LIBRARY STUDY SMART

SUCCESSFUL STUDY SKILLS

TRACKING SUCCESS

PDF resources included in this section

CONTENTS - TRACKING YOUR SUCCESS

1. Sceduling your time

2. Maximising your productivity

3. Creating your study space

4. Goal setting 101

5. Track your progress, success

Tracking your success

Want to become more productive, achieve your goals, and keep track of your progress? Here you’ll find lots of practical resources to secure success.

Tracking your successIf you feel like you’re not in control of your study time, perhaps it’s time to pause and review your study schedule, spaces and practices?

Here you’ll find strategies to supercharge your productivity, monitor and manage your tasks, and use self-reflection to improve your performance.

STUDY SMART WEBSITE

Find this section on the Study Smartwebsite here:

https://westernsydney.edu.au/studysmart/home/more_strategies_for_success/tracking_your_success

TIME MANAGEMENT

MAKING GOOD DECISIONS ABOUT ALLOCATING YOUR TIME BETWEEN YOUR STUDY WORKLOAD AND PERSONAL COMMITMENTS IS A BALANCING ACT.

We’ve included information, resources and activities on the best ways to divide your time practices on everything you need, from creating study spaces, to settling into a productive routine to establishing healthy and efficient mind-body habits. And don’t forget to take a Study Break from time to time!

Keep your assignments on track using the Study Smart Assignment Calculator

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GOAL SETTING

AFTER LEARNING HOW TO SET GOALS AND ACHIEVE THEM EFFICIENTLY, MOST PEOPLE DISCOVER THAT IT’S A GREAT TOOL.

Goals and action plans quickly quell that overwhelming and out-of-control feeling you have when there’s a lot on your plate or a huge project on the horizon. If done correctly, setting goals helps you work svmarter, not harder, and improve your productivity, learning, and outputs. The system requires you to identify a target and break it down, take action, and monitor your on-going progress. Below you’ll find more information and activities on how to implement this for your study and work.

Goal setting 101 How to Goals only come into fruition when you work on them! The first step is to think of all the goals you have for all domains of life, and then identify a handful that you want to work on. You can identify things that you want to achieve in the short-term (the next few hours or days), and the long-term (the next three months, by the end of this year). Define Identifying goals is not as simple as saying ‘I want to raise my grade point average’, ‘I want to read more’ or ‘I want to get a job after I finish my studies’. To really define a goal, you need to make it SMART: S Specific Think about the 5 Ws (who, what, where, when and why)

M Measurable How will you know you’ve achieved the goal?

A Attainable Is the goal feasible?

R Realistic Is the goal stretching you, but not so much that you cannot reach it?

T Time-bound What is the exact deadline?

Example

Simple Goal SMART Goal

I want to read more By this time next year I will have read one book every month, for a total of twelve books a year.

I want a new job By December this year I will have completed my Senior First Aid course and have applied for at least five jobs to work in after-school care.

I want to finish my report assignment

By April 21st I will have completed a 3,000 word report assignment, using APA referencing, based on five commercial reports and five government reports.

I want to do better in my tutorials

By next week’s tutorial I will have completed my readings, written notes including questions, and had a brief study group with two classmates to discuss and brainstorm the topic before attending the tutorial.

Library Study Smart February 2017 Page 1 of 2 Goal Setting 101 westernsydney.edu.au/studysmart

Break it down After you clearly articulate your goal, make it SMART, and write it down, it’s time to chunk it into manageable tasks. Let’s take the report assignment example from above:

SMART Goal Steps to achieve it

By April 21st I will have completed a 3,000 word report assignment, using APA referencing, based on five commercial reports and five government reports.

