Assignment deadlines approaching? Part 2

If you haven’t already taken a look at last week’s article about how your Library is here to help you while you’re studying why not take a look now: https://library.aru.ac.uk/blog/view.html?id=158

For this second week we asked our library staff to share their deadline season and referencing tips. 
We hope these tips give you some ideas of how to manage your workload, reduce stress, help you with referencing and improve your wellbeing:

Deadline Season Study Tips:

• Yes, you can write 10,000 words in a week, but we don't recommend it
• Use the search facility built in to e-books to check whether a book really will be as useful as it looks without having to read the whole thing
• When looking for information for your topic you're always better off using a database dedicated to your subject area. Use our Subject Guides or the Database A-Z to see which ones we recommend
• Remember to stay hydrated! Water is important in keeping your brain awake and working.
• Keep notes on everything you read, you never know when that important note might be the defining point in your essay!
• Stretch every once in a while, your back might thank you later!
• Reward yourself after every hour or so. It gives your brain a break and can help you concentrate in the long run.
• Remember, your first draft of your essay is a first draft. It's not final and you can change it later. If you need to write everything out to get your points out, do it and edit later!
• Use highlighters and sticky notes to emphasise important pieces of information.
• Use different coloured pens, pencils and stationery while studying. It could make things look more interesting and might help you to remember things more easily.
• Don’t sleep in the library – go home to bed to get proper rest!
• Make sure you take regular breaks away from your screen. It’s a good opportunity to take a walk outside and get something to eat
• Check when your deadlines are - make sure you know how to submit your work and what you need to submit. Don’t leave doing this until the last moment!
• Try and do some kind of exercise, even if it’s for 15 minutes, before or after you study.
• Give yourself time to go away and come back to your work a few days after you have finished it.  Go back to it and re-draft it and then any problems or poor grammar will stand out.
• Plan! Organise yourself around deadlines and make sure you leave enough time for formatting, proofreading, binding, etc
• Back up everything! - Keep a copy on your university account and one on your home PC – don’t have your only copy on a memory stick.
• Use a wall planner to plan a revision/study timetable to remind you when your deadlines are.

Referencing Tips: 

• Always check your references for accuracy with the online Harvard Guide Have a copy of the Harvard Quick Guide with you to aid your memory
• Take a look at this helpful video for tips on how to compile your ARU Harvard Reference list: https://youtu.be/H_EPZa3tvaE 
• Sort your references into alphabetical order using the ‘a to z’ sort button on Microsoft Word, sort by paragraphs ascending and press ok.
• Make sure you keep records of everything you're reading to make it easier when you need to reference it later
• Referencing isn't just the annoying thing you do at the end of an assignment, it starts as soon as you start reading the topic so make sure you record the details of everything you read
• Referencing is more about giving credit to other people's ideas than it is for their words. Even if you read something and put it in your own words it still needs a reference
• The 'Citation' option in the library website has been improved and now has an ARU Harvard version. You will still need to check it against the Harvard Guide, but it provides a good starting point for creating a reference.
• When you use an author’s work in your assignment write the reference out as you go along. This saves time later on and ensures you don’t forget where the information came from.
• Final tip before hand-in - whatever tool you have used for your referencing in-text and list, always double check against our online Harvard Guide  

The University has many resources and services available to you to help you while you are studying.
Get access to all the support available to you here: https://myaru.sharepoint.com/sites/student-help-support