Retaining Resources Knowing how to access resources is a key skill in the doctoral journey. In this assignment, you will access and retain some important resources. Use the following information to en

College of Doctoral Studies

IGC-800: Establishing a Routine

It is absolutely vital to build predictability into your weekly schedule. This will help you be more productive and be less stressed. For example, if your weekly assignment is due on Wednesday at midnight, it is best of you to not start on Monday. Instead, create a predictable routine each week for getting yourself ready for submitting the assignment. One suggested routine that many students report as helpful is shown below. However, everyone is different so you will need to make adjustments to this routine so you can find the best schedule that fits your personal situation.

Thursday:

• Review the assignment criteria in the syllabus and ask the professor any questions you might have about the assignment.

• Start completing some of the assigned readings and take good notes or highlight important points when possible.

Friday:

• Continue reading more articles and textbook chapters in order to build up your knowledge on the weekly topic.

• Post your Discussion Question (DQ) response.

• Read through the posts of your peers in order to get a broader feel for the topic. Then reply to several of your classmates’ DQ posts in order to become more engaged in the classroom.

• Review the assignment criteria in the syllabus and start brainstorming an outline for organizing your paper.

Saturday:

• Read more of the DQ posts of different peers and reply to their comments as well as any comments that someone might have posted to your initial response.

• Using the outline you created on Tuesday, start writing a rough draft of your paper. Do not worry about being perfect yet. Just focus on getting your ideas down.

Sunday:

• Read and reply to more posts or any new DQ that might be assigned.

• Continue working on the rough draft of your paper. Read more articles if necessary to further build your background knowledge related to the points in your paper.

Monday:

• Read and respond to the DQ posts.

• Start revising and editing your paper by deleting, moving, or adding material so that your ideas are well-organized, logical, and concise. Be sure to support your ideas with in-text citations related to the textbook chapters and articles you read earlier in the week.

Tuesday:

• Read and respond to DQ posts.

• Finish cleaning up your paper by revising and editing for flow of ideas, adding transitions and ordinal marker words (i.e., first, second, next), and strengthening your points with solid research references.

Wednesday:

• Perform a final read of your paper. Focus on proper punctuation, APA format, grammatical correctness, and spelling.

• Once you have checked your paper for typographical errors and are comfortable with the way the ideas are presented and supported, submit your paper.

• Relax.

Repeating this sequence again starting on Thursday will quickly lead to a routine of predictability and security. Remember, your personal weekly routine might be a little different, so take some time to learn which system works for you… and then stick to it!