→ Research (Start around 2-3 months before due date)

→ Drafting (Start around 21 days before due date)

→ Editing/Proofreading (Start around ten days before due date)

→ Submission (Due Date)

Make an action plan An action plan is a list of all the tasks required to complete the goal. Remember, a list is nothing until you start making your way through it! And as you do, your ideas may change and so, too, your action plan. This is a part of study and work life. What you need to do is learn how to adapt as you go. It’s a good idea to refer to your action plan when scheduling study time daily and weekly. This will keep you on track to complete on time. Here’s what an action plan could look like for the assignment example used above: 1. Search commercial business websites for annual reports; locate five recent reports from five companies 2. Search Library databases for five government reports on the topic 3. Read, analyse, and take notes on commercial reports 4. Read, analyse, and take notes on five government reports 5. Brainstorm and mindmap appraisal/assessment key points 6. Prepare report outline with headings 7. Add dot points for content to address each section of the report 8. Allocate time to do draft writing (500 words over six days) 9. Review first draft 10. Complete second draft with APA referencing ten days before deadline then submit to YourTutor.com.au for feedback

and Turnitin for an originality check (both available via vUWS, although some units may not enable the use of Turnitin for draft submissions)

11. Read through and address YourTutor feedback recommendations 12. Complete final proofread of third draft 13. Submit through Turnitin before deadline You can also use the Library Study Smart Assignment Calculator tool to help you prepare an action plan for completing individual assignments. Just enter your assignment due date and the Assignment Calculator will break down your assignment into steps and tell you how much time you should allocate to each step. It will also link you to the Study Smart resources that will help you accomplish each step. You can then use the 'Print' function in your browser to print or save a PDF of your customised assignment plan to keep you on track.

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REFLECTING ON PROGRESS

JUST AS IT’S WISE TO REFER TO YOUR MAP WHEN BUSH-WALKING IN A NATIONAL PARK, IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO REGULARLY REFER TO YOUR GOALS AND ACTION PLAN TO MONITOR YOUR DEVELOPMENT.

Instituting these simple daily, weekly, fortnightly and/or monthly practices can improve your productivity, success and outcomes - as well as self-confidence in your ability to manage tasks and produce results! Tracking progress is also the first step towards intrinsic (self) reflection to identify strengths and address areas for improvement.

Track, progress, success Monitoring to improve

It is impossible to make progress, identify strengths, and address areas for improvement if you do not track what you do and reflect on it! A nutritionist will ask a client to maintain a food diary; a coach will ask a marathon runner to chart their weekly running distance totals; a manager will ask an employee to regularly report on their progress towards key performance indicators.

The best mindset to take when you approach monitoring your study progress is to frame it in the context of improving your productivity in the short-term and improving yourself in the long-term.

We often forget that successful people have practised for thousands of hours. What most people neglect to recognise, however, is that a lot of time has also gone into reflection to learn from mistakes and act differently in the future. Do not equate making a mistake with being a mistake. When you think of a ‘fail’, you should see it as the First Attempt In Learning.

In addition to your daily, weekly, and semester planning habits, there are a few activities you can use at regular intervals to revisit your goals, track your progress, and make amendments when and where necessary. When it comes to tracker tools, you can go old-school and use a paper notebook, or get mobile with apps like Momentum (for iOS) and HabitBull (for Android).

The examples below focus on intrinsic (self or individual) reflection. For extrinsic (external) reflection and feedback, see Asking questions.

Daily and weekly review

Monitoring your daily and/or weekly progress may become tedious if you are unclear about its purpose and your focus. You want to be ready for any unexpected delays to the foundation plan you’ve set out, plus observe what works and what doesn’t work for you, so that you can make changes to improve your productivity the next day or the next week.

The following activity, a minute paper, can be used at the end of the day or week. You could use it to review a whole day or week (i.e. everything you did) or focus on a specific project (e.g. an assignment):

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Activity 1: Minute Paper

Note: X = today / this week / this project / this class / this unit, etc.

