

It will help you if you seek out someone about your own age with whom you can work and discuss your concerns. You are looking for a good, compatible study-buddy, not someone who whinges and complains. You need support not membership of a mutual moaning society. Note: if you are already in a relationship, it's best to choose someone who will not provoke sexual temptations unless of course you like to live dangerously!

### Learning by doing—the more the merrier

If you worry that your brain might find it slightly harder to take in new things, as part of the learning process you can compensate by actively doing stuff, rather than simply reading. To widen your approach, you could try the following.

* Condensing your notes regularly.

* Making your notes memorable by adding things like coloured highlights or underliners. (If you have the skill, small cartoons in the margin might help trigger your recall when you want it later). Finally, read the notes frequently and you might be able to get a visual image of them.

* Practising drawing diagrams, figures etc. from your textbook and lectures.

* Making up your own tables of relationships or whatever, from the textbook and lectures.

* Making flashcards of important vocabulary, diagrams, formulae, etc. and going through them on the bus, on the train or anywhere where free time is available.

* Going to search in the library for your own information for a set period each day.

* Going through different textbooks and comparing explanations of the same point.

* Meeting daily with your buddy to explain what you have learned (this is really a good way).

* When you get home, telling your partner what each lecture was about (if they look bored, stop at once. The last thing you need is an alienated partner!)

### Sorting out your family relationships

This should be a main priority because a supportive partner will make learning a lot easier. Before you start at university, sit and discuss who will do what, e.g. pick up the children, cook the meals, wash up, shop, and clean the house. You might find it helps to make a roster so it is clear who is in charge of what at each time.

Despite your best efforts, you may have to cope with feelings of resentment from your family if you stay up half the night to finish an essay then sleep in the next day, particularly if you were rostered for some domestic task. It is imperative that you avoid letting things fester, and you might choose to set aside time, say every Sunday evening, to discuss how things are going, what irritates the others, and decide what adjustments can be made to put things right. Keeping the family happy, or at least out of active revolt mode, can only help you.

### The possibility of shortening your course

With your experiences, you might find things you have achieved in the past can gain you credit towards a degree, so that you could finish more quickly. Activities like setting up and running a business, working in a foreign country, managing a department, or gaining professional qualifications might qualify. It is worth asking in your departmental office—you never know, you could get lucky.

### Finance and the more mature student

Mature students often have financial commitments over and above day-to-day living expenses; the following are some ways of helping to deal with these.

* If you have dependent children, you may be able to claim benefits from the state while you are at university.

* If you are paying off a mortgage, think about changing to an interest-payment-only version for your three years at university, as this will reduce your monthly outlay.

* Have you a marketable skill that will allow you to earn part-time?

* Can you get a part-time job somewhere you worked before?

* Do you have any relatives or other contacts who can offer you work?

