Lecture 5HOW CAN I MANAGE MY TIME

AND COMPLETE ON TIME?

Lecture 5

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• to be thoroughly aware of the time-frame within which dissertations are completed

• to appreciate how knowledge of the project life-cycle and how work breakdown charts and Gantt charts can help you complete on time

• to understand the importance of maintaining bibliographical data

Lecture 5

LECTURE OUTLINE

• recommended reading• how long your dissertation will take to complete• how knowledge of the project life-cycle can help

you to be successful• work breakdown structures, and how they can be

used to manage the dissertation• using time effectively• managing bibliographical data• the main barriers to completing on time

Recommended reading:

Chapter 5: How Can I Manage My Time and Complete On Time?, in the associated book:

Horn, R. (2009) Researching and Writing Dissertations. London: CIPD

Work-alone activity:

TASKS INVOLVED IN COMPLETING

Time allowed: 20 minutes’ preparation 3 minutes’ feedback

List the tasks you think must be completed when preparing a dissertation.

This is an initial experience exercise so that you can compare your initial thoughts with a typical time-scale.

Feedback to the group: ‘The tasks I need to complete for my dissertation are . . .’

DURATION IN HOURS AND WEEKS OF THE TYPICAL PREPARATION OF A MASTER’S-LEVEL DISSERTATION

DISSERTATION LIFE-CYCLE

Conceptual phase

Critical phase

Action phase

Analytical phase

Creative phase

DISSERTATION PHASES

TASK PLANNING

Like most projects, dissertations are made up of tasks, and when all the tasks are complete, the project or dissertation is complete.

There are many good reasons for investing time in the planning of the dissertation. Your dissertation proposal would normally contain an estimate of the time required to complete.

The old saying about planning is that ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’.

Task planning:

MAIN ADVANTAGES• Planning creates a proactive approach that can replace

the more common reactive approach.• It allows you to initiate and influence outcomes in your

favour. • It enables you to meet deadlines.• It lowers academic stress.• It encourages the adoption of a systematic approach.• It improves your control of the project.• It permits the setting of milestones to assist in controlling the project.• It highlights the areas in the dissertation where planned

assistance will be needed, such as data-gathering and proof-reading.

Example of an excerpt from a Work Breakdown Structure table

Work-alone activity:

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

Time allowed: 15 minutes’ preparation 3 minutes’ feedback

List the steps you need to take in the next two months to further the completion of your dissertation.

Use the form of Work Breakdown Structure featured here (see previous slide).

Feedback to the group: ‘This is my WBS chart . . .’

Work Breakdown Structure sheet with progress meter

Work-alone activity:

WBS SPREADSHEET WITH METER

Time allowed: 60 minutes’ preparation 3 minutes’ feedback

Using your WBS chart produce an Excel spreadsheet (or equivalent) with a progress meter attached.

This can then be extended to cover all the tasks required to complete the dissertation.

Feedback to the group: ‘This is my WBS chart . . .’

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATABibliographical data starts to accumulate in a dissertation from the very first moment of a topic’s birth. Realising this and planning a method to capture, record, access and display this data is essential, or a very large and difficult-to-solve problem will become apparent later in the dissertation – when most students are already very busy with the tasks of analysing data and writing up the research.

Early planning will avoid this problem.

StorageStore bibliographical data in one of the following ways:• as an alphabetical list in a Word document• on an Excel spreadsheet• in a database• using specialist bibliographical software

Bibliographical data:

USING AN MS WORD DOCUMENTMany thousands of dissertations are written each year and the bibliography data is stored as an alphabetical list in a Microsoft Word document. • The author adds new references manually into the correct alphabetical

space as the work proceeds. Any small errors or entries in the wrong place are manually corrected. • This approach is simple, cheap and easy to understand. • However, it is not very flexible, is time-consuming and contains only

the basic reference data.

Later versions of Word from 2007 contain features that allow for the development of a bibliography as the work progresses.• As you write, you add citations (references) in the text; this is linked to a source, and the bibliography is automatically produced as and

when you require it. • In most versions you are able to choose your reference system and change it dynamically. • It is also easy to find a source you have previously used with the ‘Find

source’ command.

AIDS TO ON-TIME COMPLETIONThere is remarkably very little research concerning the barriers to completing on time and the rates of completion of UK dissertations. A US survey (Rivera, Levine and Wright, 2005) of 138 resident hospital physicians or registrars who successfully completed scholarly projects on time discovered the following themes for success:• Start early.• Set aside adequate time.• Adhere to a timeline.• Work with a strong mentor (or supervisor, in the UK system).• Choose a research topic that genuinely interests you.• Keep the project simple yet innovative.

Residents’ suggestions about how their programmes could more effectively facilitate scholarly activity were:• Provide adequate amounts of protected time.• Improve the technical resources available to residents.• Enhance or establish a research curriculum.• Match trainees with appropriate mentors.

Group activity:

CASE STUDY: Sam and Alex

Work in groups of threeTime allowed: 60 minutes’ preparation 10 minutes’ feedback

Read the case study ‘Sam and Alex’, and provide considered responses in the form of an action plan, a list of issues, and an answer to the question, as requested at the end.

Feedback as three separate response elements, for collation with the responses of other groups prior to plenary discussion.

Work-alone activity:

THEORY AND LITERATURE

Preparation for the next learning session

Prepare two PowerPoint presentation slides setting out:

• the major theory and literature to be featured in your dissertation

• a short critique of the theory

REFLECTIONon the learning points of this lecture

Consider how long your dissertation will take to complete by thinking about:• how much time you can set aside for the dissertation each week• the likely tasks that must be completed• how long each task will take• whether you can get help to complete some of

the tasks• creating a detailed WBS chart• potential distractions and delays