Academic Skills

Short-Term Planning

To get the most out of our days, planning is essential. When we don’t plan, we waste valuable brain power deciding what we should work on next. To move seamlessly from one task to another, it’s worth investing some time in creating a daily plan or to-do list.

Structure Your day

There’s no right or wrong way to structure your day. Everyone works differently, so the important thing is to find what works for you. As you consider how to get the most out of your time, it’s worth thinking about these strategies: 

• Chunking vs. Interspersing. Some people like to ‘chunk’ their days, putting similar activities together. They might attend classes in the morning, write in the afternoon, and revise in the evening. Others prefer to ‘intersperse’ tasks throughout the day, perhaps spending an hour writing, an hour in class, an hour revising, and then heading back to writing again. Which approach would work best for you?  
• Night Owl vs. Morning Dove. All of us have a time of day where we do our best work. For many of us, this will be first thing in the morning. For others, it may be the middle of the night. Find your prime time and use this to get your most important tasks done. For example, if you’re a morning person, you should start your day by working on that important essay, rather than re-watching a lecture recording. Then, use your less productive times for rest and relaxation! 
• Planning and Reflection. Put some time in your diary to plan your day, and then some to reflect on how it went. Some people plan in the morning and reflect in the evening, while others take a few minutes at the end of each day to reflect on one day and plan for the next. Still others might do all their planning and reflection at the beginning or end of the full week. Whatever strategy you use, it’s important both to plan and to reflect on how that plan went. Congratulate yourself on all you did and consider how you might solve any snags that arose.  

2. To-Do Lists 

To-do lists are an essential part of planning, and your to-do list can make or break your day’s productivity. Often, our to-do lists are just a brain dump of things we need to do at some point, rather than a targeted plan for exactly what we need to accomplish in a set time period.  

Just like structuring your day, there’s no one right way to organise your to-do list. Here are several things to keep in mind as you find a system that works for you:  

• Simplify your tasks. Often, our to-do lists are crowded with tasks like ‘write essay’ that are too big and difficult to get done on any one day. Make sure everything on your list can be accomplished in a single block of time. Instead of ‘revise for exam,’ for instance, you could write, ‘create a mindmap of Chapter 1 concepts.’ If you’ve got a task you don’t know how to do— for example, creating a bibliography for your assignment— you can simply add ‘research how to reference’ to your to-do list.  
• Avoid the ‘rolling’ to-do list. Ideally, a to-do list should be a list of tasks for a defined period of time, such as a day or a week. Constantly adding new items to the list means that you’ll never reach the end, which can be demotivating. Instead, keep a separate list for each day (or week) and when you think of a new task, consider adding it to tomorrow’s list instead.  
• Keep your lists short. When we’re busy, we think we need to put everything on our to-do lists. The trouble is that having a long list often means we get less done. Why? If our list looks so long that we can’t finish it, we lose our motivation and start procrastinating. It sounds counterintuitive, but a shorter list actually gets more done! 

Long-Term Planning

To succeed at university, you need to stay on top of your work throughout the year. While to-do lists are a great tool for short-term or daily planning, other strategies will be more effective for keeping track of the big picture. 

In this section, we’ll explore two Long-Term planning strategies: Calendars, and SMART Goals.  

Calendars

To keep track of your work over the course of the semester, you need a diary or a calendar to write it all down. Keeping all your deadlines in your head uses valuable brain space that you could save for working on your assignments! Also, it’s important to keep track not just of deadlines, but of when you need to do the work. If you have an assignment due in Week 8, for instance, you might set a reminder to start working in Week 4.  

There are many kinds of calendars, so find one that works for you. A wall calendar showing your whole semester at a glance can be helpful for visual learners, while a paper diary with space for each day’s appointments and to-do lists is good for going into more detail. If you’re particularly artistic, a bullet journal is a nice alternative, and can help you integrate your work and personal life.  

If you prefer something more portable, try a calendar app for your phone. At university, you should use Microsoft Outlook’s calendar, which automatically includes all your classes and Teams appointments. There are also hundreds of other organisational apps out there, so try out a few and see what works for you. 

There’s no right or wrong way to use a calendar. The important thing is to find a system that works for you. Using a diary or calendar to keep track of your deadlines and appointments will make sure you never miss an assignment, and will free up valuable brain space for getting your work done! 

SMART Goals

The best way to get something done is to set goals. We all set goals every day, and sometimes others set goals for us. After all, if a lecturer assigns an essay due in two weeks, meeting that deadline becomes our goal! 