* If you have already built up a stake in your house or flat, you might consider taking out a second mortgage.

~~~~

## Chapter 6 Tips for Doing Research

In the academic business, "research" has come to mean two different things. In schools, "research" means going off to investigate some topic or issue that has normally been set by the teacher. In this context the word "research" means going it alone, reading up what others have written or said about that topic and presenting a product that is probably illustrated with pictures, drawings and the like and at its best it can be said to represent current thinking, put together in a logical and attractive way.

In universities, "research" means something different. It means venturing into an unknown area, unknown not only to the student but also to the world in general. This is the search for genuinely new knowledge in an area that is regarded as important, and if and when found and submitted to evaluation, the student is rewarded with a higher degree. In almost all cases this is a PhD (a Doctorate). Sadly, I once saw such original work submitted for only an MSc (a Masters) as advised by an inexperienced staff member. The student got her Masters alright but the assessors both commented that it should have been submitted for a PhD which she would certainly have received. But they were not allowed to award a degree for which the thesis had not been submitted.

Some of the advice in this chapter will be relevant to pre-university students but it is mainly focussed on the second type of research. As a consequence, much of it might be of more interest to university students or even perhaps to new and junior staff members who are determined to push back the frontiers of knowledge. They will shortly be involved in supervising research students themselves and my experiences might be of some assistance.

Research at the university level is a bit like setting sail alone in a small sailing vessel without any charts, maps or a compass. You are on your own with only a supervisor to point in a vague direction and suggest a possible way or two of trying to get there. You hope to reach the far shore (most do; some sink on the way and drop out or never finish), but what you will find when you get there you do not know. You fervently hope it will be interesting and different from where you set off and usually it proves to be so. This process of research is interesting, exciting even, but it can be a bit scary. It requires the kind of mind that is interested in discovery, a lot of hard work, a reasonable measure of luck, and a surprising degree of obstinacy. A good supervisor can make it easier; a bad one can make it more difficult and in the worst cases can even scuttle the ship of discovery.

Between countries, and within any particular country, structures and terminology vary, sometimes considerably. Universities have the power to establish and run themselves, and they often choose different ways of doing this. Do not be put off if, for example, your university has "advisors" rather than "supervisors" or refers to "subjects" or "projects" rather than "courses". Within the context of your university, the meaning of the advice should be clear. If it isn't, ask someone! I have not stuck to using one set of words for this reason.

These suggestions are based upon my own experience over many years of my own research and supervising and guiding students doing their own research. Because individuals differ, some of the advice may not suit you well. If it works for you—great! If it doesn't, then just ignore it. You are your own woman or man and you may choose to follow the words of the song "I did it my way" and your way may be a bit different. Incidentally, did you know that you cannot copyright the title of things like books and songs?

As technology advances, new ways of doing things emerge and some of the advice here will become outdated. As an example, we no longer keep our notes on small cards with lots of little holes around all four sides then allocate one hole to one word or idea and then cut the edge of the hole out. We used to do this! To find all cards with the words or ideas we sought, we took a knitting needle and poked it through one hole, so that all cards with that word fell free. The process was repeated with the fallen cards, using other words and holes, until the few cards that fitted all the words sought fell free into a pile. These days the computer searches for what we need in a flash.

A note of caution: my research has always been in areas such as economics, history, politics and learning/teaching methods, and that is where my experience lies. If you are in a very technical area, such as engineering, science or maths, then some things you probably need to know will almost certainly be missing from here. In addition some advice here might refer to things you do not need to know.

### Your career as a graduate student tends to fall into three stages.

1. The first stage is the beginning, when you find a working title and supervisor, get an idea of what you will be looking for, how you will tackle the subject, do your literature survey and decide on the methodology you will adopt. It varies, but for Ph.D. a minimum of six weeks and a maximum of four months might suffice. The MA degree will of course usually require less time.

2. Stage two is when you go and find the information and data you need. This might involve using the library and Internet, running experiments in your university laboratory, or perhaps doing something like going to live in a new area or even abroad to study the local flora and fauna. For a Ph.D., this stage might take a year or more.

3. Stage three is when you analyse the data and write up. I suggest that you analyse and start writing as your data comes in (i.e. while you are in section two) and not wait until you have a mountain of stuff on paper or in computer files. In this third stage, you write a draft of each chapter and submit it to your supervisor for comments and approval. Then you rewrite it and resubmit it for further comment and, hopefully, acceptance. It is usually best to do this one chapter at a time unless your supervisor asks for something different.

Stage three will take longer than you expect. Some Ph.D. students anticipate that it will be about a six months' job, but my experience indicates a year or more is common. If you have six chapters to write and must prepare a draft of each followed by a final version, and if you take one month a chapter, you will clearly need a year. And for many students, a month is not long for a draft chapter. MA theses tend to take less time and might be written up in six months or so.

### Things to do early, especially at the advanced degree level: Stage 1

### The topic issue

You will need to find a topic. Decide what general area of your discipline or subject-area interests you the most, then jot down a few ideas of a more specific nature within the general area. In the process you can talk to your fellow students and bounce ideas off them, talk to any staff member who will agree to meet with you, discuss it with one or more possible supervisors, or go online to places like "The Student Room" and float ideas there. If you have a strong interest or hobby in your non-academic life, at least consider if you can get a topic that relates in some way, however obscure. I once supervised a mini-thesis on making ballroom dresses in China and then importing them, which was done by a student who spent his evenings in terpsichorean pursuits. His enthusiasm for the project was tremendous and his personal experience prevented him from making many silly mistakes. I hope he is rich by now.

It is normal to start your research with a fairly wide coverage of interest and narrow it down as time passes and your research progresses. In some universities this is accepted as normal and approved virtually automatically. In others, you may have to go through a formal process of changing your dissertation title.

You will probably have coursework to do as part of your Ph.D. program; in the USA this is a normal part of the process; in countries such as the UK or Australia it is often less so. If coursework is an issue, you might find that some subjects or courses will be required while others might well be optional. For the optional ones, your general area of interest, together with any inkling you might have of a specific topic, determine what particular courses will be the most useful to you.

### The supervisor issue

You will probably need to find a supervisor or advisor unless you came to the university by previous arrangement with someone who has already agreed to act in this capacity. This is quite normal. At some universities, your advisor will be allocated to you. In my view this is undesirable, but if your university is like this, there is little you can do, at least at first.

When seeking a supervisor, if you had a personal tutor or two as an undergraduate they are the first to approach about a recommendation. Maybe he or she will take you on and your problem is solved. If not, then you can ask any of the staff members you know as to who might be suitable. You can also go to the departmental office and ask the clerks or administrators there about who is an expert in the specific area or topic you are interested in if you do not already know this.

When you find someone who says that they might be prepared to supervise you, arrange to see them to discuss possibilities as early as possible. It is a good idea to take any notes you may have made about the areas that interest you and possible topics that will give a focus to your discussion when they start by asking what it is that you think that you would like to do.

If your supervisor suggests some courses that would be useful take the advice. If they do not volunteer such information, you might ask them what courses they would recommend, even if none are required. Rather than just springing it on them out of the blue, you could write them a short note in advance of the meeting. This will allow them time to think about your particular case and consider which of the many courses might be most useful to you.

