Spring Break has been over for a week, the weather is getting warmer, and graduation paraphernalia is beginning to be seen on campus. That only means one thing....we are getting closer to the semester - and the year - being finished! In fact, only five more weeks remain of the spring 2011 semester. Now before you begin to stress out about all the things left that need to be done (myself included), here are a few tips that may help in finalizing those research papers or reading assignments...
In my experience with the capstone level course of Strategic Management, I feel I have picked up a few tricks of the trade. To give a background of what this course entails, a company is given to you for you to research just about every single item of, to perform multiple analyses, and the select strategies for the company to pursue. Honestly, I don't find it extremely difficult in terms of the information to produce; what I find difficulty is the time it takes to perform one of these research projects in the very limited amount of time I have: about 3 weeks. It is not uncommon to have about 200-300 pages of information. So how do I organize all this research into a nice and neat orderly paper?
Well, perhaps to the chargrin of environmentalists, I print a bunch of information (but don't worry, it is one recycled or scrap paper!). I organize my findings by category and then by group. After compiling the sources together, I then take my lovely fat yellow highlighter and a colored pen and begin reading away. As I highlight information I write in the margin what it pertain to within my research. Does it apply to the mission of the organziation, it's capabilities, a financial aspect? After going through my research with my handy dandy writing utinzels, I then begin organizing my findings through a bulleted format in a Word document while also citing every point. As I write the bullet point I am putting it into my own words, thus avoiding the evils of plagerism. After spending some time going through all of my highlighted sections and rewording them, it is then time for the paragraph formation.
I generally look for trends or topics that seemed to repeat themselves and group them together before writing the sections. I have noticed that through this approach, sections that I once thought would take hours, don't take quite as long...they still take hours, but I can write about a 15-18 page paper in under 2 hours using this approach. Granted, that doesn't include the time it takes to do the research, read/highlight it, and then type it into my own words, but I love the fact that I can organize and write a spiffy paper in what feels like less time. Perhaps this system may help you, maybe not. I just felt like passing on the tip since it has helped me.
With just several weeks left of the semester, it is important to make sure you don't let your time get away from you. It can be hard to stay motivated, but you can do it! Keep pressing on, keep working hard, and remember that what you're learning now will be beneficial sometime in your future.