The difficulty with many of our goals is that they’re too vague, or outside our control. We often set ourselves goals like ‘finish my degree’ or ‘get a good grade on this exam.’ The first goal is far too long-term to be motivating, while the second goal is outside our control (ie, you can control how much you study for the exam, but you can’t control what mark you end up with.) 

To make our goals more motivational and achievable, turn them into SMART Goals. This means they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. 

• Specific: If your goal is vague, how will you know you’ve achieved it? A goal like, ‘be more fit,’ could mean anything, but ‘train for a 10K race’ is better.  
• Measurable: How will you measure success? Instead of writing, ‘Get a good grade on this exam,’ try being more specific: ‘Get an B on this exam.’ 
• Achievable: Make sure your goals are realistic; it’s good to push yourself, but setting sky-high goals too soon can be discouraging. Instead of, ‘Get the lead in OpSoc’s musical,’ try, ‘get involved in OpSoc’s production.’ 
• Relevant: Sometimes, we set goals we think we should set, rather than ones we actually care about. For example, around New Year, many of us resolve to exercise more, when, really, we would be better off doing something meaningful to us personally, like spending time with family, or working on a creative project. 
• Time-Bound: Make sure your goal has an end-date. Instead of, ‘find my dream job,’ try, ‘apply for two jobs every weekday for a month.’ 

What does this look like at university? Here are a few quick examples:  

What goals will you set this semester?

Motivation

Motivation is one of the most important aspects of getting work done. When we’re motivated, then our work can truly be enjoyable. When we’re not motivated, however, doing even the smallest tasks can seem impossible.  Particularly in the online or blended learning environments, motivation can be challenging. Fortunately, there are many tried-and-true strategies you can implement to get motivated again! 

Manage Your Work-Life Balance

It might sound strange, but the best way to motivate yourself at work is to achieve a good work-life balance. Sometimes we think that productivity means working 24/7, but the reality is that this mindset can be incredibly demotivating. After all, why should you bother getting this essay done, if you just need to start the next one immediately afterwards?  

Working constantly, without enjoying other aspects of your life, can lead to burnout and a lack of motivation. To avoid burnout, lean in to other aspects of your life. Spend time with friends and family. Stay engaged with your hobbies, whether that’s baking, football, knitting, or board games. Do things that are important to you, like volunteering for a charity or working on a creative project.  

Doing other things that matter to you, alongside your work, can actually give you the enthusiasm to get your work done more efficiently! 

Establish Check-ins

A major cause of low motivation is loneliness and isolation. Particularly if you’re learning online or in a blended environment, it can be harder to get the support you need to keep going. 

One way to get motivated is to check in with another person. This could be someone from your course, a family member, or a friend. They don’t need to be on the same programme, or even know anything about your subject. They just need to be committed to supporting and encouraging you.  

Check-ins can happen as often as you like, and can be either virtual or in-person. Essentially, they’re just an opportunity for you to tell your chosen person about your goals and how you’ve progressed. Maybe you could text a family member every evening to let them know how many words you’ve written, or meet up with a friend each week for a joint study session. Whatever format you choose, having regular check-ins with a trusted person will help you stay motivated. 

Consider the Why

If you’re struggling with motivation, it helps to consider why you’re working. Maybe you don’t enjoy revising for this exam, but you love your subject. Or maybe you don’t like this module, but completing your course will get you a better job.  

To motivate ourselves, our work needs to mean something. When you just don’t want to work, it helps to take a step back and ask ourselves ‘why?’ Putting that assignment, reading, or exam within the big picture of your life can help you transform a task that feels pointless into one that’s important and meaningful.  

Avoiding Procrastination

Procrastination is one of the biggest challenges university students face. While some courses have constant deadlines, many are more self-directed, with only one big assignment or exam at the end.  

We all know it’s important to get down to work ahead of time, but that’s much easier said than done! How many times have you made a long to-do list, settled down to work… and then found yourself lost on YouTube three hours later? We procrastinate for weeks on end, then end up pulling an all-nighter and finishing our assignment last-minute. The assignment wasn’t our best work, and it wasn’t a fun process, either. 

How can we best avoid procrastination and make the most of our time? Here are four tried-and-true ways to get started tackling the dreaded procrastination monster!  

Beware Perfectionism

Many people assume that procrastinators are lazy and don’t care about their work. The reality is the exact opposite! Procrastinators usually care deeply. In fact, the main reason they procrastinate is because they’re too worried to get started, because their work might not be good enough. 