In the USA, most universities have a dissertation committee. This can help you to formulate your topic and decide on the exact questions you will be tackling. If you have the option to select the members of your committee (rather than having them just allocated to you), ask around about individual people. Other postgraduates who are further down the track than you may be able to advise you about the staff, their specialisation, their abilities, general availability and if they actually like students. If you can, you should go for people with experience in general and also in your area of interest, rather than someone new to the job. Personal chemistry can come into it too; if you dislike your advisor, it clearly will not help you to do well.

### A formal research proposal

You will normally have to prepare a formal research proposal in order to get accepted into the graduate school and then be allowed to proceed to do the research. This should be carefully written and laid out in order to impress. Sloppy writing, poor grammar, misspellings and vague waffle will damage your cause and could easily result in rejection. A word-processed document is minimal; if you can handle a desk top publishing program, then you can lay out a much more impressive document but do not go over the top and include lots of diagrams and pictures as it can be counterproductive. Pretty presentation overkill, kills.

You might divide your research proposal into clear sections, laid out in a logical way. Perhaps something like the following but make sure your subject and topic fits.

* A statement of the area of research and why you are interested in it.

* Why this is an important topic to be researched; what contribution to knowledge it will make.

* A listing of several questions that you would like to answer.

* Possibly one or more hypotheses that you wish to test.

* A brief review of what other work has already been published in this area (you will do a full one later as part of your research).

* The sort of methodology you think might be appropriate.

In most universities there are no rules about the length of proposals, but check the rules at your place first and follow these. In the absence of a rule, maybe half a dozen to a dozen pages or so would be about right, but it does depend on your topic and how you lay out your proposal. Fifty pages on the other hand would definitely be too long!

Do not be dogmatic or assertive at this stage of your proposal; you do not wish to alienate someone with power who might hold a strong and opposite view to yours.

### Things you might find useful

Remember to carry a small notebook at all times and note down any sudden ideas you get about your research topic, possible questions, possible sources—anything at all! Ideas can come when you least expect them. Make sure you have pen and paper by your bed, as you might wake up with a brilliant thought; some of my most intriguing ideas came this way. I suspect my subconscious is actually more hardworking than I am and waits for me to nod off before considering the problem that has been on my mind all day. I find this thought a bit scary. Always write any ideas down at once: if it happens to be three in the morning when inspiration strikes you can relax and get back to sleep knowing the idea is safe for the coming daylight hours. Ideas are always valuable currency at university and particularly in the area of research.

I am sure that you have access to a computer (preferably you own) with a word processing program and maybe a drawing program and or even a desk top publishing program. You will need a printer too, but if you cannot afford one, your university probably has a computer room that allows you to print up stuff. Notebook computers and laptops are convenient and fun, but not as cheap as desktop computers. Laptops are also more likely to be stolen or else bumped and banged into oblivion. For many, the convenience of a laptop outweighs the disadvantages, especially as they get cheaper over time. Possessing your own computer is now essential: you do not have to wait for set times when you are allowed to use a computer room, or hang about in the room waiting for someone to get up and leave. Nor will you have to stop suddenly and leave if the room has been booked for a classroom teaching session. And you can work at eleven at night on your own computer, should you wish, whereas the university computer room will probably be closed.

Ipads and similar tablet-type machines can be used for taking notes although you might need a special stylus to do so. Eventually such machines will probably replace laptops or desktop computers. There are lots of apps around that improve what you can do with a tablet-type machine and more keep appearing so check out what you might need if you go this route.

You do not need the latest, fastest, greatest computer that just became available yesterday. Anything that will run your basic software will do. If you know someone who insists on upgrading and replacing all the time, that person can be a great source for a cheap computer. Buying anything second-hand can be tricky, but if you know the person is a genuine geek and they will demonstrate the computer for you then you can save an awful lot of money rather than buying new. The price of used computers tends to drop like a stone, as technology advances so quickly. Old computers still in working condition are often virtually given away. Try the online Freecycle, where lots of useful things are offered free; you start by finding the nearest one to where you live. You can try asking there for an old laptop and many people have one hanging about that they no longer that they might give you for nothing.

You will find access to the Internet essential. There is much information out there. You can collaborate with others working in your area by email, as well as search for materials of value. But you have to do a lot of searching among mountains of dross to find a valuable nugget of gold as there is far too much irrelevant, poor or downright wrong information out there. The Internet can easily start to use up and waste a lot of your valuable time.

### What you need to own

* You definitely need a computer (see above).

* You will need pens, pencils, liquid paper, a ruler, a small notebook and an A4 notepad, unless you write directly onto a computer. It is now common to do this and most sensible: you can move paragraphs around, save backup copies and other goodies.

* Later you might have a use for things like a stapler, Blu-tack, a hole punch, or transparent adhesive tape but these can wait until the need arises.

* You will also need a filing cabinet, but in the short-term cardboard boxes will keep you going for a few months.

### What you need to check out early

Early on, it is a good idea to choose a Working Title and then draft out a Contents Page for your thesis. Don't worry about sticking to it—you will find it alters as your research proceeds and new information comes in. You really should develop an outline to try to work to; otherwise you can waste months, even years, reading too widely and without discipline or direction. I know of what I speak: I went through this when I first started out. A well-meaning but inexperienced supervisor threw me in at the academic deep end without any guidance, except for the instruction to learn Chinese and examine the cotton textile industry in China. Naturally, for some time I floundered!

Get hold of a copy of the rules and regulations that apply to your research degree, and notice things such as what length of thesis is specified (usually the number of words), how many years you have, and what sort of layout is expected. I know they are boring, but you will have to follow those rules eventually, so getting it right from the beginning is a good idea. This will save you valuable time later when you really need it.

You will find later on as you are working on your thesis that you need to check on this carefully to make sure you get all the requirements right.

It's a good idea to make a list of everywhere and everything you can think of that you should or could read and check out for material relevant to your topic.

Unless you are incredibly well organised and think of things in the correct alphabetical order, you need a computer. Word processors can sort lists out easily; you often have to highlight the list you want then tell the program to sort A-Z. Alphabetical order makes it easier to search to see if a book or journal you come across is already on your list or not. You might want to print this list out and tick off an item as soon as you have looked at it and carry the list with you. You never want to waste time writing down the title and author of some article which you have already read over a year ago.

A computer search for relevant material is a good approach, but you might want to talk to the library staff first and pick their brains about how best to search, where to search, and are there any specialist search engines in your particular library for your topic. Google is not the only fruit on the tree and many disciplines seem to have a search engine designed for use in their area. Has the library paid for links to materials or services that will allow you free access and free printing up of relevant articles? In my experience, university librarians are intelligent, well-trained people who are a good source of information on a wide variety of things, including not only how to search rapidly and successfully for what you want, at which they usually excel. Some of them might be valuable on things like thesis organisation too. It is worth approaching one and discussing a problem you might have and asking for any suggestions. You cannot lose, only gain, from this.

