Sunday 27 April 2008

Revision!

Nearing the end of the year now, people with dissertations are probably finishing everything off ready for presentations, but I'm not doing one so have time to start revision. Finished my last essay yesterday after a late one staying up to get it done. Started working a bit harder now, usually 10-7 most days which is nice having the evenings off and I'm on target with plenty of time to prepare for exams. One of them is seen with two questions to answer so will be planning those this week, and learning them off by heart the few days before the exam.
Today me and a friend made spider diagrams for the policing multiple choice exam, as I only have 3 days to revise for that after another exam so trying to do some now.
Everything's on track anyway so will have time to get work done and make the most of the rest of my time in Cardiff as a student!!

Monday 14 April 2008

Nearly ready to start on revision!

Hi!

So it’s my turn to write the blog this week. It’s the last week of the Easter hols so I’ve been trying to get my dissertation totally finished as soon as possible (I’m trying to be organized!). We have our exam times now so I feel a bit more in control of everything, I’ve finished my education essay already so after this week I have one more essay to do and then I can focus on the exam prep. I’ve been setting myself the task of writing at least 1000 words a day and have mostly stuck to this, my dissertation is a bit short but it’s pretty much done now! I’ve emailed it to my tutor to see what she thinks so fingers crossed!

Friday 4 April 2008

Week of 31st March - Literature Review

Hello, just wanted to let you know what I've been up to so far this week and the Easter hols. I have found it really difficult this holiday to juggle everything, really don't feel like I'm doing enough work!! At the mo, all I'm really focusing on is the dissertation :s I have finally started writing my literature review!!! I should hopefully finish that today and then plan to have my methodology section finished at the very latest by tuesday next week. Was feeling slightly worried about my policing essay but realised that I've already collected all the reading for it and have done a rough plan. Less than two weeks now till the exam timetable is published which is quite scary!! But will be good so I can start writing up a revision plan.

Monday 31 March 2008

Week of 24th March - Easter holidays should really be for holiday time!

Still struggling with being at home and trying to get work done at the same time! I am ahead of myself though really, I don't think I need to have my essays finished by the time I go back, it would just be helpful!
I have gone back to working on my first essay, the crime control one, and hoping to finish that today, nearly there!!
The key I have found is to start work early in the day and then once I have actually started working, it's easy to carry on.
Also making time for breaks has helped, working for an hour and a half and then having a 20 minute break seems to work well.
I think I have accepted that I can have more of a holiday now if I want, but will have to make up for it by getting down to some serious work when I get back, especially with seminars still to prepare for...
Only 6 weeks left now until we start our exams, not sure if that's good or bad!
I have been working on a key reading for the crime control exam aswell this week; by reading all of those (shared amongst ourselves) during the term, we will literally just have to read over the notes for the exam as we will already know it, just incase we don't have much time between exams! Exam dates come out in 3 weeks time aswell, which will be a great help with revision planning, shame they couldn't be published sooner though.

Tuesday 25 March 2008

Dissertation work!!

Hi! I just wanted to talk a little bit about what i have been doing over the past week- i was meant to have uploaded this blog before the first one but my internet at home (in Devon- enough said) wasnt working!! After suddenly having a massive panic over my dissertation, i decided it was time to knuckle down and begin writing it- more difficult than you would think!! I decided to set aside a few weeks to begin writing it all up, as i had already gathered my data and all the relevent literature needed. Although it has/is difficult, i have found it useful setting deadlines for myself- especially if your dissertation supervisor is too relaxed!! I wanted to set myslef achievable targets so i decided i should write about 1000 words a day, so far it is working well. My draft deadline is the first week in April, leaving me enough time to write my other two essays once i have written the dissertation. I would therefore suggest the key to success and not being stressed is to plan early and to be prepared- dont leave everything to the last minute. I also find making notes in advance helps because then all is needed is it to be written up.

Monday 24 March 2008

Working (slowly!) on 2nd essay


Hi! It's my turn to write on the blog so here it is...

I have three essays and a seen exam planned to do before we start back at lectures (I'm not doing a dissertation) so am working on one of my essays today which is for metropolis. I have half written my crime control essay aswell when I was feeling motivated a while ago so still have that to finish off aswell. It's been quite hard getting down to some work recently as I have been at home, but I know it's going to make my life so much easier if I get all this done in time!

Today I have done about 2 hours of reading and 2 hours of typing up - I meant to do alot more than this (was planning on having a rough draft done by the end of today but still have 2000 words to go!!) but found other important!) things to do!

Will have to make an effort tomorrow as I won't be doing any wed or thurs as I have plans!

If anyone has any tips on how to get motivated they'd be most welcome ;-)

Tuesday 18 March 2008

Welcome to our study blog!

We have written a diary style entry for each day to show what we have been doing acadmically. Hopefully this will either reassure you that you are on track, encourage you get your head down a bit more, or just give you ideas about how to tackle dissertations, revision etc.