As you probably guessed, procrastination goes hand-in-hand with perfectionism. When we want our work to be perfect, it becomes almost impossible to get started, so we procrastinate instead. After all, if we’ve not yet started, then our essay can still be perfect, in our imagination, at least… 

The best way to avoid procrastination is to overcome perfectionism. Keep reading to learn how!

Start Small

We’ve all been there: staring at a blank page, unable to write a word. We want our first words to be perfect, but our mind is utterly empty.  

So often, an un-started task can loom large in our minds and it becomes too overwhelming to begin. Once we’ve started, however, the task gets much easier. So, how do we overcome this hurdle and get going?  

The best way to get going is to start small. Don’t write your whole introduction; just scribble down a few thoughts you find interesting. Don’t plan to revise for five hours straight; just spend a few minutes on your favourite topic. Once you’ve started on a task, even in a small way, it becomes much easier to keep going.  

Edit Later

When we start working on a project, particularly a written assignment, we think it needs to be perfect on the first go. In contrast, any professional writer will tell you that the first draft is meant to be rubbish!  

Editing as we write is a primary cause of procrastination. It slows us down and makes us criticise our work, so we turn to something else to distract ourselves, like funny cat videos.  

The best way to avoid procrastination while writing is to turn off your inner editor. Just write! It doesn’t matter if it’s bad; in fact, it should be bad at this stage. Once you’ve written the full essay, then you can go back and edit.  

Productive Procrastination

Productive procrastination sounds like an oxymoron, but it can be really helpful for difficult problems. When we’re stuck on a tricky problem, it can actually help to get away for a little while. 

Next time you’re stuck, try procrastinating! Get away from your desk and do the washing up or cook dinner. If you’re stuck on an essay for one module, do the lecture-prep for another. You can also try doing something you love, like playing a sport or chatting to a friend.  

If you intentionally procrastinate by getting started on a task, then doing something else for a while before returning to the task, your mind will work on the problem in the background. You may just find that by procrastinating productively, you discover the answer you need! 

Finding Focus

With so many distractions all around us, focussing on our work can be challenging. 

Focused work is incredibly valuable, because it means we can work less, freeing up time for the stuff we really love to do. But how do we work in a focussed way, when life and the internet are so full of distractions? 

Avoid Multitasking

The best way to focus on your work is to avoid multitasking. While multitasking sounds great— who wouldn’t want to accomplish multiple things at the same time?— the reality is that our brains simply can’t do more than one cognitive task simultaneously. While doing one cognitive task (like talking on the phone) and one physical task (like cooking dinner) can work well, trying to do multiple cognitive tasks (like writing an essay while watching Netflix) simply means you can’t do either task well.  

Instead of multitasking, focus on just one task at a time. Switch your phone to silent, and shut down any social media tabs on your computer. Focussing on your task for a set time— even just twenty minutes can be helpful— and during that time, don’t do anything else. A few minutes of focussed work can be more productive than an hour of multitasking. 

Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique is one of the most effective focus-building methods. The method was invented by Francesco Cirillo, an Italian who used a tomato-shaped timer (‘Pomodoro’ is Italian for ‘tomato’). 

The method is simple: turn a timer on and work for twenty-five minutes. When the timer goes, take a five-minute break. Then do another twenty-five minutes, then another five-minute break, and so on. During your ‘pomos,’ you should avoid distractions and focus exclusively on your task. Then, during the breaks, you should get up from your computer to rest your eyes and your mind.  

Shorter Can Be Better

When we think about working hard, we often imagine ourselves sitting in the library for hours, working constantly. The reality, however, is that a few hours of focussed work can potentially be more effective than a full day of staring at our computer screens.  

The tricky thing about the ‘less is more’ philosophy is that the work you do must be focussed. It’s no use spending an hour on your laptop jumping between websites, then heading off for coffee with a friend thinking that you’ve accomplished something. On the other hand, if you spend that hour in focussed work, researching an essay or actively revising for your exam, then you can happily shut your laptop, take a break and enjoy that coffee, guilt-free! 

Managing Stress

It’s hard to work when we’re stressed and overwhelmed. Stress can make it difficult to focus on our work, and, if left unchecked, it can seriously impact both our mental and physical health.  

That said, sometimes a little stress before a deadline is exactly what we need to produce our best work. It may sound strange, but small amounts of stress can actually improve our performance! 

How we think about stress has a big impact on our ability to manage it. If we believe that stress is always bad, then as soon as we feel a little bit stressed, we’ll become overwhelmed with anxiety. If, however, we know that stress can be beneficial, we’ll make use of it when it comes, and seek help when it gets to be too much.  