Your own library will have holdings of things that you will need to read, including books, journals, Ph.D. and MA theses, and maybe CD ROMs of reference materials.

You need to consider your methodology early on, which means how you intend to tackle the issue and what approach you will adopt. If you have no training in this, you should read a book about scientific method. Notice that we try to refute or overturn the hypothesis not confirm it; consider for yourself what constitutes a valid test of your hypothesis or hypotheses and what kind of statistical tests may be available for both your discipline and the particular topic you are researching.

You need to discuss methodology with your supervisor to make sure that both you and he or she are thinking along similar lines. You will waste much valuable time if after you have slaved for six months and put a draft in, the supervisor says "Good material but you cannot really tackle it that way!"

### Moving on a bit: when you have settled down to work

You will certainly have to do a literature search for all articles and books that refer to your topic. Usually, the books you find will cover more general issues, but articles are more likely to be relevant to your specific area.

Hint: when you are searching though journals or newspapers, say 1990–99, I find that it helps to do it backwards. That is to say, you start with the latest year and check it then go to 1998 and look through that. Never start with the earliest year volume and work forward, as this will waste a lot of your valuable time. It can cause you follow too many threads that lead nowhere; you can spend too much time on details that later turn out not to be needed; and a subsequent article may render out of date an earlier one that you spent hours reading and noting. I find for me it is sensible within any particular year to work forwards, January to December, as my mind seems to prefer this; then I go back to the year before.

I usually advise my students to take a look at a few theses in the university library and see how they are laid out and organised. When you have read the contents pages and the summary of, say, half a dozen theses in your area you will probably start to notice that there is something of a standard pattern. In this way you learn roughly what you are aiming at. Universities and disciplines vary, but generally you might expect to find somewhere between five and ten chapters is normal, with perhaps six or seven being reasonably typical.

Once you have started on your research and are out sea without a chart or compass, you may find that what you initially selected as an area of interest or topic to examine may start to appear less so, and your topic may start to change as you veer off course into what seems to be a promising area. Even data availability, or simple lack thereof, can alter your direction. This is normal and should not be a cause for worry. If the change seems to be major, you should discuss it with your advisor before making any radical change of direction. There are bits of paper in the institution's filing system that specify what you are supposed to be doing; if you engage in something else problems may arise especially for you!

Take note that your aim is not to write the world's greatest thesis on your chosen topic, but to prepare one that is good enough to pass and which does not offer any loose ends that examiners can seize on to fail you, or refer it back for rewriting and resubmission. The world's greatest doctoral thesis in your area might take you ten years or more, but one decent enough to allow you to pass might take only three or four years. After getting your doctorate, you can always use the seven years or so that you have saved to develop the thesis into a great book. In the meantime you are "Doctor X", and are qualified to get better jobs and start to earn real money. Or at least what passes as real money in most of academia.

### Further down the track: moving into Stage 2

### The social side

Many grad students find loneliness a problem. The undergraduates that surround you have heaps of friends from the courses they are taking and from clubs they are in, but research can be a solitary pursuit. There may be few other graduate students around working on things that interest you. In a small university there may be few postgrads of any description. In addition, many universities have structures in place that rather cosset and take care of undergrads, and other systems to take care of the staff; however, relatively few seem to have organised ways of looking after the interests of postgraduates. Sadly, these poor creatures (which means you) often fall in between and flounder on their own.

If you feel lonely, do not get depressed. Get out and try to make friends, and maybe join a society or two. Join the post-graduate society if there is one. If there isn't, perhaps you could consider setting one up to look after the interests of these important but often overlooked members of the university. There may be sports clubs and the like where you can at least find a human being to talk to, after spending hours cooped up in a lab, hunched over a computer, or riding a particle accelerator in the early hours of the morning (in most universities the staff get first crack at the more civilised times). You might well need to seek out human contact to keep your sanity.

### Possible supervisor problems

Liaise closely with your advisor. Different advisors have different preferences. Taking my own experience as a supervisor as an example, in your early days, as a rule of thumb, when you are sorting out what you will do and how you intend to tackle the project you can expect to see him or her perhaps two to four times a month. Towards the end, when you are writing up your first draft version, you might find roughly the same time frame. In Stage 2, when you are engaged in gathering data and materials, you may find that you barely need to see your supervisor at all. In some research projects you might even be working in a different part of the country from your supervisor or even abroad, as I was. When I was being supervised as a grad student I got to see my supervisor in London University maybe twice a term in the first stage (in retrospect probably not enough) and not at all in the middle (which was fine).

If you are working away from your own university, perhaps in order to gather data, a letter or a lengthy Email message from you every month is a good idea: you keep in touch, and he or she remembers you. Faculty staff have plenty to do and often several graduate students to supervise—it is surprisingly easy for them to overlook you should you go off for a year!

Your relationship with your advisor is important. Mostly it works out fine, but if you find that you can never get to see your advisor, or he or she is persistently unhelpful, you might have to consider finding a different one. This is not something to undertake lightly, as it can be difficult finding someone else suitable to take you on. An additional issue is that your name might become known and you develop a reputation as a troublesome person. If this happens, it may become hard to find anyone willing to take you on. Academics are human beings with all the foibles that that entails. However, if things really are not working out between the pair of you, then at least try talking to another staff member and investigate the possibility of a switch. It might be worth a chat to other post grads to see if any of them have previous experience of your supervisor and see if they know of any other staff members that might be relevant to your topic.

Joint supervision, where you have two or more supervisors, can create specific difficulties. I have seen this as a grad student and been personally involved in the process as a supervisor. If the two supervisors are in totally separate disciplines, then you may have few if any problems. I once happily supervised the economics side of an energy dissertation along with a scientist who did the physics side and we got along famously, both with the student and with each other. The student got his PhD. If, however, you have, say, two political scientists or maybe even two social scientists from different but overlapping disciplines, you will probably find they have three opinions! If they disagree with one another about what you should be doing, where you should be going, or how you should be tackling an issue, then you will be in a no-win situation. Whatever you do will displease one of them.

I knew one student like this in England, a post-grad friend of mine, who was eventually institutionalised for mental problems. These had been intensified by the conflicting advice he received from two supervisors and possibly caused by this. There was no way he could satisfy both; and I still recall his depressed mood after he had spent several weeks following a certain path that "supervisor A" suggested, only to be told by "supervisor B" that it was a total waste of time even to think about that avenue.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, I suggest you go and talk to someone in power, like the head of department or dean of faculty, and seek their advice on changing or dropping one of your supervisors. Prepare your case carefully, for they will not automatically enjoy hearing two members of their staff being criticised. Be cautious also in the way you present your criticisms—certainly make them, but do it as nicely as you can; it might be an idea to place emphasis on your inability to get along with one of them as a matter of personal chemistry and the fault is probably yours. That might get you a more sympathetic hearing than if you adopt an aggressive tone and manner.

### Gathering and storing information then starting writing

If you keep your notes on a computer it is much easier to reorganise your filing system and locate what you need by using the search function.

