Skills at Library Focus Week: Getting Organised

Skills at Library is back with another focus week on getting organised! Choose from a wide range of sessions running 12 -16 February that cover basic organisation methods, time management tips, and using AI tools.

Everyone can use a little more organisation

No matter where you are at in your academic journey, you can benefit from re-evaluating your organisation habits and developing your skills. Organising information for your course and research will help you maximise your time, avoid errors, and reduce stress. In contrast, being disorganised creates barriers to productivity and can result in missing out on opportunities and repeating mistakes.

Our list of workshops

The Organise Yourself Focus Week features workshops from: Skills at Library, Skills for Success, and DITs. These sessions cover all the skills you will need to get organised and prepare for your dissertation, final project, or even exams.

• Skills at Library Café Hour
  14:00 - 15:00 Wednesday 7 February 2024
• Plan your work with AI (online)
  15:00 - 16:00 Monday 12 February 2024
• Word to build your assignment, dissertation or thesis (online)
  10:00 - 12:00 Tuesday 13 February 2024
• Getting organised with Notion (online)
  11:00 - 12:00 Tuesday 13 February 2024
• Librarian Drop in session (Southend)
  13:00 - 14:00 Tuesday 13 February 2024
• Prepare for your dissertation: organise yourself (in-person)
  11:00 - 12:00 Wednesday 14 February 2024
• Skills at Library Café Hour
  14:00 - 15:00 Wednesday 14 February 2024
• Excel: further functions
  10:00 - 12:00 Thursday 15 February 2024
• Intro to referencing (online)
  11:00 - 12:00 Thursday 15 February 2024
• Brainstorming ideas for your dissertation (in-person)
  12:00 - 13:00 Thursday 15 February 2024
• Chair Yoga (in-person)
  14:00 - 14:30 Thursday 15 February 2024

You can book onto all of these academic skills workshops and more on CareerHub.

Organise yourself to find balance

Preparing for big projects like your dissertation ahead of time is important and planning your work, even smaller assessments, means you’re less likely to get stressed, fall behind, end up having to cut corners, and you’re more likely to achieve good marks.

It's easy to underestimate how time you’ll spend on any given step of your project, and everybody needs to sleep and rest as well. You only have limited focus time in any given day, so building regular breaks into your planning is a crucial step to success. You could try techniques like working in intervals. 

And you don’t just need break, you need rest! Browsing your phone for 5 minutes on the toilet is a break, but it’s not rest. Rest doesn’t have to mean sleep – it just means actively spending time away from the work you’re doing, not thinking about the work, so that you can come back to it with fresh eyes.

Additional workshops to help you recharge

Every week there’s lots happening on all our campuses and in the areas surrounding our campuses. You can find many of the events happening on campus on the SU events what’s on page, from social events like quizzes and karaoke nights to quieter outings like crafts workshops and movie nights.

Additional resources

Explore these resources to learn more about organising yourself, managing time, and wellbeing:

• Student Wellbeing and Inclusivity Service
  • Online appointment form
  • Wellbeing drop-in appointments
• 5 steps to mental wellbeing (NHS)

Wellbeing and de-stressing activities:

• Art exchange events and exhibitions
• Cine 10 – low-cost campus cinema
• Walking including the 15 best walks in Colchester
• Wellbeing Wednesdays