So, how can we make sure our stress stays at manageable levels? Keep reading for our Three Top Tips!

Start Early

The simplest way to manage stress is to start working long before the deadline. You don’t necessarily have to finish before the deadline— you don’t get extra points for submitting early!— but starting early will help you avoid the last-minute rush, which is a major source of stress for many students.  

Starting early is harder than it sounds, however. With a deadline still weeks away, it can be hard to motivate yourself. In this case, it’s best to try and do a little every day, rather than working all-out. Try spending just twenty minutes every day on the early stages of the assignment, perhaps doing a bit of research, or reading a single article. It doesn’t take much effort, and future you will be so thankful! 

Break it Down

When we’ve got too much to do, we can often feel overwhelmed. Our mind is full of unfinished tasks, and we have no idea how to even get started.  

When we’re overwhelmed, it’s essential to break down our tasks. Big Tasks like ‘write essay’ or ‘revise for exam’ can sit on our to-do list for weeks without getting checked off. Big Tasks are hard to accomplish because there’s no clear starting point, and the end goal seems impossibly far away. 

In this case, it’s best to take a few minutes and break your Big Tasks down into smaller, more manageable tasks. Instead of ‘write essay,’ try, ‘research for thirty minutes,’ or ‘write introduction.’ For exams, you might choose to split your revision time into slots, each covering one specific topic or section of your module. Having a focus for each revision slot will help you work effectively and avoid becoming overwhelmed. 

Take Breaks

When we’re stressed, we feel like we should be working constantly. It’s hard to relax when our to-do list is still a mile long! The thing is, getting good rest is essential to working well. If we just work all the time, we’ll exhaust ourselves and burn out.  

Instead of working constantly, try breaking your work down into smaller chunks and taking intentional breaks. Don’t spend hours in the library staring at your laptop. Instead, work for a set amount of time— anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour— and then take a proper break. Go for a walk, read a book, or chat to a friend. Ideally, get away from a screen; scrolling through social media won’t give your mind the break it needs.  

It sounds counterintuitive, but you’ll get more done if you take intentional breaks. The reality is that if you don’t take breaks, your brain will take them for you. If you try to work for hours on end, your brain will get tired and will drift off into other things, like Wikipedia rabbit trails, funny cat videos, or Buzzfeed quizzes. To avoid this wasted time, take control of your breaks and do something you properly enjoy: your mind and body will thank you! 

The First Meeting

Your Adviser or School Office will inform you of arrangements for an initial meeting. Be sure to check your University of Dundee email account regularly, as most official communication will be conducted this way (although different Schools and Disciplines may make alternative arrangements).

The first meeting is an important one. It gives you a chance to meet your Adviser for the first time and to discuss your module choices. At this stage you may also have some doubts or practical questions about how things work. Your Adviser will be able to help you navigate this transition into university life.

You should also take the opportunity at this initial meeting to agree with your Adviser as to how meetings will be arranged, how you will communicate with each other, and to set expectations and understand what your future meetings and the wider relationship will entail.

Subsequent Meetings

You should normally meet with your Adviser a minimum of two times in your first semester of study (or once for part-time students), and then at least once each semester after that. These are the minimum requirements, and some Schools or individual Advisers may offer additional contact.

In addition, you should contact your Adviser through the agreed channels if you feel you need to speak with them outside of your scheduled meetings.

The content of these subsequent meetings will depend on your level of study, progress, and individual needs. Some of the more common topics include:

• Your academic progress, including assessment and feedback.
• Academic planning, such as module choices for future years.
• Opportunities for you to develop academic or graduate attributes, and general career plans.
• Any pastoral issues you may wish to raise.

Group Meetings

Some Schools, Disciplines, or individual Advisers may choose to use small group meetings for advising. There can be some benefits to this format for you, not least the chance to build up a small peer support network. However, it’s recognised that there may be some issues which you’d rather not raise in front of other people, so do be sure to request an individual meeting in such circumstances.

How to get the most from your meetings

Effective advising is a partnership between you and your Adviser, so you’ll get the maximum benefit out of the relationship if you engage fully and proactively with the process.

Some simple steps you can take include preparing for meetings, thinking carefully about questions you might have or things you might wish to discuss, communicating and staying in touch with your Adviser, and being willing to discuss progress or concerns openly and honestly.

You or your Adviser may discuss keeping records of meetings but be aware of issues around data protection and confidentiality. The latter in particular may mean that your Adviser chooses not to keep a record of confidential discussions you have with them.

Academic Support

The primary role of your Adviser of Studies is to guide and support you through your academic journey. Let’s take a look at some of the common areas you might discuss with your Adviser.