When you keep your notes and writings on the computer, do make sure that you keep regular backups and plenty of them. If you have a laptop and all your stuff is on it, you might be in serious trouble. It takes only one thief or a fire to cause the loss of your entire research findings so far. Even a spilled cup of coffee over a keyboard can cause you problems—been there, done that! Dangers lurk around a lot of corners.

Make sure you keep backups of everything you have and preferably keep at least one of them in a different place from the others. You might want to encrypt your backups to ensure that no one else can gain access or read your files. If someone does this and publishes your work, or part of it, then your thesis is dead in the water.

With backups, putting a number on the end of the file name can work well: "Floods 1", "Floods 2", etc., so you can easily see the latest and the order. For some people, putting the date instead of a number works even better: "Floods 4-10-09" (your file about flooding saved on either the 4th of October 2009 [in the UK] or on the 10th of April 2009 [in the USA]; "Floods 10-3-12", and so on.

### Where to backup? Possibilities include:

* An external hard drive (a good way as they keep getting bigger and cheaper).

* A separate computer with its own hard drive. If you happen to have an ancient computer hanging around unused, you can put backups on its hard drive.

* Blue Ray discs (currently quite good but not all that cheap; technical progress will render them out of date eventually I imagine).

* Magnetic tape: (cheap and fast and has been around for so long it is well understood in the business but few students probably have easy access).

* Solid state: various names, such as USB flash drives, memory sticks, thumb drives etc., (too small for all your stuff but very useful for transferring smaller amounts of data around).

* DVDs (hopeless in my mind as you will need far too many to be a long-term solution).

* CDs (even smaller, even worse).

* Remote backup online (a good way and even fire, flood and earthquakes where you live or work mean your vital data is still safe.) However, if you put stuff up on "the cloud" someone, sometime, someplace, might hack into it. Personally, I would not take the risk with my financial and personal details or with my hopefully brilliant research ideas. In my view there's too much to lose.

It is a bad thing to keep reading, taking notes and accumulating more and more facts and details, then filing them away. You need to start writing up bits of your draft thesis early. If you do not do this, you will end up with a hard drive full of undigested notes and/or several drawers of a filing cabinet stuffed with paper. This is very off-putting when you wish to start organising and writing. What's more, unless you have an incredibly neat filing system, you will find it hard to know what you know as well as to locate a specific bit of information when you need it. Too much information? No! You will merely be swamped by unassimilated ideas and facts.

I strongly advise you to start to write really early. Writing improves with practice, so the earlier you start, the better you will get. More importantly, after you have accumulated information on one section of a chapter, it helps to write up what you think the information means; you might explain its significance; its weaknesses; questions it raises but does not answer; any bias you detect; and possible implications for other ideas or theories. Later, when you come to start writing your draft chapters, it will help you a lot if you have earlier written something about the material you have gathered. This gives you a starting point or if you are lucky a draft chunk of a chapter. This helps you to feel less helpless and generally more reassured about the somewhat daunting task of writing up of a thesis.

### What might your chapter organisation look like?

Theses vary in the way the chapters are laid out. Much depends on your discipline, actual topic, and approach selected. If you did not do it earlier, check out how earlier generations of students organised their thesis chapters and see if it helps.

In some disciplines a sensible chapter layout might look like this:

* Chapter 1: Introduction, justification for the title and thesis, why the subject is important, how little is currently known about it and so on.

* Chapter 2: The methodology you will use and the results of the literature search that you conducted. These first two chapters are preparing the way for what you have to say.

* Chapters 3–5 or more: this is "the meat" part, i.e., what you have discovered. This must be presented in a fashion that is logical for your discipline and your thesis title.

For example, in a history thesis it might be something like:

* Chapter 3: The arguments for and against the issue;

* Chapter 4: The early years and policies; and

* Chapter 5: The later years and policy adaptations.

* Chapter 6: Conclusions and recommendations. This is usually a relatively short chapter, which sums up your findings.

Only you, together with your supervisor, can determine what is an appropriate chapter organisation and layout. Your knowledge of your discipline, and the example of other theses already written about similar topics, should help you to work out a specific organisation for your own thesis.

Note: check the rules carefully for any specifications about layout and chapters. This takes priority over the general statements I have just made as each institution has its own rules and regulations that you must follow. It really hurts if you are asked to resubmit simply because the required format was not followed exactly.

### Stage 3: writing the proper first draft leading to the final thesis for submission

If you took the advice to start writing early and not just gather and store information, you should have quite a few bits and pieces already written. These provide a basis to start with. You will probably find that you need to edit and alter, as you now know more than you once did.

The bibliography needs some thought. You can look at how others set theirs out and in fact you should start by doing this. Some bibliographies are easy but in others a few of your sources may be in different languages, as many of mine were, and you need to indicate which is which. And no quoting of encyclopaedias or Wikipedia etc is allowed!

It is generally a good idea to try to keep the length of your chapters roughly similar. If you find Chapter 5 is becoming three times the length of any other chapter, then it cries out to be split up into two or maybe even three chapters, rather than left as one. Naturally, your introductory chapter is often shorter than the others and so too may be the literature/methodology chapter. Exact equality is not sought, just a rough parity of length.

Write up your chapters in any order that you feel like; this is not necessarily 1, 2 ...9. Many supervisors like to see the first two chapters (what the research project is about and how you intend to tackle it) very early on in draft form before letting you loose on the main findings chapters. This ensures that you know what you intend to do and that you have done a literature search to see what is already known in this field of study. If this is what they want, this is what you do. After that, it is usually down to you unless your supervisor disagrees.

At the final writing up stage, for some students the best chapter to start with is the first "meat" one (which relates what they have found out), followed by the other "meaty" ones in some sensible order. Finally, you write up the first and last chapters. Generally it pays to write the first chapter and final chapter together at the end, because by then you know what you have discovered. This ensures that the introductory and concluding chapters do not contradict each other in any way. Writing in this order works for many but whatever you feel comfortable with is probably best for you. Just be aware that you do not have to write the chapters in the order of the final thesis. Your supervisor will probably wish to see your thesis as a whole for a last look over before you submit.

Generally you should follow the preferences of your advisor and not argue about the best way of doing things. You do not wish to annoy him or her; you have to work together and need their help; they usually have experience and at the end you are likely to need a reference from the person when you are looking for a job. If you have an antagonistic relationship, let's just say this will not help.

What can you do when you get stale and lack motivation to continue? You can expect this to happen. You are so close to your subject, and eventually know more about it than just about anybody in the world that it simply starts to bore you. Most of your working hours, and perhaps even some of your dreaming ones, are concerned with just one thing. The mind eventually says "Enough!" and tries to make you stop committing this atrocious act. If and when this happens to you, read over Chapter 1 "How to Increase Your Motivation and Tackle Procrastination" and select whichever advice might work for you.

A break from the research is probably indicated so consider taking a holiday. If you go away do not take any of your material with you! You need a complete break away from thoughts of work. But before you go make sure that you have at least one perfect backup that is physically separated from your computer. Incidentally, when you have done all that you think you can and you have come to hate the draft thesis and cannot contemplate having to read the brute yet again, it often indicates that you have finished. It certainly did for me.

A final word and benediction: as a graduate student, you will almost certainly have more free time at your disposal than you will ever have in the rest of your working life. Try to use this time sensibly, profitably and enjoyably!

Good luck with that research!