1. What was most memorable/stands out in your mind about X?

2. What was the most surprising and/or unexpected thing that happened X?

3. What unanswered questions do you still have? Is there anything you didn’t understand?

4. What struck you as things you could / should put into practice again? Was there anything you want tochange?

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Beginning a project or semester

Whenever you have the opportunity to pause and reflect on where you are at and where you would like to be at a commencement point (e.g. the start of a new semester, the beginning of an assignment, the outset of an internship), do it! It can be even more helpful to reflect with a group of friends or classmates because you can support each other by sharing tips on individual strengths in those areas.

Below are a few activities to choose from:

Activity 2(a): Strengths

1. From the list of skills and traits below, identify ten that describe you.

results-oriented willing to take risks dependable strong research skills able to motivate others

able to follow instructions

good sense of humour approachable able to get along with others

self-motivated

mature assertive able to manage projects

able to learn quickly sincere

logical mind good at speaking in public

able to negotiate good communicator willing to learn new things

willing to ask questions

honest enthusiastic able to solve problems patient

punctual ambitious hardworking / productive

curious good attendance

intelligent creative pride in doing a good job

willing to be a leader decisive

2. From those ten strengths, which three do you consider to be your top skills and traits?

3. How will these be useful for your project or in your uni studies?

4. (Optional: group activity)→ Identify two traits and skills that you need to improve. → Share these two traits and skills with your group. → Find someone in your group who has strength in your ‘improvement area’ and exchange your challenges and their tips

or approaches.

Activity 2(b): Academic Tasks

1. Identify two university tasks you find easy to do and explain why.

For example

(1) Writing an essay: I find it easier than writing a report because I’ve written more essays, I’m familiar with the general structure, I really enjoy constructing arguments with evidence in each paragraph to make a single point, and I like writing introductions that outline where the essay is going and conclusions that tie everything up to make a solid case.

(2) Using Turnitin: I’m good with tech stuff, software, systems, learning how to use things quickly and the best way to use them. Turnitin is great, after you use the guide the first time, to figure out if you have any plagiarism and academic integrity issues. I really struggle with referencing, so I made an extra effort to get to know Turnitin really well.

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2. Identify two university tasks you find challenging and explain why.

For example

(1) Writing a report: I don’t have a lot of experience writing reports and I really don’t like the rigid structure with all those headings. It’s so constrictive compared to an essay. It feels like you have to be really concise and precise about what you want to say, and sometimes I don’t know what that is until I’ve written it out. I find that I have to do a zillion more drafts when I do a report, compared to an essay.

(2) Referencing: Citing sources is different for every unit I do. It’s so confusing.

3. Compare the approach you take to tasks listed in (i) far above and (ii) immediately above. What are the differences?

Project debrief

When working on a group project, it’s good practice to debrief after completion to assess what worked well, what didn’t and what you would do, individually and collectively, next time. It also gives you an opportunity to praise each other’s work and offer constructive feedback on areas for improvement.

You can also debrief individually on solo projects. This can be done with assignments. You should do the activity below before approaching a tutor or unit coordinator with more detailed questions about the assignment comments.

Activity 3: The Bridge (after Hurford & Reed, 2005)

1. Bring your assignment, feedback, and the assignment rubric (marking criteria) together.2. Identify one criterion at a time.3. Think about where you are now (A), where you want to be (C), and what you need to do to bridge the gap (B):

For example

A

Current

B

Steps to improve

C

Future

Criterion How could you get from A to B? Criterion

Weaker assignments tended to provide:

limited evaluation without clear reference to wider reading

I can back up my own viewpoints with relevant readings

I can read more critically… ask, ‘Is this viewpoint backed up with evidence’?

I can reflect on my own experience; I can analyse this in the light of reading and other people’s experience

Stronger assignments tended to provide:

evidence of analysis and reflection with clear reference to wider reading

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Contact Information

ic@westernsydney.edu.au

Western Sydney UniversityLocked Bag 1797

Penrith NSW 2751 Australia

WESTERNSYDNEY.EDU.AU/STUDYSMART