Programme and module choice: one of the key roles your Adviser has is to help guide you in your programme and module choices. As we’ve already seen, this will be a key element of your initial meeting. Subsequently, you will probably find it helpful to discuss with your Adviser module options for subsequent years of study. Your Adviser will also be able to support and discuss options with you should you feel that you need to change modules or courses. 

Monitoring attendance: Your Adviser will also be interested in your level of attendance and general engagement with your modules. In most cases, attendance is now recorded automatically using SEAtS, and monitoring will be conducted at School or Discipline level, but your Adviser may be asked to intervene if your attendance drops below the required threshold.

This can be particularly important if you are an international student, as your visa eligibility is likely to be dependent upon maintaining an appropriate level of attendance, but good attendance and engagement is crucial for all students and is directly linked to academic success, so you can expect your Adviser to take an interest in this area. 

Academic progress, grades and feedback: it’s likely that your general academic progress will be one of the areas you wish to explore regularly with your Adviser. This could be anything from understanding how assessment works to making sense of your grades and feedback and seeking advice on how to improve your marks.

Your Adviser will also be a valuable source of support and guidance should you find yourself in the unfortunate position of failing an assignment, facing a resit, or needing to lodge an appeal. It can be difficult to face up to such situations, but engaging openly with your Adviser will give you the best chance of overcoming the situation.

General academic wellbeing: In addition to the specific issues mentioned, Advisers will also be keen to support your general academic wellbeing.

This may, for example, involve enhancing your understanding of how to get the most out of a particular type of learning environment, discussing any difficulties you may be having with tutors or fellow students, or helping you to develop an intellectual curiosity in the discipline you have chosen to study.

Generative Artificial Intelligence: One of the biggest challenges students have faced in recent years is the emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) and the implications and applications GAI may have on how you learn, study and undertake assessments. You may have questions around GAI, both in terms of its applications within your field of study and, perhaps more importantly around ethical use of GAI, particularly in relation to completing assessments.

Your Adviser will be able to talk to you about some of these issues but the University has also produced guidance on 'Use of generative artificial intelligence for students'. Given that Artificial Intelligence is a fast-evolving field, it is recommended that you check back on theis guide regularly to keep abreast of recent developments and any consequent changes to the guidance.

Pastoral Support

As we’ve already said, your Adviser’s main role is to support your academic progress. However, your academic performance and general student experience may also be affected by non-academic issues, and you may feel more comfortable speaking about these things with your Adviser than with a member of University staff you don’t know.

It’s a positive if you feel comfortable enough to speak to your Adviser about these issues but you must also be aware that there will be strict limits as to how much support your Adviser can give you in certain areas. In many cases, their role will be to direct you to the appropriate University support service where you may access professional support for the issue at hand.

Student mental health: If you find yourself suffering from anxiety, stress, or mental health issues, the most important thing is that you talk to someone. If you are comfortable doing so, then discussing in confidence the challenges you are facing with your Adviser may be a sensible choice. They may be able to offer some practical advice on coping with course workload and the pressures associated with specific modules. More importantly though, they will be able to point you towards the appropriate support services within the University.

You may also find the University’s Get help with mental health page useful.

Disability advice and adjustments: You may wish to discuss with your Adviser of Studies any disability which you feel may impacts your ability to study successfully at the University. Your Adviser may be able to make some practical suggestions to help you cope. However, if you have a disability which impacts on your work you are strongly advised to register with Disability Services as soon as possible to ensure that individual support arrangements can be made in a timely manner.

Other pastoral issues: numerous other factors, such as accommodation, finances, outside work, and family or caring duties, may impact on your academic work and your work/life balance. Again, the important thing is that you speak to someone, so your Adviser will be happy to listen to you and to direct you to the appropriate support services. 

University Support Services

The University has a range of services available to support you in both the academic and pastoral sides of your student experience.

On the academic side, you may find it useful to be aware of the services offered by the Academic Skills Centre, the Careers Service, English for International Students, the Library Services, and Digital Technology Services.

In terms of pastoral issues, the Student Services Directorate offers a range of support. The key service to be aware of is the Enquiry Centre, which is located on Campus Green and may also be reached by email (enquiry@dundee.ac.uk ). If you contact the Enquiry Centre, your query will be signposted to the appropriate support services.

Dundee University Students’ Association (DUSA) can also offer support and advice in a number of areas related to your course or wider University experience. DUSA is completely independent of the University and exists to represent and support the student body. You can read more about the kind of support DUSA can offer on their website.