~~~~

I hope you have found this EBook useful. Here is a free sample from my latest book containing more tips and advice for students.

## Free sample from the book Going to University: the Secrets of Success

1. University, here I come!

OK! HOW CAN I DO WELL AND ALSO ENJOY MYSELF?

:) Life at university is fun, fun, fun! And of course quite a bit of work.

Well done! You have made it to a university or college and this is the start of a really great time, now you are out of your school daze. If you have been told that these were the happiest days of your life, you were probably being lied to. University is far better in almost every way: you have much freedom, little responsibility, and an interesting set of new friends. I confess I rather envy you your good fortune. Still, been there, done that, bought the T-shirt; now it's your turn.

One of the main things you will almost certainly have to do is learn how to learn. You probably assume that you know how to do this but many students have mostly been taught by others and have not really had to learn much on their own. From now on you will be doing a lot of learning so you might as well do it efficiently. Think about it! If you study efficiently it leaves you with a lot more time for doing things that you really enjoy!

Three elements seem to be common to those who do well at university. Firstly, they go to all set lectures, tutorials, seminars, and workshops or laboratory sessions, where they pay attention, and take notes. Secondly, they work for hours on their own, outside the formal class time. Thirdly, they use their time effectively. What makes them work hard is strong motivation. With a determined will to succeed you can achieve almost anything you want in life. Such determination is crucial if you want to do well; think how much you already know about a particular sport or hobby that really interests you. Try to increase your motivation by following the advice below and regularly doing the things suggested.

### Determination plus adjustment equals success

A good way to start your adjustment to university life is to think about why you are going and make your own list of reasons. Keep this and read it regularly—reminding yourself of your original reasons can help strengthen your determination to succeed.

WHY DO I WANT TO GO TO UNIVERSITY ANYWAY? SOME POSSIBLE REASONS (BUT MAKE YOUR OWN LIST USING YOUR OWN WORDS)

* My parents and family expect me to go

* M y friends are all going so I'm off too

* I wish to enjoy the life of a student, which sounds and is attractive

* I 'm postponing decisions about what to do with my life

* I am unable to find a job

* I want qualifications for a particular career I have in mind

* I wish to learn about something that really interests me

* I want a job with real power (though power is like a steep cliff: only reptiles and eagles tend to get to the top easily)

* It would be nice to broaden my mind and improve my quality as a human being (OK, it's rare!)

* I'd like to find intellectual stimulation and enjoyment

* I may be returning to study after some years in the work force because I need a challenge, or can now afford to get an education

* Like Aristotle, I believe that education is the best provision for old age.

* I want to earn decent money once qualified—yes!

Why bother to make a personal list? Because it can help increase your motivation when you reread it later; in a sense your own list is an extension of you. A stronger motivation increases your determination and also makes your learning more enjoyable, hence easier.

WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?

:) I'm not selfish—I really do deserve more!

Going to university gives you the opportunity to think creatively, to learn how to organise your thoughts, and then to express them clearly. You get three major benefits: knowledge, skills and personal development.

### 1. Knowledge

* In its broadest sense, knowledge consists of facts and theories; it helps you break out of your ignobubble.

* But knowledge gets out of date quickly—it matters in the short-term for when you are doing exams, but it is probably the least important benefit in the long run. Even in practical subjects like medicine and law, facts and theories are subject to change but both the other skills remain of value to you for ever.

### 2. Learning transferable skills for your whole working life: a prime gain

These are portable skills that go with you; if you want a good well-paid job you definitely need them. People now tend to switch direction several times during their working life: to climb the ladder of success you need to be lord of the rungs. Onward and upward is the way to go!

The skills you can get include the ability to do the following both quickly and competently:

* Communicate (orally and in writing) effortlessly

* Manage your time effectively

* Work in a team successfully

* Organise information properly

* Tackle questions and problems sensibly

* Win people over to your view as you argue persuasively

* Analyse issues logically and convincingly

* Prioritise your tasks quickly

And:

* Make and keep a wide circle of personal friends

* Develop a network of business contacts

### 3. Developing as a human being: another real gain

* Expanding your mind, engaging in self-discovery and furthering your personal development.

* Building self-discipline and self-confidence

* Growing up: well, it has to be done sometime

### University is different from school or working in a job

### Compared with going to school: it's a lot better!

* There are no teachers to control or bug you

* There is usually no check-up on whether you attend classes or not

* There are no parents to force you out of bed in a morning: watching High Noon in bed is possible

* The freedom is genuine and really great

* To an extent this can all be alarming as you are now on your own

* But you will learn below how to cope with and enjoy the new freedom without losing track of your main goal: getting that degree

:) When arguing about food, you shouldn't tell a Frenchman that it's a crock monsieur.

### Compared with working in a job: it's fantastic!

* There are no set hours

* There is no boss

* There is no profit and loss to worry about

* There are no dress standards

* There are no office or factory politics to keep you on your defensive toes

* The freedom can be exhilarating and you now have the time to do stuff you really want

* But you have no regular pay packet: bummer!

TIME TO JOIN THE GROWN-UPS

:) Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.

We all grow up as individuals with our own unique set of experiences. Growing up involves uncertainty and worry about the physical and emotional changes which occur; concern about who we are turning into; coping with mood-swings and feelings of insecurity; concern about dealing with relationships; and maybe developing critical views of your parents, finding them embarrassing, and feeling that they do not understand you.

### Self-development involves

### Taking responsibility for your actions

No longer can you blame others (parents, teachers, or friends) for what you do: you are now responsible for your own behaviour.

### Gaining experience

Gaining experience means trying new things, but if any of these involve losing control of rational decision-taking ability, you should either avoid it or be very careful indeed. Experimenting with drugs, for example, can be addictive, cause personality change, or lead to behaviour you might not normally contemplate. Experience is a good teacher but at the price she charges she certainly ought to be.

### Facing challenges and tackling them

If you tackle challenges successfully it is excellent, but even a failure can provide a valuable learning experience—you can consider what went wrong, what you might have done to avoid it, and how you can do better the next time around.

### Hard work and persistence

In life, nothing important comes without effort, and you will have to strive hard for what you want. Motivating yourself is often the key.

### Learning about the big world out there

### Increasing your experiences

Going to university is a major change in your life and will provide many new experiences, many interesting, some valuable, and a few wonderful.

### Learning from others

There is little point in reinventing the wheel. You should take the chance to study and learn from those who have gone before.

:) Smoke bomb = a student who regularly enjoys marijuana then fails the exams.

### Making your own mind up about that knowledge

Not everything you read or are told by others is true, or perhaps not the whole truth. You must think about what you learn and whilst remembering it, question and criticise it. All is not what it appears—True Lies was not just the name of a movie.

### Shaping up to the new life

Your life at university will consist largely of three elements: studying in a variety of different ways; being involved in clubs or societies; and socialising.

### Studying

This is your main aim—you need that degree—so you do not get much benefit from dropping out early or failing. You are about to learn how to learn. Lectures, tutorials, workshops, lab time, sitting around discussing issues and arguing until late at night.... there's a lot to do so let's try to enjoy it.

### Social life and partying

This is an important and enjoyable area. You need to relax and enjoy your university experience—it is the best time of life for many people. Get in there! But be careful not to overdo it.... except in Fresher Week when you must participate strongly.

Even mathematicians are not sure of the shortest distance between two pints. You may still have to learn how much you can drink safely without suffering. If you throw up, suffer the whirling pit when you close your eyes, or cannot remember all of the previous evening, you really drank too much. In fact, you were probably pewted as a niss.

End of excerpt from Chapter 1; on to Chapter 7

7. Write on baby! Way to go!

### If your school used to let you have several bites at the cherry

Some schools allow students first to go and talk to a teacher about what to put in an essay; then to hand in a draft essay and get comments back; and finally to submit the essay proper. At university you are expected simply to prepare, write, and put the essay in—and that's it.

### Preparing to write

Writing up is simply the last stage of the assignment process. Always be sure you know what you think and wish to say before you start to write. "I cannot write" often really means "I have not read and thought enough and do not know what I really want to say". It's common to prepare several different outlines before you start writing.

### It's time to do the essay

You must write out your essay properly in sentences and never do it in note form. Write it on a computer if you can; it is easy to move sections around, spell check it, and print it up. At the printing stage, it is a good idea to set wide margins on both sides of the paper as this encourages the marker to make more comments and these can help you a lot.

If you have any diagrams to put in, it is usually acceptable to draw these neatly using a ruler and pen. There are excellent drawing programs for computers (CAD—computer assisted design) but they take quite some time to get to grips with (see Appendix B for suggested free programs).

If you do not have access to a computer (rare), then typing up your essay is the next best way. Try not to put in a handwritten assignment, which looks poor, and can earn you lower marks if the assessor gets fed up trying to read it. If you must write by hand, use black or dark blue ink, and remember to leave wide margins to encourage comments. Never write in pencil. However you write it, you should draw any diagrams and figures carefully using a ruler, and if they are complex use more than one colour. It's best not to pick red, because the marker may wish to use red to correct or add to the diagram and you never want to annoy a marker.

ESSAY TIPS: A LIST OF THINGS TO AVOID

### "Before I answer this question I shall...."

Never begin with this phrase; it ensures you are sidetracked at once; it automatically causes you to answer a question that you were not asked; and it is likely to convince the marker that you are not all that bright. Disasterville!

### Lyk, dude, it's so-o-o kwl n gr8 yeah? Any 1 no y? Ezpz m8! Geddit?

Right! Now I have your attention, texting spelling, gangsta rap, slang and colloquialisms have no place in written essays. Note, however, that in oral presentations a judicious use of slang or the vernacular can sometimes be effective as long as it is in very small doses—perhaps once.

### Humour

Few people have the gift of being able to write amusingly and their efforts to entertain are sometimes painful to read. Unless you've ever been asked who writes your material or else your name is Woody Allen or John Cleese you'd better avoid trying to be funny.

:) Sign in an English butcher's shop: "Buy our sausages; you'll never get better."

### Abbreviations in essays: take care!

You must avoid all short forms like "can't", "won't" and "isn't" and write the words out in full. Written English is a bit different from spoken English. (I deliberately broke several rules in this book in order to make it more accessible—"Don't do as I do, do as I say!")

You should be aware that the first time you use an acronym you should spell it out, for example "The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)...."; after that you can use the acronym alone without further explanation.

### Using brackets

These (when used often) tend to give (at least to some people) a feeling of choppiness (or breathlessness) and slow down the communication of ideas (or anything else) and suggest (to the critical) that you have (probably) not thought through the (admittedly tricky) issue. As you can see, it's best just to avoid it.

### Using oxymorons (if you're a pedant peasant it should really be oxymora)

These are phrases that contradict themselves in some way, like "pretty ugly", "original copy" or "deafening silence" (and some might think "military intelligence" or "business ethics"). While not exactly wrong, they can annoy fussy people and one of these might be marking your essay. It's good to think carefully about the words you use.

### The shotgun technique

This consists of throwing in everything you know about the issue, in the hope that a few pellets will strike home, rather than answering the question. In this case it is untrue that nothing succeeds like excess. To combat it you can practise making outline answers; spend longer on organising your approach; stick to your prepared outline; keep reading the question as you write to make sure you are on line; and sprinkle a few words from the question in your answer now and then.

### Getting sidetracked

This means moving away from the central question asked and delving into interesting but scarcely relevant areas. An assessor is likely to conclude that you possess a scatty mind and have a less than fully logical approach. Hello bad mark! Use the same solution as for the shotgun technique.

### Trying to impress by deliberate complexity

Technical jargon is usually essential at university and makes for precision in communication. Your analysis may well be complex but the expression of it should be simple. You should not deliberately set out to write long, complex sentences or use less obvious words on the grounds that you feel this is suitable for university level work. Too often arcane words are used in invidious fashion, possibly erroneously, your meaning becomes nebulous, and you can easily forestall the attainment of the exalted mark you indubitably deserve; so it is judicious to eschew the nonobligatory mode of adopting abstruse vocabulary in an ineffectual endeavour to obfuscate or perchance inveigle someone into perceiving that you are a luminary. Get the message?

End of excerpt from Chapter 7

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## The back cover of the book: Going to University: the Secrets of Success

"It is jam-packed with useful hints and tips to make not just study easier and more enjoyable, but the whole uni experience. It is simply written and also quite funny which aids readability... It covers pretty much everything a person new to uni would want to know - from finances and transport, through to what to expect in the way of lectures, seminars, tutorials, lab work and oral presentations, as well as providing advice on how to write essays and prepare for exams.... I think it's invaluable for anyone thinking about going to uni, enrolling in uni, or already at uni. I highly recommend it." Student review, Amazon

"As a succinct guide it can easily be read from cover to cover. Bucknall's engaging writing style and genuine belief that 'life is beautiful' shine through and will offer some reassurance to those fearful few who worry about what university life will hold for them." Student Review, Durham University

~~~~

## _Going to University: the Secrets of Success_ , Second Edition, recommended price £9.95 in paperback.

Some reviews of various works by the author

"This book is easy to read, to the point and easy to dip into" Learning and Teaching Institute, Sheffield Hallam University

"Written by Kevin Bucknall, really interesting ....take a look" Dr Clive Buckley, North East Wales Institute

"Excellent book by Kevin Bucknall" Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania

"Written for students...One of my personal favorites!" Academic Advising Office, Penn State University

"Great book" Marius Andreiana, Student

"All kinds of tips from A to Z to ensure your success as a student" University of Regina, Canada

"5 Stars - Very informative and well written" Johnny Zeven, Belgium

"This is a seriously good book" Sheila Waterman, Australia

~~~~

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A graduate of the London School of Economics, Dr. Kevin Bucknall has worked for the United Nations and has over 30 years experience in university teaching and in tutoring. He has been a Visiting Associate Member of St. Antony's College, Oxford and a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, the University of British Columbia, and the Australian National University. He also spent a year as the Academic in Residence in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Canberra.

~~~~

## Other books by this author

* indicates that is still available; it's easy to Google for them by title along with _Kevin Bucknall_ if you are interested.

Studying at University: How to Make a Success of Your Academic Course

How to Succeed as a Student

China and the Open Door Policy *

Kevin B. Bucknall's Cultural Guide to Doing Business in China

Chinese Business Etiquette and Culture *

Australia China Trade

Japan: Doing Business in a Unique Culture *

_An Introduction to Economics *_ (free)

~~~

## Videos by this author: all are free to view online

You can click on the photographs to see each video. The videos use high quality images so they may take a few moments to open; on the plus side it means that they are much prettier to look at.

Japan and its culture: an illustrated talk part 1 Introduction: Tea Ceremony etc.

Photograph by Olivier Lejade from France

Japan and its culture: an illustrated talk part 2 The Generation Gap etc.

Photograph by Ge

Japan and its culture: an illustrated talk part 3 Spirits and Demons etc.

Woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai

Japan and its culture: an illustrated talk part 4 Symbolism and Beliefs

Vase by Namikawa Sosuke, in the Walters Art Museum

###
